Keep
your eyes open!...
May 17, 2012
THE TRIB TIMES WILL
RETURN NEXT WEEK, GOD WILLING (James 4:15).
(Act 1:11-12) Who
also said: Ye men of Galilee, why stand you looking up to heaven? This
Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come as you have
seen him going into heaven. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the
mount that is called Olivet, which is nigh Jerusalem, within a sabbath
day's journey.
PENTACOST NOVENA: The Pentecost Novena
is the first of all novenas, nine days of prayer. After Jesus'
Ascension into heaven, He commanded His disciples to come together in
the upper room to devote themselves to constant prayer (Acts 1:14).
They prayed for nine days before receiving the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.
On May 4, 1897, Pope Leo XIII proclaimed: "We decree and command that
throughout the whole Catholic Church, this year and in every subsequent
year, a novena shall take place before Whit-Sunday (Pentecost), in all
parish churches." It has been reported that Pope Leo XIII was inspired
to mandate the Pentecost novena because of a letter from a housewife in
Italy. Pope John Paul II has reiterated Pope Leo XIII's command for a
worldwide Pentecost novena, although the novena can be prayed at any
time — not only before Pentecost.
LINK: Novena to the Holy Spirit
A MOMENT WITH MARY: The Fiat of the Ascension
Everything that happened on the day of the Ascension, Mary kept in her
heart. She was educated by her Son's example, so Mary understood the
Father's will for her. "Thy will be done" - the Fiat of the
Annunciation and the Fiat of the Cross took Mary to the Fiat of the
Ascension.
Jesus disappeared before her eyes of flesh. She was forced to accept
this mystery of separation, which made her detachment purer and more
perfect than all those that she had experienced up to that point.
(Marie Benoite Angot)
PILOTCATHOLICNEWS: The Ascension of the Lord
Gladden us with holy joys, almighty God,
and make us rejoice with devout thanksgiving,
for the Ascension of Christ your Son is our exaltation,
and, where the Head has gone before in glory,
the Body is called to follow in hope.
When we hear the collect for the feast of the Ascension of the Lord, we
cannot help but stand with the Blessed Virgin Mary and the apostles on
that hillside as they stared up into the eastern sky, already longing
for the Lord who had ascended to the right hand of his father in
heaven. They gaze with a longing already for his return in glory at the
end of time.
But the collect for today's Mass, using a phrase from the prayers of
Advent, begs God to gladden us, to fill us with holy joys, to make us
rejoice as the Lord ascends to heaven.
Why would we rejoice when the Lord is leaving us? First, one might
suppose, it is because of the assurance of the Lord that he would
remain with us always until the end of time. Or perhaps, it is because
of his promise of the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, who will call upon us
at Pentecost.
But the collect suggests an even deeper reason for our joy. This joy is
rooted in devout thanksgiving that "where the Head has gone before in
glory, the Body is called to follow in hope." Christ, of course, is the
head of the Church. And now in his ascension into heaven he enters into
glory. But he, the firstborn of many brothers, is only laying out the
way that each of us should follow. For all who have died with the Lord,
St. Paul assures us, will live with the Lord. And where he has gone, we
too shall follow.
Which is why we live in hope. That's the meaning of the prayer the
priest prays during the Lord's Prayer just before we receive Holy
Communion:
''Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days,
that, by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and
safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of
our Savior, Jesus Christ.''
''Expectantes in beatam spem....'' This is the joyful hope of the
Blessed Virgin and the apostles on that first Ascension morning, it is
the hope of the Church as she awaits the return of her Savior in glory
and it is our hope, our joyful hope, as we await the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
INSTRUCTION ON THE FESTIVAL OF THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD
Where and how did Christ ascend into heaven?
From Mount Olivet where His sufferings began, by which we learn, that
where our crosses and afflictions begin which we endure with patience
and resignation, there begins our reward. Christ ascended into heaven
by His own power, because He is God, and now in His glorified humanity
He sits at the right hand of His Father, as our continual Mediator.
In whose presence did Christ ascend into heaven?
In the presence of His apostles, and many of His disciples, whom He
had previously blessed, (Luke XXIV. 51.) and who, as St. Leo says,
derived consoling joy from His ascension. Rejoice, also, O Christian
foul, for Christ has today opened heaven for you, and you may enter it,
if you believe in Christ, and live in accordance with that faith. St.
Augustine says: "Let us ascend in spirit with Christ, that when His day
comes, we may follow with our body.
Yet you must know, beloved brethren, that not pride, nor avarice, nor
impurity, nor any other vice ascends with Christ; for with the teacher
of humility pride ascends not, nor with the author of goodness, malice,
nor with the Son of the Virgin, impurity. Let us then ascend with Him
by trampling upon our vices and evil inclinations, thus building a
ladder by which we can ascend; for we make a ladder of our sins to
heaven when we tread them down in combating them:"
ASPIRATION O King of glory! O powerful Lord! who hast this day ascended
victoriously, above all heaven, leave us not as poor orphans; but send
us, from the Father, the Spirit of truth whom Thou hast promised.
Alleluia.
Why is the paschal candle extinguished after the Gospel on this day?
To signify that Christ, of whom the candle is a figure, has gone from His disciples.
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Patience & Generosity
2. You know that virtue is not practiced without
effort, but for one moment of suffering there follows an eternity of reward.
May 16, 2012
(Luk 23:28-31) But
Jesus turning to them, said: Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over me;
but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days
shall come, wherein they will say: Blessed are the barren and the wombs
that have not borne and the paps that have not given suck. Then shall
they begin to say to the mountains: Fall upon us. And to the hills:
Cover us. For if in the green wood they do these things, what shall be
done in the dry?
NEWS.VA: Radical Islamic groups fanning the conflict that plagues Lebanon
Radical Islamic Groups are fanning the conflict and want to infect
Lebanon: this is the alarm launched to Fides by Fr. Paul Karam,
National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Lebanon. Fr.
Karam, commenting on the recent clashes between Alawites and Sunnis in
Lebanon, said: "We are very concerned for two reasons: the flow of
Syrian refugees continues in northern Lebanon, moreover the conflict is
spreading in Lebanon. This happens because of political interests that
trample human rights, and the fragility of our country,
ethnic-religious composite mosaic. Herein lies the major component of
fanatic Islamic movements that fan on the religious aspect, fomenting
hatred among communities." Fr. Karam insists that "violence has never
solved anything: the road to reconciliation is dialogue, respect for
others, keeping in mind the good of the country."
On the conflict in Syria, Fr. Karam said: "Sending UN Observers is an
act of responsibility on behalf of the international community. But
should not be exploited at a political level by any of the warring
parties. We hope it is a mission in the sign of truth, credibility and
transparency. Only thus peace can be reached."The Christian situation
"is very worrying," says the priest. "In Syria – he recalls - the
faithful have freedom of faith and public testimony which is not
guaranteed in other states in the Middle East. We are concerned because
the Christians, as a minority, are the easiest target. Syrian fellow
priests tell us that the situation is dramatic: there are forces who
want to turn the conflict into a religious war, and this would be a
tragedy."
EDITORIAL: The Vatican and Islam: Has Dhimmitude Prevailed?
CNA: Catholic Middle East expert believes Arab Spring is 'no more'
One of the Catholic Church’s leading experts on the Middle East says the Arab Spring is “no more.”
“It was in the beginning a ‘springtime’ because really it was a free
movement, (an) independent, unorganized movement for freedom,” Father
Samir Khalil Samir told CNA.
But the movement slowly became “organized by other groups, especially
by Islamic groups, in Egypt, also in Libya, in Bahrain, so that now the
situation is no more a spring,” he said.
Fr. Samir is an Egyptian Jesuit who teaches at Rome’s Pontifical
Oriental Institute, as well as in Beirut and Paris. Last year he
cautiously welcomed the rise of the “Arab Spring,” a series of popular
uprisings that dislodged several Middle Eastern dictators.
While some observers were hopeful that more democratic forms of
government would take root in the wake of the protests, many countries
instead saw Islamist movements rise to political prominence.
Fr. Samir said this has been particularly true in his homeland of
Egypt, where the 30-year military dictatorship of President Hosni
Mubarak was toppled last year, and in other states such as Tunisia and
Libya.
He described the situation in Libya since the fall of Colonel Muammar
Gaddafi in October 2011 as “not wonderful” due to “an Islamization
after the secular system of Gaddafi.” He also believes that the present
civil uprisings in Bahrain and Syria are being fueled by Islamist
forces.
Fr. Samir said he still prays for “an open society for all people” in
the Arab world but believes there are two road blocks – a lack of
experience with democracy and a lack of education particularly for Arab
women.
MORE: Christianity at the crossroads in the Middle East - An interview with Fr. Samir Khalil Samir SJ
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: The Practice of Virtue
31. If you find within yourself an abyss of pride
and vain esteem, bury these passions in the abyss of the humility of the
Sacred Heart, wherein you must lose all that stirs you interiorly, so as
to be arrayed in His sacred annihilations.
May 15, 2012
(Jud 1:17-19) But
you, my dearly beloved, be mindful of the words which have been spoken
before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who told you that in
the last time there should come mockers, walking according to their own
desires in ungodlinesses. These are they who separate themselves,
sensual men, having not the Spirit.
CRISIS MAGAZINE: Obama Devolves
FROM THE MAILBAG
VIA The Moynihan Report:
There are a number of important things happening right now in the
Church. There is the battle for religious freedom between the
Church in the United States and the administration of President Barack
Obama. There is the investigation by the Holy See of the American
women religious orders. (Many note that the average age of the
nuns in many of these orders is now approaching, or surpassing, 70;
there are simply very few new vocations for most of these orders.)
There is the turmoil in the Church in Ireland, rocked by allegations of
harsh treatement and abuse of children, where the cardinal primate just
resigned. And there is Pope Benedict's imminent decision on
whether to welcome the Society of St. Pius X, the traditional
Catholic group founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, back into full
reunion with the Holy See. The decision is expected before
month's end (and the Society's reaction to that decision will then soon
follow). There is no doubt that the welcoming of a group of 500
traditional priests back into full communion with Rome -- and I
intentionally do not go into the question of what that relationship has
been up to now -- is a matter of considerable importance, as these
priests, and their lay congregations, would inevitably be a powerful
group on behalf of a traditional Catholic position in future
theological debates over the Church's relationship to the secular world
and over the interpretation of the Second Vatican Council, which is
another way of saying that there will be voices in the secular media
and on the "left" ready and willing to denounce the Pope harshly if he
does move to "regularize" the situation of the Lefebvrists.
Forewarned is forearmed.
But there are also other issues, and three in particular: first, to
simplify, is the issue of "gender," by which I mean the whole issue of
human sexuality, sexual morality, the nature and role of the family,
and even the demographic question -- and this does not exhaust the
issue; second, again to simplify, the issue of the globalized economy,
and the role of human work, and of private losses placed as debts on
the backs of the tax-paying public, to the point of constructing an
enormously unbalanced, and unjust economy, which may require our
children and grandchildren to pay off debts incurred recklessly during
recent decades; third, and once again, to greatly simplify, there is
the revolution occurring in genetics and genetic research, which
promises to provide great benefits to humanity, to human health and
well-being, but which is also fraught with the potential to bring great
problems, even great evils, some of them catastrophic.
NATIONAL CATHOLIC REGISTER: Egg-Producing Human Ovarian Stem Cells Concern Ethicists
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: The Practice of Virtue
29. When our Lord inspires us with some good deed,
He also gives the strength to do it.
May 11, 2012
THE TRIB TIMES WILL
RETURN NEXT WEEK, GOD WILLING (James 4:15).
(Mat 9:37-38) Then
he saith to his disciples, The harvest indeed is great, but the
labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he
send forth labourers into his harvest.
TO THE CATHOLIC CLERGY ON PRIESTLY SANCTITY HAERENT ANIMO: Apostolic Exhortation given by Pope St. Pius X on August 4, 1908.
ARCHBISHOP CHAPUT: Thoughts on an invitation to grace
Later this month, on May 19, I’ll ordain new priests for our local
Church. This is a special moment of joy for me, since these new
brothers will be the first I welcome into the priesthood as Archbishop
of Philadelphia. But every new priest is a source of joy and hope for
all our people. In the wake of so many difficulties for our
Church over the past 15 months, we need to pause and reflect.
Every genuine love story is a great love story; and every great love
story creates new life. Real love is always fruitful. The love of
husbands and wives bears fruit most obviously in the lives of their
children, but also in many forms of Christian service … and also in the
witness which their love provides to other people.
So it is with the priesthood. Priests are called to be fruitful,
but in a different and profoundly important way. They nourish the
Church with their lives. They create a witness of radical service, and
a legacy of spiritual children and apostolic works.
The point is this: The community of faith is not so different from the
individuals who live and love within it. The Church is the bride of
Christ — and that love needs to bear fruit. The new life which
the Church brings into the world is salvation in Jesus Christ, through
preaching and teaching the Gospel, and offering the sacraments. This is
why, in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells us, “Go, therefore, and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit….”
Jesus was talking to us — to all of us; but in a special way, to His
priests. If a priest does not actively share his love of Jesus Christ
with others, then it diminishes in his own heart. Priests who fail to
witness that love with purity and integrity, lose it. And no priest can
be happy without it. That’s what St. Paul meant when he wrote, “Woe to
me if I do not preach the Gospel.”
It’s not that God punishes those who do not preach God’s word; instead,
they steal joy from themselves, because the joy of Christ’s presence
can only be had by sharing Christ with others. The priest, like
any parent or anyone truly in love, “gets” by giving away. So if
Baptism indelibly marks every Christian as a missionary, Orders takes
that vocation even further, intimately and permanently configuring a
man to Jesus Himself, the greatest Love of them all.
Take a look around. The world needs Jesus Christ as never before. As a
Church in the early years of a new millennium, we find ourselves in the
midst of a powerful, skeptical and sharply divided society – a culture
fueled by both pride and anxiety.
In today’s America, we live in mission territory. This is the new
Areopagus. Philadelphia is no exception. The legacy of Catholic
achievement in our Archdiocese is extraordinary. But it can easily
blind us to the new work that God now calls us to do.
Each of us should reflect long and deeply on the meaning of the “new
evangelization.” Those words have weight; they’re not just a slogan. A
new missionary spirit needs to be born in each of our hearts, both lay
and clergy; and if it is, then God will use it to win the soul of the
world around us to Jesus Christ.
In a special way, we should focus on forming and supporting our priests
as effectively as we can. The reason is simple. There’s no Gospel
witness without the Church; there’s no Church without the Eucharist;
and there’s no Eucharist without the priest.
We need more priests — good men who are well formed; men of courage,
zeal and genuine humility; men who love Jesus Christ and his people,
and prove it with their lives. This is the first and most urgent step
in renewing our Church.
Of course, if it stops there — no matter how many good seminarians we
attract — we fail. Ultimately, while there’s no Church without
the Eucharist, and no Eucharist without the priest, it’s also true that
there are no priests without families on fire for Jesus Christ.
Families who help their sons to hear God’s call; who affirm and support
and encourage the priests who already serve them; who live their lives
in a way which proves to our priests that their own sacrifices make a
difference.
What I pray God builds through us in our Archdiocese over the next
decade, is not just an old way of seminary formation with a new
vocabulary, more numbers and an updated marketing strategy, but
something true to what the “new evangelization” really is — a communion
and mission of the whole Church, ordained, religious and lay, each
respecting the other, each serving the other, all serving the Lord by
bringing the Good News to the world, and the world to the Good News.
That’s the equality of the faithful: each vocation unique and
invaluable in dignity; each complementing and completing the other in
the Lord; altogether in service; and on fire with the love of God. May
19 is an invitation to grace; but so is every ordination, every
marriage, every baptism.
I hope that in the years ahead we can look back on 2012 and say, this
is where our hearts changed. This is where God began something new. And
if we can, then like Simeon, we can go home to Him in gratitude and
peace.
EBOOK LINK: Blessed Mary Secure Refuge and Path (Part 1), PART 2
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: The Practice of Virtue
28. Be faithful in the practice of virtue, never
willfully neglecting any occasion thereof.
May 9, 2012
(Psa 122:6-7) Pray
ye for the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem: and abundance
for them that love thee. Let peace be in thy strength: and abundance in
thy towers.
HEADLINE: Israel Throws Down Gauntlet: Iran Must Stop All Enrichment
Israel on Wednesday accused Iran of stalling in negotiations over its
nuclear program with the international community, and said an upcoming
round of talks can succeed only if the Iranians agree to halt all
uranium enrichment.
Israel is staking out a hardline stance ahead of the May 23 talks in
Baghdad, where six world powers will sit down with Iranian officials in
hopes of resolving the standoff. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who
considers a nuclear-armed Tehran to be a mortal threat, has hinted he
would order an attack on Iran if he concludes that international
diplomacy and sanctions have failed.
Israel, like the West, believes Iran is trying to develop a nuclear
bomb. Enriched uranium is a key ingredient in an atomic weapon,
although it can also be used in energy production and for medical
isotopes. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.
RELATED: Iran suspected of clean-up operation at nuclear site
MORE: Israel warns Hizbollah over Iran
COMMENTARY: Will Israel deal with Palestine or bomb Iran? We may be about to find out
FROM THE MAILBAG
VIA David Dolan: Political analysts are saying this afternoon that the new Israeli government
reformation is not only a very dramatic and unexpected development, but
probably means that an Israeli military strike on Iran is in the
offing. Netanyahu would want as broad a government as possible if
he orders his military forces into action against Iran, especially
since this would probably spark off a major Middle East war. That
in turn would increase political and economic upheaval not only here in
the tense region, but in many places around the world. Still,
Netanyahu knows that polls show a majority of Israeli voters back such
action, given that the extremist Iranian regime is pursuing nuclear
weapons while vowing to wipe the Jewish State off of the world
map. Facing his own re-election this year, US President Barack
Obama would probably be very unhappy with any unilateral IDF action,
although his need for Jewish votes in key swing states like Florida
might cause him to bite his lip. Indeed, many are saying that is
another reason why Netanyahu feels the need to order a strike this year
before the US ballot in early November, and early Knesset elections in
September would have interfered with that reality.
All this to say, the prospects of an Israeli military operation
designed to sharply set back Iran’s nuclear program have vastly
increased, literally overnight. Keep us in prayer as the shakings
continue here in the region and around the world.
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: The Practice of Virtue
27. Try to draw profit from and make good use of
the holy affections that you receive from the Sovereign Goodness, endeavoring
to benefit by them. Be ever attentive to good inspirations, for the Holy
Spirit breathes where He wills. Grace is offered, but if refused, never
returns. Therefore let us profit by it.
May 8, 2012
(Joh 15:4-5) Abide
in me: and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless
it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am
the vine: you the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the
same beareth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.
CRISIS MAGAZINE: The Well-Sheltered Catholic
POPE BENEDICT XVI: THE CATHOLIC IDENTITY OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
"It is no exaggeration", the Pope added, "to say that providing young
people with a sound education in the faith represents the most urgent
internal challenge facing the Catholic community in your country".
"First, as we know, the essential task of authentic education ...
is not simply that of passing on knowledge, essential as this is, but
also of shaping hearts. There is a constant need to balance
intellectual rigour in communicating ... the richness of the
Church’s faith with forming the young in the love of God, the praxis of
the Christian moral and sacramental life and, not least, the
cultivation of personal and liturgical prayer".
The Holy Father went on to explain that "the question of Catholic
identity, not least at the university level, entails much more than the
teaching of religion or the mere presence of a chaplaincy on
campus. All too often, it seems, Catholic schools and colleges
have failed to challenge students to reappropriate their faith as part
of the exciting intellectual discoveries which mark the experience of
higher education. The fact that so many new students find
themselves dissociated from the family, school and community support
systems that previously facilitated the transmission of the faith
should continually spur Catholic institutions of learning to create new
and effective networks of support.
"In every aspect of their education, students need to be encouraged to
articulate a vision of the harmony of faith and reason capable of
guiding a life-long pursuit of knowledge and virtue. ... In
effect, faith by its very nature demands a constant and all-embracing
conversion to the fullness of truth revealed in Christ. ...
The Christian commitment to learning, which gave birth to the medieval
universities, was based upon this conviction that the one God, as the
source of all truth and goodness, is likewise the source of the
intellect’s passionate desire to know and the will’s yearning for
fulfilment in love.
"Only in this light can we appreciate the distinctive contribution of
Catholic education, which engages in a “diakonia of truth” inspired by
an intellectual charity which knows that leading others to the truth is
ultimately an act of love. Faith’s recognition of the essential
unity of all knowledge provides a bulwark against the alienation and
fragmentation which occurs when the use of reason is detached from the
pursuit of truth and virtue; in this sense, Catholic institutions have
a specific role to play in helping to overcome the crisis of
universities today".
LIFENEWS.COM: Georgetown to Have Pro-Abortion Sebelius Give Commencement
ACTION ALERT: Sign Cardinal Newman Society Petition re: Georgetown Scandal
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: The Practice of Virtue
26. Forget your own interests and leave the care
of yourself to your heavenly Father. The further you withdraw from self,
the closer you draw to God.
May 4, 2012
THE TRIB TIMES WILL
RETURN NEXT WEEK, GOD WILLING (James 4:15).
(Deu 30:19) I
call heaven and earth to witness this day, that I have set before you
life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose therefore life, that both
thou and thy seed may live:
CATHOLIC REVIEW: Fortnight for Freedom By Cardinal Edwin F. O’Brien
HEADLINE: Priests For Life Responds to Obama’s Attempt to “Dismiss” Lawsuit
MEMO VIA US Catholic Bishops Prolife Office:
As you know, since January there has been much attention to our efforts
to address the very troubling Health and Human Services (HHS) coercive
mandate requiring almost all private health plans to cover
contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs. For the
first time in our nation’s history, the federal government will force
religious institutions to facilitate drugs and procedures contrary to
our moral teaching. And it will purport to define which religious
institutions are “religious enough” to merit an exemption.
While the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has had to respond
quickly to many urgent situations with the Administration, Congress and
the media, we certainly want to be responsive to our people in the
pews. The Conference has been working to develop a series of
bulletin inserts to address a wide range of issues from our concerns
over religious liberty to the Church’s teaching on sexuality and
openness to new human life. Some of these will simply be
catechetical, and others will encourage parishioners to take some
needed action.
The first insert is now available for parish distribution from the end of April through the end of May. The focus is on “Religious Liberty, the Most Cherished of American Freedoms,” [Spanish]
and it encourages parishioners to send an email message to HHS during
the limited comment period announced by the Administration. As
the Conference has done with the other nationwide bulletin inserts
related to healthcare reform or the HHS mandate, these are being
provided electronically to bishops and their diocesan leaders.
This model has worked well as many parishes have printed these
one-sided inserts directly into their bulletins. All inserts will
be provided in both English and Spanish and can be printed in B&W
or color.
Over the next months, suggested homily notes, Prayers of the Faithful,
and additional prayer resources will continue to be posted on the USCCB
website www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/conscience-protection/resources-on-conscience-protection.cfm#prayers.
On the topic of prayer, we’re pleased to report that the nationwide
call to prayer has been a great success. Even before the first
print run of our nationwide prayer cards, the order had to be
increased. Thank you for encouraging your parishes to participate
in this prayer campaign. Prayer cards can be ordered on-line in
English and Spanish at www.usccbpublishing.org/productdetails.cfm?sku=7-328 .
One final reminder: These and all other resources are found through our main conscience page which has a convenient “nickname”: www.usccb.org/conscience.
BISHOP GEORGE LEO THOMAS:
“One thing that I would certainly want to share with the people of our
own diocese, but certainly across the country and the world, and that
is to take seriously your own individual call to holiness your personal
encounter with Christ, and to remain very steeped in the sacramental
life of the Church. It is an emancipating and joyful life as a
Catholic.”
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: The Practice of Virtue
25. I beg of Him with all my heart to make you
ever faithful to what He asks of you, ready to sacrifice to Him all that
costs you the most, according as He makes His will known to you; for there
is no middle course; He will have all or nothing.
May 2, 2012
Quote from St Athanasius:
"But for the searching and right understanding of the Scriptures there
is need of a good life and a pure soul, and for Christian virtue to
guide the mind to grasp, so far as human nature can, the truth
concerning God the Word. One cannot possibly understand the teaching of
the saints unless one has a pure mind and is trying to imitate their
life. Anyone who wants to look at sunlight naturally wipes his eye
clear first, in order to make, at any rate, some approximation to the
purity of that on which he looks; and a person wishing to see a city or
country goes to the place in order to do so. Similarly, anyone who
wishes to understand the mind of the sacred writers must first cleanse
his own life, and approach the saints by copying their deeds. Thus
united to them in the fellowship of life, he will both understand the
things revealed to them by God and, thenceforth escaping the peril that
threatens sinners in the judgment, will receive that which is laid up
for the saints in the kingdom of heaven."
MARK MALLET BLOG: The Great Vacuum
CNA: New book asks: Is US a 'nation of heretics?'
How did America become a nation of heretics?
We've always been a nation of heretics. Heresy used to be constrained
and balanced by institutional Christianity to a far greater extent than
it is today. What's unique about our religious moment is not the
movements and currents such as the "lost gospel" industry, the world of
prosperity preaching, the kind of therapeutic religion that you get
from someone like Oprah Winfrey, or various highly politicized forms of
faith. What's new is the weakness of the orthodox Christian response.
There were prosperity preachers and therapeutic religion in the 1940s
and '50s—think of bestsellers like Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of
Positive Thinking—but there was also a much more robust Christian
center.
The Protestant and Catholic churches that made a real effort to root
their doctrine and practice in historic Christianity were vastly
stronger than they are today. Even someone who was dabbling in what I
call heresy was also more likely to have something in his religious
life—some institutional or confessional pressure—tugging him back
toward a more traditional faith. The influence of heretics has been
magnified by the decline of orthodox Christianity.
IN THE NEWS: Atheist group demands cross be removed from memorial to war veterans
PRIEST'S BLOG COMMENTARY ON HERESY: Shooting and breaking the legs of sheep and heretics
ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY BY Ann Barnhardt: http://barnhardt.biz/
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: The Practice of Virtue
21. You must be indifferent to all created things
and especially to the impulses prompted by your self-love and your own
will. This self-will He wishes you to sacrifice as often as He gives
you the opportunity thereof, by breaking and thwarting it, until it is
wholly destroyed and extinct, in order that the Will of His divine Heart,
alone, may reign in you.
May 1, 2012
(Mat
5:11-12) Blessed
are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all
that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake: Be glad and rejoice for
your reward is very great in heaven. For so they persecuted the
prophets that were before you.
EXCERPT INIQUIS AFFLICTISQUE ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS XI:
29. The Church which, from the day of Pentecost, has been destined here
below to a never-ending life, which went forth from the upper chamber
into the world endowed with the gifts and inspirations of the Holy
Spirit, what has been her mission during the last twenty centuries and
in every country of the world if not, after the example of her Divine
Founder, "to go about doing good"? (Acts x, 38) Certainly this work of
the Church should have gained for her the love of all men;
unfortunately the very contrary has happend as her Divine Master
Himself predicted (Matt. x, 17, 25) would be the case. At times the
bark of Peter, favored by the winds, goes happily forward; at other
times it appears to be swallowed up by the waves and on the point of
being lost. Has not this ship always aboard the Divine Pilot who knows
when to calm the angry waves and the winds? And who is it but Christ
Himself Who alone is all-powerful, who brings it about that every
persecution which is launched against the faithful should react to the
lasting benefit of the Church? As St. Hilary writes, "it is a
prerogative of the Church that she is the vanquisher when she is
persecuted, that she captures our intellects when her doctrines are
questioned, that she conquers all at the very moment when she is
abandoned by all." (St. Hilary of Poitiers De Trinitate, Bk. VII, No. 4)
NEWS REPORT: Muslim
Persecution of Christians: March, 2012 - Part Two
The war on Christianity and its adherents rages on in the Muslim world.
In March alone, Saudi Arabia's highest Islamic law authority decreed
that churches in the region must be destroyed; jihadis in Nigeria said
they "are going to put into action new efforts to strike fear into the
Christians of the power of Islam by kidnapping their women"; American
teachers in the Middle East were murdered for being or talking about
Christianity; churches were banned or bombed, and nuns terrorized by
knife-wielding Muslim mobs. Christians continue to be attacked,
arrested, imprisoned, and killed for allegedly "blaspheming" Islam's
prophet Muhammad; former Muslims continue to be attacked, arrested,
imprisoned, and killed for converting to Christianity.
Nigeria: A Boko Haram suicide car bomber attacked a Catholic church, killing at least 10 people.
The bomb detonated as worshippers attended Mass at St. Finbar's
Catholic Church in Jos, a city where thousands of Christians have died
in the last decade as a result of Boko Haram's jihad, and where another
church was attacked, killing three, less than two weeks earlier.
Nigeria: The Islamist organization Boko Haram declared "war" on Christians,
saying it aims to "annihilate the entire Christian community living in
the northern parts of the country." According to a spokesman, "We will
create so much effort to end the Christian presence in our push to have
a proper Islamic state that the Christians won't be able to stay."
Along with constant church bombings—most recently on Easter, killing
nearly 50—one of the groups new strategies is "to strike fear into the
Christians of the power of Islam by kidnapping their women."
LATEST: 16 killed in attack on Catholic worship service at Nigeria university
VATICAN RADIO: Archbishop Kaigama: Nigeria attacks defy all reason
Twenty one people are being mourned in Nigeria today after they were
killed by gunmen who attacked Christian religious services on Sunday in
the north of the country. The co-ordinated assaults happened at a
university campus, during the observance of a religious service, and a
church.
“This horrific attack really defies all logic”, said the Archbishop of
Jos and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria,
Ignatius Kaigama, reacting to Sunday’s killings. He told Lydia O’Kane
that people are “in a state of shock” and are wondering when the
violence will stop.
Archbishop Kaigama also added his Archdiocese has been touched by
violence recently. “My church was attacked, so many killed. A few
weeks ago we had the one month’s mind of the death of 14 of our
parishioners who died in that attack.”
No group has claimed responsibility for this latest violence, but the
attacks bore similarities to others carried by a radical Islamist sect
known as Boko Haram.
MORE: Listen to Lydia O'Kane's full interview with Archbishop Kaigama
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: The Practice of Virtue
20. Let us not waste time reflecting
so much upon
our troubles, either past or present. We must think about them as
little as possible, for they have less power to harm us when we
disregard
and ignore them.
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