Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Fire, Snails, and Song in Honor of J. the B.

Father Z has the tradritions:
Build a fire tonight, eat snails, and sing something in honor of St. John the Baptist!

Friday, June 20, 2008

Year of Saint Paul Study Guide

Our Sunday Visitor has co-published with The Birmingham Catholic Press a new book by Father Mitch Pacwa, S.J. on St. Paul: St. Paul: Jubilee Year of the Apostle Paul Edition: A Bible Study for Catholics


The Pope Speaks About Catholic Radio

From the Vatican Information Service:

Today in the Vatican the Holy Father received participants in a symposium entitled: "The identity and mission of Catholic radio today". The symposium was organised by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, which is presided by Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli.



"As you work in Catholic radio stations you are at the service of the Word", the Pope told the more than 100 delegates from 50 countries. "The words that you broadcast each day are an echo of that eternal Word which became flesh. ... The Incarnation took place in a distant village, far away from the noisy imperial cities of antiquity. Today, even though you make use of modern communication technologies, the words which you broadcast are also humble, and sometimes it may seem to you that they are completely lost amidst the competition of other noisy and more powerful mass media.



"But do not be disheartened!" he added. "The words which you transmit reach countless people, some of whom are alone and for whom your word comes as a consoling gift, some of whom are curious and are intrigued by what they hear, some of whom never attend church because they belong to different religions or to no religion at all, and others still who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ, yet through your service first come to hear the words of salvation. This work of patient sowing, carried on day after day, hour after hour, is your way of co-operating in the apostolic mission".



"If the many forms and types of communication may be seen as a gift from God to help individuals and all humankind to develop, then radio, through which you exercise your apostolate, brings words and music to people in order to inform and to entertain, to announce and to denounce, but always respecting the truth and with the clear aim of educating in truth and hope. Jesus Christ gives us the Truth about man and the truth for man and, on the basis of that truth, a hope for the present and future of humanity in the world".



The Holy Father went on to express the view that "radio, due to its association with the word, participates in the mission and visibility of the Church, but it also creates a new way of living, of being and of making the Church; this brings with it various ecclesiological and pastoral challenges. It is important to make the Word of God attractive, giving it consistency through your transmissions so as to touch the hearts of the men and women of our time, and to participate in transforming the lives of our contemporaries".



"What exhilarating prospects your commitment and your work open up!" the Holy Father exclaimed. "Even now, your networks can be a small but real echo in the world of the network of friendship that the presence of the risen Christ, the God-with-us, inaugurated between heaven and earth and among mankind of all continents and epochs. In this way your work will become a full part of the mission of the Church, which I invite you to love deeply. By helping the heart of each person to open to Christ, you will help the world to open to hope and to that civilisation of truth and love which is the most eloquent result of His presence among us".


Sunday, June 01, 2008

Pope: Renew the Practice of the Daily Offering

From Asia News Italy:

"I invite everyone to renew, in the month of June, his devotion to the Heart of Christ, making use also of the traditional prayer of daily offering and including the intentions I have proposed for the whole Church". This is the pope's suggestion to the approximately 30,000 faithful gathered in St Peter's Square for the Angelus prayer.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart has roots in the Middle Ages, but it was emphasised and encouraged by the popes after the appearance of Jesus to St Marguerite Marie Alacoque in the 17th century.

"The Heart of Christ", the pontiff explained, "expresses in a simple and authentic way the 'good news' of love, summarising in itself the mystery of the Incarnation and of the Redemption . . . From the infinite horizon of his love, in fact, God wished to enter within the limits of history and the human condition, he took on a body and a heart, so that we can contemplate and encounter the infinite in the finite, the invisible and ineffable Mystery in the human Heart of Jesus, the Nazarene".

Benedict XVI recalled that his two encyclicals have also been inspired by the mystery of the Sacred Heart: "In my first encyclical, on the theme of love, the point of departure was precisely the contemplation of the pierced side of Christ, of which John speaks in his Gospel (cf. 19:37; Deus Caritas Est, 12). And this centre of the faith is also the source of hope in which we have been saved, the hope that I made the object of the second encyclical".

"Every person ", the pope continued, "needs a 'centre' for his life, a source of truth and goodness to draw upon in various situations and in the struggle of everyday life. Each of us, when we pause in silence, needs to feel not only the beating of his own heart, but more profoundly the pulsing of a trustworthy presence, which is sensed through faith but nonetheless is much more real: the presence of Christ, the heart of the world".

The solemnity of the sacred Heart of Jesus was celebrated last Friday, May 30. The following day, the Immaculate Heart of Mary is venerated.

Benedict XVI concluded with an invocation to the "maternal intercession of the Virgin" for the populations of China and Myanmar, "struck by natural calamities", and "for those going through the many situations of pain, illness, and material and spiritual misery that mark humanity's journey".