Old Books Made New

Late this year, a book written by Amy and myself fifteen years ago will be re-released under a new title by Ave Maria Press. Neither of us was ever very thrilled about the original art in The Biblical Way of the Cross, when I was asked if I had any artist in mind for the revision I immediately suggested Michael O'Brien and all though it seemed unlikely at the time that was possible it now turns out that indeed the new edition will feature the beautiful art of Michael O'Brien and be presented in full color!
The other book that will also be rereleased this Fall is Take Up Your Cross, A Lenten Walk with Jesus which is a reworking and complete revision of The Power of the Cross--perhaps Our Sunday Visitor will be able to land Michael O'Brien for the cover art of that books as well!

Day to Pray for China

From Pope Benedict via Father Mark:

Dear Pastors and all the faithful, the date 24 May could in the future become an occasion for the Catholics of the whole world to be united in prayer with the Church which is in China. This day is dedicated to the liturgical memorial of Our Lady, Help of Christians, who is venerated with great devotion at the Marian Shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai.

Here is the prayer to say:

Prayer to Our Lady, Help of Christians, of Sheshan

Virgin Most Holy, Mother of the Incarnate Word and our Mother,
venerated in the Shrine of Sheshan under the title "Help of Christians",
the entire Church in China looks to you with devout affection.
We come before you today to implore your protection.
Look upon the People of God and, with a mother's care, guide them
along the paths of truth and love, so that they may always be
a leaven of harmonious coexistence among all citizens.

When you obediently said "yes" in the house of Nazareth,
you allowed God's eternal Son to take flesh in your virginal womb
and thus to begin in history the work of our redemption.
You willingly and generously cooperated in that work,
allowing the sword of pain to pierce your soul,
until the supreme hour of the Cross, when you kept watch on Calvary,
standing beside your Son, who died that we might live.

From that moment, you became, in a new way,
the Mother of all those who receive your Son Jesus in faith
and choose to follow in his footsteps by taking up his Cross.
Mother of hope, in the darkness of Holy Saturday you journeyed
with unfailing trust towards the dawn of Easter.
Grant that your children may discern at all times,
even those that are darkest, the signs of God's loving presence.

Our Lady of Sheshan, sustain all those in China,
who, amid their daily trials, continue to believe, to hope, to love.
May they never be afraid to speak of Jesus to the world,
and of the world to Jesus.
In the statue overlooking the Shrine you lift your Son on high,
offering him to the world with open arms in a gesture of love.
Help Catholics always to be credible witnesses to this love,
ever clinging to the rock of Peter on which the Church is built.
Mother of China and all Asia, pray for us, now and for ever. Amen!

Corpus Christi

From Reuters India:

In his sermon at the Mass at St. John's before the start of the procession, the Pope said that communion joined all

Catholics together -- regardless of their backgrounds.

"We are united beyond our differences of nationality, profession, social class, ideas," he said.

Romanus the Melodist

Pope's weekly catechesis, from Vatican Radio:

In today’s catechesis we turn to the Christian poetry of Romanus the Melodist. Born in Syria at the end of the fifth century, Romanus received a classical education, was ordained a deacon, and settled in Constantinople. His preaching took the form of chanted metrical hymns known as “kontakia”, consisting of an introduction and a series of stanzas punctuated by a refrain. Some eighty-nine of these have come down to us, and they testify to the rich theological, liturgical and devotional content of the hymnography of that time. Composed in simple language accessible to his hearers, these kontakia are notable for their dramatic dialogues and their use of sustained metaphors. Romanus was a catechist concerned to communicate the unity of God’s saving plan revealed in Christ. His hymns, steeped in Scripture, develop the teaching of the early Councils on the divinity of the Son, the mystery of the Incarnation, the person and role of the Holy Spirit, and the dignity of the Virgin Mary. Romanus shows us the power of symbolic communication which, in the liturgy, joins earth to heaven and uses imagery, poetry and song to lift our minds to God’s truth.

Thoughts on “Roman Catholics for Obama ’08”

From Archbishop Chaput in First Things:

In fact, I can’t name any pro-choice Catholic politician who has been active, in a sustained public way, in trying to discourage abortion and to protect unborn human life—not one. Some talk about it, and some may mean well, but there’s very little action. In the United States in 2008, abortion is an acceptable form of homicide. And it will remain that way until Catholics force their political parties and elected officials to act differently.

Why do I mention this now? Earlier this spring, a group called “Roman Catholics for Obama ’08” quoted my own published words in the following way:

So can a Catholic in good conscience vote for a pro-choice candidate? The answer is: I can’t, and I won’t. But I do know some serious Catholics— people whom I admire—who may. I think their reasoning is mistaken, but at least they sincerely struggle with the abortion issue, and it causes them real pain. And most important: They don’t keep quiet about it; they don’t give up; they keep lobbying their party and their representatives to change their pro-abortion views and protect the unborn. Catholics can vote for pro-choice candidates if they vote for them despite—not because of—their pro-choice views.

What’s interesting about this quotation—which is accurate but incomplete—is the wording that was left out. The very next sentences in the article of mine they selected, which Roman Catholics for Obama neglected to quote, run as follows:

But [Catholics who support pro-choice candidates] also need a compelling proportionate reason to justify it. What is a “proportionate” reason when it comes to the abortion issue? It’s the kind of reason we will be able to explain, with a clean heart, to the victims of abortion when we meet them face to face in the next life—which we most certainly will. If we’re confident that these victims will accept our motives as something more than an alibi, then we can proceed.

On their website, Roman Catholics for Obama stress that:

After faithful thought and prayer, we have arrived at the conclusion that Senator Obama is the candidate whose views are most compatible with the Catholic outlook, and we will vote for him because of that—and because of his other outstanding qualities—despite our disagreements with him in specific areas.

I’m familiar with this reasoning. It sounds a lot like me thirty years ago. And thirty years later, we still have about a million abortions a year. Maybe Roman Catholics for Obama will do a better job at influencing their candidate. It could happen. And I sincerely hope it does, since Planned Parenthood of the Chicago area, as recently as February 2008, noted that Senator Barack Obama “has a 100 percent pro-choice voting record both in the U.S. Senate and the Illinois Senate.”

Changing the views of “pro-choice” candidates takes a lot more than verbal gymnastics, good alibis, and pious talk about “personal opposition” to killing unborn children. I’m sure Roman Catholics for Obama know that, and I wish them good luck. They’ll need it.

Hero Dies

Irena Sendler, 98--responsible for saving about 3,000 Polish Jews during the Holocaust, from the LA Times:

Fate may have led Irena Sendler to the moment almost 70 years ago when she
began to risk her life for the children of strangers. But for this humble Polish
Catholic social worker, who was barely 30 when one of history's most nightmarish
chapters unfolded before her, the pivotal influence was something her parents
had drummed into her."

I was taught that if you see a person drowning," she said,
"you must jump into the water to save them, whether you can swim or not."...

...Sendler, 98, who died of pneumonia Monday in Warsaw, has been called the female Oskar Schindler, but she saved twice as many lives as the German industrialist, who sheltered 1,200 of his Jewish workers.

Unlike Schindler, whose story received international attention in the 1993 movie "Schindler's List," Sendler and her heroic actions were almost lost to history until four Kansas schoolgirls wrote a play about her nine years ago.The lesson Sendler taught them was that "one person can make a difference,"

Megan Felt, one of the authors of the play, said Monday."Irena wasn't even 5 feet tall, but she walked into the Warsaw ghetto daily and faced certain death if she was caught. Her strength and courage showed us we can stand up for what we believe in, as well," said Felt, who is now 23 and helps raise funds for aging Holocaust rescuers...

...She and her friends smuggled the children out in boxes, suitcases, sacks and coffins, sedating babies to quiet their cries. Some were spirited away through a network of basements and secret passages. Operations were timed to the second.

One of Sendler's children told of waiting by a gate in darkness as a German soldier patrolled nearby. When the soldier passed, the boy counted to 30, then made a mad dash to the middle of the street, where a manhole cover opened and he was taken down into the sewers and eventually to safety.

Decades later, Sendler was still haunted by the parents' pleas, particularly of those who ultimately could not bear to be apart from their children."The one question every parent asked me was 'Can you guarantee they will live?' We had to admit honestly that we could not, as we did not even know if we would succeed in leaving the ghetto that day. The only guarantee," she said, "was that the children would most likely die if they stayed."

Most of the children who left with Sendler's group were taken into Roman Catholic convents, orphanages and homes and given non-Jewish aliases. Sendler recorded their true names on thin rolls of paper in the hope that she could reunite them with their families later. She preserved the precious scraps in jars and buried them in a friend's garden.

In 1943, she was captured by the Nazis and tortured but refused to tell her captors who her co-conspirators were or where the bottles were buried. She also resisted in other ways. According to Felt, when Sendler worked in the prison laundry, she and her co-workers made holes in the German soldiers' underwear. When the officers discovered what they had done, they lined up all the women and shot every other one. It was just one of many close calls for Sendler.

During one particularly brutal torture session, her captors broke her feet and legs, and she passed out. When she awoke, a Gestapo officer told her he had accepted a bribe from her comrades in the resistance to help her escape. The officer added her name to a list of executed prisoners. Sendler went into hiding but continued her rescue efforts.Felt said that

Sendler had begun her rescue operation before she joined the organized resistance and helped a number of adults escape, including the man she later married. "We think she saved about 500 people before she joined Zegota," Felt said, which would mean that Sendler ultimately helped rescue about 3,000 Polish Jews.

When the war ended, Sendler unearthed the jars and began trying to return the children to their families. For the vast majority, there was no family left. Many of the children were adopted by Polish families; others were sent to Israel.

In 1965, she was recognized by Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust authority, as a Righteous Gentile, an honor given to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Nazi reign. In her own country, however, she was unsung, in part because Polish anti-Semitism remained strong after the war and many rescuers were persecuted.

Her status began to change in 2000, when Felt and her classmates learned that the woman who had inspired them was still alive. Through the sponsorship of a local Jewish organization, they traveled to Warsaw in 2001 to meet Sendler, who helped the students improve and expand the play. Called "Life in a Jar," it has been performed more than 250 times in the United States, Canada and Poland and generated media attention that cast a spotlight on the wizened, round-faced nonagenarian.

For more on Irena Sendler click here.

Saint Mathias, Apostle

First example in the Bible of Apostolic succession...after the Ascension of Jesus, from the Acts of the Apostles:

In those days Peter stood up among the brethren (the company of persons was in all about a hundred and twenty), and said, [16] "Brethren, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David, concerning Judas who was guide to those who arrested Jesus. [17] For he was numbered among us, and was allotted his share in this ministry. [18] (Now this man bought a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. [19] And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Akel'dama, that is, Field of Blood.) [20] For it is written in the book of Psalms, `Let his habitation become desolate,and let there be no one to live in it';and `His office let another take.' [21] So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, [22] beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us -- one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection." [23] And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsab'bas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthi'as. [24] And they prayed and said, "Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show which one of these two thou hast chosen [25] to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside, to go to his own place." [26] And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthi'as; and he was enrolled with the eleven apostles.

Read Pope Benedict XVI's teaching on the Apostle Mathias in The Apostles

General Audience: Religions of the East

A different angle today by Pope Benedict:

In the reflection he had previously addressed to the 30,000 people present at the Wednesday audience, the pope had spoken about dialogue with the mystical religions of Asia, maintaining that these are based on the idea that God is found through praising him, praying to him, and not only through reflection, because even the highest concepts that can be expressed about God do not arrive at his greatness. It is faith and love that are capable of illuminating reason, the sense of being part of the "cosmic symphony" of praise for the Creator. Benedict XVI today illustrated the relevance of this "journey", which was at the centre of the work of one of the Church fathers of the sixth century, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, a promoter of the encounter between Greek thought and Christianity, showing how Dionysius responded to the school of thought that sought to transform Plato into a "philosophical religion" for a return to Greek polytheism, the divinities of which "are the cosmic forces themselves" and therefore more true than Christian monotheism. Dionysius transformed this polytheistic universe into the harmony of the cosmos of God, into the symphony of the cosmos that spans from the Seraphim to the angels, from the archangels to man. This is the "symphony of God", the "cosmic praise of God", because "all of creation speaks of God". "Speaking of God always means singing for God, with the great song of the creatures that is reflected and embodied in liturgical praise". It is a "mystical theology", with which Dionysius expresses the journey of the soul to God, and which becomes "liturgical theology": to sing with the choir of the creatures of the cosmos.

Much of the pope's reflection today was developed spontaneously, and maintained that the true spirit of dialogue is in the search for truth, it is "the experience of the truth", "and then the truth itself sheds light and overthrows errors", "it is possible to speak with one another, or at least draw closer to each other". Dialogue among Christians or with the other religions, in fact, "is not born from superficiality", but "from the truth", and "precisely where one enters into the profundity of the encounter with Christ, there is opened wide the space for the light of the truth, which is light for all; controversies disappear and it becomes possible to approach each other".

Also in our time, "dialogue means precisely being near to Christ and to God: it is in the experience of the truth, which opens us to the light and to the encounter with others; in the final analysis", he continued, recalling the experience of Saint Francis, "it tells us to take the path of experience, of humble experience, when the heart expands and is able to illuminate reason".

Feast of Our Lady of Fatima

Only extended to the universal church in 2002, of course also the anniversary of the attempt on Pope John Paul II's life at Saint Peter's. For a rare and excellent look at the children of Fatima see Leo Madigan's:

Australian Bishops Take Fellow Bishop to Task

Release negative critique of a book he published, from the Australian Bishops Conference:

In 2007 Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, retired Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of
Sydney, published a book entitled “Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic
Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus.”
We are grateful for the
contribution Bishop Robinson has made to the life of the Church. We are deeply
indebted to him for his years of effort to bring help and healing to those who
have suffered sexual abuse and for what he has done to establish protocols of
professional standards for Church personnel in this area. In responding to the
issues raised in the book, we do not question his good faith. However, people
have a right to know clearly what the Catholic Church believes and teaches, and
the Bishops have a corresponding duty to set this forth, as we seek to do in
this statement.
After correspondence and conversation with Bishop Robinson,
it is clear that doctrinal difficulties remain. Central to these is a
questioning of the authority of the Catholic Church to teach the truth
definitively. In Saint John’s Gospel, Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit to
the disciples in order to lead them into the fullness of the truth (cf. John
16:13). It is Catholic teaching that the Church has been endowed with this gift
of truth.
The book’s questioning of the authority of the Church is connected
to Bishop Robinson’s uncertainty about the knowledge and authority of Christ
himself. Catholics believe that the Church, founded by Christ, is endowed by him
with a teaching office which endures through time. This is why the Church’s
Magisterium teaches the truth authoritatively in the name of Christ. The book
casts doubt upon these teachings.
This leads in turn to the questioning of
Catholic teaching on, among other things, the nature of Tradition, the
inspiration of the Holy Scripture, the infallibility of the Councils and the
Pope, the authority of the Creeds, the nature of the ministerial priesthood and
central elements of the Church’s moral teaching.
The authority entrusted by
Christ to his Church may at times be poorly exercised, especially in shaping
policy and practice in complex areas of pastoral and human concern. This does
not, in Catholic belief, invalidate the Church’s authority to teach particular
truths of faith and morals.

Horrible Loss of Life

In Myramar and China and how you can help:

Catholic Relief Services

Caritas International

The Pope Stumbles

Old news, happened yesterday, but in this picture the MC's offer a Christ like example in helping the pope back to his feet setting a true Pentecost example:

The Octave of Pentecost?

This morning I mused on our way to Mass that it seemed strange that there wasn't an Octave of Pentecost--given that it celebrates the coming of the Third Person of the Trinity. Well it turns out that there was an Octave, but that it disappeared in the 1960's, Father Mark has a post on this. Let us hope that Pope Benedict might restore this Octave as he calls upon the Church to experience a new Pentecost!

Pentecost

Pope Benedict's homily, from Asia News Italy:

The group of disciples that receives the Holy Spirit is the "new Israel", a "new creation", which speaks in "other languages". It is a community "constructed not by human will, but by the power of the Spirit of God . . . a community that at the same time is one and universal".

"The Church that is born at Pentecost", Benedict XVI further explains, "is not in the first place a particular community - the Church of Jerusalem - but the universal Church, which speaks the languages of all peoples. From this are then born communities in every part of the world, particular Churches that are all and always actualisations of the only and unique Church of Christ". In the ecumenical world and in some fringes of the Catholic Church, the preeminence of the particular Church is often emphasised, looking to the unity of the Church (and the pope) as a sort of optional association, a federation constituted externally. "The Catholic Church", the pope adds, "is not . . . a federation of Churches, but a unique reality: ontological priority belongs to the universal Church. Without being Catholic in this sense, a community would not even be a Church".

In the "federalist" view of the Church, Catholics are called "Roman" in order to limit the universality of this Church. Benedict XVI explains that the Rome cited in the Acts of the Apostles "was the symbol of the pagan world in general", and that in the vision of Luke "the power of the Holy Spirit would guide the steps of the witnesses 'to the ends of the earth' (Acts 1:8), all the way to Rome". The "Roman" character of the Church is therefore another sign of catholicity and universality: "the journey of the word of God, begun in Jerusalem, reaches its destination, because Rome represents the entire world and thus embodies the Lucan idea of catholicity. The universal Church is realised, the Catholic Church".

The Church created by the Spirit has peace as its characteristic. Benedict XVI returned to the Gospel of today's Mass, which recalls the appearance of Jesus in the Cenacle, and the gift of "shalom" (peace) offered by the Risen One. "'Shalom' is not a simple greeting; it is much more: it is the gift of the peace that is promised (cf. John 14:27) and won by Jesus at the price of his blood, it is the fruit of his victory in the struggle against the spirit of evil. It is therefore a peace 'not as the world gives', but as only God can give".

This gift brings with it the responsibility to spread it in the world, among all peoples. The pontiff recalls his recent speech to the United Nations as a sign of this lived responsibility. "But", he adds, "one must not think only of these events 'at the top'. The Church realises its service to the peace of Christ above all in its ordinary presence and action among men, with the preaching of the Gospel and with the signs of love and mercy that accompany this (cf. Mark 16:20)".

The pope then cites one of the main signs: that of reconciliation, both as the sacrament of confession ("How important, and unfortunately not sufficiently understood, is the gift of Reconciliation, which pacifies hearts!") and as daily effort in society: "The peace of Christ is spread only through the renewed hearts of reconciled men and women who have been made servants of justice, ready to defend peace in the world solely with the power of truth, without descending to compromises with the mentality of the world, because the world cannot give the peace of Christ: this is how the Church can be the leaven of the reconciliation that comes from God".

Latin Now Available on Vatican Web Site

Documenta Lingua Latina

Music and Diplomacy

From Asia News Italy:

Everything began with the music, which in the words of both the pope and of maestro Long Yu, who conducted the performance, is a "privileged instrument for encounter and reciprocal knowledge and esteem between different populations and cultures". And the pope - who loves to play the piano - paid homage to the music by going up onto the stage to greet the orchestra, which repaid the favour with a beautiful song from Turandot. But Benedict XVI also saw in the music the means to "understand better the history of the Chinese people, their values and their noble aspirations". At the same time, he noted "with pleasure the interest shown by your orchestra and choir in European religious music. This", he added, "shows that it is possible, in different cultural settings, to enjoy and appreciate sublime manifestations of the spirit such as Mozart’s Requiem which we have just heard, precisely because music expresses universal human sentiments, including the religious sentiment, which transcends the boundaries of every individual culture".

It was a short step from this point to present the image that the Church wants Beijing to recognise, and, naturally without naming it, the right to religious freedom. "I should also like to say a word", Benedict XVI said, "regarding this place where we have come together this evening. It is the great hall in which the Pope receives his guests and meets those who come to visit him. It is like a window opening onto the world, a place where people from all over the world often meet, with their own personal stories and their own culture, all of them welcomed with esteem and affection. In greeting you this evening, dear Chinese artists, the Pope intends to reach out to your entire people, with a special thought for those of your fellow citizens who share faith in Jesus and are united through a particular spiritual bond with the Successor of Peter. The Requiem came into being through this faith as a prayer to God, the just and merciful judge, and that is why it touches the hearts of all people, as an expression of humanity’s universal aspirations".

And, before expressing a wish "for every good" in Chinese, the pope sent his "greetings, through you, to all the people of China as they prepare for the Olympic Games, an event of great importance for the entire human family".

Christian Unity Focus of General Audience

From Asia News Italy :

Benedict XVI, addressing the 40,000 people present in Saint Peter's Square, spoke of his "joy" at the possibility of welcoming the head of the Armenian Church. "His presence", he continued, "revives within us our hope for the unity of all Christians". The pope then recalled "the unforgettable visit made" by Karekin to Rome in 2000, immediately after his election. "In meeting with him, John Paul II gave him an extraordinary relic of Saint John the Illuminator", a "father" of that Church whose "commitment to dialogue" he emphasised. Benedict XVI said that he is "certain that the current visit will contribute to intensifying the relations that exist between our Churches", and to "advancing hope along the road of ecumenism". The Lord, he added, "never abandons us on our journey", and in our "efforts to overcome every laceration in the living fabric of the Church".

Benedict XVI then gave thanks "for the accomplishments reached in this journey that leads to the full communion of all the disciples of Christ", and he finally repeated his exhortation to prayer for unity that he addressed to Catholics during his recent visit to the United States.

Pope to Text Msg Youth at WYD

From Scientific American:

The Pope will text daily messages of inspiration and hope during the six-day Sydney event while digital prayer walls will be erected at event sites and the church will set up a Catholic social networking Web site akin to a Catholic Facebook.

The Catholic Church said it decided to use technology to connect to the estimated 225,000 young Catholics expected to attend the World Youth Day (WYD) celebrations that start on July 15.

Pope Offers Condolences to Tragedy Victims

Death toll continues to rise, from Asia News Italy:

The official death toll from May 3rd cyclone Nagris which hit Myanmar is over 15 thousand people. According to state TV, in the city of Bogalay alone the body count numbers 10 thousand people, while the foreign minister Nyan Win reports 30 thousand missing and countless more homeless. The scale of the disaster, the worst to rock the region since the 2004 tsunami, has forced the military junta to accept offers of international aid, usually viewed with deep suspicion. A move which points to a far more dramatic final death count.

From the Vatican:

DEEPLY SADDENED BY NEWS OF THE TRAGIC AFTERMATH OF THE RECENT CYCLONE, THE HOLY FATHER EXPRESSES HIS HEARTFELT SYMPATHY. WITH PRAYERS FOR THE VICTIMS AND THEIR FAMILIES, HE INVOKES GOD’S PEACE UPON THE DEAD AND DIVINE STRENGTH AND COMFORT UPON THE HOMELESS AND ALL WHO ARE SUFFERING. CONFIDENT THAT THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY WILL RESPOND WITH GENEROUS AND EFFECTIVE RELIEF TO THE NEEDS OF YOUR COUNTRYMEN, HIS HOLINESS ASKS YOU TO CONVEY HIS SOLIDARITY AND CONCERN TO THE CIVIL AUTHORITIES AND TO ALL THE BELOVED PEOPLE OF MYANMAR

Magister on Politicians and Holy Communion

From Chiesa:

But now that it has exploded once again, the impression is that a more strict approach is taking hold among the bishops of the United States. It was striking that cardinal Egan did not limit himself to recalling general principles, but directly criticized a famous political figure, and moreover accused him of violating a private agreement made with him.

In Europe and in Italy, such questions are not even raised. The fact that "pro-choice" politicians should receive communion does not raise any particular reactions. Their decision is left to their personal conscience.

The fact that in the United States, on the other hand, this question is so inflammatory is another sign of the differences in the political-religious landscapes on either side of the Atlantic: a diversity repeatedly emphasized by Benedict XVI during his visit and in the concluding audience on Wednesday, April 30.

In the United States, religion is a public reality to a much greater extent and in a different way than in Europe. With the consequences that follow from this.