Hat tip to Father Z who wonders if they are doing these translations on Babelfish....
From "GUIDELINES FOR THE PASTORAL CARE OF THE ROAD":
PART FOUR
THE PASTORAL CARE OF THE HOMELESS (Tramps)
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Priest Plows into Restaurant
From KVUE:
Smithville's La Cabana restaurant hopes to attract drive-by traffic from Highway 71, but not drive-in traffic.
But Gina Chronis says that's exactly what happened Monday night when a truck driven by a 61-year-old Smithville priest made an unexpected entrance.
"They were panicking, shocked. And they were telling me what happened and asked for direction," said Chronis. "Instead of using the brakes, he used the accelerator as he was coming into the building."
Chronis says of the 13 people inside the dining area 6 people in had to be transported to the hospital.
Meanwhile the driver of the crash, father Karel Fink, was arrested on DWI charges.
He is the priest at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Smithville, which serves some 280 families.
The church declined comment but Austin bishop Gregory Aymond released a statement.
"My heartfelt concern and prayers are extended to those hurt by this accident and I am sorry for the incident."
It goes on to detail that father Karel "recently returned from treatment for alcoholism. Obviously he needs more treatment to continue his recovery," said Aymond.
Smithville's La Cabana restaurant hopes to attract drive-by traffic from Highway 71, but not drive-in traffic.
But Gina Chronis says that's exactly what happened Monday night when a truck driven by a 61-year-old Smithville priest made an unexpected entrance.
"They were panicking, shocked. And they were telling me what happened and asked for direction," said Chronis. "Instead of using the brakes, he used the accelerator as he was coming into the building."
Chronis says of the 13 people inside the dining area 6 people in had to be transported to the hospital.
Meanwhile the driver of the crash, father Karel Fink, was arrested on DWI charges.
He is the priest at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Smithville, which serves some 280 families.
The church declined comment but Austin bishop Gregory Aymond released a statement.
"My heartfelt concern and prayers are extended to those hurt by this accident and I am sorry for the incident."
It goes on to detail that father Karel "recently returned from treatment for alcoholism. Obviously he needs more treatment to continue his recovery," said Aymond.
Cardinal Keeler up and Walking After Brain Surgery
From the Baltimore Sun:
He walked in his hospital room several times yesterday, said Sean Caine, an archdiocese spokesman. The 76-year-old prelate also celebrated Mass in his room.
Surgeons inserted a shunt Monday to release excess cerebrospinal fluid that had built up in his brain's ventricles.
He walked in his hospital room several times yesterday, said Sean Caine, an archdiocese spokesman. The 76-year-old prelate also celebrated Mass in his room.
Surgeons inserted a shunt Monday to release excess cerebrospinal fluid that had built up in his brain's ventricles.
Bizare--Liturgical 'go-go' dancing?
From Matt C Abbot:
A reader sent me the following photos of three girls (I've omitted their faces) — dressed rather provocatively — who, er, danced at a recent Franciscan Jubilee Mass for a group of women religious at the cathedral in the Joliet, Ill., Catholic diocese.
Click on Matt's name for the rest.
A reader sent me the following photos of three girls (I've omitted their faces) — dressed rather provocatively — who, er, danced at a recent Franciscan Jubilee Mass for a group of women religious at the cathedral in the Joliet, Ill., Catholic diocese.
Click on Matt's name for the rest.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Vatican Releases 10 Commandments for Drivers
From "GUIDELINES FOR THE PASTORAL CARE OF THE ROAD":
Resorting to our Heavenly Intercessors should not make us forget the importance of the sign of the cross, to be made before setting out on a journey. With this sign we put ourselves directly under the protection of the Holy Trinity. Indeed, this directs us above all to the Father, as origin and destination. In this regard, we recall the words of the psalm: “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways” (Psalms 91 [90]:11).
The sign of the cross thus entrusts us to our guide, Jesus Christ (cf. John 8:12). The Emmaus encounter (cf. Luke 24:13-35) reassures us that the Lord meets everyone along the road, lodges in the houses of those who invite him, travels with us and sits beside us.
Finally, the sign of the cross takes us back to “the Holy Spirit, who is Lord and gives Life”[25]. To those who call on him, he illuminates the mind and grants the gift of prudence to reach one’s destination. This is confirmed by the hymn, Veni Creator: “Ductore sic te praevio, vitemus omne noxium” (“If you are the one who guides us, we will avoid anything that might harm us”).
60. During a journey it is also beneficial to pray vocally, especially taking turns with our fellow travellers in reciting the prayers, as when reciting the Rosary[26] which, due to its rhythm and gentle repetition, does not distract the driver’s attention. This will help to feel immersed in the presence of God, to stay under his protection, and may also give rise to a desire for communal or liturgical celebration, if possible at “spiritually strategic” points along the road or railway (shrines, churches and chapels, including mobile ones).
We have drawn up a special “decalogue” for them, in analogy with the Lord’s Ten Commandments. These are stated here below, as indications, considering that they may also be formulated differently.
I. You shall not kill.
II. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.
III. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.
IV. Be charitable and help your neighbour in need, especially victims of accidents.
V. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.
VI. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.
VII. Support the families of accident victims.
VIII.Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.
IX. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.
X. Feel responsible towards others.
Resorting to our Heavenly Intercessors should not make us forget the importance of the sign of the cross, to be made before setting out on a journey. With this sign we put ourselves directly under the protection of the Holy Trinity. Indeed, this directs us above all to the Father, as origin and destination. In this regard, we recall the words of the psalm: “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways” (Psalms 91 [90]:11).
The sign of the cross thus entrusts us to our guide, Jesus Christ (cf. John 8:12). The Emmaus encounter (cf. Luke 24:13-35) reassures us that the Lord meets everyone along the road, lodges in the houses of those who invite him, travels with us and sits beside us.
Finally, the sign of the cross takes us back to “the Holy Spirit, who is Lord and gives Life”[25]. To those who call on him, he illuminates the mind and grants the gift of prudence to reach one’s destination. This is confirmed by the hymn, Veni Creator: “Ductore sic te praevio, vitemus omne noxium” (“If you are the one who guides us, we will avoid anything that might harm us”).
60. During a journey it is also beneficial to pray vocally, especially taking turns with our fellow travellers in reciting the prayers, as when reciting the Rosary[26] which, due to its rhythm and gentle repetition, does not distract the driver’s attention. This will help to feel immersed in the presence of God, to stay under his protection, and may also give rise to a desire for communal or liturgical celebration, if possible at “spiritually strategic” points along the road or railway (shrines, churches and chapels, including mobile ones).
We have drawn up a special “decalogue” for them, in analogy with the Lord’s Ten Commandments. These are stated here below, as indications, considering that they may also be formulated differently.
I. You shall not kill.
II. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.
III. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.
IV. Be charitable and help your neighbour in need, especially victims of accidents.
V. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.
VI. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.
VII. Support the families of accident victims.
VIII.Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.
IX. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.
X. Feel responsible towards others.
Never Thought I'd Post Anything Pro-Hilary Here
But, I have to admit this is pretty ingenious, even includes Amy's favorite Johnny Sachs...Hilary Spoofs "Sopranos" Finale
Feast of St. Romuald
Founder of the Camaldolese Monks who have a monastery in Big Sur.
A "Brief Rule" from Wikopedia:
Sit in your cell as in paradise. Put the whole world behind you and forget it. Watch your thoughts like a good fisherman watching for fish, The path you must follow is in the Psalms — never leave it.
If you have just come to the monastery, and in spite of your good will you cannot accomplish what you want, take every opportunity you can to sing the Psalms in your heart and to understand them with your mind.
And if your mind wanders as you read, do not give up; hurry back and apply your mind to the words once more.
Realize above all that you are in God's presence, and stand there with the attitude of one who stands before the emperor.
Empty yourself completely and sit waiting, content with the grace of God, like the chick who tastes nothing and eats nothing but what his mother brings him.
If you have just come to the monastery, and in spite of your good will you cannot accomplish what you want, take every opportunity you can to sing the Psalms in your heart and to understand them with your mind.
And if your mind wanders as you read, do not give up; hurry back and apply your mind to the words once more.
Realize above all that you are in God's presence, and stand there with the attitude of one who stands before the emperor.
Empty yourself completely and sit waiting, content with the grace of God, like the chick who tastes nothing and eats nothing but what his mother brings him.
Teaching Young Priests How To "Read" Mass in Latin
There are schools forming out there, Father Z reports.
Episcopal Priest Converts to Islam
while remaining Christian?
From World News Daily:
A veteran Episcopal priest says she became a Muslim just over a year ago and now worships at a mosque Fridays – but that hasn't stopped her from donning her white collar Sunday mornings.
"I am both Muslim and Christian, just like I'm both an American of African descent and a woman. I'm 100 percent both," Rev. Ann Holmes Redding told the Seattle Times.
Redding, a priest for more than 20 years, until recently was director of faith formation at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle, the paper reported. Now, she's telling the world about her adherence to Islam, provoking bewilderment from Christians and Muslims.
"I am both Muslim and Christian, just like I'm both an American of African descent and a woman. I'm 100 percent both," Rev. Ann Holmes Redding told the Seattle Times.
Redding, a priest for more than 20 years, until recently was director of faith formation at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle, the paper reported. Now, she's telling the world about her adherence to Islam, provoking bewilderment from Christians and Muslims.
US News and World Report Muses About Liturgical Fights
on the horizon....ironically seen as a battle between old (liberals) versus young (conservatives).
From US News and World Report:
Given the fierce fight that preceded Vatican II—the liturgical and doctrinal reforms of the mid-1960s that sought to make the church more accessible—a similar war would seem needed to overturn them. But a movement is building at seminaries nationwide to do just that: In addition to restoring the Latin mass, young priests are calling for greater devotion to the Virgin Mary, more frequent praying of the rosary, and priests turning away from the congregation as they once did. Perhaps most controversially, they also advocate a dimished role for women, who since Vatican II have been allowed to participate in the mass as lay altar servers and readers.
Such changes would seem to aggravate the church's growing attendance problems(in 2003, 40 percent of Roman Catholics said they had attended church in the past week, down from 74 percent in 1958) as well as enhance its air of exclusivity—the notion of Catholicism as the only true faith. Yet proponents of the movement argue that just the opposite holds: More people will attend mass if the traditions are richer and the doctrine stricter. The Latin mass, they say, would restore a sense of community they believe was diluted when the church allowed local culture to override tradition. In Chicago alone, mass is now said in some 50 languages.
From US News and World Report:
Given the fierce fight that preceded Vatican II—the liturgical and doctrinal reforms of the mid-1960s that sought to make the church more accessible—a similar war would seem needed to overturn them. But a movement is building at seminaries nationwide to do just that: In addition to restoring the Latin mass, young priests are calling for greater devotion to the Virgin Mary, more frequent praying of the rosary, and priests turning away from the congregation as they once did. Perhaps most controversially, they also advocate a dimished role for women, who since Vatican II have been allowed to participate in the mass as lay altar servers and readers.
Such changes would seem to aggravate the church's growing attendance problems(in 2003, 40 percent of Roman Catholics said they had attended church in the past week, down from 74 percent in 1958) as well as enhance its air of exclusivity—the notion of Catholicism as the only true faith. Yet proponents of the movement argue that just the opposite holds: More people will attend mass if the traditions are richer and the doctrine stricter. The Latin mass, they say, would restore a sense of community they believe was diluted when the church allowed local culture to override tradition. In Chicago alone, mass is now said in some 50 languages.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Begins Tomorrow!
Prayed from June 19-27th...(pages 156-159 of The Church's Most Powerful Novenas
)
)Father Mark reminds his readers at Vultus Christi:
I invite the readers of Vultus Christi to join me in making the Novena in Preparation for the Feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Help on June 27th. This is also the perfect moment to obtain an icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help and put it in in a place of honour in your home. Images of Our Mother of Perpetual Help are readily available from the Redemptorist Fathers nearest you.
Things change when a family, a community, or a person living alone, begin to live under the compassionate gaze of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. By accepting the icon of the Mother of God into our homes, we accept her also into our hearts and so fulfill what is written concerning Saint John, the Beloved Disciple of the Lord: "And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own" (Jn 19:27).
I invite the readers of Vultus Christi to join me in making the Novena in Preparation for the Feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Help on June 27th. This is also the perfect moment to obtain an icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help and put it in in a place of honour in your home. Images of Our Mother of Perpetual Help are readily available from the Redemptorist Fathers nearest you.
Things change when a family, a community, or a person living alone, begin to live under the compassionate gaze of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. By accepting the icon of the Mother of God into our homes, we accept her also into our hearts and so fulfill what is written concerning Saint John, the Beloved Disciple of the Lord: "And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own" (Jn 19:27).
Cardinal Angelo Felici Dies
Pope Benedict will preside at the funeral Mass, from the Boston Herald:
The 87-year-old Vatican diplomat and former head of the Congregation for Saints Causes spent the greater part of his life in the Vatican’s foreign service. Born in a town near Rome, Felici studied Canon Law before joining the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, where he worked for 19 years.
In 1967, Pope Paul VI sent him on a mission to Jerusalem after the Six-Day War between Arabs and Israel is. Before heading the Vatican department responsible for candidates for sainthood, Felici served as papal nunzio, or Vatican ambassador in the Netherlands, Portugal and France. He was named a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 1988.
The 87-year-old Vatican diplomat and former head of the Congregation for Saints Causes spent the greater part of his life in the Vatican’s foreign service. Born in a town near Rome, Felici studied Canon Law before joining the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, where he worked for 19 years.
In 1967, Pope Paul VI sent him on a mission to Jerusalem after the Six-Day War between Arabs and Israel is. Before heading the Vatican department responsible for candidates for sainthood, Felici served as papal nunzio, or Vatican ambassador in the Netherlands, Portugal and France. He was named a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 1988.
Catholic School, Convent Desecrated in Gaza
From IOL:
A school and convent belonging to the Gaza Strip's tiny Roman Catholic community were ransacked, burned and looted during clashes around a major security headquarters, the head of the community said on Monday.
Crosses were broken, a statue of Jesus was damaged, and prayer books were burnt at the Rosary Sisters School and nearby convent, said Father Manuel Musallem, head of Gaza's Latin church.
The damage took place on Thursday, but wasn't reported until days later because of the chaos that has prevailed since Islamic Hamas militants wrested power in Gaza, Musallem said. The religious compound is located near a key security headquarters Hamas captured on Thursday on the final day of its Gaza takeover.
A school and convent belonging to the Gaza Strip's tiny Roman Catholic community were ransacked, burned and looted during clashes around a major security headquarters, the head of the community said on Monday.
Crosses were broken, a statue of Jesus was damaged, and prayer books were burnt at the Rosary Sisters School and nearby convent, said Father Manuel Musallem, head of Gaza's Latin church.
The damage took place on Thursday, but wasn't reported until days later because of the chaos that has prevailed since Islamic Hamas militants wrested power in Gaza, Musallem said. The religious compound is located near a key security headquarters Hamas captured on Thursday on the final day of its Gaza takeover.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
"Its All There"
Tony Soprano Didn't Just Get Whacked, He Practically Had a Funeral (Genius...inaccuracies about the Mass, but I think close to what was in Chase's mind).
The Pope in Assisi
I began to watch the live coverage of this at 4:00 a.m. this morning, but fell asleep during the Gospel, here is what I missed (and I suspect you did too)from Asia News Italy:
Francis’ conversion to Christ, “the desire to ‘transform himself’ in Him” is key to understanding the life of the saint from Assisi, which has become the model and ideal for the commitment on many modern day themes: “the search for peace, safeguarding nature, promotion of dialogue between men. Francis is a true master of all these things. But he is because based in Christ. Christ in fact is “our peace” (Eph 2, 14). Christ is the very centre of the cosmos, because through him all things were made ( Jn 1, 3)”.
By centring the Poor man from Assisi in Christ, Benedict XVI re-vindicated the figure of Francis from attempted ideological and religious manipulation, which tends to portray him as an ephemeral ecologist in love with nature, or as a “soft hearted” soul, open to everything and everyone, an “excessive interlocutor”, forgetful of his Christian identity and of the Gospel.
Since early this morning the Pontiff has been on a pilgrimage to the Franciscan sites of Assisi to celebrate the 800th anniversary of Saint Francis’ conversion.
After a short pause at the Rivotorto, where St. Francis lived with the first brothers for about two years, he passed on to the sanctuary of St Damian, where Francis received the call of the cross to go and “make his Church whole again”, and the Church of St May Magdalene, the memorial of Saint Francis’ service to the lepers.
During the homily in the square below the basilica, the Pope traced the personality and conversion of Francis referring to the figures of the converted described today in liturgy of the word, on the XI Sunday of the year.
He recalled above all the personage and sin of David, fallen “low” and “blinded by his passion for Bethsabe”. Francis, continued Benedict XVI, perhaps did not sin as David, but – according to his own accounts as laid out in his testament - “above and beyond single episodes, his conceiving and pursuit of vain dreams of earthly glory was sinful”: His “naturally generous soul” did not allow him to dominate “the physical disgust” when faced with lepers. “By serving the lepers, by kissing them – underlined the Pope – he was not merely making a philanthropic gesture, it was not just a 'social conversion’, no, it was a religious experience, commanded by the initiative of God’s grace and by love for God….man is truly realised by the measure in which he lives with God and in God, recognising and loving him in his fellow man”.
The Pontiff then went on to compares Francis and the apostle Paul, the first who speaks of “stigmata” on his body, thus clearly marking the ecclesial nature of their commitment, not as simple bearers of good values or activists. “In the discussion over how to live in an upright way, or how to live the Gospel – affirmed the Pope – in the end, the arguments of thought to no twin; the reality of life has the final word, communion lived and suffered with Christ, not just in thoughts or in words, but to the very depths of existence involving the body and the flesh. The bruises which emerge from a long story of passion and torment are the witness of Christ’s cross on the body of Saint Paul, they are his stigmata”. And turning again to Francis he adds: “his journey was the daily strain to become like Christ. He fell in love with Christ. The wounds of the cross pained his heart, before they marked his body on the Verna. He really could say together with Paul: ‘I no longer live, it is Christ who lives in me’”:
The third figure recalled by the Pope is that of the sinner whom Christ forgives because “they have greatly loved”. “In Christ – adds the Pope – God gifts us love and asks us for love”. And he adds: “My dear brothers and sisters what else was the life of Francis converted if not a great gesture of love? His passionate prayers reveal this, rich in contemplation and praise, his tender embrace of the Child in Greccio, his contemplation of the passion in a Verna, his "living according to the way of the Sacred Gospel” (2 Test 14: FF 116), his choice of poverty and his search for Christ in the face of the poor. This is his conversion to Christ, to the very point of wanting to ‘transform himself’ into Him, becoming in him a complete image, which explains his typical way of life making it relevant in all times regarding the great themes of today, such as the search for peace, safeguarding nature, the promotion of dialogue between all men. Francis is a true master of these things. But he is because based in Christ. Christ in fact is “our peace” (Eph 2, 14). Christ is the very centre of the cosmos, because through him all things were made (Jn 1, 3)… Christ is the divine truth, the eternal "Logos", in which all "dia-logos" finds its foundation. Francis profoundly incarnates this “Christological” truth which is at the very root of human existence, of the cosmos and of History”.
Dwelling on this relationship between Logos and dialogue, Benedict XVI defined the sense of the Assisi meeting launched by John Paul II in October 1986, gathering together the representatives of the great religions to pray for peace. According to some that encounter was a “selling short” of the Christian identity in the name of an impossible unity with other religions; for others, the following development of the Church, and of the Church of Benedict XVI, so careful of Christian identity, was a “betrayal” of Assisi. According to the Pope, that encounter 20 years ago was a “prophetic intuition and a moment of grace”. “The choice of celebrating this encounter in Assisi – underscored the Pontiff – was suggested by the witness of Francis as a man of peace, whom many regard with esteem and affection, even those of other religions and cultures. At the same time the light of the Poor man from Assisi over that initiative was a guarantee of its Christian authenticity, in so far as his life and his message are visibly based on the choice of Christ, rejecting outright all temptations of religious indifference, which has nothing whatsoever to do with true inter-religious dialogue. The ‘spirit of Assisi’, which since that event has continued to spread throughout the world, opposes the spirit of violence, the abuse of religion as a pretext for violence. Assisi tells us that faithfulness to ones own religious convictions, faithfulness above all to Christ crucified and risen, is not expressed by violence and intolerance, but in sincere respect of the other, in dialogue, in a message which appeals for peace and reconciliation”. Saint Francis is thus a model for all Christians of a true evangelical behaviour, capable of “uniting acceptance, dialogue and respect for all with the certainty of faith which each Christian …..is called to cultivate, announcing Christ as the way, truth and life of mankind (Jn 14, 6), the true Saviour of the world”
Francis’ conversion to Christ, “the desire to ‘transform himself’ in Him” is key to understanding the life of the saint from Assisi, which has become the model and ideal for the commitment on many modern day themes: “the search for peace, safeguarding nature, promotion of dialogue between men. Francis is a true master of all these things. But he is because based in Christ. Christ in fact is “our peace” (Eph 2, 14). Christ is the very centre of the cosmos, because through him all things were made ( Jn 1, 3)”.
By centring the Poor man from Assisi in Christ, Benedict XVI re-vindicated the figure of Francis from attempted ideological and religious manipulation, which tends to portray him as an ephemeral ecologist in love with nature, or as a “soft hearted” soul, open to everything and everyone, an “excessive interlocutor”, forgetful of his Christian identity and of the Gospel.
Since early this morning the Pontiff has been on a pilgrimage to the Franciscan sites of Assisi to celebrate the 800th anniversary of Saint Francis’ conversion.
After a short pause at the Rivotorto, where St. Francis lived with the first brothers for about two years, he passed on to the sanctuary of St Damian, where Francis received the call of the cross to go and “make his Church whole again”, and the Church of St May Magdalene, the memorial of Saint Francis’ service to the lepers.
During the homily in the square below the basilica, the Pope traced the personality and conversion of Francis referring to the figures of the converted described today in liturgy of the word, on the XI Sunday of the year.
He recalled above all the personage and sin of David, fallen “low” and “blinded by his passion for Bethsabe”. Francis, continued Benedict XVI, perhaps did not sin as David, but – according to his own accounts as laid out in his testament - “above and beyond single episodes, his conceiving and pursuit of vain dreams of earthly glory was sinful”: His “naturally generous soul” did not allow him to dominate “the physical disgust” when faced with lepers. “By serving the lepers, by kissing them – underlined the Pope – he was not merely making a philanthropic gesture, it was not just a 'social conversion’, no, it was a religious experience, commanded by the initiative of God’s grace and by love for God….man is truly realised by the measure in which he lives with God and in God, recognising and loving him in his fellow man”.
The Pontiff then went on to compares Francis and the apostle Paul, the first who speaks of “stigmata” on his body, thus clearly marking the ecclesial nature of their commitment, not as simple bearers of good values or activists. “In the discussion over how to live in an upright way, or how to live the Gospel – affirmed the Pope – in the end, the arguments of thought to no twin; the reality of life has the final word, communion lived and suffered with Christ, not just in thoughts or in words, but to the very depths of existence involving the body and the flesh. The bruises which emerge from a long story of passion and torment are the witness of Christ’s cross on the body of Saint Paul, they are his stigmata”. And turning again to Francis he adds: “his journey was the daily strain to become like Christ. He fell in love with Christ. The wounds of the cross pained his heart, before they marked his body on the Verna. He really could say together with Paul: ‘I no longer live, it is Christ who lives in me’”:
The third figure recalled by the Pope is that of the sinner whom Christ forgives because “they have greatly loved”. “In Christ – adds the Pope – God gifts us love and asks us for love”. And he adds: “My dear brothers and sisters what else was the life of Francis converted if not a great gesture of love? His passionate prayers reveal this, rich in contemplation and praise, his tender embrace of the Child in Greccio, his contemplation of the passion in a Verna, his "living according to the way of the Sacred Gospel” (2 Test 14: FF 116), his choice of poverty and his search for Christ in the face of the poor. This is his conversion to Christ, to the very point of wanting to ‘transform himself’ into Him, becoming in him a complete image, which explains his typical way of life making it relevant in all times regarding the great themes of today, such as the search for peace, safeguarding nature, the promotion of dialogue between all men. Francis is a true master of these things. But he is because based in Christ. Christ in fact is “our peace” (Eph 2, 14). Christ is the very centre of the cosmos, because through him all things were made (Jn 1, 3)… Christ is the divine truth, the eternal "Logos", in which all "dia-logos" finds its foundation. Francis profoundly incarnates this “Christological” truth which is at the very root of human existence, of the cosmos and of History”.
Dwelling on this relationship between Logos and dialogue, Benedict XVI defined the sense of the Assisi meeting launched by John Paul II in October 1986, gathering together the representatives of the great religions to pray for peace. According to some that encounter was a “selling short” of the Christian identity in the name of an impossible unity with other religions; for others, the following development of the Church, and of the Church of Benedict XVI, so careful of Christian identity, was a “betrayal” of Assisi. According to the Pope, that encounter 20 years ago was a “prophetic intuition and a moment of grace”. “The choice of celebrating this encounter in Assisi – underscored the Pontiff – was suggested by the witness of Francis as a man of peace, whom many regard with esteem and affection, even those of other religions and cultures. At the same time the light of the Poor man from Assisi over that initiative was a guarantee of its Christian authenticity, in so far as his life and his message are visibly based on the choice of Christ, rejecting outright all temptations of religious indifference, which has nothing whatsoever to do with true inter-religious dialogue. The ‘spirit of Assisi’, which since that event has continued to spread throughout the world, opposes the spirit of violence, the abuse of religion as a pretext for violence. Assisi tells us that faithfulness to ones own religious convictions, faithfulness above all to Christ crucified and risen, is not expressed by violence and intolerance, but in sincere respect of the other, in dialogue, in a message which appeals for peace and reconciliation”. Saint Francis is thus a model for all Christians of a true evangelical behaviour, capable of “uniting acceptance, dialogue and respect for all with the certainty of faith which each Christian …..is called to cultivate, announcing Christ as the way, truth and life of mankind (Jn 14, 6), the true Saviour of the world”
Open Book/Annunciations Bestseller's List
For June 2007
(as of June 17, 2007)
What Books People who Read Amy's Open Book blog and Michael's Annunciation blog are buying this month.
1. Jesus of Nazareth
2. The Apostles
3. Loyola Kids Book of Saints (Loyola Kids)
4. The Secrets of Rome: Love and Death in the Eternal City
5. (tie) The How-To Book of the Mass: Everything You Need to Know but No One Ever Taught You
5. (tie) The Church's Most Powerful Novenas
Friday, June 15, 2007
Jewish author honored for book on friendship with pope
From Philadephia.com:
Several Roman Catholic Church leaders gathered for ceremonies to honor a Jewish author's friendship with the late Pope John Paul II and her ability to touch other's lives.
Lena Allen-Shore, of Philadelphia, an adjunct professor at Gratz College, began a close acquaintance with the pope when he responded to a letter she wrote in 1979, weeks after his election as the first Polish pope. They met several times, and she wrote "Building Bridges," about their childhoods outside Krakow, Poland, and their different paths, which did not cross until old age.
"She entered and survived the Holocaust," Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore told a gathering at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C., marking the release of the third edition of "Building Bridges." Keeler recalled how Allen-Shore masqueraded as a Catholic in her native Poland during World War II, vowing to devote herself to "building bridges" if she survived.
Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the papal representative to the United States, described John Paul's account of childhood in Poland. "He said that when he was 15, he saw a great number of his Jewish friends disappearing" at the hands of the Nazis, "and he said, 'I could do nothing. But now I can do something,'" Sambi said.
The new edition of "Building Bridges" includes a note John Paul wrote when the first edition was published, saying, "Thank you for seeing deep into my thoughts and understanding the intentions guiding my actions," and praising Allen-Shore for writing "with heart."
Several Roman Catholic Church leaders gathered for ceremonies to honor a Jewish author's friendship with the late Pope John Paul II and her ability to touch other's lives.
Lena Allen-Shore, of Philadelphia, an adjunct professor at Gratz College, began a close acquaintance with the pope when he responded to a letter she wrote in 1979, weeks after his election as the first Polish pope. They met several times, and she wrote "Building Bridges," about their childhoods outside Krakow, Poland, and their different paths, which did not cross until old age.
"She entered and survived the Holocaust," Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore told a gathering at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C., marking the release of the third edition of "Building Bridges." Keeler recalled how Allen-Shore masqueraded as a Catholic in her native Poland during World War II, vowing to devote herself to "building bridges" if she survived.
Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the papal representative to the United States, described John Paul's account of childhood in Poland. "He said that when he was 15, he saw a great number of his Jewish friends disappearing" at the hands of the Nazis, "and he said, 'I could do nothing. But now I can do something,'" Sambi said.
The new edition of "Building Bridges" includes a note John Paul wrote when the first edition was published, saying, "Thank you for seeing deep into my thoughts and understanding the intentions guiding my actions," and praising Allen-Shore for writing "with heart."
The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
From Vultus Christi:The gates forbiddenbecame the open portal,the lover’s embrace,the safeway, the only way, for no one comes to the Father (cf. Jn 14:6)except through this door’s thresholdof given-flesh and outpoured-blood.Here David’s song reveals the mystery:the house become a heart,the heart become a house.“It was there that Your people found a home,prepared in Your goodness, O God, for the poor” (Ps 67:11).
“Go out quickly to the streetsand lanes of the city,and bring in the poor and maimed and blind and lame” (Lk 14:21).“Go out to the highways and hedges,and compel people to come in” (Lk 14:23)that my house, my heart, may be filled.“The lost I will seek out,the strayed I will bring back,the injured I will bind up,the sick I will heal” (Ez 34:16).
Cross the threshold by night with faith’s unseen feet;with hope a lamp for your steps,enter by desire;dwell therein by love,and with John the beloved and those of his lineage“have power to comprehendwhat is the breadth and lengthand height and depth,and know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledgeto be filled with all the fullness of God” (cf. Eph 3:18-19).
The pierced Heartis Love’s last proof.“For while we were still weak,while we were yet sinners” (cf. Rom 5:6, 8),the door was opened in Love’s side.Plunge then, fearless, into the tide of water and of blood.Wash your soul’s disfigured facein the torrent of purity that to the image restores likeness,giving loveliness to the unlovely,There every bruise is bathed in love;there, every old, unsightly thingmade fresh, and new.This is love’s reparation,for only love can repair what Love has made.“Behold,” Love says, “I make all things new” (Rev 21:5).
Love’s joy is the one sheepsought and found and prized above all others“on a day of clouds and thick darkness” (Ez 34:12),Love’s joy is Love’s Heartopened for the sake of all, inhabited by the foolish to shame the wise,and by the weak to shame the strong (cf. 1 Cor 1:27).Love chose “what is low and despised in the world,even things that are not” (1 Cor 1:28)and in these is the mercy of His Heart displayed.
Others come knocking, saying, “Lord, Lord, open to us”but their greatness, their shining certitudes,not their sins, prevent their entering in.“Truly, I say to you, I do not know you” (Mt 25:12)who have not known my Heart of mercy,who have not needed my repairing,nor known nor believed in love (cf. 1 Jn 4:16).
Only this one thing does Love ask:that, “out of the depths” (Ps 129:1), we believe in Love,and, preserved by Love,never despair of Mercy’s Heart.These are “thoughts of His Heart to all generations” (Ps 32:11).Come, then, to the water that washes every impurityand quenches every thirst. Come, be repaired, restored in the Blood.If you would be delivered from death, come (cf. Ps 32:19).If you would be fed in famine, come (cf. Ps 32:19).If you would be loved, come.
Ruth Graham Dies
From The Washington Post:
Ruth Bell Graham, who pursued a vigorous if reclusive Christian ministry for six decades in the shadow of her famous husband, the Rev. Billy Graham, died June 14 at her home near Montreat, N.C. She was 87.
Mrs. Graham had been bedridden for two years and in recent days had suffered complications from pneumonia.
Ruth Bell Graham, who pursued a vigorous if reclusive Christian ministry for six decades in the shadow of her famous husband, the Rev. Billy Graham, died June 14 at her home near Montreat, N.C. She was 87.
Mrs. Graham had been bedridden for two years and in recent days had suffered complications from pneumonia.
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