Trinity Sunday - Hungering after Justice

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations." St. Matthew, 28:19.

In a quaint little village far up in the mountains of Switzerland there lived years ago an old man who had spent his life working in ivory. His hair was white; his shoulders bent. But his eye was bright and his hand steady, as he fashioned out the hard, white ivory daisies, violets and butter­cups.

From his window he could look for miles over the valley. That long look rested his eyes; but it also was his inspiration, for it let him see the beautiful storms, the gorgeous sunsets, and especially the glorious flowers pinned to the steep hillsides.

One day a visitor chose six of his flowers to take to her daughters in America. As she placed them against the soft velvet of her dress, they seemed so real that she exclaimed with admiration:

"They are perfect, just perfect. How can you make them so real?"

"No, madam," the old carver replied. "They are not perfect. I wish I could make just one perfect one. For thirty years I have tried to make a flower like God has made, but something is always missing. When I bring in a flower from the field and set it beside my own, I see how imperfect my workmanship is. However, I have honestly and laboriously tried, and it is worthwhile giving one's life trying to make a perfect thing, don't you think?"

The mother brought the flower pins home to her daughters, and tried her best to give them the message and spirit of the man who made them. His name, by the way, was Hans Klatt.

Years later one of these daughers was known as a wonderful, ideal mother, patient, courteous and loving. When a friend asked the secret of her well-­known goodness, the young mother brought out the flower pin her mother had brought from Switzerland, and briefly told the story of the man who made it. She concluded by quoting the old carver's words:

"It is worthwhile giving one's life in trying to make a perfect thing."

Then she added:
"Through the years that sentence has been a challenge. I cannot be a perfect mother; I cannot expect to have perfect children. But I can keep on trying for that. Like Hans Klatt, I want to give my time and talent to making a beautiful life, as perfect a life as possible."

That young mother was living the spirit of the Fourth Beatitude: "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be filled." St. Matthew, 5:6.

The meaning of these words is this: Blessed are they who strive stren­uously after truth and spiritual perfection, for they shall attain it, they shall be satisfied, they shall be filled by the beatific vision of God in heaven.

1. Justice means the whole range of Christian virtue. In that complete sense St. Joseph was called a "just man." St. Matthew, 1:19.

2. St. Bernardine of Siena explains that this justice renders­

A. To God:

i. The honor due Him as creator.
ii. The love we owe Him as Redeemer.
iii. Filial fear of Him as our judge.

B. To neighbors:

i. Obedience to superiors, at home, at work and at school.
ii. Agreement with and understanding of equals.
iii. Kindness to and consideration of inferiors.

C. To ourselves:

i. By purity of heart.
ii. By guarding the tongue.
iii. By discipling the body.

3. Those who hunger and thirst after justice are those­

A. Who aim at and strive for all the Christian perfections.
B. Who strive to become just, if they are not already so.
C. Who continue to advance in-virtue, once they are on the right road.
D. Who daily try to grow in love of God and man.
E. Who prefer virtue and spiritual goods to food and drink for the body.
F. Who seek only the will of God and the good of souls.
G. Who desire and work that the laws of justice be observed.
H. Who yearn and pray and labor for the conversion of sinners, and the triumph of the Church.

4. Such a holy hunger and thirst bring blessings:

A. It controls the lower passions.
B. It fixes the mind on higher and more lasting things.
C. It stirs the heart and will to work for God.

Today Christ tells us to go and teach all nations all that He has commanded. This we are to do in the name and in the power of the Blessed Trinity, whom we especially honor today.

Many of you, I am sure, want to be more perfect; you want to be more like the divine, attractive Model who spoke from the mount nearly 2000 years ago, who speaks to us today, telling us that they are blessed, they are truly and spiritually happy who try, who strive, who hunger and thirst in their effort to be more like the divine Model. In a word, they try to be more perfect. Their efforts will not be in vain.

Occasionally you may feel discouraged in your striving for spiritual success. Remember the Swiss carver. For thirty years he tried to chisel out of ivory, figures like the perfect flowers of the field. He kept on trying, even though he saw so much difference. ­

There is an infinite difference between ourselves and Christ, yet we keep on trying, we keep hungering and thirsting to be like Him; and, as He prom­ises us in the Fourth Beatitude, we shall have our fill. Our spiritual striv­ings shall be satisfied. Amen.
__________________
Adapted from Prayers, Precepts and Virtues
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, OFM (©1949)

Trinity Sunday - Scandal

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." St. Matthew, 28:19.

There lived years ago a famous potter by the name of Josiah Wedgwood. He was especially renowned for his beautiful vases. One day there came to his pottery a wealthy customer. Wedgwood asked his office boy, a lad of fifteen years, to show the visitor through the plant. The stranger was just as filthy as he was wealthy, filthy in his talk and remarks. He cursed and swore. At first the lad was shocked, but gradually he began to laugh at his guest's remarks.

Accidentally Wedgwood heard some of this off-color conversation. The famous potter picked up an unusually beautiful vase. He called attention to the variety of colors and the gorgeous designs. The visitor was delighted. He reached out to look at it himself. Just as he touched it the potter let it fall to the ground-purposely. The precious vase broke into a hundred pieces.

"What's the idea?" shouted the visitor. "I wanted to buy that vase."

"Friend," replied the old potter sternly, "there are things more precious than any vase, things that can never be restored once they are ruined. I can make another vase like that, but you can never make another clean heart, another simple faith like that which you have taken from the boy working for me."

What an effective way to show the wickedness of scandal. Giving scan­dal is breaking the beautiful vase of a clean mind and an upright life. When we consider the Fifth Commandment we must realize that the words, "Thou shalt not kill," forbid us to injure our neighbor in body or soul.

To destroy a soul is much worse than to destroy a body.

Yet, scandal, or giving bad example, is one of the most frequent sins. It is far-reaching in its evil effects.

Scandal means any word, act, or omission which can or does cause another to commit sin. It is not necessary to have the intention of giving bad example. It is sufficient that the thing done or omitted be such as to lead others into sin.

Neither is it necessary that the thing done be sinful, as long as it has the appearance of sin. Nor is it required that the person scandalized be good or innocent, or that he actually fall into sin.

Scandal is direct when it is intended to lead others into sin. It is indi­rect when it is not intended to lead others into sin, but is an occasion for sin. Scandal may be given by words or actions which are not bad, but which may be misunderstood as bad by those who are weak. Even from such scan­dal we are bound to refrain.

1. We scandalize in words when we speak, for example, against religion or the clergy, or when we blaspheme, curse, swear, or indulge in immodest talk. That is the type of scandal of which the rich visitor in my story was guilty. He is guilty of scandal in words who makes known to others evils of which they were ignorant, who commands, advises, promises, praises or threatens others into sin, which they would otherwise not have committed.

Here we think of those who recommend birth control, espe­cially to young couples, and of those who suggest certain unprincipled doc­tors for illegal and unnatural operations.

2. We scandalize in action when our conduct knowingly leads others to evil, when we provide occasion for sin which others would not otherwise have. Examples of this are working on Sunday, misbehaving in church, quarreling in public, violating the laws of fast and abstinence before others, indecency in dress and behavior.

3. Scandal is given by omission when we neglect to do what is required. Examples are missing Mass on Sunday, neglecting confession and Com­munion, failing to train children in their religion, or to correct and watch over them.

In a word, scandal is given whenever the Commandments of God or of His Church are publicly broken. No wonder our Lord cried out: "Woe to the world because of scandals!" St. Matthew, 18:7.

4. Scandal in itself is an exceedingly serious sin, because­:

A. It harms the soul of our neighbor. Murder kills the body; scandal kills the soul.

B. Even after the death of the scandal-giver his evil work continues.

C. It is the work of the devil himself.

5. The seriousness of scandal depends on three things­:

A. The intention - he who intends bad example is more guilty than he who does not intend it.

B. Scandal is more serious on the part of those in authority, especially parents, priest, bishops, politicians, and teachers.

C. The evil which results from it.

Listen to our Lord speak of scandal:
"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it were better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depths of the sea." St. Matthew, 18:6.

Scandal-givers twist the words and wishes of Jesus as He tells us to go and make disciples of all nations. The scandal-giver goes out and makes disciples, not for Christ, but for the devil. Like the visitor at the pottery, he destroys something more beautiful and precious than the most valuable vase - he destroys a soul.

Examine yourself today. Don't do the work of the devil. Work for Christ. Amen.
_________________________
Adapted from Talks on the Commandments
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, OFM (© 1948)

Trinity Sunday - The Recipient of Confession

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of a11 'ations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son; and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obew all that I have commanded you." St. Matthew, 18:19.


Bishop Curtis of Wilmington, Delaware, was one of the most illustrious American converts to the Church. In an address on how he became a Catholic he started with the blunt statement: "Confession made a Catholic of me."

When he was pastor of a prominent Anglican parish in New York City, his bishop came to officiate at some solemn ceremony. The afternoon before the solemnity Reverend Curtis requested his bishop to hear his confession. The latter put, him off. In the evening the penitent repeated his request but the bishop told him to wait until morning. Next morping the pastor again expressed his desire to go to confession. The bishop objected: "Reverend Curtis, why do you want to go to confession anyway? It is all right for the laity who desire it, but we of the clergy should be able to do without it."

Curtis was not satisfied; He felt the need of telling his sins and having them forgiven. He found his way to St. Mary's Catholic Seminary where he begged the rector to hear his confession. That good priest, gracious and smiling, explained to Curtis that his Anglican bishop was right in refusing to hear his confession, because he had no power to forgive sins. This statement startled Reverend Curtis, so the rector went on to explain that Anglican orders were no orders. They were invalid. Neither an Anglican bishop nor an Anglican priest could forgive sin.

This set Curtis thinking. He studied, he thought; he prayed; he led a Christ-like life. Soon he realized that the only sin-forgiving Church was the Catholic Church. He became a Catholic, a priest, and later an illus­trious bishop.

The story of his conversion contains some important illustrations of our subject for today - the penitent, the one who goes to confession. Who may and must go to confession? Every baptized person who has committed venial or mortal sin after Baptism. The penitent must perform the acts required for a good confession, namely, contrition, telling of his sins, and satisfaction. Of these we will speak more fully in the future. Today we would like to speak of the Holy Trinity in relation to the penitent.

By Baptism the soul has become the temple of the Holy Trinity­ - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. By sin the soul has dethroned, driven out, dishonored the Holy Three Whom we honor today.

By Confirmation the soul has been strengthened with the gifts of the Holy Trinity. By sin they are lost, and by confession they are revived and again begin to work.

By Holy Communion the soul becomes the special tabernacle not only of the second Person, Jesus Christ, but also of the Father and the Holy Spirit who are ever present with Him. By sin we drive out this Trinity. By confession we invite them to return.

And it is in the name of the same Holy Three that the priest gives absolution: "I absolve thee from thy sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." With the Trinity evicted, the soul is dark and cold and helpless. Sin causes the heavenly Father to keep a displeased distance; it causes the loving Son to leave the untrue heart for which He gave His all; it compels the Holy Spirit to depart from His temple, the human body.

The human heart becomes a ghost house. It is like a palace from which the King has been driven out. It is like a home from which loved ones have been evicted, where the hearth fire has burned out, where the win­dows are smashed and broken. Oh, how such a heart hungers for the light and warmth and cheering presence of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Confession, established by an all-merciful God, brings the Trinity back to the soul.

Just as the Anglican bishop in our story could not give absolution from sins because he had not received the power from Christ and the Apostles, so too the Anglican minister, Reverend Curtis, could not receive absolution until he became a Catholic, until he became a member of the society which Christ Himself established.

Everyone who has arrived at the use of reason is bound by the law of confession. People arrive at the use of reason at various times, but the rule can be laid down that children are bound to go to confession as soon as they are able to distinguish good from evil and are capable of freely choosing one or the other, and, of course, provided they have actually sinned.

The Church also commands all tne faithful to confess their sins at least once a year. This confession need not be made during the Easter time, but because Easter Communion is commanded during Easter time, it is practical to make one's Easter confession during that same period.

Strictly speaking, only those who have committed a mortal sin are obliged by this law. A bad or sacrilegious confession does not fulfill the law. If you have not yet made your annual confession, you must do so as soon as possible, even though the Easter time closes with this feast of the Holy Trinity.

Better yet would be the praiseworthy practice of going to confession, at least, monthly. This practice enable ones to grow in grace and virtue. It helps us in our path to holiness. We receive graces to help us turn our faults and vices into virtue.

Like the Reverend Curtis all sinners have the desire to tell their sins to someone who has the power to take them away, definitely and forever. Like him, all who sin realize that they have driven out the Holy Trinity. They long to have those loving Three return to their hearts.

Jesus tells His Church to go and baptize the world in the name of the Trinity. As we keep this glorious feast may we resolve anew never to offend Them, never to dishonor Them, never to make Them leave our hearts by mortal sin.

But should that be our misfortune, we will hurry to invite the Trinity back by a sincere and contrite confession. Then every confession day will be a feast of the Holy Trinity, a day when we honor, as we always should honor the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
____________________
Adapted from Talks on the Sacraments
by Fr. Arthur Tonne,OFM (© 1947)

EPA Celebrates Gay And Lesbian Pride Month (with your tax dollars)

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), your tax supported agency of the federal government, is currently promoting June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.

The theme for the month is "Pride, not Prejudice."

The EPA Office of Civil Rights, Diversity Program for Sexual Orientation, is sponsoring an opening event to be held on June 14. On June 28 EPA will hosts Gilles Marchildon, Executive Director for Egale Canada (Equality Canada) as a guest speaker.

Karen Higginbotham, Director, Office of Civil Rights, states there will be other activities in which the homosexual lifestyle will be celebrated in EPA offices across the country.

I thought you might like to know that the EPA, funded by your tax dollars, has joined the push for the homosexual agenda.

To see the official notice which went out to all EPA employees, click here.

Take Action
Send your email to Stephen L. Johnson, EPA Administrator, and to President George W. Bush, to protest the tax-funded EPA celebrating this destructive and unhealthy lifestyle. Forward this to your friends and family.

Our children's future is at stake. Thanks for caring enough to get involved.

Email the EPA and President Bush Now!

Apparently the agency has too much time on its hands and too much money in its budget...this government promotion of sexual deviancy is repugnant and needs to be stopped.

Alter Christus - Zeal for Devotion to the Sacred Heart

I. Every priest ought to be an apostle of the Sacred Heart, if he wants to reap the maximum result of his labours.

There are many helps to the priest in his ministry; zeal to spread the devotion to the Sacred Heart is one of them. If he neglects it, he leaves idle a great capital wherewith he might trade most successfully...

How many priests are saddened by their powerlessness to achieve the good they dream of; they complain of, and lament over, the barrenness of their apostolate, the difficulty of bringing souls to Christ, and of making Him truly reign in those that are His.

To feel such regrets, and feel them keenly, is a grace. Unhappy the priest who remains untouched by what wrung the Heart of Jesus with sorrow... But a sign of the sincerity of our regret is the keenness not to leave untried any means to remedy the evil. The efficacy of this devotion has been experienced by many holy priests.

Indeed, it expresses the essence of Christianity under its deepest, most appealing and most powerful aspect: God is love, and He wants our love.

"Deus caritas est."

"Sic Deus dilexit mundum ut Filium suum unigenitum daret."
"Dilexit me et tradidit semetipsum pro me."
"Diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo..."
"Ama et fac quod vis."

In the Sacred Heart we find the concrete, telling, human sign of God's love and a moving appeal for love.

Thus, while constituting a special devotion, it has at the same time a universal character: it is the whole of religion, and, in a sense, it is in all other devotions, since all the mysteries of our faith are but particular expressions of the love of God... "This most blessed sign (the Sacred Heart) and the devotion inspired by it contain the sum total of all religion and the norm of perfect life" (Pius XI, in the encyclical Miserentissimus Deus).

Let us remember the powerful help Our Lord has promised to those devoted to His Sacred Heart:

For the priest himself: there is the first promise that applies to him as to everybody: "I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life". And the tenth promise, explicitly to him: "The gift of touching the most hardened hearts".

For the faithful: we know the promises, for the sinner, for the tepid, for the fervent, for the families and houses, in afflictions, in trials and in death: truly magnificent promises. And if we are tempted to fear exaggerations in the way St Margaret ­Mary has recorded her revelations, let us call to mind the words in which the sacred liturgy unfolds for us the ­designs of Christ when His Heart was pierced on the Cross; "Ut apertum Cor divinae largitatis sacrarium torrentes nobis funderet miserationis et gratiae" (Preface of the Mass of the Sacred Heart).

II. Am I a fervent apostle of the Sacred Heart? Is my zeal a burning one: one that fills me with an habitual longing for the reign of the Sacred Heart, and makes me seize every opportunity to spread it? ... For, surely, the measure­ of my zeal will be one of the determining factors that will settle the measure of the Sacred Heart's blessings.

A point of comparison; many of us have seen, in our midst, a priestly soul truly consumed with such a zeal: Fr Matheo Crawley. Well, let us ask ourselves: What is my zeal for the Sacred Heart, compared to his? ...

It may be objected: his case is quite a special one: he was at Paray-le-Monial in the Chapel of the Apparition - ­he was cured, there, miraculously - he felt, there, a distinct call to spread the devotion to the Sacred Heart.

Granted the extraordinary degree in which it all happened; granted also the peculiarity of his mission, to which we are not called. But as to the sources of his burning zeal: are we so far from enjoying like privileges?

Have we not our own Paray-le-Monial, in our church or chapel, where Jesus truly present is ever ready to reveal Himself to souls that long for Him? Have we not seen, with the eyes of the soul, at times, something of the Apparition of the Sacred Heart, when we looked with faith at the taber­nacle, when we recalled to mind (while reciting slowly the Litany of the Sacred Heart) all His titles to our adoration and love and confidence and generosity, above all when we held Him in our hands and lifted Him up for the adoration of men in the Mysterium Fidei?

As to being cured by the Sacred Heart, like Fr Matheo: barring the miracle of a sudden bodily cure, each one of us surely has experienced in his soul the healing power of the Sacred Heart, "pax et reconciliatio nostra", "vita et resurrectio nostra",... in his soul, and in the souls of penitents and sinners.

And the secret inspirations urging us to be apostles of the Sacred Heart? Let each one scan the history of Christ's dealings with his soul, in moments of special fervour and devotion: who is the priest who has not again and again heard the voice of the Master, asking him to be a messenger of His Love, and to spread that Fire which He came to cast on earth and yearns to see enkindled? ...

III. Examine and resolve: What shall I do this month of June to reap more abundant fruit from the devotion to the Sacred Heart in my ministry:

For my flock:

Can I not put new life in the practices already established in my parish or school;
Can I perhaps add something, with due prudence and everything con­sidered;
In my sermons and catechisms, in private direction (confessional, conversations) am I on the look-out for chances to draw souls to the Sacred Heart? ...

For myself:

Am I doing, as far as circumstances permit, what I recommend to others;
Have I remained faithful to what were my practices of devotion in times of fervour; if not, why not?

Do I feel confident that the last promise of the Sacred Heart applies to me:
"Those who shall promote this devotion, shall have their names written in my Heart, never to be blotted out."?
________________________
Adapted from Alter Christus, Meditations for Priests
by F.X. L'Hoir, S.J. (1958)
Meditation 30.

###
Please pray for our priests and pray for vocations to the priesthood.

Trinity Sunday - The Holy Trinity

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." St. Matthew, 28:19

"1 believe in the Holy Spirit." Creed.

During the Civil War General Smith of the army of the South was returning to his command with a contingent of his men. While he was gone the password had been changed. Smith and his men knew that it had been changed, but they did not know what change had been made. They also knew that if they went forward without the new password they would be fired upon and killed.

The general asked for a volunteer, someone to sacrifice his life to save the rest. A soldier stepped out of the ranks, a Catholic young man. After explaining the certain danger the hero would have to face, General Smith, gave the lad a piece of paper on which he had written: "Send me the pass­word." The soldier would be shot, searched, and the paper would be dis­covered. Bravely the young man set out, and reached the outposts.

"Who goes there?" shouted the guard.

"A friend," answered the soldier.

"Give the countersign," ordered the guard.

But the hero advanced without answering. At once rifles were raised and aimed. Feeling that his last moment had come, the soldier quickly made the sign of the cross. To his surprise the rifles were lowered. The making of the sign of the cross saved that soldier, for - the sign of the cross was the password that day, given to the army by the Catholic com­mander, General Beauregard. ­

By that same sign the soldier of Jesus Christ gets through the lines into heaven. Not that the mere making of the cross over our persons will open the gates of heaven to all of us. By no means. But, the sign of the cross, reverently and thoughtfully made, reminds us of some of the great­est mysteries and truths of our faith: of the Trinity; of the Incarnation; of the Redemption. Especially it reminds us of the Holy Trinity.

On this Trinity Sunday we pay special honor to the mystery of the Holy Trinity, the reyealed truth that there are three Persons in one God. Again and again Sacred Scripture speaks of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us that these three are one and equal - one God. It is a mystery, something above and beyond all human under­standing, yet not against reason. We cannot explain how this can be, but we can explain what the Trinity means.

First and foremost we must ever keep in mind that there is and can be only one true God. From the very beginning God made it crystal clear that there is only one Creator, that there is only one Lawgiver, that there is only one Judge. In Deuteronomy, 4:39, God declared: "Know that the Lord He is God, and there is no other." In Chapter 32:39, He repeated that idea: "There is no other God besides me." In the new revelation we find the same truth: "That they may know Thee, the only true God." St. John, 17:3.

Reason confirms revelation. Reason proves the existence of God. And reason tells us there can be but one God. It is against reason to suppose more than One Supreme Being. The unity and order in the world point to only one Creator. The voice of conscience declares that there is only one Lawgiver, as His law is one and the same everywhere. The history and testimony of nations show that even among gods they adored one as supreme.

If there were more than one God, His perfections would be limited. Two or more cannot be supreme. One limits the other. To believe that there is only one true God is necessary for salvation.

At the same time there are three Persons in this one God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are distinct from each other, as the Gospel speaks of them separately.

This teaching on the Trinity is indicated already in the Old Testament. In Genesis, 1:26, we read: "Let us make man to our image and likeness." "Adam is become one of us." Genesis, 3:22. "Let us go down there and confound their tongue." Genesis, 11:7.

Despite these and other references in the Old Law, however, the teaching was still obscure. It was reserved for God the Son to reveal it fully, that the new Testament might be more excellent than the Old, and that all danger of idolatry might be removed from the Jews, who were prone to worship false gods.

The greeting of the angel at the Incarnation referred to three separate Persons. At our Lord's baptism three Persons are mentioned. When Jesus told the apostles to babtize He told them to do it in the name of the three divine Persons.

This has been the clear and constant teaching of the Catholic Church. It is found in her art and architecture, in her sacraments, prayers, and history.

Especially is the Trinity found in our two most frequently used prayers, the "Glory be to the Father," and the "Sign of the Cross." By this simple ceremony and prayer the truth of the Trinity, which is beyond the understanding of the keenest intellects of all time, is brought home, made inti­mate, made near and dear, made practical, to the smallest child, to the unlettered, as well as to thinkers and theologians.

We should make that sign of the cross with increased thought and devotion. It reminds us of the Holy Trinity. It brings the blessings of the Trinity. It asks the protection of the Trinity.

May the blessings of that same Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, descend upon everyone of you and remain with you forever. Amen.
__________________________
Adapted from Talks on the Creed
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, OFM (© 1946)

Gospel for Saturday, 9th Week in Ordinary Time

From: Mark 12:38-44

Jesus Censures the Scribes

[38] And in His (Jesus') teaching He said, "Beware of the scribes, who like to go about in long robes, and to have salutations in the market places [39] and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, [40] who devour widow's houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation."

The Widow's Mite

[41] And He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the multitude putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. [42] And a poor widow came, and put in two copper coins, which make a penny. [43] And He called His disciples to Him, and said to them, "Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. [44] For they all contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, her whole living."
_________________________

Commentary:

38-40. Our Lord reproves disordered desire for human honors: "We should notice that salutations in the marketplace are not forbidden, nor people taking the best seats if that befits their position; rather, the faithful are warned to avoid, as they would evil men, those who set too much store by such honors" (St. Bede, "In Marci Evangelium Expositio, in loc."). See also notes on Matthew 23:2-3, 5, 11 and 14.

41-44. Our Lord uses this little event to teach us the importance of things which apparently are insignificant. He puts it somewhat paradoxically; the poor widow has contributed more than all the rich. In God's sight the value of such an action lies more in upright intention and generosity of spirit than in the quantity one gives. "Didn't you see the light in Jesus' eyes as the poor widow left her little alms in the temple? Give Him what you can: the merit is not in whether it is big or small, but in the intention with which you give it" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 829).

By the same token, our actions are pleasing to God even if they are not as perfect as we would like. St. Francis de Sales comments: "Now as among the treasures of the temple, the poor widow's mite was much esteemed, so the least little good works, even though performed somewhat coldly and not according to the whole extent of the charity which is in us, are agreeable to God, and esteemed by Him; so that though of themselves they cannot cause and increase in the existing love [...] yet Divine Providence, counting on them and, out of His goodness, valuing them, forthwith rewards them with increase in charity for the present, and assigns to them a greater Heavenly glory for the future" (St. Francis de Sales, "Treatise on the Love of God", Book 3, Chapter 2).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.

Vocations to religious life and priesthood begin with parents

Excerpts from Bishop Vasa's column:

A recent issue of L’Osservatore Romano, the weekly Vatican newspaper carried this headline: “A key to holy priests? Holy parents.” That headline led into Pope Benedict’s reflection of May 7, 2006, in which, among other things, he said: “The priest’s mission is irreplaceable, and even if in some regions a scarcity of clergy is being recorded, we must never doubt that God continues to call boys, young men and adults to leave everything and dedicate themselves totally to preaching the Gospel and to the pastoral ministry.”
. . .
Then we come to the paragraph that gives rise to the headline: “Moreover, let us not forget that Christian marriage is in all respects a vocation to holiness, and that the example of holy parents is the first favorable condition for the flourishing of priestly and religious vocations.”
. . .
If it is true, as the Holy Father offers, that “the example of holy parents is the first favorable condition for the flourishing of priestly and religious vocations,” then clearly prayer for vocations needs to be coupled with a very strong emphasis on the vocation of parents to holiness. The home, with holy parents, without a doubt, needs to be a nursery of priestly and religious vocations. It is in the home where those first inklings of a call to service in religious life are received, heard and fostered. This necessarily involves parents who have a deep and abiding faith and who are eager to respond affirmatively and encouragingly to their sons and daughters when they hint that perhaps they would like to pursue a religious vocation.

We are reminded to pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life and to pray fot holy families.

Beijing bans “Da Vinci Code”

Leadership Changes Coming to Minneapolis/St Paul Archdiocese

A search is underway for a 'co-adjutor' Archbishop for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has confirmed...Sources tell 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that Archbishop Harry Flynn has asked the Vatican for a co-adjutor as he prepares to retire within the next two years...A source close to Flynn tells 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that Flynn asked for a coadjutor several months ago.

The names being mentioned include Auxiliary Bishop Richard Pates who serves under Flynn now, Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo and Bishop Blase Cupich of Rapid City.

HT to Darla for the link.

History and Catholic Education

Editor:

Anyone who thinks learning Church history is irrelevant should think again.

I’ve had people with 12 years of Catholic schooling tell me that "The Da Vinci Code" was a tremendous education for them. "I was never taught this stuff in Catholic school," they say.

One reason why so many Catholics swallow Dan Brown’s whoppers is that they are ignorant of Church history. I was.

After my own 12 years of Catholic schooling, I had no clue who, say, Arius and St. Athanasius were. That’s a bit like not knowing about Benedict Arnold and George Washington after years of classes in American history.

That I went to arguably the best Catholic high school in the St. Louis area only amplifies this scandal. Any Catholic parent, teacher or priest dismayed at the widespread acceptance of Brown’s lies and blasphemies and wondering why should look first in the mirror.

Paul S. Rhodes
Collinsville, Ill.

An enlightening indictment of Catholic education. Hopefully, this will change as more parents and others become aware of the failures to adequately prepare children, not only in the faith, but in Catholic history and apologetics.

Paul is a frequent contributor to discussions at CatholicStLouis

Source: St Louis Review

Confirmation and Service Hours?

Why does my grandchild have to work before being confirmed?

My grandchild was nearly unable receive the Sacrament of Confirmation because he did not fulfill the service hours necessary to be confirmed. Why are service hours required to receive confirmation?
---------------

The Catholic Church does not require service hours to receive any sacrament. The only requirement for the Sacrament of Confirmation is that the individual be baptized.

The Church also desires to catechize individuals regarding the sacraments. In recent years the trend in the United States and in some other countries is to wait until adolescence to confer confirmation in the hope that this will allow the young people to receive more instruction about this particular sacrament.

Each parish develops a preparation program for confirmation. Some catechists establish a certain number of service hours to teach the children the importance being a Christian servant...

Of course, many do this on their own authority or due to requirements set by others who really have no authority to set such conditions.

...One would hope that this type of service is presented as an opportunity rather than a burden for the young person.

But confirmation itself is not only about what we do for others. It is about what God does for us. The gift of confirmation is given freely as a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit as it was to the Apostles at Pentecost.

The Spirit that dwells through confirmation gives us wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord. These gifts from God help us mature through grace. Maturity for the Christian is coming to know and love God and our neighbor.
-------------------
Father Keller is an associate pastor at the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica Parish and assistant director of the archdiocesan Office of Worship.

Send questions on matters of faith to be answered by priests of the St. Louis Archdiocese to Dear Father, c/o St. Louis Review, 20 Archbishop May Drive, St. Louis, MO 63119, or fax to (314) 792-7534, or e-mail to slreview@stlouisreview.com.

Emphasis added above.

Source: St Louis Review.

Vatican Appeals Ruling in Molestation Case

As earlier reported about a federal judge permitting a a lawsuit against the Vatican, the Vatican, as expected, appealed this ruling.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The Vatican filed an appeal Thursday to a federal judge's ruling refusing to dismiss a lawsuit that claims the Holy See bears responsibility for a priest who was transferred from city to city even though he was known to be a molester.

McBrien Carries On Task of "Dissing" Bishop Finn, Obedient Catholics

In a column titled "Sources of demoralization" from the Tidings, the weekly rag of the LA Archdiocese, Richard McBrien, expounds on Dominican Timothy Radcliffe's recent LA Religious Education Congress talk on the polarization in the Church and carries on the task started by the National Catholic Reporter in demonizing Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn for, it seems, his orthodoxy and fidelity to the Church.

In McBrien's eyes, there are 4 groups of Catholics:
1. Ultra-conservatives (who have never accepted the ecclesiology of Vatican II, especially as it applies to the liturgy),

2.Moderate liberals,

3.Moderate conservatives (who basically accept the conciliar ecclesiology but favor a more cautious approach to ongoing renewal and reform than their moderate counterparts on the left) and,

4. Ultra-liberals, or radicals (for whom words like "hierarchy" carry no practical meaning).

Middle of the road Catholics, somtimes referred to as 'Centrist' Catholics, "believe that the Church needs to be concerned with both outreach and identity, creativity and tradition."

McBrien (with Andrew Greeley) lays blame for much of the division at the feet of Pope Paul VI and the encyclical Humanae Vitae.

Here he begins the setup:

Catholics of the far right, and bishops who share and enforce their ecclesiology, insist that obedience is one of Catholicism's primary virtues and that the teaching of the hierarchy, and especially the pope's, is the only sure guide to saving truth.

Is this a subtle attempt to reject Vatican I's Pastor Aeternus and the affirmation of the gift of infallibility?

And yet the new bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Robert Finn, a member of Opus Dei, has been dismantling much of what had been put in place by his three immediate predecessors: Charles Helmsing (1962-77), John Sullivan (1977-93), and Raymond Boland (1993-2005). . .Did they lead their flocks astray or throw them to the wolves? Were they grievously wrong in their pastoral teachings, policies and appointments? If so, how is a Catholic to know when any bishop is to be respected and obeyed, and when he is not?

As an alleged theologian, McBrien should be able to provide us the answer to his questions but he doesn't...I think one can conclude what he is really trying to imply.

Cardinal Rigali: Glorify God in Your Body

From the beginning of time, man and woman had a deep sense that the human body is sacred. Created in the divine image, the body is to be treated with respect. The People of Israel particularly gave evidence to this. The reverence with which they viewed the act of sexual intimacy as well as the procreative aspect associated with sexual love set the Israelites apart from other cultures in the ancient world.
...
In his mission to the Gentiles, Saint Paul had to confront many pagan practices, including rampant sexual immorality. Many parts of the ancient Mediterranean world were infamous for their debauchery.
...

Vatican Excommunicates Four Chinese Bishops

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican on Thursday excommunicated two bishops ordained by China's state-controlled church without the pope's consent, escalating tensions as the two sides explore preliminary moves toward improving ties.

The Vatican also excommunicated the two bishops who ordained them, saying church law mandates excommunication for bishops involved in ordinations without Vatican approval.

Gospel for Friday, 9th Week in Ordinary Time

From: Mark 12:35-37

Christ the Son and Lord of David

[35] And as Jesus taught in the temple, He said, "How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? [36] David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, declared, `The Lord said to the Lord, Sit at My right hand, till I put Thy enemies under Thy feet'. [37] David himself calls Him Lord; so how is He his son?" And the throng heard Him gladly.
__________________________

Commentary:

35-37. Jesus here bears witness, with His special authority, to the fact that Scripture is divinely inspired, when He says that David was inspired by the Holy Spirit when writing Psalm 110. We can see from here that Jews found it difficult to interpret the beginning of the Psalm. Jesus shows the messianic sense of the words "The Lord said to my Lord": the second "Lord" is the Messiah, with whom Jesus implicitly identifies Himself. The mysteriously transcendental character of the Messiah is indicated by the paradox of His being the son, the descendant, of David, and yet David calls Him his Lord. Cf. note on Matthew 22:41-46.

[Note on Matthew 22:41-46 states:
41-46. God promised King David that one of his descendants would reign forever (2 Samuel 7:12ff); this was obviously a reference to the Messiah, and was interpreted as such by all Jewish tradition, which gave the Messiah the title of "Son of David". In Jesus' time this messianic title was understood in a very nationalistic sense: the Jews were expecting an earthly king, a descendant of David, who would free them from Roman rule. In this passage Jesus shows the Pharisees that the Messiah has a higher origin: He is not only "Son of David"; His nature is more exalted than that, for He is the Son of God and transcends the purely earthly level. The reference to Psalm 110:1 which Jesus uses in His argument explains that the Messiah is God: which is why David calls Him Lord--and why He is seated at the right hand of God, His equal in power, majesty and glory (cf. Acts of the Apostles 33-36; 1 Corinthians 6:25).]
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.

Alter Christus - A Burning Zeal for Souls

This is one of the virtues recommended to the priest by the Holy Father. His pressing exhortation, one of the most stirring pages of the encyclical, is like a clarion-call to strenuous action: zeal must be a consuming fire, - coming from the burning Heart of Jesus, - fanned in us by the sight of perishing multitudes, - driving us to the utter dedication of our life to an intense apostolate.

I HAVE COME TO CAST FIRE ON THE EARTH

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is the main source of ardent zeal for the priest. He must "take flame from that heavenly fire that burns in the Heart of Jesus; that fire that seeks only to inflame apostolic hearts and through them cast fire on all the earth. Like the zeal of Jesus. . . the zeal of the priest for the glory of God and the salvation of souls ought to consume him" (Encyclical).

To get, then, in us that consuming fire, we must make the Heart of Jesus the constant object of our meditation: study in His life the manifestations of His love for men, from the Incarnation to the Last Supper and to Calvary; ponder over the moving utterances in which He revealed His ardent longing for the salvation of all; treasure up, as addressed to us, the universal mission He gave His apostles to bring all men to the true fold.

Still more directly productive of that zeal in us will be the constant endeavour to live united to Christ, so that we may share the very feelings of His Sacred Heart: by every means that makes us grow in sanctifying grace (our bond of union with Him); most of all by intimate contact with the Euchar­istic Heart of Jesus, in holy Mass and Communion, in visits to the Blessed Sacrament; by frequuent and loving remembrance of Him, even in the midst of our active ministry: "Christum habitare per fidem in cordibus vestris".

* Do I detect in my zeal that characteristic of a burning fire?

If I have reason to lament the coldness of my zeal, is it not because I fail to keep close to the "Fornax ardens caritatis" in meditations, reading of the Gospels, in my cult of the holy Eucharist?

Let me (as another Christ) not frustrate the designs and longings of the Sacred Heart: "I have come to cast fire on the earth, and what will I but that it be kindled?"

MULTITUDES LIKE SHEEP THAT HAVE NO SHEPHERD

The fire of our zeal must be fanned constantly by the sad plight of multitudes sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death. How appealingly the Holy Father emphasizes this! "The Good Shepherd said: 'And other sheep I have that are not of this fold; them also I must bring', and again, 'See the countries for they are white to the harvest'. How can a priest meditate upon these words and not feel his heart enkindled with yearning to lead souls to the Heart of the Good Shepherd? How can he fail to offer himself to the Lord of the harvest for unremitting toil? Our Lord saw the multitudes 'lying like sheep that have no shepherd' . .. How can a priest see such multitudes and not feel within himself an echo of that divine pity which so often moved the Heart of the Son of God? - a priest, We say, who is conscious of possessing the words of life and of having in his hands the God-given means of regeneration and salvation." (Enc.)

This applies with special force to us here, in these mission lands. We need not be told that the greater part of mankind still ignores God and Christ whom He has sent: we see it around us. And of those within the fold we know from daily experience how weak and faltering many are in their faith. The danger is lest we become gradually indifferent to what is so familiar to us: we remain unmoved and cold at what filled the Heart of Jesus with pity and compassion.

* Am I really feeling an apostolic anguish at the paganism that surrounds me, at the weakness in faith of so many Christians?

Let me stir up my spirit of faith: Christ has shed His blood for each one of those souls; He has made me His priest that I may be the instrument of their salvation.

Seek always to grow in my love of them, even as Christ has loved them, so that I may say after St Paul: "Testis est Deus quomodo cupiam omnes vos in visceribus Christi".

I HAVE APPOINTED YOU...
THAT YOU SHOULD BRING FORTH FRUIT

If the priest's zeal is indeed burning like a fire, it will con­sume all selfish preoccupations, "make him forget himself and all earthly things", it will "powerfully urge him to dedicate himself utterly to his sublime work, and to search out means ever more effective for an apostolate ever wider and better" (Enc.).

Who can fail to see the urgency of such an all-absorbing, wide-awake activity for the priests in the world of today and of tomorrow? They are, and will be more and more, "engaged in the peaceful but bitter warfare of truth against error, of light against darkness, of the Kingdom of God against the kingdom of Satan" (Enc.).

Piety is indispensable, but not enough; indeed, without zeal it is scarcely genuine. Cf. the severe words of Michonneau: "How can we call a man who lacks the passion for souls a 'good priest', a 'holy priest' simply because he is regular and punctual and has a soothing way of judging all things - so soothing indeed that he soothes within himself those problems which should make his heart bleed and haunt his sleep? . . . Such a priest may be faithful to all his spiritual exercises; but his spiritual life is not real contact with God; it is mere ritualism, material fidelity to a schedule of practices and duties. . . His is an impoverished and shallow spirituality, where the caritas Christi urget nos has no place - a spirituality that is not priestly."

* Let me examine seriously what my apostolic activity amounts to. Is it truly all-absorbing: not cramped by other pursuits foreign to my priestly mission, by selfish attachment to ease and comfort, by pusillanimous fear of difficulties and failures?

Does it make me fervent and generous in prayers and sacrifices for souls, eager and prompt to seize all oppor­tunities to bring them to Christ, ready to adapt my apostolate to changing circumstances and needs?

Am I determined to give myself no rest as long as I have strength to spend myself for souls? "Me oportet operari opera ejus qui misit me, donec dies est."

________________________
Adapted from Alter Christus, Meditations for Priests
by F.X. L'Hoir, S.J. (1958)
Meditation 6.

###
Please pray for our priests and pray for vocations to the priesthood.

Ugh...Blogger down most of the day!

The Pope's Appointments for June 8

VATICAN CITY, JUN 8, 2006 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Bishop Michael Francis Burbidge, auxiliary of Philadelphia, U.S.A., as bishop of Raleigh, (area 82,524, population 4,073,983, Catholics 188,101, priests 138, permanent deacons 37, religious 118), U.S.A. He succeeds Bishop Francis Joseph Gossman, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese, the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Msgr. Daniel E. Thomas of the clergy of the archdiocese of Philadelphia, U.S.A., pastor of the parish of Our Lady of the Assumption, as auxiliary of the same archdiocese (area 5,652, population 3,875,021, Catholics 1,479,895, priests 1,048, permanent deacons 224, religious 3,733). The bishop- elect was born in Philadelphia in 1959 and ordained a priest in 1985.

Source: Vatican Information Service

Youth Ministry in the Early Church

Though, as Mike Acquilina observes, there were no ski trips, pizza parties, or dances, the Fathers and the bishops and priests of the early Church were quite successful with teens and young adults. Mike tells us that this success due, in part, to the wild promises of the Fathers:

They promised young people great things, like
persecution,
lower social status,
public ridicule,
severely limited employment opportunities,
frequent fasting,
a high risk of jail and torture, and maybe, just maybe,
an early, violent death at the hands of their pagan rulers.

The Fathers looked young people in the eye and called them to live purely in the midst of a pornographic culture. They looked at some young men and women and boldly told them they had a calling to virginity. And it worked. Even the pagans noticed how well it worked.

A very good read this is...Can it work today? Most certainly. It may be one of the very few ways to really motivate Catholics, both young and old - reminding them that if we are to be true followers of Christ, we must be prepared to take up our cross as He did and that we are very likely to see those promises fulfilled.

May all Christians recognize true meaning of Peter’s primacy

Pope Benedict XVI talked about the primacy intended by Jesus and recognized by the apostles. He said a spontaneous prayer so that “entrusted to poor human beings, the primacy may be always exercised in its original sense as desired by the Lord, that it may be recognized by our brothers not yet in full communion with us.”

SNAP Releases Details of Jefferson City Diocese Settlement

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City agreed to pay more than $60,000 to a man who accused a former Mid-Missouri priest of sexual abuse. The settlement stems from an accusation against John Degnan, 81, who retired in 2001 [after 40 years of service].

The settlement was reached in October but only publicly disclosed last week by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [SNAP], a victims’ advocacy group. National Director David Clohessy of St. Louis criticized the diocese for not sharing the agreement with parishioners.

This isn't really news as Clohessy seems to criticize every diocese and every bishop.

Judge: Suit Against Vatican Can Proceed

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A federal judge ruled Wednesday that a sex abuse lawsuit against the Vatican can move forward with its claim that the Holy See bears responsibility for a priest who was transferred from city to city even though he was known to be a molester.

Another self-indulgent, publicity-seeking, activist judge?

Just retire and say good-bye, already...

Excerpts from a transcript of Wolf Blitzer's conversation with Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, former archbishop of Washington:

[Wolf] BLITZER: So just explain. You think that you could live with -- you could support civil unions between gays and lesbians, but you wouldn't like them to get formally married, is that right?

MCCARRICK: Yes. I think -- I think basically the ideal would be that everybody was -- was able to enter a union with a man and a woman and bring children into the world and have the wonderful relationship of man and wife that is so mutually supportive and is really so much part of our society and what keeps our society together. That's the ideal.

If you can't meet that ideal, if there are people who for one reason or another just cannot do that or feel they cannot do that, then in order to protect their right to take care of each other, in order to take care of their right to have visitation in a hospital or something like that, I think that you could allow, not the ideal, but you could allow for that for a civil union.

But if you begin to fool around with the whole -- the whole nature of marriage, then you're doing something which effects the whole culture and denigrates what is so important for us. Marriage is the basic foundation of our family structure. And if we lose that, then I think we become a society that's in real trouble.

What a guy! We could live with "civil unions"??? Maybe he can, but as I recall the Church has said no. Such statements as this tend to show support for committing grave, mortal sins against chastity.

This ongoing failure of the cardinal to speak clearly and unambiguously brings to mind this from Revelation (Apocalypse) 3...

Letter to the Church of Laodicea
--------------------------------
[14] And to the angel of the church of Laodicea, write: These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, who is the beginning of the creation of God: [15] I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou were cold, or hot.

[Note on 14] "The Amen,"... that is, the true one, the Truth itself; the Word and Son of God. The beginning-- that is, the principle, the source, and the efficient cause of the whole creation.

[16] But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth.

The Navarre Bible commentary on these passages states, in part:

14. Laodicea was a city on the border of Phrygia, about 75 kilometers (45 miles) south-west of Philadelphia. It is also mentioned by St Paul when he suggests to the Colossians that they exchange his letter to them for the one he sent the Laodiceans (cf. Col 4:16).

15-16. The prosperity Laodicea enjoyed may have contributed to the laxity and lukewarmness the church is accused of here (Israel tended to take the same direction when living was easy: the people would become forgetful of Yahweh and adopt an easy-going lifestyle: cf., e.g., Deut 31:20; 32:15; Hos 13:6; Jer 5:7).

The presence of hot springs close to the city explains the language used in this passage, which amounts to a severe indictment of lukewarmness. It shows God's repugnance for mediocrity and bourgeois living. As observed by Cassian, one of the founders of Western monasticism, lukewarmness is something that needs to be nipped in the bud: "No one should attribute his going astray to any sudden collapse, but rather [...] to his having moved away from virtue little by little, through prolonged mental laziness. That is the way bad habits gain round without one's even noticing it, and eventually lead to a sudden collapse. 'Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall' (Prov 16:18). The same thing happens with a house: it collapses one fine day due to some ancient defect in its foundation or long neglect by the occupiers" ("Collationes", VI, 17).

Spiritual lukewarmness and mediocrity are very closely related: neither is the route Christian life should take.

As Monsignor Escriva puts it, "'In medio virtus'.... Virtue is to be found in the middle, so the saying goes, warning us against extremism. But do not make the mistake of turning that advice into a euphemism to disguise your own comfort, calculation, lukewarmness, easygoingness, lack of idealism and mediocrity.

Perhaps, it's time for the good cardinal to go into seclusion for prayer and reflection and stay away from cameras and microphones. This way, he can avoid speaking in ways which are either contrary to that which the Church professes or, at best, so 'nuanced' as to be worthless, 'lukewarm' platitudes of ambiguity.

Gospel for Thursday, 9th Week in Ordinary Time

From: Mark 12:28-34

The Greatest Commandment of All

[28] One of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that He (Jesus) answered them well, asked Him, "Which commandment is the first of all?" [29] Jesus answered, "The first is, `Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; [30] and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' [31] The second is this, `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." [32] And the scribe said to Him, "You are right, Teacher; You have truly said that He is one, and there is no other than He; [33] and to love with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." [34] And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." And after that no one dared to ask Him any question.
____________________________

Commentary:

28-34. The doctor of the law who asks Jesus this question is obviously an upright man who is sincerely seeking the truth. He was impressed by Jesus' earlier reply (verses 18-27) and he wants to learn more from Him. His question is to the point and Jesus devotes time to instructing him, though he will soon castigate the scribes, of whom this man is one (cf. Mark 12:38ff).

Jesus sees in this man not just a scribe but a person who is looking for the truth. And His teaching finds its way into the man's heart. The scribe repeats what Jesus says, savoring it, and our Lord offers him an affectionate word which encourages his definitive conversion: "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." This encounter reminds us of His meeting with Nicodemus (cf. John 3:1ff). On the doctrinal content of these two commandments cf. note on Matthew 22:34-40.

[Note on Matthew 22:34-40 states:
In reply to the question, our Lord points out that the whole law can be condensed into two commandments: the first and more important consists in unconditional love of God; the second is a consequence and result of the first, because when man is loved, St. Thomas says, God is loved, for man is the image of God (cf. "Commentary on St. Matthew", 22:4).

A person who genuinely loves God also loves his fellows because he realizes that they are his brothers and sisters, children of the same Father, redeemed by the same blood of our Lord Jesus Christ: "This commandment we have from Him, that he who loves God should love his brother also" (1 John 4:21). However, if we love man for man's sake without reference to God, this love will become an obstacle in the way of keeping the first commandment, and then it is no longer genuine love of our neighbor. But love of our neighbor for God's sake is clear proof that we love God: "If anyone says, `I love God', and hates his brother, he is a liar" (1 John 4:20).

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself": here our Lord establishes as the guideline for our love of neighbor the love each of us has for himself; both love of others and love of self are based on love of God. Hence, in some cases it can happen that God requires us to put our neighbor's need before our own; in others, not: it depends on what value, in light of God's love, needs to be put on the spiritual and material factors involved.

Obviously spiritual goods take absolute precedence over material ones, even over life itself. Therefore, spiritual goods, be they our own or our neighbor's, must be the first to be safeguarded. If the spiritual good in question is the supreme one for the salvation of the soul, no one is justified in putting his own soul into certain danger of being condemned in order to save another, because given human freedom we can never be absolutely sure what personal choice another person may make: this is the situation in the parable (cf. Matthew 25:1-13), where the wise virgins refuse to give oil to the foolish ones; similarly St. Paul says that he would wish himself to be rejected if that could save his brothers (cf. Romans 9:3)--an unreal theoretical situation. However, what is quite clear is that we have to do all we can to save our brothers, conscious that, if someone helps to bring a sinner back to the way, he will save himself from eternal death and cover a multitude of his own sins (James 5:20). From all this we can deduce that self-love of the right kind, based on God's love for man, necessarily involves forgetting oneself in order to love God and our neighbor for God.]

30. This commandment of the Old Law, ratified by Jesus, shows, above all, God's great desire to engage in intimate conversation with man: "would it not have sufficed to publish a permission giving us leave to love Him? [...]. He makes a stronger declaration of His passionate love for us, and commands us to love Him with all our power, lest the consideration of His majesty and our misery, which make so great a distance and inequality between us, or some other pretext, divert us from His love. In this He well shows that He did not leave in us for nothing the natural inclination to love Him, for to the end that it may not be idle, He urges us by His general commandment to employ it, and that this commandment may be effected, there is no living man He has not furnished him abundantly with all means requisite thereto" (St. Francis de Sales, "Treatise on the Love of God", Book 2, Chapter 8).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.

Confiteor - I Confess

"I have acknowledged my sin to Thee, and my injustice I have not con­cealed." Psalm 31:5.

The story is told of a mother whose son died fighting for his country. When the dreadful news arrived from the War Office, she was inconsolable. Again and again she expressed the prayerful wish:

"Oh, I wish I could see him again, if only for five minutes."

Someone asked her later for just what five minutes of the boy's life she would like to have him, supposing her prayer could come true. That was a difficult choice for her to make, as the boy was twenty-four years old. Would she like to see him in his sweet babyhood? Would it be the time when he started off to school? Would she like to see him again as he won honors at graduation? Perhaps she would like to see him going bravely into battle.

No, none of these times did the mother choose. She said:

"I would have him as he was one day when he ran in from the yard to ask foregiveness for being naughty. He was so small and so sad. He was perspiring and crying at the same time. The tears and perspiration made streaks down his muddy face. And he fairly flew into my arms, so hard that it hurt me."

To that mother the most memorable moments in the life of her son were those when he came to ask her forgiveness, those few moments when he realized that he had hurt the feelings of his loving mother by his dis­obedience.

Who will say that our own moments of sorrow and contrition are not the most precious in the sight of our heavenly Father? As Christ tells us:

"There will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, more than over ninety-nine just who have no need of repentance." St. Luke, 15:7.

With that thought in mind we would like to consider the Confiteor of the Mass. It is a general confession of sins made by both priest and people. Humbly, publicly, contritely we admit in the sight and hearing of all that we have sinned. The Confiteor is divided into two clearly distinct parts:

1. "I confess to almighty God, and to you to blessed Mary ever Virgin, to blessed Michael the archangel, to blessed John the Baptist, to the holy apostles, Peter and Paul, to all the saints, and to thee, Father, that I have sinned exceedingly, in thought, word, and deed."

[Novus Ordo translation: I confess to almighty God and to you my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned exceedingly, in my thoughts and in my words; in what I have done and in what I have failed to do.]

Here everyone strikes his breast three times as he says:

"through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault."

Then all continue:

"Therefore I beseech the blessed Mary, ever Virgin, blessed Michael the archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy apostles Peter and Paul, all the saints, and thee, Father, to pray to the Lord our God for me."

In the past Franciscans added the name of St. Francis. The Dominicans added St. Dominic; The Benedictines added St. Benedict.

2. It is proper that we admit our guilt to Mary and the saints:

A. Mary is "the Mother of Mercy" and "Refuge of Sinners."
B. St. Michael is the chief of the heavenly spirits.
C. St. John the Baptist was the forerunner of our Lord.
D. Saints Peter and Paul were the leaders of the early Church. They are usually linked together.

3. Praying the Confiteor the priest bows down profoundly to express with his body the sorrow of his soul. Bowing also helps the soul to humble itself. He joins his hands to show recollection of mind and devotion. The priest strikes his breast three times. In the breast is the heart, seat and source of all good and all evil. The three-fold striking of the breast shows the intensity, the sincerity, and the force of his contri­tion. It also shows sorrow for three kinds of sin - in thought, word, and deed.

After we have confessed our guilt, we ask the saints and their Queen and the faithful around to pray for the celebrant.

4. While the priest remains bowed, the servers, in the name of the people ask God to have mercy on the priest:

"May Almighty God be merciful to you, and, forgiving you your sins, bring you to life everlasting. Amen."

5. Then the servers bow down and recite the Confiteor in the name of the people. When they finish, they remain bowed, as the priest prays over them and the congregation:

"May Almighty God be merciful to you, and, forgiving you your sins, bring you to life everlasting. Amen.

"May the Almighty and merciful Lord, grant you pardon, absolution, and remission of your sins. Amen."

6. I suggest that all of you join with the servers in saying the Confiteor, that you repeat the words at least silently, that you strike your breast, that you sign yourself with the cross, as the priest prays for forgiveness for all.

The sign of the cross reminds us strongly that we are taking part in the Sacrifice of the Mass, that it is from Christ's death on the cross that all blessings and mercy come.

Watch the priest at Mass. Pray the Confiteor. Enter into its spirit. We are all like little children before our heavenly Father. Run to Him in contrition and sorrow. Bow before Him in repentance for your sins. Seek His forgiveness.

Our repentance is pleasing to God, just as the repentance of the little boy in our story was the most pleasing memory of his mother.
_________________________
Adapted from Talks on the Mass
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, OFM (© 1950)

"Catholic" Senators Who Voted Against Marriage Protection

The following are the professed "Catholic" Senators who voted against the Marriage Protection Amendment in a procedural vote today:

Joseph Biden of Delaware
Maria Cantwell of Washington
Susan Collins of Maine (R)
Richard Durbin of Illinois
Tom Harkin of Iowa
Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts
John Kerry of Massachusetts
Mary Landrieu of Louisiana
Patrick Leahy of Vermont
Barbara Mikulsi of Maryland
Patty Murray of Washington
Jack Reed of Rhode Island
Ken Salazar of Colorado
John Sununu of New Hampshire (R)

All of these Senators are Democrats except two who are Republicans [listed as (R)].

A Possible Addition to One's Reading List

Stories of liturgical and musical malpractice abound. Where Catholics gather to lament the state of the Church, the game of choice is "Can you top this?"

It can be very funny, in a sad sort of way. The malpractice is evident not only in liturgical and musical antics but also in the bare ruined choirs of churches stripped to the austere specifications of "worship spaces " designed to facilitate the community's encounter with itself.

Encounter with the Other is a decidedly secondary consideration, if it is considered at all.

The tabernacle of the Real Presence is moved either somewhere off to the side or into a closet-sized space down a side corridor, as though to pose a challenge to those really determined to engage in eucharistic adoration.

Not for nothing are the church renovations of recent decades sometimes referred to as wreckovations. All this is painfully true, and there will no doubt be cause for legitimate complaint far into the future. . . .

An excerpt from Catholic Matters: Confusion, Controversy, and the Splendor of Truth by Fr. Richard John Neuhaus...

The game of which he speaks, "Can you top this?" is truly sad when one is discussing the numerous aberations during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. How glorious, though, is it when one is discussing a beuatifully adorned church where reverence is the order of the day and where Holy Mass is celebrated in a prayerful and pious manner? There are two ways to play ""Can you top this?"...Wouldn't it be nice if more were of the latter type?

Alleged Victim Says Parish Didn't Do Enough

Another accusation of molestation by a priest. This allegation stems from an episode from 25+ years ago and the priest has been dead for over 20 years. Nonetheless, a suit has been filed against the St Louis Archdiocese and Archbishop Raymond Burke.

A Missouri man spoke publicly for the first time Thursday about the alleged sexual abuse he suffered while attending All Saints Catholic School in St. Peters.
...
The alleged victim has filed suit in St. Louis Circuit Court against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis and Archbishop Raymond Burke.

The complaint states Fr. Louis Kertz sexually abused him in 1981. Kertz died of cancer in 1985. He was 62.

The victim is said to have told his parents of the alleged fondling incident after returning home from being with the priest attending a movie at a drive-in.

The story also states that the victim is in his late 30's so the he must have been between 11 and 15 years. He asks his parents if the priest's actions were normal...Even though hindsight is 20/20, how can a parent not call the police over an incident like this? I can only imagine the restraint that would be required to keep from confronting and thrashing such a pervert, collar or not...I certainly would be unable to let something like this fester while not doing something about it.

[The victim] said his mother sought out another priest, Fr. Don Wester. The man said his mother explained what her son had revealed to her and the priest said her son was not the first to accuse Kertz of abuse.

The family believes that the priest did not do enough to address the issue. It seems to me that the parents didn't either.

SNAP is on the case...

...of a St Louis Community College employee accused of sexual misconduct in Orange County, California...

A 25-year-old woman filed suit Tuesday in Superior Court in Orange County, Calif., alleging that a St. Louis County man sexually abused, molested and raped her in 1998, before he became the music director at St. Louis Community College at Meramec.

Larry Stukenholtz is accused of abusing the girl, then 17, while he was the choir director at Mater Dei High School, a Catholic school in Santa Ana, Calif.

Stukenholtz works in St Louis for the Community College system. He denied the accusations and said that he was unaware of any allegations against him while he was at Mater Dei.

Never fear - SNAP is on this case like white on rice! The fact that the man is not a priest is unimportant - this happened at a Catholic school!

At a news conference on the edge of campus Tuesday, Barbara Dorris, outreach director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, asked the college to suspend Stukenholtz and to reach out to the people who have come in close contact with him. Dorris said the Catholic Church was concealing information about wrongdoing.

GUILTY - until proven innocent...SNAP's solution always appears to be the "Shoot first, ask questions later approach." Does SNAP take as much interest in the numerous sexual abuse cases occurring in the public school sector or in Protestant churches, or is it's interest merely in the Catholic realm.

Now had this been a female teacher having her way with an underage male student, we could well see that behavior lauded and displayed on TV.

Personally, I advocate locking up child molesters and throwing away the key - IF they survive long enough to make it to jail.

Lajolo and Kasper, Two New Additions to Team Ratzinger

They occupy key positions in the curia, having been appointed by John Paul II. But they fully support the new course charted by pope Ratzinger. Here is what has changed with them in the areas of ecumenism and relations with Islam

by Sandro Magister

Embracing a New Faith?

A growing number of Latinos are redefining themselves through Islam, attracted by a devoutness, simiplicity and way of treating women that they prefer to the machismo culture they were raised in.
...

Many are rejecting the Catholic faith in which they were raised...as they are made aware of their Islamic roots...

Latin Mass in Washington DC

The ringing of bells. Latin wafting high into the church rafters. Women's heads draped in lace.

There is a solemn aura to 9 a.m. Sunday Mass at Saint Mary Mother of God, a D.C. parish on Fifth Street NW where hundreds of Catholics who long for ancient ritual gather each week to celebrate what is among the most traditional and complex of Roman Catholic rites: the Tridentine Mass.

The sounds are few and particular. Latin is the language of prayer, and the only ones who speak it during the service are the nearly inaudible priest and the Gregorian Chant Choir that performs on the third Sunday of each month. Robed altar servers -- there are as many as 10 -- ring bells several times during the hour-long service. Pews creak and shoes shuffle as some 400 people kneel and stand, kneel and stand. . .

A decent article from the Washington Post...To see a panoramic photo of a recent Mass at Saint Mary and hear music from the service, click here.

Gospel for Wednesday, 9th Week in Ordinary Time

From: Mark 12:18-27

The Resurrection of the Dead

[18] And Sadducees came to Him (Jesus), who say that there is no resurrection; and they asked Him a question, saying [19] "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the wife, and raise up children for his brother. [20] There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no children; [21] and the second took her, and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise; [22] and the seven left no children. Last of all the woman also died. [23] In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife."

[24] Jesus said to them, "Is not this why you are wrong, that you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? [25] For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in Heaven. [26] And as for being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, `I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? [27] He is not God of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong."
__________________________
Commentary:

18-27. Before answering the difficulty proposed by the Sadducees, Jesus wants to identify the source of the problem--man's tendency to confine the greatness of God inside a human framework through excessive reliance on reason, not giving due weight to divine Revelation and the power of God. A person can have difficulty with the truths of faith; this is not surprising, for these truths are above human reason. But it is ridiculous to try to find contradictions in the revealed word of God; this only leads away from any solution of difficulty and may make it impossible to find one's way back to God. We need to approach Sacred Scripture, and, in general, the things of God, with the humility which faith demands. In the passage about the burning bush, which Jesus quotes to the Sadducees, God says this to Moses: "Put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground" (Exodus 3:5).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.

Thomas More Law Center Asks Ninth Circuit To Halt Destruction of the Mt. Soledad Cross

ANN ARBOR, MI – Today, the Thomas More Law Center, a national, public interest law firm, filed an urgent motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, seeking a stay of Federal District Court Judge Gordon Thompson’s May 3 order to the City of San Diego to remove the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial cross within 90 days or face fines of $5,000 per day. Unless the Ninth Circuit stays this court order, the City will be forced to remove the cross by August 1.

Something has gone awry....

...All sidebar items are at the bottom...Not certain what happened, but I hope to have it fixed soon.

New Missouri Sexual Predator Law...

Will Missouri Abortion Clinics be charged with a felony if they fail to report cases where underage sex has occurred?

Maybe, according to a report by LiteSiteNews:

...[the] new law makes it a felony if a person, or an organization, including abortion clinics, omit to inform the authorities if someone they know is a sexual offender, or if they help that person hide from the authorities.

Planned Parenthood was exposed in covering cases of statutory rape back in 2002 by Life Dynamics, Inc.

Missouri Democratic Party Endorses Killing of Cloned Embryos for Research

As if abortion and infanticide are not enough, Democratic Party of the State of Missouri has officially endorsed the ballot measure to allow embryonic stem cell research and "therapeutic" cloning, which results in the killing of even more innocent human life.

Of course, the ballot measure redefines human cloning so as to create confusion among voters. These ghouls have decided that human cloning is to be defined as implanting a cloned embryo in a woman uterus. So one might ask, "What is a 'cloned' embryo"?

... the measure does permit embryonic stem cell research -- a process anti-abortion groups believe ends human life at its earliest stages.

Not only do Pro-life (anti-abortion) groups believe that it ends human life but this is a FACT confirmed by biological science - Facts which many refuse to accept.

We live among pagans and heathens and death peddlers. We evidently are not praying enough.



For good, solid information see Missourians Against Human Cloning:

New Vatican summary of teachings on sexuality

VATICAN CITY, JUN 6, 2006 (VIS) - The Pontifical Council for the Family, founded 25 years ago by John Paul II with the Motu Proprio "Familia a Deo Instituta," and presided by Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, today published a document entitled: "Family and Human Procreation."

The text, according to an explanatory note written by Fr. Abelardo Lobato O.P., consultor of the pontifical council, "is destined to be an object of study, both for its doctrine and in its pastoral application." The document opens with "an introduction to the theme of the relationship between ... the family and procreation."

And from Catholic World News:

Jun. 06 (CWNews.com) - The Pontifical Council for the Family has issued a new major document entitled Family and Human Procreation, explaining Church teaching on a range of controversial issues including abortion, contraception, homosexuality, genetic manipulation, and divorce.
...
The document argues that "responsible procreation" always occurs within the context of marriage and family life. It decries the growing acceptance of single-parent households and homosexual unions, and in particular the demands for government recognition of same-sex "marriage" and the right of homosexuals to adopt children.

Passing Off Lies as the Truth

That's what the LA Times is doing with this article:

Faithful, Yet Not Traditional Catholics
Doctrinal differences, social issues, scandals lead congregations away from church hierarchy.

Now, let that sink in a bit..."FAITHFUL, Yet Not Traditional CATHOLICS"

As you read the article, observe to whom these people are FAITHFUL:

Like Catholic priests everywhere, Bishop Peter Hickman dons a white tunic each Sunday to celebrate Mass in a sanctuary laden with incense and crosses.

"Marriage promotes growth," says Hickman, 50, who has fathered five children, been married three times and divorced twice. "People who've never been married have a hard time knowing themselves."

If marriage promotes growth, then multiple marriages must promote a superabundance of growth...

Here we have a man, unable to be FAITHFUL to his wife, (the first woman he married), who has taken up adulterous relationships twice (objectively speaking) and who pretends to be a Catholic priest. And we are to infer that he "knows" himself, while others do not. Probably from the growth of knowledge of multiple marriages.

An then, what are we to make of Jesus, who never married, or of those who followed Him, living a consecrated life of celibacy and virginity. We all know that Jesus was quite confused, having a "hard time knowing {Himself]"...And the Saints who lived lives of heroic virtue, in consecrated celibacy or virginity, lives of total self giving to God - did they, too, have a "hard time knowing themselves"?

The church he has pastored for more than 20 years, St. Matthew in Orange, operates much like any other Catholic church, and offers what appear to be the same sacraments. Yet it ordains female, married and openly gay priests, recognizes divorce, accepts birth control and premarital sex, blesses same-sex unions and, most important, rejects the authority of the pope.

It's a bit of a stretch - in fact, beyond belief - to claim that his church "operates much like any other Catholic church" - in actuality, it operates more like any other lost protestant denomination which engages in similar practices. It has no valid sacraments, save perhaps Baptism, and this is, no doubt, questionable.

"We dream of a Catholic Church that's open to everyone," Hickman said in a recent Sunday sermon. The Roman Catholic hierarchy, he said, "betrays the Gospel they are called to preach. We pray they will be delivered from the demonic hold they have been caught up in."

It's as if the poor man really doesn't understand - the Church IS open to everyone - everyone who wishes to follow Christ.

He may as well demand from God Almighty that He open heaven to all while He does away with hell. But then, maybe Hickman and company believe they are all gods. They have, after all, rejected Christ by rejecting the Church He founded and keeps alive, animated and protected by the Holy Spirit.

While he may have a point in that some in the Church hierarchy "betray the Gospel", one must wonder why he does not number himself among the betrayers? The Gospels are quite clear to some, but these who have exalted themselves as self-appointed arbitors of truth and authentic "Catholicism", have deceived themselves or have been deceived by the same demonic forces from which they claim to pray from deliverance.

"Our Catholic identity is very important to us," Hickman says, "but the Catholic Church no longer has a monopoly on sacraments." Speaking to his congregation, Hickman goes even further, saying the Roman church hierarchy has betrayed the Gospel.

Twice in the article we read about this betrayal. The LA Times must be trying to get that point across to the readers. But I digress.

If "Catholic identity" was as important as he claims it to be, then he would not be rejecting the Catholic Church. The only thing which is truly important to such people is the ability to abuse one's freedom, intellect and conscience. When one imbibes daily of the tasty poisons of schism. heresy, and apostacy, one cannot help but be affected and infected.

"Faithfulness"...what we read about in the article...This "faithfulness" is not a fidelity toward our Lord or to His Church, but is a sick and perverted love of self - a narcissism posing as something virtuous, a self-love which excludes truth and the grace of God.

St Louis is the home of one of the ECC communities. Recently, Marek Bozek (the exommunicated priest hired to "pastor" St Stanislaus Church) commented that what this group was doing was "very Catholic"...By their fruits you will know them, eh?

USCCB to Trim Bureaucracies?

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Explaining plans to reorganize the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan of Santa Fe, N.M., said June 2 that "every bureaucracy tends to grow" and needs periodic trimming. When the U.S. bishops meet in Los Angeles June 15-17, Archbishop Sheehan, as secretary of the USCCB and chairman of its Committee on Priorities and Plans, will present them with a draft plan that would completely overhaul their committee structure. Once a new committee structure is adopted, it is expected to lead to reductions in staffing at the USCCB national headquarters in Washington. Under the draft proposal the bishops will discuss in Los Angeles, the 35 standing committees of the conference would be consolidated into 14, all 16 ad hoc committees would be eliminated, and the current five committees at the executive or management level would be reduced to four. A final reorganization plan is to be presented to the bishops for a vote at their November meeting.

This is good news...I hear the BCL (Bishops Committee for the Liturgy) will be renamed the Committee for Divine Worship...

Vatican criticizes couples in marriages 'willingly made sterile'

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Couples who use natural family planning to have only one or two children allow "brief parentheses" in a marriage "willingly made sterile," said a new document from the Pontifical Council for the Family.

The document, "Family and Human Procreation," was released in Italian June 6 and was issued to mark the 25th anniversary of the council's establishment.

"Never before has the natural institution of matrimony and family been victim of such violent attacks," said the document, signed by Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, council president.

Summer Camp for Boys by the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem

The Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem is hosting:

A Five-day summer camp for boys (ages 7-12)

8:00 AM to 3:30 PM - Monday through Friday

Where:

Priory of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
1635 Kehrs Mill Road
Chesterfield, MO 63005
Phone: (636) 536-4082

The Priory is located on Kehrs Mill Road south of Wildhorse Creek and north of Strecker Raod, immediately north of the Linda Vista School. If you need help finding us or have any questions at all, please call the number given.

Facilities:
58-acre campground with a wide variety of terrain...
A Beautiful chapel!

Schedule:
Monday through Friday.

Please drop off your son by 7:45 AM each day, and pick him up at 3:30 PM. On Friday, please come at 2 PM for a special Mass to close the camp.

Activities:
Daily Mass...
Server training...
Team Sports...
Water wars...
Capture the Flag...
Thursday cookout...
Catechism Lessons...
Gregorian Chant.

Please bring a baseball glove, suntan lotion, and dress reasonably for outdoor activities.

Meals:
Breakfast will be provided. Please bring a sack lunch and drink from home each day except Thursday.

Supervision:
All activites are conducted and supervised by seminarians with priestly oversight, an inestimable blessing.

Camp Fee:
$50.00 per week.
A 2nd brother from the same household pays $25.00; $10.00 for each additional brother. Free-will donations are also appreciated.

Applications/Reservations:
Please fill out the registration section below (or cut and paste it into your word processor for formatting and printing), check the desired camping week(s). Make check payable to Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem, detach form and mail check to:

Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem
Priory of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
1635 Kehrs Mill Road
Chesterfield, MO 63005

If you are interested in having a host family keep your son(s) overnight or wish to serve as a host family for those boys living at a considerable distance from the Priory please mention so on the application form.

Space is limited so apply early!

=================================================
2006 APPLICATION FORM

Name(s) of Camper(s):

(last)________________(first)_______________DOB:____________

(last)________________(first)_______________DOB:____________

(last)________________(first)_______________DOB:____________

Address:____________________________________________________

City:______________________________________Zip:_____________

Home Phone: (___)______________________

Work Phone: (___)______________________

Email:______________________________________________________

Name of Parent
or Guardian:________________________________________________


Parent or Guardian's Signature:

____________________________________________________________

Please check week(s) desired:

_____June 19-23

_____June 26-30

HOST FAMILY:
We would like to have one:__________
We would like to be one:___________

Statement by Cardinal Rigali Concerning Federal Marriage Amendment

Gospel for Tuesday, 9th Week in Ordinary Time

From: Mark 12:13-17

On Tribute to Caesar

[13] And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to entrap him in his talk. [14] And they came and said to him, "Teacher, we know that you are true, and care for no man; for you do not regard the position of men, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? [15] Should we pay them, or should we not?" But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, "Why put me to the test? Bring me a coin and let me look at it." [16] And they brought one. And he said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" They said to him, "Caesar's." [17] Jesus said to them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And they were amazed at him.
________________________

Commentary:

13-17. Jesus uses this situation to teach that man belongs totally to his Creator: "You must perforce give Caesar the coin which bears his likeness, but let you give your whole being to God, because it is his likeness, not Caesar's that you bear" (St Jerome, "Comm. in Marcum, in loc.").

Our Lord here asserts a principle which should guide the action of Christians in public life. The Church recognizes the rightful autonomy of earthly realities, but this does not mean that she has not a responsibility to light them up with the light of the Gospel. When they work shoulder to shoulder with other citizens to develop society, Christian lay people should bring a Christian influence to bear: "If the role of the Hierarchy is to teach and to interpret authentically the norms of morality to be followed in this matter, it belongs to lay people, without waiting passively for orders and directives, to take the initiative freely and to infuse a Christian spirit into the mentality, customs, laws and structures of the community in which they live. Changes are necessary, basic reforms are indispensable; lay people should strive resolutely to permeate them with the spirit of the Gospel" (Paul VI, "Populorum Progressio", 81).
__________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.

Pentecost - Mourning and Comfort

"Do not let your heart be troubled, or be afraid." St. John, 14:27.

Some years ago the father of a Chinese family died, leaving a wife and tiny boy. Lovingly the mother cared for her son, in the hope that one day he would be the support of her home. However, signs of leprosy made their appearance in the little lad. Added to this was total blindness, brought on by the medicines he had been receiving. His wounds festered, making his condition so miserable that another leper brought the boy to the Catholic mission hospital. After the sisters had bathed and dressed his sores, he felt so good that he expected a complete cure.

He wanted to learn about the religion that inspired such charity. Rapidly he made progress in the catechism. The Blessed Sacrament and the Rosary became his favorite devotions. He was first in the chapel every morning, preparing to receive Holy Communion.

But death had marked him for its own. Being still in his early twenties, the young man wanted to live. Death seemed hard. But his new-found faith gave him a consolation and a comfort that strengthened his last days and hours. Not long before his death he remarked: "The good God gave me this leprosy that I might learn about Him and love Him and save my soul. I would never have found Him otherwise. So I thank Him always for this sickness."

He died a peaceful and holy death.

We could multiply this story by the thousands, for many have found in the sorrow of sickness the way to God. This young boy found the true faith through his leprosy.
Everyone who mourns will find comfort, according to the promise of Christ, given in the Third Beatitude:

"Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted." St. Matthew, 5:5.

1. By mourning we mean an abiding spirit of sorrow and compassion. Mourning means a calm and earnest sorrow, based on the truths of faith, and opposed to the pleasure-seeking spirit of the world which wishes only for a perpetual picnic, which makes earthly joy and material amusement the sole object of its desires.

Christian mourning does not mean the long-faced visage of the Puritan. It does not mean the gloomy gaze painted on the faces of some saints. Mourning is a spiritual lament and grief for one's own sins and the sins of the world.

2. Those who mourn in spirit are they:

A. Who lament over the fact that God is so little loved and so greatly offended. It does sadden to see how few return God's love, how many insult His love.

B. Who grieve over the eternal loss of souls. Any follower of Christ who stops to observe must realize that many are losing their souls.

C. Who lead a life of penance and reparation for sin. The number of these is much greater than most of us realize. There are saintly souls in every parish who do heroic penance in their line of duty. Thousands offer their pains to Almighty God in penance for the sins of those who never beg God's pardon.

D. Who bear patiently the trials of this valley of tears. These are numerous. Of them you don't read in the papers. There are shut-ins, invalids, aged, confined to bed for years, who accept their cross patiently and even cheerfully. They mourn in every deed; they shall be comforted.

E. Who are filled with contrition for their own sins. This too is frequent, though not played up in the papers.

3. The mourning of which Christ speaks is not the human and natural grief at death and physical evils. These can and should be spiritualized. But natural grief alone is not the spiritual thing which will be comforted.

4. And what are the things that make us mourn spiritually?

A. The thought that many millions do not know that Christ lived and died for them, that many, knowing it, live as if they did not know it.

B. The vivid memory and thought of our Lord's passion. This made many of the saints weep bitterly. It even caused eye trouble to St. Francis of Assisi.

C. The many kinds of sin they see make Christ's followers mourn.

D. To see the Church persecuted causes sorrow to the children of the Church.

E. Those who love Christ are made sad at sight of the obstacles to spreading the faith: bigotry, ignorance, pride, lack of means.

F. The unfaithfulness of nations and individuals.

G. Temporal miseries also make us mourn. Christ Himself mourned at the tomb of Lazarus (St. John, 11:53); over the widow's son (St. Luke, 7:13); as He looked down over Jerusalem. (St. Luke, 19:41-47).

5. What happiness, what blessedness could there possibly be in such mourning? Spiritual grief has several religious results:

A. It remits and satisfies for sin.

B. It brings the interior consolations of the Holy Spirit. And, oh, how sweet those consolations. During these days of Pentecost, after the Holy Spirit came down upon the Apostles, you realize what consolation and strength the Holy Comforter brought to them, and what He will bring to us.

C. It gives a certain peace and serenity of soul. That is what mourning did for the Chinese boy who died of leprosy.

D. It converts sinners.

E. It offers a safeguard against sin.

Jesus promised: "Your sorrow shall be turned into joy." St. John, 16:20.

He tells us not to be troubled or afraid. May the Holy Spirit help us to understand this and the other beatitudes. May the Holy Spirit help us to live according to them.
__________________
Adapted from Prayers, Precepts and Virtues
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, OFM (©1949)

Aging, Anti-Catholic Sect Demonstrates in Lincoln

You gotta love Bishop Bruskewitz' choice of words - he calls it like it is, having no need or desire to "nuance" the truth into some obscure ambiguity:

About 50 people demonstrated outside St. Mary’s Catholic Church and School Saturday afternoon, calling for greater openness and inclusiveness in the Roman Catholic Church. The event concluded the 10th anniversary conference of Call to Action Nebraska...

About half of those participating in Saturday’s “non-violent action” were CTA members from other parts of the country, while the rest were from Nebraska.

"Non-violent action"??? I think not! They do violence to truth and to the Church and to others by promoting and advocating such things as:

...allowing priests to marry, permitting women to be priests and perform other leadership roles in the church, ... and inclusion of gays and lesbians.

But Bishop Bruskewitz, issued a statement regarding Call to Action calling it

“an anti-Catholic sect composed mainly of aging fallen-away Catholics, including ex-priests and ex-nuns.”
. . .
“Although some of them might claim to still be Catholics, nobody except a few media types see them as such.”

He cuts right to the point - no wishy-washiness here.

In his statement, Bruskewitz claimed that CTA members reject the Second Vatican Council and previous church councils as well as the authority of the pope and bishops. But CTA leaders say their call for dialogue about reforms is in the true spirit of Vatican II, which brought about many changes in the 1960s and since.

CTA claims to understand the "true spirit of Vatican II." Evidently, to them, the Holy Father and the Bishops united with him are clueless.

Ellen McNally, president of CTA Florida, noted that the group is treated quite differently there than in Nebraska. “We are welcomed in the Catholic Church, we meet in a Catholic Church and don’t have opposition,” she said.

Any bets on which bishop she's referring to?

Don't forget that courageous bishops need our prayers just as much as these lost souls do...

TMLC Seeks Supreme Court Review Of Court Decision Allowing California Public School To Teach Twelve Year-olds How To Become Muslims

ANN ARBOR, MI – The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has requested that the United States Supreme Court review the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision holding that it is constitutional for a California public school to engage in a three week intensive course for seventh graders on how to “become Muslims.”

For three weeks in 2001, impressionable twelve-year-old students were, among other things, placed into Islamic city groups, took Islamic names, wore identification tags that displayed their new Islamic name and the Star and Crescent Moon, which is the symbol of Muslims, were handed materials that instructed them to “Remember Allah always so that you may prosper,” completed the Islamic Five Pillars of Faith, including fasting, and memorized and recited the “Bismillah” or “In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate,” which students also wrote on banners that were hung on the classroom walls.

A California federal trial court and the Ninth Circuit determined that these practices did not violate the Constitution.

There is no violation because "Christianity" is not mentioned or taught...What sort of outcry would there be IF children were placed in a similar "educational" program where they would learn how to "become Christians" or, God forbid, "become Catholics"...

Perhaps parents should take this up with their local school boards and see if, in the name of diversity, a program can be put in place to teach children how to become good Christians. If it works for the Peoples' Republik of Kalifornia, it could work elsewhere.

FutureChurch Gets the Boot

HT to Cathleen.

Gospel for June 5, Memorial: St. Boniface, Bishop & Martyr

From: Mark 12:1-12

The Parable of the Wicked Tenants

[1] And he began to speak to them in parables. "A man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a pit for the wine press, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country. [2] When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. [3] And they took him and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. [4] Again he sent to them another servant, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. [5]And he sent another, and him they killed; and so with many others, some they beat and some they killed. [6] He had still one other, a beloved son; finally he sent him to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' [7] But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' [8] And they took him and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. [9] What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants, and give the vineyard to others. [10] Have you not read the scripture: 'The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner; [11] this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?" [12] And they tried to arrest him but feared the multitude, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them; so they left him and went away.
_____________________

Commentary:

1-12. This parable is a masterly summary of history of salvation. To explain the mystery of his redemptive death, Jesus makes use of one of the most beautiful allegories of the Old Testament the so-called "song of the vineyard," in which Isaiah (5:1-7) prophesied Israel's ingratitude for God's favors. On the basis of this Isaiah text, Jesus reveals the patience of God, who sends one messenger after another--the prophets of the Old Testament--until at last, as the text says, he sends "his beloved son", Jesus, whom the tenants will kill. This __expression, as also that which God himself uses to describe Christ at Baptism (1:11) and the Transfiguration (9:7), points to the divinity of Jesus, who is the cornerstone of salvation, rejected by the builders in their selfishness and pride. To the Jews listening to Jesus telling this parable, his meaning must have been crystal clear. The rulers "perceived that he had told the parable against them" (v. 12) and that it was about the fulfillment of the Isaiah prophecy (cf. note on Mt 21:33-46).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.

Sacrilege and Betrayal of our Lord

In an act that some witnesses called a "sacrilege" and others called a sign of "solidarity," a man who was not wearing a sash received a Communion wafer from a priest, broke it into pieces and handed it to some of the sash wearers, who consumed it on the spot.

This happened at the Cathedral in St. Paul, Minn.

The same thing happened two millenia ago when Judas handed Jesus over to those who were hell bent on killing Him...In essence, is there really any difference between today's Judas from yesterday's Judas? Won't tomorrow's Judas betray our Lord as well?

The only "solidarity" of these homosexual activists is that which they have with all who betray our Lord and turn Him over to be persecuted.

Ushers threatened to call the police, and a church employee burst into tears when the unidentified man re-distributed the consecrated wafer, which Catholics consider the body of Christ.

Source...

A New Podcast - St Louis Order of Carmel Discalced Secular

Celebrating the greatness of the Holy Spirit on this holy feast day of Pentecost, the Order of Carmel Discalced Secular in St. Louis, Missouri invite you to the launch of their new website and downloadable Podcast!

As part of our new apostolate, we invite you to learn more about Carmelite Spirituality through listening to short meditations we have put together which come directly from the treasury of writings of the great Carmelite Saints including St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Therese of Lisieux, Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, St. Teresa of the Andes, Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, St. Teresa Benedicta and many more.

The audio from these Podcasts can be downloaded onto your computer or MP3 player, and you may store the meditations on an iPod or CD and to enjoy them wherever you go. There will be a new episode listed every week and to help keep you alerted to EVERY new Meditation, we have provided an RSS link so you won't miss a broadcast!

Please visit us at: http://www.stl-ocds.org

These Meditations range in length between 1.5 to 5 minutes in length and are perfect and wonderful interludes between Radio Programming! The Meditations can be made available in broadcast quality so let us know if you are interested in helping our apostolate grow in your local Catholic Radio Area!

This is very nice...I have D/l'ed the meditations and listened to several of them...Very well done!

Thanks to Lisa J. for the update!

Pentecost - The Holy Spirit and Confession

"... "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." St. John 20:22,23

One of the operas of Richard Strauss is a one-act "song-poem" called Fauersnot. Fauersnot means Fire Famine. The plot of the play, written by Ernst von Wolzogen, is based upon an old Dutch legend about a maiden named Diemut who grievously offended Kunrad, her beloved.

By her offense she brought great suffering and distress upon herself and her entire town. Her beloved Kunrad was a powerful magician. He took immediate revenge by casting a spell whereby all fires in the town were extinguished. Houses and streets were wrapped in pitch darkness. The people were uncomfortable and unhappy. Finally the maiden relents and listens to the voice of love.

The climax of the story is reached when Diemut yields to her love for Kunrad. Once more the fires burn warmly and brightly on the hearths of their little homes.

Imagine the distress and misery of a town without fire of any kind, without the light and heat so necessary for comfort and health. Fire is absolutely necessary for the body of man.

Fire is no less necessary for the soul of man. It is just as necessary to light and warm our souls as it is to light and warm our bodies.

Before the first Pentecost the entire world was in the condition of the little town where Diemut lived. The fire of the Holy Spirit had not yet enlightened the minds of men, had not yet warmed their hearts to the love of God. What a change that first Pentecost made.

"And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a violent wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as of fire, which settled upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit." Acts, 2:3,4.

Here was the Holy Spirit whom Jesus had promised. Here was the Holy Spirit sent by the Father at the request of the Son. Here was the Holy Spirit who would teach them all things. Here was the Holy Spirit who would remind them of all that Christ had told them. Here was the Fire that would enlighten their minds and warm their hearts.

As we are considering confession at the present time, it will be well to consider that both priest and penitent need the light and heat of the Holy Ghost for this sacrament. Read again how Christ gave the power of for­giving sin:

"'Peace be to you! As the Father has sent me, I also send you.' When he had said this, he breathed upon them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.'" St. John, 20:22,23.

Note the words, "Receive the Holy Spirit." By the Holy Spirit the priest has the power of pardoning. From the Holy Spirit he receives the light to guide and direct you. Through the Holy Spirit the priest has the power to know the human heart and to heal it.

Often the priest is face to face in the confessional with the darkness brought on by the devil himself. Often the priest sees in the heart of the sinner the fire famine of neglect of the Holy Spirit. Well he knows that his human learning and wisdom are helpless before the darkness of sin. Help from above is absolutely necessary. That is why the priest will utter a little prayer to the Holy Spirit before he hears confessions. That is why the zealous priest will often lift his heart in humble entreaty to the Holy Spirit to give him the right direction for the sinner kneeling before him.

That same Holy Spirit is needed by the penitent. Like Diemut, the offending maiden of Strauss' opera, we have brought darkness and chill upon the soul by our sins. Only by returning the love of the One who loves us with a boundless love can we win back the light and heat so essen­tial for our souls.

Be sure to ask the Holy Spirit to help you make a good confession. Ask Him to help you think of your sins and realize their ugliness. Ask Him to fill your heart with the fire of love, so necessary for being truly sorry for your sins. Beg the Blessed Spirit to help you determine never to offend your Beloved again. Ask Him for the courage to make a complete and sincere confession of your sins.

You might even ask the Holy Spirit to guide your spiritual guide, the priest. His work is an awe-inspiring one, a humbling one, a fearful one. He needs strength and help for it.

Perhaps you know some sinner who did not yet made his Easter duty. There is still time for that important obligation. In addition to talking tactfully to the sinner about it, be sure to talk to the Holy Spirit about him, begging the God of light and love to fire the heart of the sinner to repentance.

Every day in every way we need the Holy Spirit, but especially we need Him in regard to confession. What better time to ask that help than on this glorious feast, this glorious anniversary, this glorious com­memoration of the day when that loving Light came down upon the Infant Church. May the poet's lines be our prayer this Pentecost day­ -

"Light immortal, light divine!
"Visit Thou, these hearts of Thine­ -
"Bend the stubborn heart and will;
"Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
"Guide the steps that go astray."

____________________
Adapted from Talks on the Sacraments
by Fr. Arthur Tonne,OFM (© 1947)

Pentecost - The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

"The Holy Spirit. . . will teach you all things." St. John, 14:26.

"I believe in the Holy Spirit." Creed.

For as long as we have had human records, the dove has been a guide for sailors and a 'Pilot for mariners. In ancient Assyria and Babylon, in Phoenicia and Indo-Europe the historian tells us of it. Whenever sailors wanted to know the direction or the distance of land they released one or two doves from a cage which was always carried along. The bird swiftly winged its way up above the storm-clouds, hung in the air for a moment, and then, like an arrow, flew for the nearest land. In that direction the sailor pointed the prow of his ship, certain that land lay in that direction. This practice has survived to our own day among many sailors and fishermen of the world.

What a beautiful picture that is of the dove of the Holy Spirit. Four times the gospel writers describe the Divine Spirit as descending in the form of a dove; which even before the time of Christ was the symbol of love and devotion. Life is like a sea. You and I are sailors. Sometimes we are lost; some times we are storm-tossed; often we are uncertain of the path to take. It is then that the Holy Spirit, like a dove, soars above the clouds of doubt and uncertainty, and leads the way to safety and security.

Today, Pentecost, we recall the first coming of the Holy Spirit in the form of fiery tongues upon the apostles and disciples. For nine days Since Christ's Ascension into Heaven they had been waiting and praying for this Spirit of truth and love, promised by our Lord. They were fearful, uncertain, doubtful and weak. But, today, what a change. With the Holy Spirit in their hearts they become strong and cou­rageous, certain and zealous. They go forth from that upper room, guided by the Divine Dove. Just as the dove dispelled the doubts of the sailor, so the Holy Spirit really taught the apostles all things.

To understand more clearly and fully what the Holy Spirit did on that first Pentecost, and what He will do for us, we want to consider His gifts and workings. Ages before the coming of Christ this work was foretold. After the Assyrians had attacked and almost annihilated Israel, God had mercy on His chosen people, and promised them assistance in the words of the prophet Isaias, 11:1-3: "And there shall come forth a shoot of the stock of Jesse and a flower shall rise up out of his root. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and godliness. And He shan be fined with the spirit of the fear of the Lord." There we have the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost. What do they mean?

1. Wisdom is that gift by which we raise our minds above the fleeting things of earth and think of things eternal. It lights up the mind, helping the intellect to look at revealed truth in the sublime sunshine of heaven. It helps us taste God, as it were, and love God.

2. Understanding is that gift which throws a searching light upon the meaning of revealed truth. It helps us comprehend and know, as far as men can, the truths of faith and the divine mysteries. It tell us exactly what this or that revealed truth really means.

3. Counsel is that gift which makes clear to us, amid the uncertainties of life, what makes for the glory of God, our own salvation, and the salva­tion of our neighbor. Counsel helps our practical minds to see what should be done in individual cases, and what are the best means to do it. Counsel points the path when the path is none too certain.

4. Fortitude is the gift which helps us, with valor and courage, to observe faithfully the laws of God and His Church. It helps us overcome the dangers and difficulties on our Christian pathway to God.

5. Knowledge is the gift by which we judge correctly of created things, or creatures, and are taught to use them correctly, and direct them to God, their final end. It shows us that the truths of faith are believable and acceptable, even from the standpoint of reason.

Note the distinct difference between Christian and non-Christian knowledge. The former helps us put all things in their proper place and relation to their Maker. Mere knowledge, godless knowledge, is merely a piling up of facts and information, without any order or purpose. With this Christian knowledge St. Francis of Assisi was inspired to write his immortal "Canticle of the Sun," or Praise of all Creatures.

6. Piety is the gift by which we honor God as, our Father. Piety is from an old Latin word which means devotion to one's parents. Christian piety is devotion to our heavenly Parent. It helps us take pleasure in prayer, spiritual reading and good works, because they please our Father. It helps us have at heart everything that will honor God.

7. Fear of the Lord is that gift which helps us revere and respect God and dread to offend His Divine Majesty. It is not a slavish, cringing feeling. It is the fear of loving children of a loving Father, who dread to offend Him because He is so good. It diverts us from evil and directs us to good.

How desperately we need these gifts every day. Without them, we are like sailors tossed about in a storm, not knowing the direction, or, knowing it, not being able to follow it.

May the Holy Spirit pour His powerful gifts into the heart of every­one this Pentecost. May the Holy Spirit guide each one of us. May He guide our leaders and statesmen, our professional people, our parents, our teachers, our students. May the Divine Dove show us the way and help us to follow it. May the Spirit of God abide with us forever. Amen.
__________________________
Adapted from Talks on the Creed
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, OFM (© 1946)

Pentecost - Temperance

"If anyone love me, he will keep my word, and my father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him." St. John, 14:23.

According to an ancient fable, Death, the King of Terrors, decided to choose a Prime Minister, one who would be first in power and influence. He called all his chalk-faced servants, the ghastly train of diseases, and asked each to put forth his claim to the honor of being Death's best worker.

One after another, cancer, heart disease, tuberculosis, arthritis, diabetes, gout, colic and asthma each put in his claim to being the greatest killer.

In the midst of the argument the court was suddenly disturbed with music, dancing and shouting. Into the hall where all the diseases had gathered with Death, came a lady with bold and flirtive air, a flushed face and a canned smile. She was attended by a troupe of cooks and bartenders and a large group of humans, mostly young men and young women. She signaled for silence and addressed the crowd:

"As you all know," she shouted, "my name is Intemperance. Give way, you sickly band of pretenders, make way for Intemperance. How can any of you hope to rival me in killing? Our monarch, Death, knows my merits. He knows that I am the parent of all of you. He knows that you get your power of shortening life principally from me. He knows, you all know, that Intemperance is the beginning and cause of most diseases, the cause in some way or other of most deaths. I claim this office of Prime Minister of Death."

Death grinned a pale smile, raised his bony right hand and declared:
"Intemperance, indeed, is Death's best worker. Intemperance is my favorite. Intemperance shall be my first assistant."

What that fable tells us is actual, awful fact. The greatest killer is intemperance, that is, eating too much, drinking too much, doing anything too much. It ruins health, shortens life and is against the Fifth Commandment.

God gave us an appetite and desire for food and drink. With that strong desire God has given us a reason, the ability to know when we have had enough for our health. God's book makes it clear that drunkenness is against His law:

"Neither fornicators. . . nor adulterers. . . nor drunkards. . . shall possess the kingdom of God." I Cor. 6:9.

Besides harming himself the drunkard also harms his home, his wife, his family. Only the recording angel knows how many lovely homes have been broken up, how many wives have led a hell on earth, how many children were undernourished, underclothed, underloved, because of a drunken father. Quarrels and fighting and cursing and breaking up furniture, not to mention the injuring of loved ones themselves, have resulted from excessive drinking.

The drunkard poisons his own system and often poisons the bodies, or at least weakens the bodies of his children. A child conceived in drunkenness often has poor health and particularly a weakened nervous system.

Should there be here today anyone reading this, husband or wife, any father or mother who drinks to excess, I beg you in the name of all that is holy and sacred and worthwhile, to make up your mind this very day that you will act the part of an intelligent, reasonable human being and not the part of a mere animal.

We admit the social and healthful value of an occasional friendly drink together. Liquor is truly a gift of God, given us to enjoy, but not to abuse. The Catholic Church has sensible views on drinking. She says that liquor is a gift of God, that we are to enjoy it. But with equal force Mother Church insists that to abuse this gift of God is a sin not only against nature, but against the will of the Creator.

In this, as in everything else, she teaches temperance, the moderate and reasonable and healthful use of God's gifts. She goes farther. Realizing that many cannot take one drink without going on to take too many, she begs such weaklings to abstain from liquor altogether. For some of you that is the only remedy. Stay away from liquor altogether. Drink some substitute. It will be better for your pocket-book, your health, your family, your job and above all your immortal soul.

Especially I would urge you young people to stay away from any and every form of intoxicating drink until you are 21 or even 25 years old. Don't think you have to drink to be a sport. You will find that excessive drinkers are often dull and offensive and anything but good sports.

Our Catholic view is practical and effective. We preach temperance as a virtue or power of the soul. We emphasize that excess in eating and especially in drinking is a mortal sin. It is a slow killing of the body.

Intemperance invariably leads to other sins: impurity, fighting, cursing, quarreling and even bodily injury.

The first principle of Alcoholics Anonymous, men who have conquered the excessive drink habit, is this: A man cannot overcome the habit by himself. He needs help. He needs the help of other humans. Above all he needs the help of God. Let me repeat two of their first principles:

"We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."

"We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him."

Then they humbly asked God to remove their shortcomings. Let intemperance, the first servant of Death, rule others, if she will. Don't let her rule you. Be led by God and by God's law. Refuse that drink for the love of God. Then, as Jesus tells us, you will love Him and keep His word and the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit will come and abide with you instead of the demon of unreasoning drink. May God help everyone of you to keep His fifth law, especially in this regard. Amen.
_________________________
Adapted from Talks on the Commandments
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, OFM (© 1948)

Pentecost Reflection by Marcellino D'Ambrosio

I wanted to pass along Dr. D’Ambrosio’s article for Pentecost in hopes that you may wish to pass it onto your readers. Here is the link to it on our website - http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/92/Gifts_and_Charisms_of_The_Holy_Spirit.html

There is also a PDF of the article available for you to be able to print and share.

Many Blessings-
Sara Merlene-Kluth
The Crossroads Initiative

Gospel for Pentecost Sunday

From: John 20:19-23

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

19] On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." [20] When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. [21] Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, even so I send you." [22] And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. [23] If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
___________________

Commentary:

19-20. Jesus appears to the Apostles on the evening of the day of which He rose. He presents Himself in their midst without any need for the doors to be opened, by using the qualities of His glorified body; but in order to dispel any impression that He is only a spirit He shows them His hands and His side: there is no longer any doubt about its being Jesus Himself, about His being truly risen from the dead. He greets them twice using the words of greeting customary among the Jews, with the same tenderness as He previously used put into this salutation. These friendly words dispel the fear and shame the Apostles must have been feeling at behaving so disloyally during His passion: He has created the normal atmosphere of intimacy, and now He will endow them with transcendental powers.

21. Pope Leo XIII explained how Christ transferred His own mission to the Apostles: "What did He wish in regard to the Church founded, or about to be founded? This: to transmit to it the same mission and the same mandate which He had received from the Father, that they should be perpetuated. This He clearly resolved to do: this He actually did. `As the Father hath sent Me, even so I send you' (John 20:21). `As Thou didst send Me into the world, so I have sent them into the world' (John 17:18). [...] When about to ascend into Heaven, He sends His Apostles in virtue of the same power by which He had been sent from the Father; and He charges them to spread abroad and propagate His teachings (cf. Matthew 28:18), so that those obeying the Apostles might be saved, and those disobeying should perish (cf. Mark 16:16). [...] Hence He commands that the teaching of the Apostles should be religiously accepted and piously kept as if it were His own: `He who hears you hears Me, and he who rejects you rejects Me' (Luke 10:16). Wherefore the Apostles are ambassadors of Christ as He is the ambassador of the Father" ([Pope] Leo XIII, "Satis Cognitum"). In this mission the bishops are the successors of the Apostles: "Christ sent the Apostles as He Himself had been sent by the Father, and then through the Apostles made their successors, the bishops, sharers in His consecration and mission. The function of the bishops' ministry was handed over in a subordinate degree to priests so that they might be appointed in the order of the priesthood and be co-workers of the episcopal order for the proper fulfillment of the apostolic mission that had been entrusted to it by Christ" (Vatican II, "Presbyterorum Ordinis", 2).

22-23. The Church has always understood--and has in fact defined--that Jesus Christ here conferred on the Apostles authority to forgive sins, a power which is exercised in the Sacrament of Penance. "The Lord then especially instituted the Sacrament of Penance when, after being risen from the dead, He breathed upon His disciples and said: "Receive the Holy Spirit...' The consensus of all the Fathers has always acknowledged that by this action so sublime and words so clear the power of forgiving and retaining sins was given to the Apostles and their lawful successors for reconciling the faithful who have fallen after Baptism" (Council of Trent, "De Paenitentia", Chapter 1).

The Sacrament of Penance is the most sublime __expression of God's love and mercy towards men, described so vividly in Jesus' parable of the prodigal son (cf. Luke 15:11-32). The Lord always awaits us, with His arms wide open, waiting for us to repent--and then He will forgive us and restore us to the dignity of being His sons.

The Popes have consistently recommended Christians to have regular recourse to this Sacrament: "For a constant and speedy advancement in the path of virtue we highly recommend the pious practice of frequent Confession, introduced by the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit; for by this means we grow in a true knowledge of ourselves and in Christian humility, bad habits are uprooted, spiritual negligence and apathy are prevented, the conscience is purified and the will strengthened, salutary spiritual direction is obtained, and grace is increased by the efficacy of the Sacrament itself" ([Pope] Pius XII, "Mystici Corporis").
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.