From: Mark 10:32-45
Third Prophecy of the Passion
[32] And they (the disciples) were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the Twelve again, He began to tell them what was to happen to Him, [33] saying, "Behold, we are goingup to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles; [34] and they will mock Him, and spit upon Him, and scourge Him, and kill Him; and after three days He will rise."
The Sons of Zebedee Make Their Request
[35] And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to Him, and said to Him, "Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You." [36] And He said to them, "What do you want Me to do for you?" [37] And they said to Him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." [38] But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" [39] And they said to Him, "We are able." And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; [40] but to sit at My right hand or at My left is not Mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared." [41] And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. [42] And Jesus called them to Him and said to them, "You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. [43] But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, [44] and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. [45] For the Son of Man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom of many."
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Commentary:
32. Jesus was making His way to Jerusalem with a burning desire to see fulfilled everything that He had foretold about His passion and death. He had already told His disciples that He would suffer there, which is why they cannot understand His eagerness. By His own example He is teaching us to carry the cross gladly, not to try to avoid it.
35-44. We can admire the Apostles' humility: they do not disguise their earlier weakness and shortcomings from the first Christians. God also has wanted the Holy Gospel to record the earlier weaknesses of those who will become the unshakeable pillars of the Church. The grace of God works wonders in people's souls: so we should never be pessimistic in the face of our own wretchedness: "I can do all things in Him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13).
38. When we ask for anything in prayer, we should be ready, always, to accept God's will, even if it does not coincide with our own: "His Majesty knows best what is suitable for us; it is not for us to advise Him what to give us, for He can rightly reply that we know not what we ask" (St. Teresa, "Mansions", II, 8).
43-45. Our Lord's word and example encourage in us a genuine spirit of Christian service. Only the Son of God who came down from Heaven and freely submitted to humiliation (at Bethlehem, Nazareth, Calvary, and in the Sacred Host) can ask a person to make himself last, if he wishes to be first.
The Church, right through history, continues Christ's mission of service to mankind: "Experienced in human affairs, the Church, without attempting to interfere in any way in the politics of States, `seeks but a solitary goal: to carry forward the work of Christ Himself under the lead of the befriending Spirit. And Christ entered this world to give witness to the truth, to rescue and not to sit in judgment, to serve and not to be served' (Vatican II, "Gaudium Et Spes", 3). Sharing the noblest aspirations of men and suffering when she sees them not satisfied, she wishes to help them attain their full flowering, and that is why she offers men what she possesses as her characteristic attribute: a global vision of man and of the human race" (Paul VI, "Populorum Progressio", 13).
Our attitude should be that of our Lord: we should seek to serve God and men with a truly supernatural outlook, not expecting any return; we should serve even those who do not appreciate the service we do them. This undoubtedly does not make sense, judged by human standards. However, the Christian identified with Christ takes "pride" precisely in serving others; by so doing he shares in Christ's mission and thereby attains his true dignity: "This dignity is expressed in readiness to serve, in keeping with the example of Christ, who `came not to be served but to serve.' If, in the light of this attitude of Christ's, `being a king' is truly possible only by `being a servant', then `being a servant' also demands so much spiritual maturity that it must really be described as `being a king.' In order to be able to serve others worthily and effectively we must be able to master ourselves, possess the virtues that make this mastery possible" (John Paul II, "Redemptor Hominis", 21). Cf. note on Matthew 20:27-28.
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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.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Pope Paul VI was right...
...when he reaffirmed the Church's teaching regarding the grave immorality of artificial contraception. However, we wish to be like gods, making our own judgments on right and wrong.
More here.
3 in 4 Texas Catholics support birth controlThe evident result of failed catechesis, pride, dissent, malformed consciences - the whole works...More reasons to pray for God's mercy!
AUSTIN — Most Texas Catholics disagree with the church's position on birth control, according to the Scripps Howard Texas Poll.
Seventy-four percent of Catholics believe the church should back birth control, the poll found.
The poll randomly surveyed 1,000 adult Texans between April 14 and May 4. The margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.
The poll also showed 55 percent of Texans believe priests should be allowed to marry.
Support for women becoming priests garnered...46 percent.
33 percent of Texans supported making Catholic doctrine [on abortion] less strict.
More here.
Bishop Boland's Resignation Accepted
From the Vicar General's Office/Chancellor's Office
Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph
Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph
Today, May 24, at 5:00 a.m. Central Time (12 noon Rome time), Bishop Boland’s resignation was officially accepted by the Holy Father. As of this day Bishop Robert Finn is the bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. Please now include his name in the Eucharistic Prayer as our bishop.
A Mass with Bishop Boland to celebrate his twelve years as our shepherd is scheduled at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Thursday June 23 at 7:00 p.m. All are invited to this celebration. Please extend an invitation to your parishioners through your bulletins.
You may find the official announcement on the Vatican website. You may find Bishop Boland’s farewell statement on our diocesan website.
Bishop Finn has issued the following statement:
When I was named by Pope John Paul II last spring as Coadjutor Bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Bishop Boland welcomed me warmly and has been very kind and helpful to me as I had to adjust to a new home and new responsibilities. On this occasion when Pope Benedict XVI has accepted his retirement as fifth bishop of our diocese, I want to wish Bishop Boland every grace and blessing and many holy, happy, and healthy years to come as he continues his Episcopal ministry in a new way. He has my complete admiration and support, and -- I know -- the gratitude and love of God’s people.
As we, the Church in Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese, embark on this next chapter, I pledge my love and service to all God’s flock entrusted to me, and, as I ask your help and prayers, I commend myself and this local Church to Mary, my mother and queen, to our co-patron St. Joseph, and to the mercy of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Which 20th Century Pope AreYou?
I took the quiz - the results?
You are Pope St. Pius X. You'd rather be right than newfangled
You are Pope St. Pius X. You'd rather be right than newfangled
Pope Accepts Resignation of Kansas City's Bishop Boland
VATICAN CITY, MAY 24, 2005 (VIS) - The Holy Father:
- Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph, U.S.A., presented by Bishop Raymond James Boland in accordance with Canon 401, para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law. He is succeeded by Coadjutor Bishop Robert W. Finn.
US Parent Teacher Association Allows Gay Activists but Refuses Ex-Gays
WASHINGTON, DC, May 19, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The National Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) has refused an ex-gay group's request to exhibit at its annual convention while welcoming a gay activist organization and inviting it to present a workshop. Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX.org) has had its application to exhibit rejected because it supports former homosexuals. The National PTA, however, sought the attendance of Parents, Families and Friends of Gays (PFLAG), a pro-gay advocacy group which believes in same sex marriage.
High Court Re-enters Abortion Debate
WASHINGTON, May 23 - The Supreme Court today accepted its first abortion case in five years, an unexpected development that, despite the rather technical questions the case presents, is likely to add even more heat to the already super-heated atmosphere surrounding the court and its immediate future.
The new case is an appeal by the state of New Hampshire of a federal appeals court ruling that struck down a parental-notification requirement for minors seeking abortions.
Gospel for Tuesday, 8th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Mark 10:28-31
Poverty and Renunciation (Continuation)
[28] Peter began to say to Him (Jesus), "Lo, we have left everything and followed You." [29] Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for My sake and for the Gospel, [30] who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. [31] But many that are first will be last, and the last first."
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Commentary:
28-30. Jesus Christ requires every Christian to practise the virtue of poverty: He also requires us to practise real and effective austerity in the possession and use of material things. But of those who have received a specific call to apostolate--as in the case, here, of the Twelve--He requires absolute detachment from property, time, family, etc. so that they can be fully available, imitating Jesus Himself who, despite being Lord of the universe, became so poor that He had nowhere to lay His head (cf. Matthew 8:20). Giving up all these things for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven also relieves us of the burden they involve: like a soldier shedding some encumbrance before going into action, to be able to move with more agility. This gives one a certain lordship over all things: no longer the slave of things, one experiences that feeling St. Paul referred to: "As having nothing, and yet possessing everything" (2 Corinthians 6:10). A Christian who sheds his selfishness in this way has acquired charity and, having charity, he has everything: "All are yours; you are Christ's; and Christ is God's" (1 Corinthians 3:22-23).
The reward for investing completely in Christ will be fully obtained in eternal life: but we will also get it in this life. Jesus says that anyone who generously leaves behind his possessions will be rewarded a hundred times over in this life.
He adds "with persecutions" (v. 30) because opposition is part of the reward for giving things up out of love for Jesus Christ: a Christian's glory lies in becoming like the Son of God, sharing in His cross so as later to share in His glory: "provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him (Romans 8:17); "all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted' (2 Timothy 3:12).
29. These words of our Lord particularly apply to those who by divine vocation embrace celibacy, giving up their right to form a family on earth. By saying "for My sake and for the Gospel" Jesus indicates that His example and the demands of His teaching give full meaning to this way of life: "This, then, is the mystery of the newness of Christ, of all that He is and stands for; it is the sum of the highest ideals of the Gospel and of the Kingdom; it is a particular manifestation of grace, which springs from the paschal mystery of the Savior and renders the choice of celibacy desirable and worthwhile on the part of those called by our Lord Jesus. Thus, they intend not only to participate in Christ's priestly office, but also to share with Him His very condition of living" (Paul VI, "Sacerdotalis Coelibatus", 23).
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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.
Poverty and Renunciation (Continuation)
[28] Peter began to say to Him (Jesus), "Lo, we have left everything and followed You." [29] Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for My sake and for the Gospel, [30] who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. [31] But many that are first will be last, and the last first."
************
Commentary:
28-30. Jesus Christ requires every Christian to practise the virtue of poverty: He also requires us to practise real and effective austerity in the possession and use of material things. But of those who have received a specific call to apostolate--as in the case, here, of the Twelve--He requires absolute detachment from property, time, family, etc. so that they can be fully available, imitating Jesus Himself who, despite being Lord of the universe, became so poor that He had nowhere to lay His head (cf. Matthew 8:20). Giving up all these things for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven also relieves us of the burden they involve: like a soldier shedding some encumbrance before going into action, to be able to move with more agility. This gives one a certain lordship over all things: no longer the slave of things, one experiences that feeling St. Paul referred to: "As having nothing, and yet possessing everything" (2 Corinthians 6:10). A Christian who sheds his selfishness in this way has acquired charity and, having charity, he has everything: "All are yours; you are Christ's; and Christ is God's" (1 Corinthians 3:22-23).
The reward for investing completely in Christ will be fully obtained in eternal life: but we will also get it in this life. Jesus says that anyone who generously leaves behind his possessions will be rewarded a hundred times over in this life.
He adds "with persecutions" (v. 30) because opposition is part of the reward for giving things up out of love for Jesus Christ: a Christian's glory lies in becoming like the Son of God, sharing in His cross so as later to share in His glory: "provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him (Romans 8:17); "all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted' (2 Timothy 3:12).
29. These words of our Lord particularly apply to those who by divine vocation embrace celibacy, giving up their right to form a family on earth. By saying "for My sake and for the Gospel" Jesus indicates that His example and the demands of His teaching give full meaning to this way of life: "This, then, is the mystery of the newness of Christ, of all that He is and stands for; it is the sum of the highest ideals of the Gospel and of the Kingdom; it is a particular manifestation of grace, which springs from the paschal mystery of the Savior and renders the choice of celibacy desirable and worthwhile on the part of those called by our Lord Jesus. Thus, they intend not only to participate in Christ's priestly office, but also to share with Him His very condition of living" (Paul VI, "Sacerdotalis Coelibatus", 23).
******************
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.
Monday, May 23, 2005
Legion of Christ Founder, Fr. Maciel, Cleared of Charges
...on Friday, the Legion announced that it had been told by the Holy See that no charges would be brought against Maciel, adding that the priest "unambiguously affirmed his innocence." A Vatican spokesman confirmed yesterday that the investigation had ended, and that there were no plans to reopen it, according to the Associated Press. Efforts by a Boston Globe reporter to obtain comment from the Vatican yesterday were unsuccessful.Source.
"Father Maciel is exonerated, and the Holy See has found nothing upon which to begin any kind of canonical process," Jay Dunlap, the Legion's spokesman, said yesterday. He added that Maciel was "just grateful for the victory of truth and to be able to get on with the business of his priesthood."
Opus Dei Prelate Ordains 42 Priests
ROME, MAY 22, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The head of Opus Dei ordained 42 members of the prelature to the priesthood and urged them to be "priests in love with Christ."The breakdown: 28 from Europe, 11 from the Americas, two from Asia and one from Africa. Praise God that some are still answering His call.
Source.
Gospel for Monday, Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
From: Mark 10:17-27
The Rich Young Man
[17] And as He (Jesus) was setting out on His journey, a man ran up and knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" [18] And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but God alone. [19] You know the commandments: `Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.'" [20] And he said to Him, "Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth." [21] And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven; and come, follow Me." [22] At that saying his countenance fell, and he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.
Poverty and Renunciation
[23] And Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, "How hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the Kingdom of God!" [24] And the disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the Kingdom of God!" [25] It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God." [26] And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to Him, "Then who can be saved?" [27] Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God."
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Commentary:
17-18. As Matthew 19:16 makes clear, the young man approaches Jesus as an acknowledged teacher of the spiritual life, in the hope that He will guide him towards eternal life. It is not that Christ rejects the praise He is offered: He wants to show the depth of the young man's words: He is good, not because He is a good man but because He is God, who is Goodness Itself. So, the young man has spoken the truth, but he has not gone far enough. Hence the enigmatic nature of Jesus' reply and its profundity. The young man's approach is upright but too human; Jesus tries to get him to see things from an entirely supernatural point of view. If this man is to really attain eternal life he must see in Christ not just a good master but the divine Savior, the only Master, the only one who, because He is God, is Goodness Itself. Cf. note on Mt. 19:16-22.
19. Our Lord has not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). The commandments are the very core of the Law and keeping them is necessary for attaining eternal life. Christ brings these commandments to fulfillment in a double sense. First, because He helps us discover their full implications for our lives. The light of Revelation makes it easy for us to grasp the correct meaning of the precepts of the Decalogue--something that human reason, on its own, can only achieve with difficulty. Second, His grace gives us strength to counter our evil inclinations, which stem from Original Sin. The commandments, therefore, still apply in the Christian life: they are like signposts indicating the way that leads to Heaven.
21-22. Our Lord knows that this young man has a generous heart. This is why He treats him so affectionately and invites him to greater intimacy with God. But He explains that this means renunciation--leaving his wealth behind so as to give his heart whole and entire to Jesus. God calls everyone to holiness, but holiness is reached by many different routes. It is up to every individual to take the necessary steps to discover which route God wants him to follow. The Lord sows the seed of vocation in everyone's soul, to show him the way to go to reach the goal of holiness, which is common to all.
In other words, if a person does not put obstacles in the way, if he responds generously to God, he feels a desire to be better, to give himself more generously. As fruit of this desire he seeks to know God's will; he prays to God to help him, and asks people to advise him. In responding to this sincere search, God uses a great variety of instruments. Later, when a person thinks he sees the way God wants him to follow, he may still not take the decision to go that way: he is afraid of the renunciation it involves: at this point he should pray and deny himself if the light--God's invitation--is to win out against human calculation. For, although God is calling, man is always free, and therefore, he can respond generously or be a coward, like the young man we are told about in this passage. Failure to respond generously to one's vocation always produces sadness.
21. "In its precise eloquence", John Paul II points out, commenting on this passage, "this deeply penetrating event expresses a great lesson in a few words: it touches upon substantial problems and basic questions that have in no way lost their relevance. Everywhere young people are asking important questions--questions on the meaning of life, on the right way to live, on the scale of values: `What must I do...?' `What must I do to share in everlasting life?'...To each of you I say therefore: heed the call of Christ when you hear him saying to you: `Follow Me!' Walk in My path! Stand by My side! Remain in My love! There is a choice to be made: a choice for Christ and His way of life, and His commandment of love.
"The message of love that Christ brought is always important, always relevant. It is not difficult to see how today's world, despite its beauty and grandeur, despite the conquests of science and technology, despite the refined and abundant material goods that it offers, is yearning for more truth, for more love, for more joy. And all of this is found in Christ and in His way of life.... Faced with problems and disappointments, many people will try to escape from their responsibility: escape in selfishness, escape in sexual pleasure, escape in drugs, escape in violence, escape in indifference and cynical attitudes. But today, I propose to you the option of love, which is the opposite of escape. If you really accept that love from Christ, it will lead you to God. Perhaps in the priesthood or religious life; perhaps in some special service to your brothers and sisters: especially to the needy, the poor, the lonely, the abandoned, those whose rights have been trampled upon, or those whose basic needs have not been provided for. Whatever you make of your life, let it be something that reflects the love of Christ" ("Homily on Boston Common").
22. "The sadness of the young man makes us reflect. We could be tempted to think that many possessions, many of the goods of this world, can bring happiness. We see instead in the case of the young man in the Gospel that his many possessions had become an obstacle to accepting the call of Jesus to follow Him. He was not ready to say "yes" to Jesus and "no" to self, to say "yes" to love and "no" to escape. Real love is demanding. I would fail in my mission if I did not clearly tell you so. For it was Jesus--Jesus Himself--who said: `You are My friends if you do what I command you' (John 15:14). Love demands effort and a personal commitment to the will of God. It means discipline and sacrifice, but it also means joy and human fulfillment.
"Dear young people: do not be afraid of honest effort and work; do not be afraid of the truth. With Christ's help, and through prayer, you can answer His call, resisting temptations and fads, and every form of mass manipulation. Open your hearts to the Christ of the Gospels--to His love and His truth and His joy. Do not go away sad!...
"Follow Christ! You who are single or who are preparing for marriage. Follow Christ! You who are young or old. Follow Christ! You who are sick or aging; who are suffering or in pain. You who feel the need for healing, the need for love, the need for a friend--follow Christ!
"To all of you I extend--in the name of Christ--the call, the invitation, the plea: `Come and follow Me'" (John Paul II, "Homily on Boston Common").
23-27. The reaction of the rich young man gives our Lord another opportunity to say something about the way to use material things. In themselves they are good: they are resources God has made available to people for their development in society. But excessive attachment to things is what makes them an occasion of sin. The sin lies in "trusting" in them, as if they solve all life's problems, and turning one's back on God. St. Paul calls covetousness idolatry (Colossians 3:5). Christ excludes from the Kingdom of God anyone who becomes so attached to riches that his life is centered around them. Or, more accurately, that person excludes himself.
Possessions can seduce both those who already have them and those who are bent on acquiring them. Therefore, there are--paradoxically--poor people who are really rich, and rich people who are really poor. Since absolutely everyone has an inclination to be attached to material things, the disciples see salvation as an impossible goal: "Then who can be saved?" No one, if we rely on human resources. But God's grace makes everything possible. Cf. note on Matthew 6:11.
Also, not putting our trust in riches means that everyone who does have wealth should use it to help the needy. This "demands great generosity, much sacrifice and unceasing effort on the part of the rich man. Let each one examine his conscience, a conscience that conveys a new message for our times. Is he prepared to support out of his own pocket works and undertakings organized in favor of the most destitute? Is he ready to pay higher taxes so that the public authorities can intensify their efforts in favor of development?" (Paul VI, "Populorum Progressio", 47).
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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.
The Rich Young Man
[17] And as He (Jesus) was setting out on His journey, a man ran up and knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" [18] And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but God alone. [19] You know the commandments: `Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.'" [20] And he said to Him, "Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth." [21] And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven; and come, follow Me." [22] At that saying his countenance fell, and he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.
Poverty and Renunciation
[23] And Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, "How hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the Kingdom of God!" [24] And the disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the Kingdom of God!" [25] It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God." [26] And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to Him, "Then who can be saved?" [27] Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God."
************************
Commentary:
17-18. As Matthew 19:16 makes clear, the young man approaches Jesus as an acknowledged teacher of the spiritual life, in the hope that He will guide him towards eternal life. It is not that Christ rejects the praise He is offered: He wants to show the depth of the young man's words: He is good, not because He is a good man but because He is God, who is Goodness Itself. So, the young man has spoken the truth, but he has not gone far enough. Hence the enigmatic nature of Jesus' reply and its profundity. The young man's approach is upright but too human; Jesus tries to get him to see things from an entirely supernatural point of view. If this man is to really attain eternal life he must see in Christ not just a good master but the divine Savior, the only Master, the only one who, because He is God, is Goodness Itself. Cf. note on Mt. 19:16-22.
19. Our Lord has not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). The commandments are the very core of the Law and keeping them is necessary for attaining eternal life. Christ brings these commandments to fulfillment in a double sense. First, because He helps us discover their full implications for our lives. The light of Revelation makes it easy for us to grasp the correct meaning of the precepts of the Decalogue--something that human reason, on its own, can only achieve with difficulty. Second, His grace gives us strength to counter our evil inclinations, which stem from Original Sin. The commandments, therefore, still apply in the Christian life: they are like signposts indicating the way that leads to Heaven.
21-22. Our Lord knows that this young man has a generous heart. This is why He treats him so affectionately and invites him to greater intimacy with God. But He explains that this means renunciation--leaving his wealth behind so as to give his heart whole and entire to Jesus. God calls everyone to holiness, but holiness is reached by many different routes. It is up to every individual to take the necessary steps to discover which route God wants him to follow. The Lord sows the seed of vocation in everyone's soul, to show him the way to go to reach the goal of holiness, which is common to all.
In other words, if a person does not put obstacles in the way, if he responds generously to God, he feels a desire to be better, to give himself more generously. As fruit of this desire he seeks to know God's will; he prays to God to help him, and asks people to advise him. In responding to this sincere search, God uses a great variety of instruments. Later, when a person thinks he sees the way God wants him to follow, he may still not take the decision to go that way: he is afraid of the renunciation it involves: at this point he should pray and deny himself if the light--God's invitation--is to win out against human calculation. For, although God is calling, man is always free, and therefore, he can respond generously or be a coward, like the young man we are told about in this passage. Failure to respond generously to one's vocation always produces sadness.
21. "In its precise eloquence", John Paul II points out, commenting on this passage, "this deeply penetrating event expresses a great lesson in a few words: it touches upon substantial problems and basic questions that have in no way lost their relevance. Everywhere young people are asking important questions--questions on the meaning of life, on the right way to live, on the scale of values: `What must I do...?' `What must I do to share in everlasting life?'...To each of you I say therefore: heed the call of Christ when you hear him saying to you: `Follow Me!' Walk in My path! Stand by My side! Remain in My love! There is a choice to be made: a choice for Christ and His way of life, and His commandment of love.
"The message of love that Christ brought is always important, always relevant. It is not difficult to see how today's world, despite its beauty and grandeur, despite the conquests of science and technology, despite the refined and abundant material goods that it offers, is yearning for more truth, for more love, for more joy. And all of this is found in Christ and in His way of life.... Faced with problems and disappointments, many people will try to escape from their responsibility: escape in selfishness, escape in sexual pleasure, escape in drugs, escape in violence, escape in indifference and cynical attitudes. But today, I propose to you the option of love, which is the opposite of escape. If you really accept that love from Christ, it will lead you to God. Perhaps in the priesthood or religious life; perhaps in some special service to your brothers and sisters: especially to the needy, the poor, the lonely, the abandoned, those whose rights have been trampled upon, or those whose basic needs have not been provided for. Whatever you make of your life, let it be something that reflects the love of Christ" ("Homily on Boston Common").
22. "The sadness of the young man makes us reflect. We could be tempted to think that many possessions, many of the goods of this world, can bring happiness. We see instead in the case of the young man in the Gospel that his many possessions had become an obstacle to accepting the call of Jesus to follow Him. He was not ready to say "yes" to Jesus and "no" to self, to say "yes" to love and "no" to escape. Real love is demanding. I would fail in my mission if I did not clearly tell you so. For it was Jesus--Jesus Himself--who said: `You are My friends if you do what I command you' (John 15:14). Love demands effort and a personal commitment to the will of God. It means discipline and sacrifice, but it also means joy and human fulfillment.
"Dear young people: do not be afraid of honest effort and work; do not be afraid of the truth. With Christ's help, and through prayer, you can answer His call, resisting temptations and fads, and every form of mass manipulation. Open your hearts to the Christ of the Gospels--to His love and His truth and His joy. Do not go away sad!...
"Follow Christ! You who are single or who are preparing for marriage. Follow Christ! You who are young or old. Follow Christ! You who are sick or aging; who are suffering or in pain. You who feel the need for healing, the need for love, the need for a friend--follow Christ!
"To all of you I extend--in the name of Christ--the call, the invitation, the plea: `Come and follow Me'" (John Paul II, "Homily on Boston Common").
23-27. The reaction of the rich young man gives our Lord another opportunity to say something about the way to use material things. In themselves they are good: they are resources God has made available to people for their development in society. But excessive attachment to things is what makes them an occasion of sin. The sin lies in "trusting" in them, as if they solve all life's problems, and turning one's back on God. St. Paul calls covetousness idolatry (Colossians 3:5). Christ excludes from the Kingdom of God anyone who becomes so attached to riches that his life is centered around them. Or, more accurately, that person excludes himself.
Possessions can seduce both those who already have them and those who are bent on acquiring them. Therefore, there are--paradoxically--poor people who are really rich, and rich people who are really poor. Since absolutely everyone has an inclination to be attached to material things, the disciples see salvation as an impossible goal: "Then who can be saved?" No one, if we rely on human resources. But God's grace makes everything possible. Cf. note on Matthew 6:11.
Also, not putting our trust in riches means that everyone who does have wealth should use it to help the needy. This "demands great generosity, much sacrifice and unceasing effort on the part of the rich man. Let each one examine his conscience, a conscience that conveys a new message for our times. Is he prepared to support out of his own pocket works and undertakings organized in favor of the most destitute? Is he ready to pay higher taxes so that the public authorities can intensify their efforts in favor of development?" (Paul VI, "Populorum Progressio", 47).
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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.
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Gospel for Sunday, Solemnity: The Most Holy Trinity
From: John 3:16-18
The Visit of Nicodemus (Continuation)
(Jesus said to Nicodemus,) [16] "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. [18] He who believes in Him is not condemned; He who does not believe is condemned already, because He had not believed in the name of the only Son of God."
***********
Commentary:
16-21. These words, so charged with meaning, summarize how Christ's death is the supreme sign of God's love for men (cf. the section on charity in the "Introduction to the Gospel according to John": pp. 31ff above). "`For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son' for its salvation. All our religion is a revelation of God's kindness, mercy and love for us. `God is love' (1 John 4:16), that is, love poured forth unsparingly. All is summed up in this supreme truth, which explains and illuminates everything. The story of Jesus must be seen in this light. `(He) loved me', St. Paul writes. Each of us can and must repeat it for himself--`He loved me, and gave Himself for me' (Galatians 2:20)" ([Pope] Paul VI, "Homily on Corpus Christi", 13 June 1976).
Christ's self-surrender is a pressing call to respond to His great love for us: "If it is true that God has created us, that He has redeemed us, that He loves us so much that He has given up His only-begotten Son for us (John 3:16), that He waits for us--every day!--as eagerly as the father of the prodigal son did (cf. Luke 15:11-32), how can we doubt that He wants us to respond to Him with all our love? The strange thing would be not to talk to God, to draw away and forget Him, and busy ourselves in activities which are closed to the constant promptings of His grace" ([St] J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 251).
"Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it. This [...] is why Christ the Redeemer `fully reveals man to himself'. If we may use the _expression, this is the human dimension of the mystery of the Redemption. In this dimension man finds again the greatness, dignity and value that belong to his humanity. [...] The one who wishes to understand himself thoroughly [...] must, with his unrest and uncertainty and even his weakness and sinfulness, with his life and death, draw near to Christ. He must, so to speak, enter into Him with all his own self, he must `appropriate' and assimilate the whole of the reality of the Incarnation and Redemption in order to find himself. If this profound process takes place within him, he then bears fruit not only of adoration of God but also of deep wonder at himself.
How precious must man be in the eyes of the Creator, if he `gained so great a Redeemer', ("Roman Missal, Exultet" at Easter Vigil), and if God `gave His only Son' in order that man `should not perish but have eternal life'. [...]
`Increasingly contemplating the whole of Christ's mystery, the Church knows with all the certainty of faith that the Redemption that took place through the Cross has definitively restored his dignity to man and given back meaning to his life in the world, a meaning that was lost to a considerable extent because of sin. And for that reason, the Redemption was accomplished in the paschal mystery, leading through the Cross and death to Resurrection" ([Pope] John Paul II, "Redemptor Hominis", 10).
Jesus demands that we have faith in Him as a first prerequisite to sharing in His love. Faith brings us out of darkness into the light, and sets us on the road to salvation. "He who does not believe is condemned already" (verse 18).
"The words of Christ are at once words of judgment and grace, of life and death. For it is only by putting to death that which is old that we can come to newness of life. Now, although this refers primarily to people, it is also true of various worldly goods which bear the mark both of man's sin and the blessing of God. [...] No one is freed from sin by himself or by his own efforts, no one is raised above himself or completely delivered from his own weakness, solitude or slavery; all have need of Christ, who is the model, master, liberator, savior, and giver of life. Even in the secular history of mankind the Gospel has acted as a leaven in the interests of liberty and progress, and it always offers itself as a leaven with regard to brotherhood, unity and peace" (Vatican II, "Ad Gentes", 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.
The Visit of Nicodemus (Continuation)
(Jesus said to Nicodemus,) [16] "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. [18] He who believes in Him is not condemned; He who does not believe is condemned already, because He had not believed in the name of the only Son of God."
***********
Commentary:
16-21. These words, so charged with meaning, summarize how Christ's death is the supreme sign of God's love for men (cf. the section on charity in the "Introduction to the Gospel according to John": pp. 31ff above). "`For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son' for its salvation. All our religion is a revelation of God's kindness, mercy and love for us. `God is love' (1 John 4:16), that is, love poured forth unsparingly. All is summed up in this supreme truth, which explains and illuminates everything. The story of Jesus must be seen in this light. `(He) loved me', St. Paul writes. Each of us can and must repeat it for himself--`He loved me, and gave Himself for me' (Galatians 2:20)" ([Pope] Paul VI, "Homily on Corpus Christi", 13 June 1976).
Christ's self-surrender is a pressing call to respond to His great love for us: "If it is true that God has created us, that He has redeemed us, that He loves us so much that He has given up His only-begotten Son for us (John 3:16), that He waits for us--every day!--as eagerly as the father of the prodigal son did (cf. Luke 15:11-32), how can we doubt that He wants us to respond to Him with all our love? The strange thing would be not to talk to God, to draw away and forget Him, and busy ourselves in activities which are closed to the constant promptings of His grace" ([St] J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 251).
"Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it. This [...] is why Christ the Redeemer `fully reveals man to himself'. If we may use the _expression, this is the human dimension of the mystery of the Redemption. In this dimension man finds again the greatness, dignity and value that belong to his humanity. [...] The one who wishes to understand himself thoroughly [...] must, with his unrest and uncertainty and even his weakness and sinfulness, with his life and death, draw near to Christ. He must, so to speak, enter into Him with all his own self, he must `appropriate' and assimilate the whole of the reality of the Incarnation and Redemption in order to find himself. If this profound process takes place within him, he then bears fruit not only of adoration of God but also of deep wonder at himself.
How precious must man be in the eyes of the Creator, if he `gained so great a Redeemer', ("Roman Missal, Exultet" at Easter Vigil), and if God `gave His only Son' in order that man `should not perish but have eternal life'. [...]
`Increasingly contemplating the whole of Christ's mystery, the Church knows with all the certainty of faith that the Redemption that took place through the Cross has definitively restored his dignity to man and given back meaning to his life in the world, a meaning that was lost to a considerable extent because of sin. And for that reason, the Redemption was accomplished in the paschal mystery, leading through the Cross and death to Resurrection" ([Pope] John Paul II, "Redemptor Hominis", 10).
Jesus demands that we have faith in Him as a first prerequisite to sharing in His love. Faith brings us out of darkness into the light, and sets us on the road to salvation. "He who does not believe is condemned already" (verse 18).
"The words of Christ are at once words of judgment and grace, of life and death. For it is only by putting to death that which is old that we can come to newness of life. Now, although this refers primarily to people, it is also true of various worldly goods which bear the mark both of man's sin and the blessing of God. [...] No one is freed from sin by himself or by his own efforts, no one is raised above himself or completely delivered from his own weakness, solitude or slavery; all have need of Christ, who is the model, master, liberator, savior, and giver of life. Even in the secular history of mankind the Gospel has acted as a leaven in the interests of liberty and progress, and it always offers itself as a leaven with regard to brotherhood, unity and peace" (Vatican II, "Ad Gentes", 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.
Friday, May 20, 2005
Corpus Christi Processions in the St. Louis Archdiocese
The feast of Corpus Christi will be celebrated on Sunday, May 29, with processions at several parishes in the archdiocese as well as at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.
Archbishop Raymond Burke will be the principal celebrant and homilist of a Mass at 5 p.m. at the cathedral basilica, Lindell Boulevard and Newstead Avenue, and will lead a procession around the block following Mass.
Along the route, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament will be celebrated at three outdoor altars. The first will be at the archbishop’s residence, on the southwest corner of Lindell Boulevard and Taylor Avenue. The second will be at the cathedral convent, 4440 Maryland Ave., adjacent to the cathedral school. The third will be on the grounds of Cathedral Tower, 325 N. Newstead Ave., one block north of the cathedral basilica. Benediction will be celebrated a fourth time when the procession returns to the cathedral basilica.
The St. Charles Deanery will join in the Corpus Christi celebration with a procession at 6 p.m. May 29 at three sites in St. Charles. The first Benediction will take place at St. Charles Borromeo Parish, 601 N. Fourth St. The second will follow at the Shrine of St. Philippine Duchesne at the Academy of the Sacred Heart, 619 N. Second St. The third will be held at St. Peter Church, 324 S. Third St. Refreshments will be served afterward at St. Peter Parish Center.
Shuttle buses will run between St. Peter and St. Charles Borromeo. For more information, call (636) 946-6370.
Other Corpus Christi processions on Sunday, May 29 are:
St. Agatha Parish, 3239 S. Ninth St., following 10 a.m. Mass, call (314) 772-1603.
St. Ambrose Parish, 5130 Wilson Ave., gather at 6 p.m., procession begins at 6:30 p.m. Call (314) 771-1228.
St. Anthony of Padua Parish, 3140 Meramec St., at the 9 a.m. Mass. Call (314) 353-7470.
St. Clement of Rome Parish, 1510 Bopp Road in Des Peres, after 11 a.m. Mass. Call (314) 965-0709.
St. Francis of Assisi Parish, 4556 Telegraph Road in Oakville, after 7 a.m. Mass. Call (314) 487-5736.
St. John the Baptist Parish, 4200 Delor St. in South St. Louis, after 10 a.m. Mass. Call (314) 353-1255.
St. Maurus in Biehle, after 9:30 a.m. Mass. Call (573) 788-2330.
St. Sebastian Parish, 9950 Glen Owen Drive in North County, after 10 a.m. Mass. Call (314) 868-0730.
The Legionaries of Christ: Fr. Maciel's Trial Draws Nearer
More...
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has begun a preliminary investigation and has interviewed dozens of new witnesses – who have filled pages with new accusations
by Sandro Magister
ROMA, May 20, 2005 – Last April 2, just as John Paul II was dying in Rome, in New York the promoter of justice for the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Charles J. Scicluna, from Malta, was interviewing Paul Lennon, the former headmaster of a "School of Faith" run by the Legionaries of Christ. Mr. Lennon, who is Irish, is now a psychotherapist in Alexandria, Virginia, and a witness against one of the most revered and powerful men of the Catholic Church worldwide: Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, 85, from Mexico, the founder of the Legionaries and the apple of pope Karol Wojtyla's eye.
We should pray that the truth will prevail.
Archbishop Burke: The dignity of the celebration of the Mass
Archbishop Burke's column this week touches upon many aspects of the celbration of the Holy Mass. He states that "The attitude and disposition of Christ at the Last Supper is best understood by recalling the account of the Anointing at Bethany." The explanation of this event in our Lord's life helps us to understand more clearly the reasons why we should do all we can to ensure that the church in which Mass will be celebrated is properly prepared.
He goes on to explain that St. Francis of Assisi shared this same attitude:
the Liturgical faith of our ancestors;
that the "Sacred banquet" is not merely a meal, but a sacred, sacrificial banquet;
liturgical law and its necessity;
the subject of "Inculturation";
and the responsibility of priests who act in the person of Christ.
Another great article.
He goes on to explain that St. Francis of Assisi shared this same attitude:
In his instructions, while requiring the strictest simplicity of life for himself and his friars, he urged that nothing should be spared in what is employed for the House of God and for the celebration of the Holy Mass and other Sacraments.Archbishop Burke continues to teach us in the remaining paragraphs by explaining:
the Liturgical faith of our ancestors;
that the "Sacred banquet" is not merely a meal, but a sacred, sacrificial banquet;
liturgical law and its necessity;
the subject of "Inculturation";
and the responsibility of priests who act in the person of Christ.
Another great article.
The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist
"The Lord thy God shalt thou worship and him only shalt thou serve." (St. Matthew, 4:10)
Some years back, the Newman Club of a midwestern state college was holding its regular discussion in the Student Union building. The topic was the Blessed Sacrament. After the chaplain had briefly explained the Catholic teaching, one of the non-Catholics present politely but firmly raised the objection: "Father, the Catholic teaching has no basis or parallel in science, has it? As far as we know, substance always remains the same. In other words, bread always remains bread, and wine always remains wine. They can't be changed into something different."
"Did you ever study chemistry?" the priest asked.
"I made a stab at it," admitted the student.
"Well," Father went on, "even if you never studied chemistry, you know that the food and drink you take is changed into flesh and bone and blood. Does the bread you eat and the wine you drink stay the same? Not at all. They are changed-into flesh and blood. That change is worked through your body which God created. If God can work a change indirectly through your body, He can work the same change directly and without any human means. He is all-powerful. God works such a change at the consecration of the Mass."
The student admitted that he had never thought of that.
Keep that comparison in mind as we consider the Holy Eucharist, the sacrament of the true Body and Blood of Christ, together with His Soul and Divinity, under the appearances of bread and wine. Eucharist means thanksgiving. In giving us the Eucharist Christ gave fitting thanks to His heavenly Father. By celebrating the Eucharist we also give fit thanks to God for all His benefits. It is called "Holy" because it contains the very Author of holiness, and because it makes us holy.
The Eucharist has the three things needed for a sacrament: An outward sign, inward grace, and institution by Christ.
In the Blessed Sacrament we see, feel and taste bread and wine, the outward sign, the matter, the "stuff," as it were, from which the sacrament is made. Note how fitting:
1. Bread is a universal food; wine, a universal drink. They nourish the body. Holy Eucharist feeds the soul.
2. Bread and wine are changed into our flesh and blood. Communion changes us into the likeness of Christ.
3. Bread and wine express love, a union of hearts. Bread comes from the union of many grains of wheat. Wine is made from the union of many drops of the juice of the grape.
4. To make bread one must grind the grains of wheat. To make wine one must crush the grapes. What an apt figure of the passion when Jesus was ground and crushed for us.
5. The form of this sacrament are the words: This is My body; This is My blood.
The second mark of a sacrament is grace. In the Eucharist bread is changed into the flesh of the very Author of grace, the flesh that was formed in the pure womb of Mary, the flesh that healed all who touched it, the flesh that was crushed in the passion, the flesh that hung on the cruel cross, the flesh now gloriously reigning in heaven.
In the Eucharist wine is changed into the blood of Christ, the blood that is one with His sacred body, the blood that was taken from the virginal veins of His mother, the blood poured out for us in the passion, the blood that is all-powerful, one drop of which will wash away all the sins of the world.
In the Eucharist we also have the soul of the Son of God, the soul that lived on this earth, the soul now glorious in heaven, the soul, beautiful and perfect, that went out to the sick and suffering, that ached with the thoughtlessness of men, that was wrung with grief in the agony, the soul that rejoiced the redeemed in Limbo, the soul that rose victoriously.
Here in the Eucharist God is present, the God who worked miracles, the God who suffered and died for us, the God who rose for us, the God who reigns in heaven and here upon His altar throne.
Only a God could have thought of coming to us and staying with us under the appearances of bread and wine, multiplying His presence all over the earth for all time. Think of it - flour and water and the juice of the grape are the means God uses to stay with us and come to us.
In the fourth cahpter of St. Matthew's gospel, we see the devil tempting our Lord to turn stones into bread. With a mere wish Jesus could have done that. He was God. As God, He could change bread and wine into His body and blood. And He did.
The devil tempted Christ to throw Himself down from the top of the temple. Would not the angels hold him up? Instead, Jesus chose to throw Himself upon the care and love of His people in every place where the Eucharist is kept.
All the kingdoms and glory of the world were offered to Christ, if He would fall down and adore the evil one. Jesus refused, knowing that kings and kingdoms, peoples and nations would fall down in real adoration of Him in the world-wide love of the Eucharist.
Yes, Christ we will worship, Christ we will serve, Christ we will love in the adorable, loving sacrament of His presence right here on earth in our tabernacles and upon our altars.
Adapted from Prayer, Precepts, and Virtues
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, 1949
Some years back, the Newman Club of a midwestern state college was holding its regular discussion in the Student Union building. The topic was the Blessed Sacrament. After the chaplain had briefly explained the Catholic teaching, one of the non-Catholics present politely but firmly raised the objection: "Father, the Catholic teaching has no basis or parallel in science, has it? As far as we know, substance always remains the same. In other words, bread always remains bread, and wine always remains wine. They can't be changed into something different."
"Did you ever study chemistry?" the priest asked.
"I made a stab at it," admitted the student.
"Well," Father went on, "even if you never studied chemistry, you know that the food and drink you take is changed into flesh and bone and blood. Does the bread you eat and the wine you drink stay the same? Not at all. They are changed-into flesh and blood. That change is worked through your body which God created. If God can work a change indirectly through your body, He can work the same change directly and without any human means. He is all-powerful. God works such a change at the consecration of the Mass."
The student admitted that he had never thought of that.
Keep that comparison in mind as we consider the Holy Eucharist, the sacrament of the true Body and Blood of Christ, together with His Soul and Divinity, under the appearances of bread and wine. Eucharist means thanksgiving. In giving us the Eucharist Christ gave fitting thanks to His heavenly Father. By celebrating the Eucharist we also give fit thanks to God for all His benefits. It is called "Holy" because it contains the very Author of holiness, and because it makes us holy.
The Eucharist has the three things needed for a sacrament: An outward sign, inward grace, and institution by Christ.
In the Blessed Sacrament we see, feel and taste bread and wine, the outward sign, the matter, the "stuff," as it were, from which the sacrament is made. Note how fitting:
1. Bread is a universal food; wine, a universal drink. They nourish the body. Holy Eucharist feeds the soul.
2. Bread and wine are changed into our flesh and blood. Communion changes us into the likeness of Christ.
3. Bread and wine express love, a union of hearts. Bread comes from the union of many grains of wheat. Wine is made from the union of many drops of the juice of the grape.
4. To make bread one must grind the grains of wheat. To make wine one must crush the grapes. What an apt figure of the passion when Jesus was ground and crushed for us.
5. The form of this sacrament are the words: This is My body; This is My blood.
The second mark of a sacrament is grace. In the Eucharist bread is changed into the flesh of the very Author of grace, the flesh that was formed in the pure womb of Mary, the flesh that healed all who touched it, the flesh that was crushed in the passion, the flesh that hung on the cruel cross, the flesh now gloriously reigning in heaven.
In the Eucharist wine is changed into the blood of Christ, the blood that is one with His sacred body, the blood that was taken from the virginal veins of His mother, the blood poured out for us in the passion, the blood that is all-powerful, one drop of which will wash away all the sins of the world.
In the Eucharist we also have the soul of the Son of God, the soul that lived on this earth, the soul now glorious in heaven, the soul, beautiful and perfect, that went out to the sick and suffering, that ached with the thoughtlessness of men, that was wrung with grief in the agony, the soul that rejoiced the redeemed in Limbo, the soul that rose victoriously.
Here in the Eucharist God is present, the God who worked miracles, the God who suffered and died for us, the God who rose for us, the God who reigns in heaven and here upon His altar throne.
Only a God could have thought of coming to us and staying with us under the appearances of bread and wine, multiplying His presence all over the earth for all time. Think of it - flour and water and the juice of the grape are the means God uses to stay with us and come to us.
In the fourth cahpter of St. Matthew's gospel, we see the devil tempting our Lord to turn stones into bread. With a mere wish Jesus could have done that. He was God. As God, He could change bread and wine into His body and blood. And He did.
The devil tempted Christ to throw Himself down from the top of the temple. Would not the angels hold him up? Instead, Jesus chose to throw Himself upon the care and love of His people in every place where the Eucharist is kept.
All the kingdoms and glory of the world were offered to Christ, if He would fall down and adore the evil one. Jesus refused, knowing that kings and kingdoms, peoples and nations would fall down in real adoration of Him in the world-wide love of the Eucharist.
Yes, Christ we will worship, Christ we will serve, Christ we will love in the adorable, loving sacrament of His presence right here on earth in our tabernacles and upon our altars.
Adapted from Prayer, Precepts, and Virtues
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, 1949
Gospel for Friday, 7th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Mark 10:1-12
The Indissolubility of Marriage
[1] And He (Jesus) left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to Him again; and again, as His custom was, He taught them.
[2] And Pharisees came up and in order to test Him asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" [3] He answered them, "What did Moses command you?" [4] They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to put her away." [5] But Jesus said to them, "For your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment. [6] But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.'; [7] `For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, [8] and the two shall become one.' So they are no longer two but one. [9] What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder."
[10] And in the house the disciples asked Him about this matter. [11] And He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her; 12] and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."
***********************
Commentary:
1-12. This kind of scene occurs often in the Gospel. The malice of the Pharisees contrasts with the simplicity of the crowd, who listen attentively to Jesus' teaching. The Pharisees' question aimed at tricking Jesus into going against the Law of Moses. But Jesus Christ, Messiah and Son of God, has perfect understanding of that Law. Moses had permitted divorce because of the hardness of that ancient people: women had an ignominious position in those primitive tribes (they were regarded almost as animals or slaves); Moses, therefore, protected women's dignity against these abuses by devising the certificate of divorce; this was a real social advance. It was a document by which the husband repudiated his wife and she obtained freedom. Jesus restores to its original purity the dignity of man and woman in marriage, as instituted by God at the beginning of creation. "A man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24): in this way God established from the very beginning the unity and indissolubility of marriage. The Church's Magisterium, the only authorized interpreter of the Gospel and of the natural law, has constantly guarded and defended this teaching and has proclaimed it solemnly in countless documents (Council of Florence, "Pro Armeniis"; Council of Trent, "De Sacram. Matr."; Pius XI, "Casti Connubi"; Vatican II, "Gaudium Et Spes", 48; etc.).
Here is a good summary of this doctrine: "The indissolubility of marriage is not a caprice of the Church nor is it merely a positive ecclesiastical law. It is a precept of natural law, of divine law, and responds perfectly to our nature and to the supernatural order of grace" (St J. Escriva, "Conversations", 97). Cf. note on Matthew 5:31-32.
5-9. When a Christian realizes that this teaching applies to everyone at all times, he should not be afraid of people reacting against it: "It is a fundamental duty of the Church to reaffirm strongly [...] the doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage. To all those who, in our times, consider it too difficult, or indeed impossible, to be bound to one person for the whole of life, and to those caught up in a culture that rejects the indissolubility of marriage and openly mocks the commitment of spouses to fidelity, it is necessary to reaffirm the good news of the definitive nature of that conjugal love that has in Christ its foundation and strength (cf. Ephesians 5:25).
"Being rooted in the personal and total self-giving of the couple, and being required by the good of the children, the indissolubility of marriage finds its ultimate truth in the plan that God has manifested in His revelation: He wills and He communicates the indissolubility of marriage as a fruit, a sign and a requirement of the absolutely faithful love that God has for man and that the Lord Jesus has for the Church.
"Christ renews the first plan that the Creator inscribed in the hearts of man and woman, and in the celebration of the sacrament of matrimony offers `a new heart': thus the couples are not only able to overcome `hardness of heart' (Matthew 19:8), but also and above all they are able to share the full and definitive love of Christ, the new and eternal Covenant made flesh. Just as the Lord Jesus is the `faithful witness' (Revelation 3:14), the `yes' of the promises of God (cf. 2 Corinthians 1:20) and thus the supreme realization of the unconditional faithfulness with which God loves His people, so Christian couples are called to participate truly in the irrevocable indissolubility that binds Christ to the Church, His bride, loved by Him to the end (cf. John 13:1).
"To bear witness to the inestimable value of the indissolubility and fidelity of marriage is one of the most precious and most urgent tasks of Christian couples in our time" (John Paul II, "Familiaris Consortio", 20).
*************
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.
The Indissolubility of Marriage
[1] And He (Jesus) left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to Him again; and again, as His custom was, He taught them.
[2] And Pharisees came up and in order to test Him asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" [3] He answered them, "What did Moses command you?" [4] They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to put her away." [5] But Jesus said to them, "For your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment. [6] But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.'; [7] `For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, [8] and the two shall become one.' So they are no longer two but one. [9] What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder."
[10] And in the house the disciples asked Him about this matter. [11] And He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her; 12] and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."
***********************
Commentary:
1-12. This kind of scene occurs often in the Gospel. The malice of the Pharisees contrasts with the simplicity of the crowd, who listen attentively to Jesus' teaching. The Pharisees' question aimed at tricking Jesus into going against the Law of Moses. But Jesus Christ, Messiah and Son of God, has perfect understanding of that Law. Moses had permitted divorce because of the hardness of that ancient people: women had an ignominious position in those primitive tribes (they were regarded almost as animals or slaves); Moses, therefore, protected women's dignity against these abuses by devising the certificate of divorce; this was a real social advance. It was a document by which the husband repudiated his wife and she obtained freedom. Jesus restores to its original purity the dignity of man and woman in marriage, as instituted by God at the beginning of creation. "A man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24): in this way God established from the very beginning the unity and indissolubility of marriage. The Church's Magisterium, the only authorized interpreter of the Gospel and of the natural law, has constantly guarded and defended this teaching and has proclaimed it solemnly in countless documents (Council of Florence, "Pro Armeniis"; Council of Trent, "De Sacram. Matr."; Pius XI, "Casti Connubi"; Vatican II, "Gaudium Et Spes", 48; etc.).
Here is a good summary of this doctrine: "The indissolubility of marriage is not a caprice of the Church nor is it merely a positive ecclesiastical law. It is a precept of natural law, of divine law, and responds perfectly to our nature and to the supernatural order of grace" (St J. Escriva, "Conversations", 97). Cf. note on Matthew 5:31-32.
5-9. When a Christian realizes that this teaching applies to everyone at all times, he should not be afraid of people reacting against it: "It is a fundamental duty of the Church to reaffirm strongly [...] the doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage. To all those who, in our times, consider it too difficult, or indeed impossible, to be bound to one person for the whole of life, and to those caught up in a culture that rejects the indissolubility of marriage and openly mocks the commitment of spouses to fidelity, it is necessary to reaffirm the good news of the definitive nature of that conjugal love that has in Christ its foundation and strength (cf. Ephesians 5:25).
"Being rooted in the personal and total self-giving of the couple, and being required by the good of the children, the indissolubility of marriage finds its ultimate truth in the plan that God has manifested in His revelation: He wills and He communicates the indissolubility of marriage as a fruit, a sign and a requirement of the absolutely faithful love that God has for man and that the Lord Jesus has for the Church.
"Christ renews the first plan that the Creator inscribed in the hearts of man and woman, and in the celebration of the sacrament of matrimony offers `a new heart': thus the couples are not only able to overcome `hardness of heart' (Matthew 19:8), but also and above all they are able to share the full and definitive love of Christ, the new and eternal Covenant made flesh. Just as the Lord Jesus is the `faithful witness' (Revelation 3:14), the `yes' of the promises of God (cf. 2 Corinthians 1:20) and thus the supreme realization of the unconditional faithfulness with which God loves His people, so Christian couples are called to participate truly in the irrevocable indissolubility that binds Christ to the Church, His bride, loved by Him to the end (cf. John 13:1).
"To bear witness to the inestimable value of the indissolubility and fidelity of marriage is one of the most precious and most urgent tasks of Christian couples in our time" (John Paul II, "Familiaris Consortio", 20).
*************
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.
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Former Local Priest, James Beine, Laicized by the Holy See
Former school counselor and Roman Catholic priest James Beine has been defrocked by the Vatican, the St. Louis Archdiocese announced Thursday.More.
James Beine’s name was on a list of just under 12 priests submitted to the Vatican in October of 2003, Archdiocesan spokesman Jamie Allman said by telephone Thursday.
After then-Cardinal John J. Carberry revoked his priestly faculties in 1977, Beine started his own church.
The Vatican laicized Beine March 29, Allman said, but the death of Pope John Paul II and the selection of a new pope delayed notification of the Archdiocese until Tuesday.
Archbishop Chaput to attend prayer event
Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput will share a speaker's platform Friday with President Bush at the second National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.More...
The breakfast is modeled on the National Prayer Breakfast, an evangelical Protestant event that's been held since the 1970s and is often attended by presidents and other elected officials.
Friday's breakfast will be preceded by a Mass celebrated by Denver's former auxiliary bishop, now San Antonio Archbishop Jose Gomez.
Pope Makes Bishop of Priest Who Said He’d Deny Communion to Pro-Abortion Politicians
SPRINGFIELD, May 18, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Chicago-area priest, Monsignor Kevin Vann, who made headlines during the US federal election by saying he would deny John Kerry and other pro-abortion Catholic politicians Holy Communion, has been appointed the coadjutor bishop of Fort Worth Texas.More at LifeSiteNews.
Msgr. Vann was also among those priests quoted in the Chicago papers praising the election of the former Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI. As coadjutor, Msgr. Vann will replace the current bishop, Joseph Patrick Delaney who has been bishop of Fort Worth since 1981 and is due to retire in less than four years.
Austrian bishop resigns after liturgical-abuse complaints
Perhaps this may indicate a trend for those who are fast and furious with the Sacred Liturgy?
Another story which referred to Bishop Aichern dealt with a "women's ordination" spectacle a couple of years ago:
Vatican, May. 18 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) has accepted the resignation of an Austrian bishop whose diocese was at the center of complaints about widespread liturgical abuse.Source.
The Vatican announced on May 18 that Bishop Maximilian Aichern had resigned from the Linz diocese, which he had headed since 1982. At 72, the bishop was well short of the mandatory retirement age of 75. The Vatican announcement indicated that his resignation had been accepted under Canon 401/2 of the Code of Canon Law, which refers to "illness or other grave reason" for a bishop's resignation.
Earlier this year, an investigation by a German-language Catholic news agency, Kath.net, had uncovered serious liturgical abuses in the Linz diocese, with women being encouraged to wear liturgical vestments and lead ceremonies, and prayers offered to "the good shepherdess." Cardinal Francis Arinze (bio - news) told Kath.net that he was aware of the complaints about abuses, and his Congregation for Divine Worship was "doing what it can to help remove them."
Another story which referred to Bishop Aichern dealt with a "women's ordination" spectacle a couple of years ago:
Women’s “ordination” to go ahead. According to about ten Roman Catholic women in Austria seeking ordination, “several” Roman Catholic bishops have now offered to assist. They will be ordained within the year, they say, even if some of the bishops withdraw their offer, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt from Vienna.
...
Most Austrian bishops have pointed out that the women’s ordination would be invalid and that they would be excommunicated. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has advised Catholic women who cannot accept the Roman Catholic interpretation of the priestly office to switch to the Lutheran Church. Bishop Maximilian Aichern of Linz, from whose diocese most of the women come, said that while they could not receive the sacrament of ordination in the Catholic Church, the world conference of Catholic theologians was discussing the possibility of giving women a “temporary assignment” to act as priests.
Gospel for Thursday, 7th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Mark 9:41-50
Scandal
[41] "For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose his reward.
[42] "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. [43] And if your hand causes you to sin cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. [45] And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. [47] And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, [48] where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. [49] For every one will be salted with fire. [50] Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."
**********
Commentary:
41. The value and merit of good works lies mainly in the love of God with which they are done: "A little act, done for love, is worth so much" (J. Escriva, "The Way", 814). God regards in a special way acts of service to others, however small: "Do you see that glass of water or that piece of bread which a holy soul gives to a poor person for God's sake; it is a small matter, God knows, and in human judgment hardly worthy of consideration: God, notwithstanding, recompenses it, and forthwith gives for it some increase of charity" (St Francis de Sales, "Treatise on the Love of God", book 2, chap. 2).
42. "Scandal is anything said, done or omitted which leads another to commit sin" ("St Pius X Catechism", 417). Scandal is called, and is, diabolical when the aim of the scandal-giver is to provoke his neighbor to sin, understanding sin as offense against God. Since sin is the greatest of all evils, it is easy to understand why scandal is so serious and, therefore, why Christ condemns it so roundly. Causing scandal to children is especially serious, because they are so less able to defend themselves against evil. What Christ says applies to everyone, but especially to parents and teachers, who are responsible before God for the souls of the young.
43. "Hell", literally "Gehenna" or "Ge-hinnom", was a little valley south of Jerusalem, outside the walls and below the city. For centuries it was used as the city dump. Usually garbage was burned to avoid it being a focus of infection. Gehenna was, proverbially, an unclean and unhealthy place: our Lord used this to explain in a graphic way the unquenchable fire of hell.
43-48. After teaching the obligation everyone has to avoid giving scandal to others, Jesus now gives the basis of Christian moral teaching on the subject of "occasions of sin"--situations liable to lead to sin. He is very explicit: a person is obliged to avoid proximate occasions of sin, just as he is obliged to avoid sin itself; as God already put it in the Old Testament: "Whoever lives in dangerwill perish by it" (Sir 3:26-27). The eternal good of our soul is more important than any temporal good. Therefore, anything that places us in proximate danger of committing sin should be cut off and thrown away. By putting things in this way our Lord makes sure we recognize the seriousness of this obligation.
The Fathers see, in these references to hands and eyes and so forth, people who are persistent in evil and ever-ready to entice others to evil behavior and erroneous beliefs. These are the people we should distance ourselves from, so as to enter life, rather than accompany them to hell (St Augustine, "De Consensu Evangelistarum", IV, 16; St John Chrysostom, "Hom. on St Matthew", 60).
44. "Where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched": these words constituting v. 44 are not in the better manuscripts. They are taken from Isaiah 66:24 and are repeated as a kind of refrain in vv. 46 (omitted for the same reason as v. 44) and 48. Our Lord uses them to refer to the torments of hell. Often "the worm that does not die" is explained as the eternal remorse felt by those in hell; and the "fire which is not quenched," as their physical pain. The Fathers also say that both things may possibly refer to physical torments. In any case, the punishment in question is terrible and unending.
49-50. "Every one will be salted with fire." St Bede comments on these words: "Everyone will be salted with fire, says Jesus, because spiritual wisdom must purify all the elect of any kind of corruption through carnal desire. Or he may be speaking of the fire of tribulation, which exercises the patience of the faithful to enable them to reach perfection" (St Bede, "In Marci Evangelium expositio, in loc.").
Some codexes add: "and every sacrifice will be salted with salt". This phrase in Leviticus (2:12), prescribed that all sacrificial offerings should be seasoned with salt to prevent corruption. This prescription of the Old Testament is used here to teach Christians to offer themselves as pleasing victims, impregnated with the spirit of the Gospel, symbolized by salt. Our Lord's address, which arises out of a dispute over who is the greatest, ends with a lesson about fraternal peace and charity. On salt which has lost its taste cf. note on Mt 5:13.
*************
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.
Scandal
[41] "For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose his reward.
[42] "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. [43] And if your hand causes you to sin cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. [45] And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. [47] And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, [48] where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. [49] For every one will be salted with fire. [50] Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."
**********
Commentary:
41. The value and merit of good works lies mainly in the love of God with which they are done: "A little act, done for love, is worth so much" (J. Escriva, "The Way", 814). God regards in a special way acts of service to others, however small: "Do you see that glass of water or that piece of bread which a holy soul gives to a poor person for God's sake; it is a small matter, God knows, and in human judgment hardly worthy of consideration: God, notwithstanding, recompenses it, and forthwith gives for it some increase of charity" (St Francis de Sales, "Treatise on the Love of God", book 2, chap. 2).
42. "Scandal is anything said, done or omitted which leads another to commit sin" ("St Pius X Catechism", 417). Scandal is called, and is, diabolical when the aim of the scandal-giver is to provoke his neighbor to sin, understanding sin as offense against God. Since sin is the greatest of all evils, it is easy to understand why scandal is so serious and, therefore, why Christ condemns it so roundly. Causing scandal to children is especially serious, because they are so less able to defend themselves against evil. What Christ says applies to everyone, but especially to parents and teachers, who are responsible before God for the souls of the young.
43. "Hell", literally "Gehenna" or "Ge-hinnom", was a little valley south of Jerusalem, outside the walls and below the city. For centuries it was used as the city dump. Usually garbage was burned to avoid it being a focus of infection. Gehenna was, proverbially, an unclean and unhealthy place: our Lord used this to explain in a graphic way the unquenchable fire of hell.
43-48. After teaching the obligation everyone has to avoid giving scandal to others, Jesus now gives the basis of Christian moral teaching on the subject of "occasions of sin"--situations liable to lead to sin. He is very explicit: a person is obliged to avoid proximate occasions of sin, just as he is obliged to avoid sin itself; as God already put it in the Old Testament: "Whoever lives in dangerwill perish by it" (Sir 3:26-27). The eternal good of our soul is more important than any temporal good. Therefore, anything that places us in proximate danger of committing sin should be cut off and thrown away. By putting things in this way our Lord makes sure we recognize the seriousness of this obligation.
The Fathers see, in these references to hands and eyes and so forth, people who are persistent in evil and ever-ready to entice others to evil behavior and erroneous beliefs. These are the people we should distance ourselves from, so as to enter life, rather than accompany them to hell (St Augustine, "De Consensu Evangelistarum", IV, 16; St John Chrysostom, "Hom. on St Matthew", 60).
44. "Where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched": these words constituting v. 44 are not in the better manuscripts. They are taken from Isaiah 66:24 and are repeated as a kind of refrain in vv. 46 (omitted for the same reason as v. 44) and 48. Our Lord uses them to refer to the torments of hell. Often "the worm that does not die" is explained as the eternal remorse felt by those in hell; and the "fire which is not quenched," as their physical pain. The Fathers also say that both things may possibly refer to physical torments. In any case, the punishment in question is terrible and unending.
49-50. "Every one will be salted with fire." St Bede comments on these words: "Everyone will be salted with fire, says Jesus, because spiritual wisdom must purify all the elect of any kind of corruption through carnal desire. Or he may be speaking of the fire of tribulation, which exercises the patience of the faithful to enable them to reach perfection" (St Bede, "In Marci Evangelium expositio, in loc.").
Some codexes add: "and every sacrifice will be salted with salt". This phrase in Leviticus (2:12), prescribed that all sacrificial offerings should be seasoned with salt to prevent corruption. This prescription of the Old Testament is used here to teach Christians to offer themselves as pleasing victims, impregnated with the spirit of the Gospel, symbolized by salt. Our Lord's address, which arises out of a dispute over who is the greatest, ends with a lesson about fraternal peace and charity. On salt which has lost its taste cf. note on Mt 5:13.
*************
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.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Pro-Abortion Congressman Barred from Speaking at College Graduation
WASHINGTON -- Catholic Church officials were set to bar Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, a Republican who supports abortion rights, from speaking at a Utica nursing college commencement ceremony, officials said Tuesday.Source.
Boehlert, a Catholic, voluntarily canceled his planned speech to the 70 graduates of St. Elizabeth's College of Nursing, saying he did not want to draw attention away from the students' celebration.
College president Marianne Monahan said Tuesday that while the cancellation was the congressman's idea, she also been told by the office of Bishop James M. Moynihan that the bishop opposed Boehlert's appearance.
More Town Talk
Impeach the archbishop?It sounds to me that this person has far too much pride already and does not need any more. And he has a flawed understanding of dignity. Perhaps he should petition the archdiocese to provide special transportation services for all parishioners to go to and from Mass? God forbid that someone has to get up a few minutes earlier on a Sunday morning. Far too many Catholics today have sacrificed nothing - except perhaps their own souls. Going a few extra blocks is a torment? One should be thankful that he even has a place to worship.
CAN AN ARCHBISHOP be impeached? If so, there is one who is abusing his power big time and overstepping his bounds. He is not God; far from it. More pain is now being inflicted on parishioners who cannot drive anymore or are ill. He wants them to stand on the corners of former churches for a bus to take them to another church which they really do not want to go. It's not only dangerous but stupid, not to mention the weather. They will have to leave their homes earlier, etc. How much more pain will Burke cause us? We know what he needs the money for, but we need our own church. Take care of us first. There is still time, Burke, to find another way to pay for your wayward priests. We Catholics sacrificed enough. Keep St. Boniface open, give us back our dignity and our pride.
One would think the Post would be hesitant to print things of this nature, particularly when it seems to come from someone who is unable to reconcile himself to the realities of life, who hurls accusations and innuendo without supporting facts, and whose mental state seems to be in question.
Then again, this is the Post Dispatch, should we really expect anything more?
Town Talk
No sanctions for Minneapolis church that ignored archbishop
A church that granted Holy Communion to members wearing rainbow sashes on Pentecost Sunday will not be reprimanded by Archbishop Harry Flynn, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said.It's as if there is no longer any need to be obedient to anyone except, of course, to one's own conscience, regardless of how malformed it may be. The priest of the parish, by ignoring and disobeying the bishop, encourages others to do the same. What an example he sets for the faithful - and what a poor example Archbishop Flynn gives by failing to admonish those involved.
Archdiocese spokesman Dennis McGrath said he had asked the archbishop if there would be repercussions for churches that granted communion to sash-wearing congregants. Flynn's reply was no, McGrath said.
President's Council Reports On Alternatives to Embryo Destructive Research
Today we report on a white paper from the President's Council on Bioethics that explores alternatives to stem cell research that would not require killing human embryos. The proposals are not all perfect and there is still much research to be done but we are encouraged to see this astute group of scientists, ethicists and legal scholars embrace the idea that scientific research and ethical responsibility can and should go hand in hand.
Spread the word.
Yours sincerely,
Austin Ruse
President
Action Item: Read the report at the Council's website:
http://www.bioethics.gov/reports/white_paper/index.html
_______________________________________________________________________
CULTURE & COSMOS
May 17, 2005
Volume 2, Number 41
President's Council Reports On Alternatives to Embryo Destructive Research
The President's Council on Bioethics recently released a report that called for the exploration of alternatives to destroying human embryos for stem cells. The report outlines four possible means for obtaining embryonic-like stem cells that the authors say have the potential to be "morally uncontroversial." The report coincides with the release of a US Conference of Catholic Bishops poll that reveals that by a margin of 40 percentage points most Americans prefer that tax-dollars be spent on adult stem cells and other alternatives to embryo destructive research.
The Council's report suggests four ways for obtaining pluripotent cells, cells which are similar to embryonic stem cells, which do not require the willful destruction of human embryos. The report then examines each method to see if it is ethical, scientifically feasible and realistic to adopt from the perspective public policy and scientific research.
The first proposal calls on stem cells to be "derived from early IVF embryos . . . that have spontaneously died . . ." The report stresses that such an approach would require that "only those once-frozen embryos that are thawed and that die spontaneously during efforts to produce a child will be eligible for post mortem cell extraction." The report says that such a method would be acceptable for the same reasons that it acceptable for a fully developed human to donate his or her organs after death. The greatest ethical challenge to this proposal, according to the report, would be finding a way to make sure the embryo is really dead.
The second proposal says pluripotent stem cells could be obtained from a 6 to 8 cell embryo through a biopsy that would not harm the embryo. Both the feasibility and ethics of this method are highly questionable. It is unknown if the procedure can be undertaken without really harming the embryo and the long-term effect the procedure could have on humans that are born from such embryos is unknown. In a personal statement contained in the report's appendix by Council member and Culture of Life Foundation board member Robert George, this proposal is called the least promising of all four. "I do not hold out hope of obtaining pluripotent stem cells harmlessly via blastomere extraction from living human embryos," George says.
The third method is based on Dr. William Hurlbut's proposal in which stem cells would be obtained from a "biological artifact" that would be similar to an embryo but would not be human. This approach has been widely discussed but many are still unsure if the "biological artifact" would not in fact simply be a deformed human embryo.
The final method proposes reprogramming adult cells in such a way that restores to them the properties of a stem cell. There are no ethical objections to this proposal but it faces difficult technical obstacles that would require "new scientific advances and new technological innovation."
While the proposals are encouraging because they demonstrate that scientific advances may be used to develop morally acceptable approaches to stem cell research, George cautions against unrealistic expectation in the entire field of stem cell treatment. "[T]he effort in which I am happy to join to find morally legitimate means of obtaining embryonic or embryonic-type stem cells should not be interpreted as indicating any acceptance of the hyping of the therapeutic promise of embryonic stem cell research that has marred the debate over the past four years. This promotion of exaggerated expectations dishonors science and shames those responsible for it by cruelly elevating the hopes of suffering people and members of their families. It should be condemned."
Copyright 2005---Culture of Life Foundation.
Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required.
Culture of Life Foundation
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E-mail: clf@culture-of-life.org
Website: http://www.culture-of-life.org
Seminarians Double In 25 Years
VATICAN CITY, MAY 17, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Although the Church counts on a decreasing number of clergy worldwide, the number of seminarians has almost doubled, reveals the latest edition of Church statistics.
The "Statistical Yearbook of the Church 2003" reported an increase from 64,000 in 1978, to more than 112,000 in 2001-2003, according to L'Osservatore Romano.
Gospel for Wednesday, 7th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Mark 9:38-40
Being the Servant of All
[38] John said to Him (Jesus), "Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him, because he was not following us." [39] But Jesus said, "Do not forbid him; for no one who does a mighty work in My name will be able soon after to speak evil of Me. [40] For he that is not against us is for us."
*******************
Commentary:
38-40. Our Lord warns the Apostles, and through them all Christians, against exclusivism in the apostolate--the notion that "good is not good unless I am the one who does it." We must assimilate this teaching of Christ's: good is good, even if it is not I who do it. Cf. note on Luke 9:49-50.
[The note on Luke 9:49-50 states:
49-50. Our Lord corrects the exclusivist and intolerant attitude of the Apostles. St Paul later learned this lesson, as we can see from what he wrote during his imprisonment in Rome: "Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will [...]. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in that I rejoice" (Philippians 1:15, 18). "Rejoice, when you see others working in good apostolic activities. And ask God to grant them abundant grace and that they may respond to that grace. Then, you, on your way: convince yourself that it's the only way for you" (St J. Escriva, "The Way", 965).]
*****************
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.
Being the Servant of All
[38] John said to Him (Jesus), "Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him, because he was not following us." [39] But Jesus said, "Do not forbid him; for no one who does a mighty work in My name will be able soon after to speak evil of Me. [40] For he that is not against us is for us."
*******************
Commentary:
38-40. Our Lord warns the Apostles, and through them all Christians, against exclusivism in the apostolate--the notion that "good is not good unless I am the one who does it." We must assimilate this teaching of Christ's: good is good, even if it is not I who do it. Cf. note on Luke 9:49-50.
[The note on Luke 9:49-50 states:
49-50. Our Lord corrects the exclusivist and intolerant attitude of the Apostles. St Paul later learned this lesson, as we can see from what he wrote during his imprisonment in Rome: "Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will [...]. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in that I rejoice" (Philippians 1:15, 18). "Rejoice, when you see others working in good apostolic activities. And ask God to grant them abundant grace and that they may respond to that grace. Then, you, on your way: convince yourself that it's the only way for you" (St J. Escriva, "The Way", 965).]
*****************
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.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
ACLU Files Suit Against Abstinence Program
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against the US government over its funding of a nationwide sexual abstinence programme.Of course, the fact is that the ACLU would never file suit against the State when the State promotes or endorses any aspect of the acceptable "religions" or "religious beliefs" of atheism, secularism, moral relativism, or other anti-Christian "faiths".
The ACLU says the Silver Ring Thing programme violates the principle that the state budget cannot be used to promote religion.
If the Department of Health and Human Services were engaged in passing out various types of contraception and such, the ACLU, no doubt, would be praising the agency.
The ACLU has complained that the programme's official rings are inscribed with verses from the Bible, 1 Thessalonians 4, 3-4, reading: "God wants you to be holy, so you should keep clear of all sexual sin. Then each of you will control your body and live in holiness and honour."The virulent plague of the tyranny-loving ACLU should be eradicated from this country.
Full article here.
Pope asks new priests to lead people to Christ through the Eucharist
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Maintaining a tradition of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI ordained 21 priests and urged them to lead people to Christ through the Eucharist.More here.
. . .
After the candidates presented themselves, the pope asked his vicar for the Rome Diocese, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, "Are you sure they are worthy?" Cardinal Ruini said they were, based on information from seminary teachers and the wider Christian community.
As the candidates knelt before him one by one, the pope held their hands and asked them, "Do you promise to me and to my successors filial respect and obedience?" They answered, "Yes, I promise."
Appointments by the Holy Father
VATICAN CITY, MAY 17, 2005 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:
- Fr. Clarence Silva of the clergy of the diocese of Oakland, U.S.A., vicar general, as bishop of Honolulu (area 16,660, population 1,244,898, Catholics 234,588, priests 157, permanent deacons 51, religious 361), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in Honolulu in 1949 and ordained a priest in 1975.
- Msgr. Kevin W. Vann of the clergy of the diocese of Springfield in Illinois, U.S.A., episcopal vicar for the clergy and pastor of the parish of the Blessed Sacrament, as coadjutor bishop of Fort Worth (area 62,007, population 2,770,961, Catholics 400,501, priests 115, permanent deacons 74, religious 160), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in Springfield in 1951, and ordained a priest in 1981.
Peter Kinder chastises Catholic leadership
Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder is calling for social conservatives and the state's Republican leadership to "take a deep breath, sit down and work" on their disagreements -- now that the legislative session is over.From yestreday's Post Dispatch "Political Fix" column by Jo Mannies
Some socially conservative groups, notably Missouri Right to Life and the Missouri Catholic Conference, are still puffed up and angry over the Legislature's failure to further restrict abortions or to impose a ban on a stem-cell procedure called "therapeutic cloning."
Kinder, who opposes abortion but also opposes the cloning ban, is a bit ticked at such critics. In fact, his suggested changes include the ouster of Catholic Conference head Larry Weber.
"I think the Catholic Conference needs some new leadership in the capital, and that is a widely held view among Republicans," Kinder said.
Rather than talk to GOP leaders, Kinder said, Weber prefers to issue "thunderbolts in the press."
May 29-Fr. Joseph Begue, CM, Celebrates 50 Years as a Priest
Father Begue will celebrate the 10 a.m.Latin Mass at St. Agatha on Sunday May 29th.
This will be the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood.
After Mass, there will be a catered lunch in the school building in honor of this good priest.
Father’s deeds speak louder than any words we can speak or write. He leads a group saying 15 decades of the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy at the St. Louis Planned Parenthood Abortion Clinic every Saturday morning at 6:30 a.m. winter and summer, rain or shine.
Totally faithful, he sets an example for others to follow in his strict adherence to the Magisterium.
He is always willing to help out at Mass or to say the Mass. He will hear your confession, visit you when you’re sick or just listen to your troubles and give you the best advice he can.
Join us in honoring Father Begue. Please note: Adult meals are $6.00 each. After the first $12.00 per family is paid, the remaining children will be free.
Make your check made payable to St. Agatha Church.
Address to:
Father Begue Lunch
St. Agatha Church
3239 S. 9th
St.Louis MO. 63118
PLEASE RSVP. For more information, call 314-894-0357.
VOTF Group Defies Bishop Doran
ROCKFORD -- Defying the bishop of the Rockford diocese, local members of a Catholic lay organization held a meeting Sunday in a church sanctuary.more.
Bishop Thomas Doran, who has said Voice of the Faithful is not a sanctioned Catholic group, has denied the Rockford affiliate of the organization the right to meet on church property and refused to meet with members.
Gospel for Tuesday, 7th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Mark 9:30-37
Second Prophecy of the Passion
[30] They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And He (Jesus) would not have any one know it; [31] for He was teaching His disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He is killed, after three days He will rise." [32] But they did not understand the saying,band they were afraid to ask Him.
Being the Servant of All
[33] And they came to Capernaum; and when He was in the house He asked them, "What were you discussing on the way?" [34] But they were silent; for on the way they had discussed with one another who was the greatest. [35] And He sat down and called the Twelve; and He said to them, "If any one would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all." [36] And He took a child, and put him in the midst of them; and taking him in His arms, He said to them, [37] "Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me".
******************
Commentary:
30-32. Although moved when He sees the crowds like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36), Jesus leaves them, to devote time to careful instruction of the Apostles. He retires with them to out-of-the-way places, and there He explains points of His public preaching which they had not understood (Matthew 13:36). Here, specifically, for a second time, He announces His death and resurrection.
In His relationships with souls Jesus acts in the same way: He calls man to be with him in the quiet of prayer and there He teaches him about His more intimate plans and about the more demanding side of the Christian life. Later, like the Apostles, Christians were to spread this teaching to the ends of the earth.
34-35. Jesus uses this argument going on behind his back to teach His disciples about how authority should be exercised in His Church--not by lording it over other, but by serving them. In fulfilling His own mission to found the Church whose head and supreme lawgiver He is, He came to serve and not to be served (Matthew 20:28).
Anyone who does not strive to have this attitude of self-forgetful service, not only lacks one of the main pre-requisites for proper exercise of authority but also runs the risk of being motivated by ambition or pride. "To be in charge of an apostolic undertaking demands readiness to suffer everything, from everybody, with infinite charity" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 951).
36-37. To demonstrate to His Apostles the abnegation and humility needed in their ministry, He takes a child into His arms and explains the meaning of this gesture: if we receive for Christ's sake those who have little importance in the world's eyes, it is as if we are embracing Christ Himself and the Father who sent Him. This little child whom Jesus embraces represents every child in the world, and everyone who is needy, helpless, poor or sick--people who are not naturally attractive.
*************************
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.
Second Prophecy of the Passion
[30] They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And He (Jesus) would not have any one know it; [31] for He was teaching His disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He is killed, after three days He will rise." [32] But they did not understand the saying,band they were afraid to ask Him.
Being the Servant of All
[33] And they came to Capernaum; and when He was in the house He asked them, "What were you discussing on the way?" [34] But they were silent; for on the way they had discussed with one another who was the greatest. [35] And He sat down and called the Twelve; and He said to them, "If any one would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all." [36] And He took a child, and put him in the midst of them; and taking him in His arms, He said to them, [37] "Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me".
******************
Commentary:
30-32. Although moved when He sees the crowds like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36), Jesus leaves them, to devote time to careful instruction of the Apostles. He retires with them to out-of-the-way places, and there He explains points of His public preaching which they had not understood (Matthew 13:36). Here, specifically, for a second time, He announces His death and resurrection.
In His relationships with souls Jesus acts in the same way: He calls man to be with him in the quiet of prayer and there He teaches him about His more intimate plans and about the more demanding side of the Christian life. Later, like the Apostles, Christians were to spread this teaching to the ends of the earth.
34-35. Jesus uses this argument going on behind his back to teach His disciples about how authority should be exercised in His Church--not by lording it over other, but by serving them. In fulfilling His own mission to found the Church whose head and supreme lawgiver He is, He came to serve and not to be served (Matthew 20:28).
Anyone who does not strive to have this attitude of self-forgetful service, not only lacks one of the main pre-requisites for proper exercise of authority but also runs the risk of being motivated by ambition or pride. "To be in charge of an apostolic undertaking demands readiness to suffer everything, from everybody, with infinite charity" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 951).
36-37. To demonstrate to His Apostles the abnegation and humility needed in their ministry, He takes a child into His arms and explains the meaning of this gesture: if we receive for Christ's sake those who have little importance in the world's eyes, it is as if we are embracing Christ Himself and the Father who sent Him. This little child whom Jesus embraces represents every child in the world, and everyone who is needy, helpless, poor or sick--people who are not naturally attractive.
*************************
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.
Monday, May 16, 2005
Abortion-Cancer Link Cover Up by U.S. National Cancer Institute
WASHINGTON, May 16, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly has published an article explaining how scientists published fraudulent research and deceived the public about the abortion-breast cancer (ABC) link - much as the tobacco industry covered up a tobacco-cancer link.LifeSitesNews Link.
"The U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) should be criminally investigated," declared Karen Malec, president of [The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer]. "If German scientists had played the same shell game with women's health during World War II, they would have been tried at Nuremberg under American jurisprudence."
Groups ask for more inclusion in church
Eyes seemed to lock for just a split second on a downtown Cleveland sidewalk Saturday morning -- a man in a robe and 20 women with a banner.Walking with a banner...this should be a clue...
But to Mary Englert of Lakewood and her group -- whose long sailcloth message read, "Women are priestly people"..."We want priesthood to become more inclusive," she said.I hear the ECUSA fulfills this wants and desires...
Englert and her group -- Cleveland Women's Ordination Conference, which also included a Cleveland priest -- read a prayer from yellow pages each of them clutched, asking that Catholics allow women and married men to function as priests.
Priest Denies Homosexual Supporters' Communion
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - A Roman Catholic priest denied communion to more than 100 people Sunday, saying they could not receive the sacrament because they wore rainbow-colored sashes to church to show support for gay Catholics.More.
Cardinal Mahony Welcomes Rainbow Sash Movement
Note that the letter is only an invitation to attend Mass - it says nothing about receiving Holy Communion.
Founder of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, Msgr Gilles Wach...
Will be in St Louis and will celebrate the Latin High Mass on Sunday, May 22nd at 10:00AM at St. Agatha Church...
More info here.
More info here.
Gospel for Monday, 7th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Mark 9:14-29
The Curing of an Epileptic Boy
[14] And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd about them, and scribes arguing with them. [15] And immediately all the crowd when they saw Him (Jesus), were greatly amazed, and ran up to Him and greeting Him. [16] And He asked them, "What are you discussing with them?" [17] And one of the crowd answered Him, "Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit; [18] and wherever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked Your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able." [19] And He answered them, "Oh faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to Me." [20] And they brought the boy to Him; and when the spirit saw Him, immediately it convulsed the body, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. [21] And Jesus asked his father, "How long has he had this?" And he said, "From childhood. [22] And it has often cash him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if You can do anything, have pity on us and help us." [23] And Jesus said to him, "If you can! All things are possible to him who believes." [24] Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!" [25] And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You dumb and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again." [26] After crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse; so that most of them said, "He is dead." [27] But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. [28] And when He had entered the house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" [29] And He said to them, "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting."
*********************
Commentary:
17. The demon who possessed this boy is described as a "dumb spirit" because dumbness was the main feature of the possession. On diabolic possession cf. note on Matthew 12:22-24.
19-24. As on other occasions, Jesus requires submission of faith before He works the miracle. The exclamation of Jesus refers to the request of the boy's father (verse 22), which seemed to suggest some doubt about God's omnipotence. The Lord corrects this way of asking and requires him to have firm faith. In verse 24 we can see that the father has quite changed; then Jesus does the miracle. The man's strengthened faith made him all-powerful, for someone with faith relies not on himself but on Jesus Christ. Through faith, then, we become sharers in God's omnipotence. But faith is a gift of God, which man, especially at times when he is wavering, should ask humbly and tenaciously, like the father of this boy: "I believe, help my unbelief," and like the Apostles: "Increase our faith!" (Luke 17:5).
28-29. "In teaching the Apostles how to expel a spirit as evil as this He is teaching all of us how we should live, and telling us that prayer is the resource we should use to overcome even the severest temptations, whether they come from unclean spirits or from men. Prayer does not consist only in the words we use to invoke God's clemency but also in everything we do, out of faith, as homage to God.
The Apostle bears witness to this when he says: `Pray constantly' (1 Thessalonians 5:7)" (St. Bede, "In Marci Evangelium Expositio, in loc.").
**********************
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.
The Curing of an Epileptic Boy
[14] And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd about them, and scribes arguing with them. [15] And immediately all the crowd when they saw Him (Jesus), were greatly amazed, and ran up to Him and greeting Him. [16] And He asked them, "What are you discussing with them?" [17] And one of the crowd answered Him, "Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit; [18] and wherever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked Your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able." [19] And He answered them, "Oh faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to Me." [20] And they brought the boy to Him; and when the spirit saw Him, immediately it convulsed the body, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. [21] And Jesus asked his father, "How long has he had this?" And he said, "From childhood. [22] And it has often cash him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if You can do anything, have pity on us and help us." [23] And Jesus said to him, "If you can! All things are possible to him who believes." [24] Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!" [25] And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You dumb and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again." [26] After crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse; so that most of them said, "He is dead." [27] But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. [28] And when He had entered the house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" [29] And He said to them, "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting."
*********************
Commentary:
17. The demon who possessed this boy is described as a "dumb spirit" because dumbness was the main feature of the possession. On diabolic possession cf. note on Matthew 12:22-24.
19-24. As on other occasions, Jesus requires submission of faith before He works the miracle. The exclamation of Jesus refers to the request of the boy's father (verse 22), which seemed to suggest some doubt about God's omnipotence. The Lord corrects this way of asking and requires him to have firm faith. In verse 24 we can see that the father has quite changed; then Jesus does the miracle. The man's strengthened faith made him all-powerful, for someone with faith relies not on himself but on Jesus Christ. Through faith, then, we become sharers in God's omnipotence. But faith is a gift of God, which man, especially at times when he is wavering, should ask humbly and tenaciously, like the father of this boy: "I believe, help my unbelief," and like the Apostles: "Increase our faith!" (Luke 17:5).
28-29. "In teaching the Apostles how to expel a spirit as evil as this He is teaching all of us how we should live, and telling us that prayer is the resource we should use to overcome even the severest temptations, whether they come from unclean spirits or from men. Prayer does not consist only in the words we use to invoke God's clemency but also in everything we do, out of faith, as homage to God.
The Apostle bears witness to this when he says: `Pray constantly' (1 Thessalonians 5:7)" (St. Bede, "In Marci Evangelium Expositio, in loc.").
**********************
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.
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Laity will train for some duties of priests
The Aquinas Institute is sponsoring the program, which Archbishop Raymond Burke has said is unnecessary here.One can only guess why...The Aquinas Institute is not known for its fidelity to the teachings of the Church.
Eight parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Louis will take part in a program to train laity for paid ministry positions...Archbishop Raymond Burke, who last summer said the program was unnecessary here, said this week that the archdiocesan pastors involved did not inform him of their participation in the program.
St. Louis Auxiliary Bishop Robert J. Hermann sent a letter to Aquinas saying the archdiocese was not interested in supporting the program and that it was preparing its own initiative for training the laity.Didn't seem to stop anybody from getting involved with this group, did it?
The archbishop said through his spokesman, Jamie Allman, this week that he did not want to comment on the eight St. Louis parishes participating in the Aquinas program.The Rev. Charles Bouchard is president of Aquinas Institute - just check out his past statements - orthodoxy doesn't seem to be his strong suit.
The archdiocese recently announced a relationship with Ave Maria University in Florida that, beginning in August, will allow St. Louis Catholics to obtain a master's degree in theological studies.And one can be certain that what will be taught will be in accord with what the Church teaches - Can the same be said of Aquinas?
There is a debate within the Catholic church as to how much responsibility and authority the laity should have in the life of a parish....But a 1987 Vatican document sought to restrict some of the new freedoms allowed the laity by the Second Vatican Council.I think Tim Townsend gets this wrong on two counts. I believe, though I could be wrong, the document to which he refers is "Instruction on Certain Questions Regarding the Collaboration of the Non-Ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of Priests", which came out in August of 1997. Secondly, the Second Vatican Council did not give the laity the "right" to engage in some of the things in which a few of the laity have been involved and which the referenced "Instruction" sought to clarify. Townsend should exercise more care than he did in that particular paragraph.
Allman said Burke did receive a letter that Aquinas sent out to the bishops whose parishes are participating in the Apollos Project, but that none of the eight pastors from the St. Louis parishes selected to participate had contacted the archbishop. He said Burke had no plans to meet with the priests about the program.Besides the two participating parishes named (of the eight), another is St. Cronan's - another bastion of heterodoxy and heteropraxy, much of which has been discussed before.
The Post article is here.
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.
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."
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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").
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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.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Gospel for May 14, Feast: St. Matthias, Apostle
From: John 15:9-17
The Vine and the Branches (Continuation)
(Jesus said to His disciples,) [9] "As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you; abide in My love. [10] If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. [11] These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
The Law of Love
[12] "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. [13] Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. [14] You are My friends if you do what I command you. [15] No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. [16] You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give it to you. [17] This I command you, to love one another."
************************
Commentary:
9-11. Christ's love for Christians is a reflection of the love the Three Divine Persons have for one another and for all men: "We love, because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).
The certainty that God loves us is the source of Christian joy (verse 11), but it is also something which calls for a fruitful response on our part, which should take the form of a fervent desire to do God's will in everything, that is, to keep His commandments, in imitation of Jesus Christ, who did the will of His Father (cf. John 4:34).
12-15. Jesus insists on the "new commandment", which He Himself keeps by giving His life for us. See note on John 13:34-35.
Christ's friendship with the Christian, which our Lord expresses in a very special way in this passage, is something very evident in [St] Monsignor Escriva de Balaguer's preaching: "The life of the Christian who decides to behave in accordance with the greatness of his vocation is so to speak a prolonged echo of those words of our Lord, `No longer do I call you My servants; a servant is one who does not understand what his master is about, whereas I have made known to you all that My Father has told Me; and so I have called you My friends' (John 15:15). When we decide to be docile and follow the will of God, hitherto unimagined horizons open up before us.... `There is nothing better than to recognize that Love has made us slaves of God. From the moment we recognize this we cease being slaves and become friends, sons' ([St] J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 35).
"Sons of God, FRIENDS OF GOD.... Jesus is truly God and truly Man, He is our Brother and our Friend. If we make the effort to get to know Him well `we will share in the joy of being God's friends' ["ibid.", 300]. If we do all we can to keep Him company, from Bethlehem to Calvary, sharing His joys and sufferings, we will become worthy of entering into loving conversation with Him. As the Liturgy of the Hours sings, "calicem Domini biberunt, et amici Dei facti sunt" (they drank the chalice of the Lord and so became friends of God).
"Being His children and His friends are two inseparable realities for those who love God. We go to Him as children, carrying on a trusting dialogue that should fill the whole of our lives; and we go to Him as friends.... In the same way our divine sonship urges us to translate the overflow of our interior life into apostolic activity, just as our friendship with God leads us to place ourselves at `the service of all men. We are called to use the gifts God has given us as instruments to help others discover Christ' ["ibid.", 258]" (Monsignor A. del Portillo in his preface to [St] J. Escriva's, "Friends of God").
16. There are three ideas contained in these words of our Lord. One, that the calling which the Apostles received and which every Christian also receives does not originate in the individual's good desires but in Christ's free choice. It was not the Apostles who chose the Lord as Master, in the way someone would go about choosing a rabbi; it was Christ who chose them. The second idea is that the Apostles' mission and the mission of every Christian is to follow Christ, to seek
holiness and to contribute to the spread of the Gospel. The third teaching refers to the effectiveness of prayer done in the name of Christ; which is why the Church usually ends the prayers of the liturgy with the invocation "Through Jesus Christ our Lord...".
The three ideas are all interconnected: prayer is necessary if the Christian life is to prove fruitful, for it is God who gives the growth (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:7); and the obligation to seek holiness and to be apostolic derives from the fact that it is Christ Himself who has given us this mission. "Bear in mind, son, that you are not just a soul who has joined other souls in order to do a good thing.
"That is a lot, but it's still little. You are the Apostle who is carrying out an imperative command from Christ" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 942).
**********************
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.
The Vine and the Branches (Continuation)
(Jesus said to His disciples,) [9] "As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you; abide in My love. [10] If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. [11] These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
The Law of Love
[12] "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. [13] Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. [14] You are My friends if you do what I command you. [15] No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. [16] You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give it to you. [17] This I command you, to love one another."
************************
Commentary:
9-11. Christ's love for Christians is a reflection of the love the Three Divine Persons have for one another and for all men: "We love, because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).
The certainty that God loves us is the source of Christian joy (verse 11), but it is also something which calls for a fruitful response on our part, which should take the form of a fervent desire to do God's will in everything, that is, to keep His commandments, in imitation of Jesus Christ, who did the will of His Father (cf. John 4:34).
12-15. Jesus insists on the "new commandment", which He Himself keeps by giving His life for us. See note on John 13:34-35.
Christ's friendship with the Christian, which our Lord expresses in a very special way in this passage, is something very evident in [St] Monsignor Escriva de Balaguer's preaching: "The life of the Christian who decides to behave in accordance with the greatness of his vocation is so to speak a prolonged echo of those words of our Lord, `No longer do I call you My servants; a servant is one who does not understand what his master is about, whereas I have made known to you all that My Father has told Me; and so I have called you My friends' (John 15:15). When we decide to be docile and follow the will of God, hitherto unimagined horizons open up before us.... `There is nothing better than to recognize that Love has made us slaves of God. From the moment we recognize this we cease being slaves and become friends, sons' ([St] J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 35).
"Sons of God, FRIENDS OF GOD.... Jesus is truly God and truly Man, He is our Brother and our Friend. If we make the effort to get to know Him well `we will share in the joy of being God's friends' ["ibid.", 300]. If we do all we can to keep Him company, from Bethlehem to Calvary, sharing His joys and sufferings, we will become worthy of entering into loving conversation with Him. As the Liturgy of the Hours sings, "calicem Domini biberunt, et amici Dei facti sunt" (they drank the chalice of the Lord and so became friends of God).
"Being His children and His friends are two inseparable realities for those who love God. We go to Him as children, carrying on a trusting dialogue that should fill the whole of our lives; and we go to Him as friends.... In the same way our divine sonship urges us to translate the overflow of our interior life into apostolic activity, just as our friendship with God leads us to place ourselves at `the service of all men. We are called to use the gifts God has given us as instruments to help others discover Christ' ["ibid.", 258]" (Monsignor A. del Portillo in his preface to [St] J. Escriva's, "Friends of God").
16. There are three ideas contained in these words of our Lord. One, that the calling which the Apostles received and which every Christian also receives does not originate in the individual's good desires but in Christ's free choice. It was not the Apostles who chose the Lord as Master, in the way someone would go about choosing a rabbi; it was Christ who chose them. The second idea is that the Apostles' mission and the mission of every Christian is to follow Christ, to seek
holiness and to contribute to the spread of the Gospel. The third teaching refers to the effectiveness of prayer done in the name of Christ; which is why the Church usually ends the prayers of the liturgy with the invocation "Through Jesus Christ our Lord...".
The three ideas are all interconnected: prayer is necessary if the Christian life is to prove fruitful, for it is God who gives the growth (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:7); and the obligation to seek holiness and to be apostolic derives from the fact that it is Christ Himself who has given us this mission. "Bear in mind, son, that you are not just a soul who has joined other souls in order to do a good thing.
"That is a lot, but it's still little. You are the Apostle who is carrying out an imperative command from Christ" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 942).
**********************
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.
Friday, May 13, 2005
Catholic Radio in St Charles County This Month!
Today, Covenant Network will be closing on the KIRL radio station. Tony Holman of Covenant Network asks that everyone keep the radio station in your prayers.
The new call letters of the radio station, as I understand it, are planned to be KHOJ for "Heart of Jesus", located at 1460 on the AM dial. It is anticipated to be on the air in a week or two.
It will simulcast the programming currently on WRYT. This will be a TREMENDOUS blessing for those who live or work in the St. Charles county and surrounding areas who cannot currently receive WRYT (1080 AM) on the radio.
If you are from the St. Charles county area, be sure to stay tuned for the fine Catholic programming soon to be coming your way - and don't forget to let your friends and family know about this new radio station. This is a great way for Catholics to learn more about their faith and for others to learn more about the Catholic Church.
Please keep Tony and the crew at Covenant Network in your prayers.
The new call letters of the radio station, as I understand it, are planned to be KHOJ for "Heart of Jesus", located at 1460 on the AM dial. It is anticipated to be on the air in a week or two.
It will simulcast the programming currently on WRYT. This will be a TREMENDOUS blessing for those who live or work in the St. Charles county and surrounding areas who cannot currently receive WRYT (1080 AM) on the radio.
If you are from the St. Charles county area, be sure to stay tuned for the fine Catholic programming soon to be coming your way - and don't forget to let your friends and family know about this new radio station. This is a great way for Catholics to learn more about their faith and for others to learn more about the Catholic Church.
Please keep Tony and the crew at Covenant Network in your prayers.
Archbishop appeals for help with fund drive
Archbishop Raymond L. Burke is asking pastors for their continued prayers and support for the Annual Catholic Appeal, including extending parish pledge weekends in order to reach its goal of $11.75 million.You can mail a donation to the
...
Archbishop Burke also asked, "Please consider having an additional Appeal Sunday in your parish the week of May 14 and 15 if you feel it would be helpful in collecting more pledges."
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"If the appeal is not successful in meeting its $11.75 million goal, some of those most in need, relying on the Church for help, will not receive assistance," the archbishop said.
Annual Catholic Appeal
Cardinal Rigali Center
20 Archbishop May Drive
St. Louis MO 63119
or you can make a pledge online, by going to the Archdiocesan Website and clicking on the ACA section.
Old Joke? I never heard it before....
But then, maybe I lead a sheltered life....
Diogenes says, in part:
Diogenes says, in part:
An old joke goes: "What's the difference between the Girl Scouts and the Society of Jesus? The Girl Scouts have adult leadership."The background on this is here.
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