Commenter (and seminarian) Keith dropped me a note in the combox with a pointer to his Facebook collection of pictures from the event at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie. In his words, “the Holy Father was AWESOME in Dunwoodie!” I’m not sure just which picture I like the most, so do go through the whole set.
And I am totally leaving the “you couldn’t swing a stick without hitting a Bishop” comment alone. In St. Blogs that can go in just too many places to be safe…
Just a week ago I was compelled by some as-yet unidentified force (although I get the feeling its name is “ruah” if you know my meaning) to look into making the consecration to Jesus through Mary as laid out in St. Louis de Montfort’s Total Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Now normally that’s not such a big surprise – people get that kind of spiritual kick in the fanny all the time, and ignore it just about as often.
As an aside, I’ve known for a long time my only chance to really get anywhere in the spiritual life was going to depend on me being willing to break down and talk to Mary. I don’t know why, but it’s always been very difficult for me – even as I can recommend the Rosary and other Marian devotions and even explain the theological bases of our devotion to Mary it’s just been the doggoned hardest nut to crack for me. I guess I’m just obtuse like that. I should say that the “I’ve known for a long time” thing, well, let’s just say it was made clear to me by someone other than myself and leave it at that. There are some things that don’t explain themselves well in the blogosphere.
Back to the topic at hand, I was doing a wonderful job at my usual procrastination at God’s prompting when I went to our Tuesday meeting this week (we’re now on Fr. Corapi’s Behold Your Mother in preparation for the Marian Month of May, coincidentally). Clear out of the blue one of the women pulls out this past Sunday’s bulletin, which I had uncharacteristically not read as yet, and starts talking about the fact that there will be a meeting to go over St. Louis de Montfort’s book and that at the end of the series we’d have the opportunity to make the consecration and … well, if the blood didn’t drain out of my face physically it certainly did feel like it. I suddenly had this feeling as if Jesus himself were staring me right in the face and saying, “well, now what’s your excuse going to be?”
To that question I simply have no answer. There is the hope right now that the meetings will be moved to cover our Tuesday meeting slot rather than the currently-planned mornings. But with that kind of, err, invitation whenever it winds up starting I don’t think I have much choice – I’ll have to make it work one way or another. The Good Lord knows I can be a stubborn one, but even I can read the six-foot letters this suggestion was written in.
So if you’re in the Manchester area and interested in joining us, feel free to drop me a line. I’ll be putting contact information in one of the sidebars shortly. Alternately, of course, feel free to drop it in the combox as well.
I found out last night that the husband of one of the women in my parish’s Tuesday night study group passed away a little over a week ago. Armand Rheault is survived by his wife, Mary, and seven children (if what I’m told is correct). Requiescat in pace. If you could find time, please offer a prayer for the repose of his soul and for peace in his family.
I will venture to project that the lasting impact of Pope Benedict’s visit to the U.S. will not be found in the text of his speeches, his homilies or even his extemporaneous comments. No, its impact will be found in the souls so deeply affected by this proximity to the Successor of Peter. A comment on Fox News’ Religion Correspondent Lauren Green’s blog post says it all:
Thank you all so very much. I am a 63 year old Catholic, but have been drifting in my faith lately, not anymore. I am also going to write to the Vatican and thank them for their visit.
As important as we will find all the statements, as closely as we will inspect each and every word, gesture and bit of clothing, the inestimable value of one soul to God is still far and away greater. I’m willing to bet there are a lot more souls equally touched by this visit, many of whom just haven’t written it down anywhere. This, above all else, is the call of the Pope – Shepherd of Souls.
Having just finished reading the Pope’s address to the Bishops, I was left with the vague hope that the following is seen in bulletins and heard in homilies far and wide this weekend:
Time spent in prayer is never wasted, however urgent the duties that press upon us from every side. Adoration of Christ our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament prolongs and intensifies the union with him that is established through the Eucharistic celebration (cf. Sacramentum Caritatis, 66). Contemplation of the mysteries of the Rosary releases all their saving power and it conforms, unites and consecrates us to Jesus Christ (cf. Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 11, 15). Fidelity to the Liturgy of the Hours ensures that the whole of our day is sanctified and it continually reminds us of the need to remain focused on doing God’s work, however many pressures and distractions may arise from the task at hand.
While addressed to the Bishops, it is most surely a message that applies to each and every one of us. Yes, you’re busy. When you find me something you have to do that’s more important than God, you let me know, ‘kay?
When I first signed on to help out our RCIA team I wondered what the central direction of my speaking would come to be. I knew that no matter what I tried to set as my direction that my fellow catechists and the very people we were catechizing would push and pull things into a somewhat different form. It’s part of that clay analogy, I think. Having finally had a chance to read the Pope’s address to the Bishops the below resonated as a constant point just about every time we talk.
This leads me to ask how, in the twenty-first century, a bishop can best fulfill the call to “make all things new in Christ, our hope”? How can he lead his people to “an encounter with the living God”, the source of that life-transforming hope of which the Gospel speaks (cf. Spe Salvi, 4)? Perhaps he needs to begin by clearing away some of the barriers to such an encounter. While it is true that this country is marked by a genuinely religious spirit, the subtle influence of secularism can nevertheless color the way people allow their faith to influence their behavior. Is it consistent to profess our beliefs in church on Sunday, and then during the week to promote business practices or medical procedures contrary to those beliefs? Is it consistent for practicing Catholics to ignore or exploit the poor and the marginalized, to promote sexual behavior contrary to Catholic moral teaching, or to adopt positions that contradict the right to life of every human being from conception to natural death? Any tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be resisted. Only when their faith permeates every aspect of their lives do Christians become truly open to the transforming power of the Gospel.
Yup, I think I’ve said that so many times people can see it coming after about two words. Now if only I could say it with such eloquence and learning. Maybe someday. Probably not, but maybe.
Given that I’ve just now gone through this address, you can imagine by the fact I’ve not commented on the Mass at Nationals Stadium that I’ve not seen that either. It’s that silly work thing again.
Since it seems almost everyone else in the Catholic blogosphere is posting all the same bits about the Pope and I’m just so otherwise buried in varia this week I wanted to ask a simple question. A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across the newsletter the Diocese puts out for all our Deacons (and their wives). In the newsletter there was a question regarding the proper order for praying the Liturgy of the Hours.
Currently in these parts most everyone has learned that for the psalmody the antiphon is read by the leader, then repeated, then the psalm is read, then finally the antiphon is said again. However, the monks at St. Anselm Abbey do not repeat the antiphon after it is initially read (prior to the psalm being read) so there is question of how it should be done when training the next generation of deacons. So if there’s anyone out there that can actually take five minutes from trying to keep up with the deluge of papalblogging, I’d much appreciate the input.
In case there is still anyone out there under the impression that Hamas is a peaceful organization whose sole interest is the establishment of a Palestinian state living peacefully aside Israel, apparently some of them haven’t forgotten Lepanto either:
A sermon last Friday by a prominent Muslim cleric and Hamas member of the Palestinian parliament openly declared that “the capital of the Catholics, or the Crusader capital,” would soon be conquered by Islam.
The fiery sermon, delivered by Yunis al-Astal and aired on Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV, predicted that Rome would become “an advanced post for the Islamic conquests, which will spread though Europe in its entirety, and then will turn to the two Americas, even Eastern Europe.
…
“Very soon, Allah willing, Rome will be conquered, just like Constantinople was, as was prophesized by our prophet Muhammad,” he added.
One does wonder just what people that say things like this are thinking. I mean hey, even if it’s what you think, you don’t blather it out there for everyone to make news stories. The most dangerous person out there isn’t the one with all the guns, it’s the one that doesn’t care for his life or that of anyone else. Particularly when they’ve twisted their theology to a point where they believe they’ll be rewarded in heaven for their insanity. It saddens me to think it might take something of that scale to wake Europe from its collective doldrums.
Wouldn’t you know it, but that I would pick the week when American grounds hundreds of flights each day to try to make a cross-country trip. To put it simply, I only boarded one flight for which I was scheduled, and that one didn’t land where it was supposed to when it was supposed to. It makes for a great war story, be assured. It ended with my coworker and me (literally) sprinting through LaGuardia and getting on the plane with only five minutes to spare. If anyone is curious, running with a luggage lock in one’s shoe is decidedly not a comfortable thing to do.
I do, however, want to call out the customer service agents at both Delta and United for both finding us flights that got us where we needed to go in reasonable time and with what can only be described as very good attitudes. With everything that was going on, I’m frankly amazed we were able to get where we were going without either booking a hotel room or sleeping in the airport. Despite it all, I’m most impressed.
After an emergency diversion due to a medical emergency on the first flight, re-booking from one connecting flight to two, four airports and who knows how many miles, I’m finally in Oregon. It has been a very interesting, very long day. Suffice it to say I’ll be a little delayed in posting anything interesting. *yawn*
