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Rhetorical Questions

2012-02-01T16:14:00.000-06:00

I just noticed something. It may be the translation of today's Mass readings (after all, ancient manuscripts didn't use punctuation marks), but both readings include rhetorical questions. In one, the question is the expression of sincerity, a taking of responsibility by the questioner (King David*). In the Gospel, we get a whole series of rhetorical questions posed by the townspeople of Nazareth. Unlike David's question (which acknowledges his own responsibility for the plight of the people), the Nazareans use dismissive questions to avoid taking the preaching of Jesus seriously. King David, even as king, submits to God's authority; the people of Nazareth, hearing Jesus preach "with authority," have already written him off. And not even Jesus can work the miracle of bringing them to faith.
That's been the key word so far this week: faith. And it's kind of been the key word for me since this summer.
What about you? Have the scriptures of late given you a "key word" for your life of faith?

* By the way, did you catch David's admission to having "sinned grievously"? That's why we say the same thing ourselves in the "Confiteor" in the new Roman Missal translation! It's a quote from none other than the model penitent of the Old Testament!

Imposing beliefs and values? Yes, but who's doing the imposing?

2012-01-31T15:46:00.005-06:00

God love Fr. Barron. He pulls the curtain from the tired narrative of Catholics "imposing their beliefs" on society and shows that in the recently confirmed Health and Human Services mandate, even while the rhetoric claims that "the Church" is imposing its values on others, the story is quite the other way around. (You get the sense from that word "mandate," don't you?) It is "liberal totalitarianism" imposing its agenda, universally and at others' expense.

If you feel bewildered by all the talk about the HHS mandate, this video would be a good place to start to get a sense of what it is and what it means:

Here is a visual summary of the statements by various Catholic bishops on the issue, courtesy of @prolixpatriot and CatholicVote

.org

Hello, Goodbye

2012-01-30T15:30:00.001-06:00

We got the news yesterday.
Not even 24 hours after our novice, Sr Emily, made her first vows and began her life of consecration, Sr. Annette fulfilled her vows and her consecrated life. She was 55.
Reflecting on this turn of events, I almost sense a certain poignancy even in the heart of Christ as he called our sister from this life. After all, from now on not even he would hear her prayers and praise and hope coming to him from the earth, from the limits of time. He would no longer be able (as he once remarked to Teresa of Avila, when she was moaning about how long this life seemed to endure when all she wanted was to go to heaven) to live the ordinary human experience of her life: the eating and sleeping and working and conversing--all things that the Lord delights in sharing with us day by day so that it is no longer we who life (or eat or sleep or work or converse) but Jesus living in us. Once our bodies can no longer offer that hospitality to Christ, he offers us the divine hospitality of heaven.
Sr Annette kept a copy of Renoir's "The Promenade" in her infirmary room, and would nod in its direction as a sign of her hope that the Lord would come in a similar way to call her apart for himself. And so he did.

Vow Day (Passing the torch)

2012-01-28T11:26:00.000-06:00

Today is one of those days when I most feel not being at the motherhouse: one of our novices is making her first vows, lighting the lamp she hopes to be holding when the Bridegroom comes at last. And not far from the chapel where the vow ceremony is going on, another sister has her lamp trimmed and ready, though she herself is beginning to flicker like a candle. We don't know how much longer she will be with us--at fifty-five, she would have been expected to continue keeping that lamp burning two or more decades yet. But not even death puts an end to community (or to the mission!). Before I left Boston in December, I paid a visit to the infirmary to say good bye (and to give Sister a heads-up as to all the work I would be sending her way once she arrived at her eternal destination). She knows she will be kept busy during her "eternal rest."
So it is a time of special grace for our community, this passing of the torch of consecration from one generation to the next (the novice is young enough to be a daughter to the sister who is dying!).
Please pray for both of these sisters in a very special way, as well as for their families, who are experiencing such very different feelings as, for each one, a beloved sister is taking leave so definitively.

TOB camp for teens!

2012-01-27T12:43:00.001-06:00

So glad someone is doing this: An immersion experience for high school juniors-seniors and new grads: TOB teaching integrated with teen spirituality (and loads of fun). Even better, it's in Louisiana!

For more info: facebook.com/dumboxproductions

Bonhoeffer responds to the HHS mandate

2012-01-26T15:45:00.000-06:00

From his essay "The Visible Community":

The limits and claims of the secular calling are fixed by our membership of the visible Church of Christ, and these limits are reached when the space which the body of Christ claims and occupies in the world for its worship, its offices and the civic life of its members clashes with the world's claim for space for its own activities.

We shall at once know when the limit has been reached, for every member of the Church will then be obliged to make a public confession of Christ, and the world will be forced to react, either by calculated restraint or open violence. Now the Christian must suffer openly. Hitherto, since the day he had died with Christ in baptism, his suffering had been in secret. Now he is openly ejected from the secular calling and enters upon a visible participation in the passion of his Lord. Now he needs more than ever all the fellowship and brotherly help the Church can give. ...

The older the world grows, the more heated becomes the conflict between Christ and Antichrist, and the more thorough the efforts of the world to get rid of the Christians.

Until now the world had always granted them a lodging-place, by allowing them to work for their own food and clothing. But a world that has become 100% anti-Christian cannot allow them even this private sphere of work for their daily bread. The Christians are now forced to deny their Lord for every crumb of bread they need. Either they must flee from the world, or go to prison; there is no other alternative.

When the Christian community has been deprived of its last bit of space on the earth, the end will be near.

Light from Heaven

2012-01-25T11:31:00.000-06:00

We usually conclude our evening prayer with a reading from our "Pauline calendar" for the following day: a thought from the Founder, a listing of any foundation anniversaries on that day, and a prayer for the deceased members of the Pauline Family (we actually have the names of each person listed on their anniversary of death). The feasts of St. Paul are almost always marked by an enormous list of foundations. Even here in Chicago, the first Mass celebrated in our community chapel was held on the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul in 1980. (I was here for the occasion! A few of us drove over from St. Louis to help get things in order.)

The Feast of the Conversion is always a good reminder of how God can surprise us with a greater truth than we had been cherishing, and call us back to the right path when we thought we were already on it. Paul's conversion was that kind. Not a change-of-religion conversion, but a the-religion-you-believe-in-is-bigger-than-you-think conversion; even though at first there was the intellectual component to it, the information that "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," the real point of that meeting on the road to Damascus was to win Paul's heart. As zealous as he was for "the Law," his ardor became love for a person, Jesus, and for every other person whom he now would see as a "brother for whom Christ died."

That conversion is probably the most urgent grace to ask for every member of the Church in these very challenging times.

Silence!

2012-01-24T09:49:00.014-06:00

Every year, one of the Vatican's "World Day" observances comes and goes without making much of a stir. I suspect that is mostly a matter of timing, since the observance usually falls around the same time as graduations, Memorial Day and the beginning of summer vacation. This year, it may pass by even more quietly. That is because this year's theme for "World Communications Day" is precisely silence.

For years, the theme has been announced on the feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron of journalists (even though the event is generally held a week before Pentecost) to accommodate print journalists, especially for monthly publications. Now media cycles are so short, we get the news in January and have to burrow through our files to find it again in May! I suppose it would be better if we began to keep the message a little more in mind all the way through...

Here's the counterintuitive message about the vital place of silence in the mystery of communication:

2012
Silence and Word: path of evangelization.

The extraordinarily varied nature of the contribution of modern communications to society highlights the need for a value which, on first consideration, might seem to stand in contra-distinction to it. Silence, in fact, is the central theme for the next World Communications Day Message: Silence and Word: path of evangelization.

In the thought of Pope Benedict XVI, silence is not presented simply as an antidote to the constant and unstoppable flow of information that characterizes society today but rather as a factor that is necessary for its integration. Silence, precisely because it favors habits of discernment and reflection, can in fact be seen primarily as a means of welcoming the word. We ought not to think in terms of a dualism, but of the complementary nature of two elements which when they are held in balance serve to enrich the value of communication and which make it a key factor that can serve the new evangelization.

It is clearly the desire of the Holy Father to associate the theme of the next World Communications Day with the celebration of the forthcoming Synod of Bishops which will have as its own theme: The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith.

The News You Won't See (updated)

2012-01-23T10:56:00.001-06:00

So today is the March for Life in Washington. Probably the evening news will feature a small group of counter-protesters while behind them a massive crowd will continue moving through the street, all but ignored. That's the usual way it goes. Of course, there will be a handful of real loonies with their bizarre or hateful slogans who might be singled out of the crowd to represent the whole.
Outside of Washington, where the pro-lifers are doing the extreme penance of facing the elements, all Catholics are called to make this a day of prayer and of penance: prayer that every human life will be reverenced and protected, and penance for the violations of human life through abortion, neglect, abuse, euthanasia, and every other way the worth of each and every person is violated, ignored or threatened. I think all this is harder than it seems because society has become so fixated on the individual in isolation that we hesitate to get involved in another person's need or offer them alternatives when they are making a serious decision of any kind. We can pull back, thinking "Who am I to butt in like this?" or we might be honestly aware that getting involved means getting committed, and we're just not ready or able to carry through.
Here in Chicago, Father Joe at Assumption wrote a helpful presentation about what it means to be pro-life. One thing he mentioned that I'd like to underline is that here in the US there are more than 2300 pro-life "safe houses" where women can find a place to life, social services, parenthood and job training during pregnancy and in the first months after their child's birth. I read a few months ago that the leading cause of death among pregnant women is murder: does that mean that pregnant women "need" access to abortion, or that they need help in dealing with unhealthy relationships and domestic violence? Contrary to the slogans about women "needing" abortion when they are homeless or facing a health-challenged child, what those women (and their partners) need is a helping hand. More safe houses and services are needed, but it is contrary to truth (and an injustice in itself) to say that pro-lifers only care about the child, but dismiss the mother.
There is still more to be done; no reason for anyone to sit at home, satisfied that that carrying a sign in a march is sufficient to save a life. Today the Archdiocese of New York announced the formation of a new support network for parents whose unborn babies have been diagnosed with severe health problems. Women considering adoption need particular support for the difficulties they will face along that heroic route.
But even more than these last-minute issues when a woman's life and choices have already led her into the area of an unexpected and unprovided-for pregnancy, we need to redouble our efforts in helping men and women appreciate the unique gifts of marriage and why the intimate expression of love that leads to new life deserves to be limited to that lifelong relationship of mutual self-gift. The Church takes a lot of hits over her insistence that the marriage of one man and one woman is not just the only ideal situation for raising children, it is the most protective of women (this is borne out by many independent studies).
We could probably all start to contribute to this change of values by developing a spirituality that recognizes and appreciates having "enough" even when "enough" is not "everything that would be convenient or appealing."

Here's a picture of what you didn't see:

One Lent, One Book?

2012-01-23T10:21:00.001-06:00

I know it feels like you just picked the last Christmas tree needles from your carpet, but with Ash Wednesday one month from yesterday, it really is time to look ahead to Lent. That anticipated preparation can help ensure that the season will be a time of transformation, and not just sporadic acts of self-discipline. Lent is not just for sacrifices, of course. It is ideal for that all-round spiritual growth that comes from spending quality time in spiritual reading, which Dorothy Day called "the oil that keeps the lamps burning."

You might consider choosing one really significant book for the whole of Lent, or take the challenge of a more intense spiritual program of a book a week. (The latter sounds almost too much, but it depends on the books you choose; if you have trouble concentrating, it may actually be the more do-able!)
So, what would I recommend?

For "One Lent/One Book," you want something with real substance, something that has the power to hold your attention on several levels at once; the kind of book that you can ruminate on. My "go to" book of this sort is Hans Urs von Balthasar's amazing "Heart of the World." It's an extended meditation on the Paschal Mystery (and so eminently suitable for Lent and for the Easter Octave and beyond). The translation is sheer poetry, but above all it is the perspective that is so awe-inspiring. The point of view seems to switch between divine omniscience and an utterly, brutally honest human take that makes the awefulness of sin that much plainer. It's a book you will never want to put down; even more, you will never want to lose track of the insights it gave you.

Now, if you didn't read it last year, Pope Benedict's "Jesus of Nazareth" (vol. 2 on Holy Week and Easter) is always an option if you are up for some seriously reflective reading; on the more conversational side (something you can take in with your morning coffee), Fr. Barron's "Catholicism" would be a good way to brush up on your overall Catholic awareness. (I'd recommend this one especially if you didn't get much in the way of solid Catholic instruction growing up.)

Back in the patristic era, Lent was not just a time of preparation for Baptism; it was also a season of public penance for those whose sins had cut them off in an external way from the life of the Church. If we get ashes ourselves, it is because those public sinners accepted being marked with ashes as an outward sign that they were committed to renewing their lives: instead of just marking out the "public" sinners, the Church eventually offered everyone that sense of "solidarity." After all (as von Balthasar pointed out in "Heart of the World"), "if there is a communion of saints, there is also a communion of sinners." So Lent can be an occasion to get to know the Church better in its members. I always appreciate a good biography. If you do, too, you might choose a biography of a convert to the faith (I'm thinking maybe Dorothy Day or Abby Johnson), or one who made the essential Lenten journey from tepidity to discipleship (even someone like Teresa of Avila). Whom else might be a good Lenten companion?

You could also go with the book I am currently reading (ever so slowly), about which I have written before. I am now on page 10. This little book, under 90 pages, may yet last me through the whole of Lent. It's that packed. Lots to reflect on and apply to life here, with great potential for spiritual transformation. And isn't that one of the goals of Lent?

And then there's the old standby approach: a book of daily reflections for the season. Here's one I contributed to (try a sample). Each day's reflection is matched to one verse of the Gospel for the day, so you are praying in sync with the whole Church. That's sure in the spirit of Lent, when the "elect" are preparing to be brought fully in sync with the Church's life and prayer! (Come to think of it, that would make this a great pre-baptismal gift for an adult in RCIA!) You can also go with something pocket-sized, ideal for commuters (or for those who just don't have the time available for a 15-minute meditation).

Those are my suggestions for One Lent, One Book. What about your ideas for a (lighter) book a week for the six and a half weeks between Ash Wednesday and Good Friday?

Minority Report: Catholics in Society (updated)

2012-01-20T11:42:00.001-06:00

This year, the US bishops are taking turns (region by region) to visit the Pope. This is more than just a coffee clatch with guys in skullcaps: the bishops bring detailed reports (to the Holy Father and to the various Vatican offices) with statistics about the general population in their diocesan area, the Catholic population, numbers of parishes, priests, baptisms, Catholic weddings, etc. They share with the Holy Father their biggest concerns, their plans, their reasons for hope. While the local bishop is presenting his perspective, though, the Pope is hearing that in the context of the picture given him by bishops from very different territories. This allows the Pope to get a sense, from the ground up, of the whole Catholic picture around the world.
So when the Pope reflects back, in his talks to the bishops (as well as in those messages "to the city and the world" on Christmas and Easter), he is able to give more of the "big picture" than any one bishop or bishops' conference could come up with.
Just yesterday, in speaking with the bishops from the mid-Atlantic region, the Pope told them that, in view of the serious threats to religious freedom in the United States, the pastoral priority had to be on lay Catholics' being better instructed in the faith and in its implications for society, and empowered to witness to it in the public square.
The challenge here is for Catholics to "come out of the closet" of limiting their religious expression to a matter of where they go to worship on Sunday. It means being unafraid and unintimidated by accusations that they are "forcing their beliefs" on others. In one sense, our democratic traditions tend to pressure minorities to surrender before the power of numbers, but even a minority has the right to proclaim what it holds as unfailingly true. And even though Catholics are a substantial percentage of the US population (as are fallen-away or alienated Catholics), it can be hard to recognize them in a society with such homogenizing tendencies as our consumer culture.
How can ordinary Catholics begin to awaken to the need to bring society into conformity with the whole truth about the human person?

Read the Pope's full talk here.

Afternoon update:
In case you thought this was "yesterday's news," today's brings us back to the Health and Human Services mandate that requires employers to provide full medical insurance coverage for contraception, sterilizations and other morally repugnant services. This mandate acknowledges only the slimmest "religious exemption," one which basically only covers parish-level ministry personnel. The White House has offered Catholic institutions a generous extension of one year to get with the program. Cardinal-designate Dolan summed up the administration's position: "In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences."
Here's the rest of the story; here's the official statement from the US Bishops (confirming the Pope's observation yesterday of "grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism "); here's Cardinal-designate Dolan speaking as head of the US bishops:

Archbishop Timothy Dolan on HHS Conscience Regulation from Rocco Palmo on Vimeo.

Jesus without Religion?

2012-01-20T10:07:00.001-06:00

The social media phenomena of the week has been a YouTube by an ardent, but poorly instructed (and biblically illiterate) young adult fundamentalist. His rap video, which is technically superb, hit such a nerve that it has been viewed almost 20,000,000 times, hitting the top of even YouTube's charts. But his belief that an individual can have a complete relationship with Jesus while avoiding the limitations and commitment of a "religion" (especially since many of his negative references to "religion" are clearly directed to the Catholic Church) led to a proliferation of rebuttals, usually in rap form, some of them also very well done.
Here's an example, put out by Spirit Juice Studios, the Chicago team that is working on our documentary project:

Naturally, it would be great if you could "like" or "+1" this video to give it higher relief, and help the fuller picture of Jesus and religion get some attention!

The Land of the Lost (Comments)

2012-01-19T17:19:00.000-06:00

Well, I made the mistake of attempting to clean up the spammy comments in my folder here on Blogger while battling a headache. What happened was that I deleted the actual, published and most valid comments of the past month or two, instead of the several dozen "unmoderated comments" I intended to tackle.
Please don't take it personally, unless you are that spammer!

Praying with the Psalms

2012-01-19T16:57:00.000-06:00

Maybe it's because we still have Christmas decorations up in the convent (Sr Helena got this great idea about following the Polish tradition and keeping them up until Feb. 2*), but as I have been reflecting on the daily readings, it is still with the image of the child Jesus in my mind.
That led me to a particularly beautiful appreciation of a Psalm I never really appreciated much before. Psalm 89 is David recounting the Lord's promise of a dynasty. (Some contemporary scholars say that the Psalm was a way the later kings had of enforcing their political decisions: "Hey, it was the Lord who said 'I will establish your line forever and make your throne firm'.") But there is a line in Psalm 89 in which God himself imagines David's future, glorious descendant praying, "You are my Father, my God, the rock, my Savior." That verse was part of the Responsorial Psalm on Tuesday, and since then, I just keep going back to it, "witnessing" the first time the child Jesus heard those words from the Scripture and realized that they precisely expressed his own inner life, "listening" to him saying them that first time and repeating them throughout his life, even to Gethsemane.
Can you imagine "the joy before the angels of God" when those inspired words first rose up to heaven from the Incarnate Word? What blessings have we on earth received because Jesus spoke those words of his ancestor David, and what blessings do we unleash when we make those confident words of prayer and praise our own?
You are my Father, my God, the rock, my Savior!

*Thanks be to God, she decided yesterday that the 2nd Week in Ordinary Time is good enough, so we are dismantling things bit by bit now!

What's wrong with SOPA? Should Catholics care?

2012-01-18T18:21:00.000-06:00

You've seen the headlines, and probably wondered first off what SOPA meant and then once you found out it referred to a proposed law (the "Stop Online Piracy Act") wondered who could possibly object to such a goal. I found a helpful interpretation, from the standpoint of a Church musician who helps maintain a site devoted to Gregorian Chant (emphasis added):

The proposed legislation... would effectively end free information flows on the web. The sharing of content has been the key to the renaissance of sacred music in our time. ...
....There are always deep pockets ready to make a claim of ownership, whether true or not and however ambiguous the claims*. The legal tangles and possible penalties alone would have been enough to keep the entire [chant] library off line.

As an example (though not specifically about the Internet), I remember reading about a little T-shirt shop in New Orleans whose owner created a design reading "WHO DAT?" when the Saints were headed to the Super Bowl. She got a big scary "cease and desist" letter from the NFL, claiming ownership of the phrase (which my 80+ year old mother remembers as a cheer from high school sports when she was a student). No T-shirt shop owner is going to succeed in fighting the NFL. The woman took a loss on the shirts she had created. The NFL won, even though they had no real right to the phrase in question.

That's what SOPA wants to extend to the Internet. I can imagine my own blog being run through a series of algorithms that would reveal that 96% of my expressions are really not original, and that there is a copyright owner out there somewhere who said it first... leading up to a big, fat "Cease and Desist" order on Nunblog. Scary.

SOPA and its Senate twin, PIPA (Protect IP Act) seem to be ham-fisted approaches to protecting intellectual property. It's a noble goal (hey, my community runs a publishing house!), but there is too much not to like about the way that goal would be achieved. Jeffrey Tucker's point (quoted above) convinces me that the same behemoth organizations that crafted the bills would be given the virtual run of the Internet, since they are the only ones who have the funding to pursue any and every potential infraction and pretty much stifling open communication.

Let's find a better way to stop Internet piracy.

"Chopped": Convent Edition

2012-01-17T09:50:00.010-06:00

Every so often, Sr Frances and I meet in the living room to watch some TV. We're pretty different in our tastes, but one show we enjoy sharing is the Food Network's "Restaurant Impossible," where Chef Robert Irvine tears apart a failing restaurant and with the help of a designer and a contractor (and the restaurant staff) turns it around in 48 hours. I enjoy the critique of the menu and creation of new menu items; Sr Frances focuses on the design aspects.
Another Food Network show I enjoy is "Chopped," where chefs tackle successive baskets of "mystery ingredients" that they have to prepare into a cohesive menu. I wonder if they got the idea from the convent kitchen experience, where the cook has to create a family meal from an assortment of mismatched ingredients, with no one ingredient in sufficient quantity to serve as the foundation. Happens all the time. Cans without labels, vegetables that were on clearance because of their wilted or spotted or overripe state, not quite enough chicken to go around, an assortment of pasta shapes... I would like to see the Food Network chefs work with that! (Even better: with each chef getting a different set of such mystery ingredients!)
Naturally, it's not just convents that face this particular food challenge. Families do, too. And for soup kitchens that offer meals to the down and out, it's just the way things operate.
What was your most creative approach to a mystery ingredient?
Did you ever hit on a solution that worked so well you made it a regular part of your menu?

Happy Birthday, Your Eminence

2012-01-16T10:47:00.000-06:00

Today is Cardinal George's birthday. And not just any birthday, but a really big one. And not just big because he turns 75 today, but because that makes this the long-awaited day when he can tender his letter of resignation to the Pope. Cardinal George has already said several times that the Pope doesn't usually let a Cardinal retire that easily, but one gets the distinct impression that His Eminence hopes that just maybe he won't have to wait too long before welcoming a successor here in Chicago. As it is, George is the first Chicago archbishop to even reach retirement age, and this despite serious health problems (like the bladder cancer he underwent surgery for five years ago).
What would a retired Cardinal do? Well, this Cardinal gave me a hint when he greeted me at a meeting of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council about two months ago. Cardinal George (a teacher at heart) expressed the dream of coming to our center a couple of times a week, just to be available to answer people's questions about the faith. ("We're going to hold you to that, Your Eminence," I told him.) So, yes, over here we are kind of hoping that the Pope will let Cardinal George "follow his dreams" sooner rather than later.

Getting past the headlines

2012-01-13T11:18:00.000-06:00

"Pope says gay marriage threatens humanity!"
Did the headlines over the past week leave you, as a Catholic, wondering how to respond to questions (or perhaps upraised eyebrows)--or at least wondering what was going on? Here's an astute commentary that I am just copying in full from Zenit.org:

Putting Words in the Pope's Mouth
Where Was the Real 'News' in the Speech to the Diplomatic Corps?

By Father John Flynn

ROME, JAN. 12, 2012 (Zenit.org).- On reading the Jan. 9 Reuters report titled: "Gay marriage a threat to humanity's future: Pope," readers could be excused for thinking that Benedict XVI had made a major speech on the issue of same-sex "marriage."

The article was a report on the Pope's annual speech to the Holy See's diplomatic corps. He did indeed mention marriage, in the context of speaking about his World Day of Peace message, which had the theme of educating young people in justice and peace. It is in the family setting that these values are best taught, he said. A family, he mentioned, that is based on the marriage of a man and a woman.

That was it about marriage and he merely reiterated traditional Catholic teaching. By inference it could be seen as not approving same-sex marriage, but also single parenthood and cohabitation.

Moreover, the whole section on the family, including a reference to the European Union decision to prohibit the patenting of human embryonic stem cells, took up only 174 words of a speech which was 2,778 words long.

In its commentary on the Reuters article the very apt title of the Get Religion Web site's analysis was: "Gay marriage a threat to journalism's future."

It shouldn't really be news for a Vatican reporter to see that the Pope follows the Gospel teaching of Jesus that marriage is the joining of a man and a woman, the Get Religion commentary noted. It also pointed out that the second part of the article went way off tangent, talking about New York's Archbishop Timothy Dolan's support of Catholic teaching on marriage.

As Andrew Brown observed in his Guardian newspaper blog, the Pope also talked about important issues relating to the economy and ecology in his speech. So, why no report on these topics?

Brown commented that: "He did say that 'policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself.' But there was no suggestion that gay marriage was the most important of these and he didn't mention it at all, whereas he did take up several other sexual issues."

Brown also said that the Pope is the most important European figure to be talking about the economic crisis in terms of insisting on instilling an ethical core into the economy. But it seems that is not news.

It is worth keeping this incident in mind when the next media articles come out about supposedly controversial statements by the Pope on matters of the family and sexual morality. Instead of believing what they said he said, it is always better to go and read what he actually did say.

-----

In case you didn't read the linked posts, the Get Religion one includes the Pope's shocking (shocking!) and striking statement that inspired all the headlines:

Blessed John Paul II stated that “the path of peace is at the same time the path of the young”, inasmuch as young people embody “the youth of the nations and societies, the youth of every family and of all humanity”. Young people thus impel us to take seriously their demand for truth, justice and peace. For this reason, I chose them as the subject of my annual World Day of Peace Message, entitled Educating Young People in Justice and Peace. Education is a crucial theme for every generation, for it determines the healthy development of each person and the future of all society. It thus represents a task of primary importance in this difficult and demanding time. In addition to a clear goal, that of leading young people to a full knowledge of reality and thus of truth, education needs settings. Among these, pride of place goes to the family, based on the marriage of a man and a woman. This is not a simple social convention, but rather the fundamental cell of every society. Consequently, policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself. The family unit is fundamental for the educational process and for the development both of individuals and States; hence there is a need for policies which promote the family and aid social cohesion and dialogue. It is in the family that we become open to the world and to life and, as I pointed out during my visit to Croatia, “openness to life is a sign of openness to the future”. In this context of openness to life, I note with satisfaction the recent sentence of the Court of Justice of the European Union forbidding patenting processes relative to human embryonic stem cells, as well as the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe condemning prenatal selection on the basis of sex.

Teachable moments

2012-01-11T09:50:00.000-06:00

A cheerful woman came in our book center the other day, looking for the Spanish-language hymnal, "Flor y Canto." She didn't want the complete version (with the musical notation): "For a second language person like me, it's very hard to follow the lyrics that way." Although we couldn't provide her with a fresh copy of the hymnal (all we had was the singer's edition, with those confounding notes!), I gave her some hints on reattaching the hard cover to the now-paperback book.
Turns out that this woman, whose background is a typical Chicago Czech and Polish, saw the new, Spanish speaking arrivals in her neighborhood as bringing her an opportunity for enrichment. When the local grocery store put up bi-lingual shelf signs, she set herself to learn a new language. Milk: leche; oranges: naranjas; bread: pan.
Then she took it another step. "I figured that when my parents' and grandparents' generation came to Chicago from Poland and Bohemia, they learned English through the Church. So when my parish started having Mass in Spanish, I figured I could learn Spanish through the Church." She's been going to the Spanish Mass for so long, her hymnal fell out of its binding from overuse!
Blessed Alberione used to talk a lot about a virtue he called "studiosita." The Dominicans call it by its Latin name, "studiositas." Even if he took the name from the Order of Preachers, Alberione didn't really follow the Dominican definition to the letter. For him "studiosita" was the commitment to "learn from everything." That's what impressed me about our visitor this week. She could have taken any number of attitudes about the changes in her neighborhood. She chose the approach of "studiosita": as she said when she turned toward the door, "You never stop learning. You can always learn something new."

Is that what's going on downstairs?

2012-01-10T09:37:00.008-06:00

Best watched in full screen!

(If the video doesn't work on my blog, just use this link to view it on YouTube.)

The most mysterious mystery

2012-01-09T12:23:00.001-06:00

Today's Feast (and it's a huge one) can be a real puzzler: Why would Jesus be baptized? Of course, John the Baptist had pretty much the same question, and all he was told was to "give in for now." In retrospect (thanks to the writings of those brilliant and holy men we call the Fathers of the Church), we can recognize what was going on--especially when we look at this mystery in the light of the Christmas Season that it is always connected to.
It's pretty much what Paul wrote about, using a different image: "Though he was in the form of God, Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be clung to, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave..." (cf. Phil. 2).
That self-emptying was why angelic choirs had to be sent to sing "Glory to God in the Highest" over a stable where a nondescript baby boy was sleeping. That self-emptying sent the Magi to their knees before a toddler, after they had first gone to a royal palace looking for someone so significant that his birth made its mark in the heavens. And that self-emptying was at play when Jesus stepped into the Jordan, one more Galilean in a crowd of sinners who genuinely wanted to receive the Kingdom of Heaven like little children.
Because Jesus "emptied himself" to share everything that is ours as human beings (everything that is truly human), he becomes the access point for us to share everything that is God's. The "marvelous exchange" the Fathers of the Church wrote about really works both ways.
And so the feast of the Baptism of the Lord is a day for us follow Jesus into that River Jordan, not to grovel in our sinful state before John, but to allow Jesus to share the things that make up our daily life. To let our schedule, our commitments, our priorities, our moments of respite be lived in him. This is what he emptied himself for: to take the form of...us!

On Friday, the Vatican released its guidelines for the "Year of Faith" that will open in October. One of the high points I think has spectacular potential is the hoped-for universal day for all Christians the world over to "reaffirm their faith in Christ." This is intended to be an ecumenical celebration, so not just another day for us Catholics to renew our baptismal covenant as we do on Easter, but a day for Christians of every stripe, the world over, to recommit to Jesus every part of their life. (In some parts of the world, of course, it is against the law to commit every part of your life to Christ. I think these are probably the places where we would find the greatest Christian witnesses today.) Anyway, I am delighted by the prospect of a mass, ecumenical profession of faith in Jesus, and I hope to do all I can in my own limited scope to facilitate it.

The Hour and the Glory

2012-01-07T10:59:00.000-06:00

Sometimes the Liturgy can really be confusing. Like today. Here we are, well into the Christmas season (most people, it seems, have all their decorations neatly stored in color-coordinated boxes in their attics by now); the feast of Epiphany will be celebrated tomorrow, bringing the Nativity tableau to completion, and the Gospel of the day is...the wedding at Cana?!
And yet the wedding at Cana has long been connected with the Feast of the Epiphany in the mind of the Church. Gold, frankincense and myrrh? Those are the wedding gifts! If the Church seems to be amazinly preoccupied with issues related to marriage, this is because the whole Bible, the whole of Divine Revelation, is about the marriage of God and humanity. Jesus is that wedding of the two in one person (and so the connection of Cana with the season that celebrates the Incarnation), but we are all called to enter into this intimate communion with God. The Church is called both "body of Christ" and "bride of Christ," and heaven (and the Mass) the "wedding feast of the Lamb" for a reason.
Also connected with Epiphany is next week's feast of the Baptism of the Lord, when the heavens were torn open so that God's voice could be heard declaring Jesus his own beloved Son (revealing him to be the channel of communication between heaven and earth; the doorway into the Paradise that had been shut since that sad day in Eden).
All three events in Jesus' life were moments when, to use the words of today's Gospel, "he revealed his glory," and those present surrendered to him in faith.

Following the Star

2012-01-06T14:28:00.000-06:00

Illustration by Kate Flanagan, age 7.

In honor of today's Feast of the Epiphany (which we will celebrate liturgically on Sunday), I wish I could say I was making a King Cake. Alas, I have not found a recipe that is easy enough for a non-baker like me. Good thing there is a whole "King Cake Season" (through Mardi Gras)!

An interview with Cardinal-designate Dolan

2012-01-06T10:56:00.000-06:00

This just in from the Vatican (announced on the traditional Feast of the Epiphany): new Cardinals include two Americans. Here's this morning's msnbc interview with one of them...

From msnbc.com

O Say, can you see?

2012-01-04T12:08:00.000-06:00

Not long ago, one of the most famous women in entertainment walked down a crowded street in a cosmopolitan city and no one gave her so much as a glance. In fact, people seemed to assiduously avoid making any kind of eye contact with her. For all practical purposes, Meryl Streep was invisible.

The Gospel of John makes much ado about seeing. John the Baptist sees Jesus by the river and points him out. Jesus sees two of John's disciples following him and asks what they are looking for (it's a "seeing" verb in the English translation; the Greek is more like "seeking"). When the two ask where Jesus is staying, he just says, "Come and see." Later, Andrew brings his brother Simon over, and Jesus gazes at him before rebaptizing him Peter. Of course, we all know the rest of the story. The apostles lives were changed that day, because of what (and how) they saw.

All those people in London that day saw Meryl Streep, but that's as far as it went. If they had returned her gaze, what then? Maybe nothing; maybe an invitation to high tea on the set of The Iron Lady. The first step in any relationship has to be seeing past your own nose. (Funny how challenging that can be sometimes!)

Starting over

2012-01-03T16:38:00.000-06:00

One great thing about starting a new year is that feeling of getting a fresh start. This is the secular equivalent, you might say, of that call to conversion we hear at every Mass: the moment to acknowledge our sins and so prepare ourselves to praise God. Our publishing house just released a new book on this very theme. Well, technically it's on the Ignatian practice of the "examen," but I am finding it quite helpful in clearing up some of my own misconceptions about conversion in the spiritual life. I'm only on chapter 1, so I can't give you a very good summary of the book (sorry about that).

I am looking forward to seeing how this book can help me take advantage of the moments of recollection built into my day to keep up with all that God is doing in my life. It may be a little like following someone on Twitter: the more you keep up with their tweets, the more of a sense you have of who this person is and how he or she responds to life as a whole. The examen helps us follow God's tweets in our life, helping us develop a continuing awareness of God's presence, yes, but also of God's "take" on the things that we encounter through the day.

Just from the one chapter I am still reading, I get an image of this life of communion with God through the day's ups and downs as one of rowing a boat with Jesus. As we row together, I begin to sense how he responds to the waves; where he braces one foot against the floor of the pirogue to keep moving ahead against the winds, or how he leans in when we go through someone else's wake. I am learning the maritime "rules," not as regulations, but as an absorbed wisdom. By accepting that wisdom, I will live a communion with God that is not contrived or superficial, but really "life." I think that it is this communion that is the real point and goal of the examen. (At least, that's my motivation for making it a spiritual practice!)

Prayer for the New Year

2012-01-02T20:05:00.000-06:00

(From the new Missal, optional Mass "at the Beginning of the Civil Year")

O God, who are without beginning or end,
the source of all creation,
grant us so to live this new year,
whose beginning we dedicate to you,
that we may abound in good things
and be resplendent with works of holiness.

A Christmas surprise!

2012-01-02T14:43:00.000-06:00

I got a package this weekend; addressed to me, but with no other indication on the outside other than "Royal Post" and the torn corner of the envelope, showing that it contained a book. The surprise turned out to be "Travelling Light: a Book of Days" by Irish blogger and poet Ann Murray.
Ann's poetic reflections always kind of awe me, prosaic prose writer that I am. And now she has taken advantage of the opportunities that the new media offer to compile her work into the sort of format that one can carry into an adoration chapel without raising too many eyebrows, or leave near the desk for a daily bit of inspiration to share with others. Ann's poetry often has a Marian cast to it, and this shows up in the book as well. I think it would be a lovely gift for someone coming into the Catholic Church--just a daily book of Catholic spirituality as it is lived and reflected in "real life."
I'm going to, as we say in the convent, "take a presumed permission" and copy here Ann's poem for the New Year (posted today on her blog); it's a great sample of what you'll find 365 examples of in her book:

New Year Poem

Some speak of lives
Long or short-lived
But in truth
The time that is ours
That promised to us
Stretches to infinity
Let us be busy then -
Let no window refuse
The Light of Christ
May His goodness
Illuminate
Penetrate
Every pane, every corner
Until the soul of the house
Like crystal shines
In the light of the sun
And the walls of the house
Are but veils
Lifting to new horizons.

Thank you, Ann, for the gift of your poetry--and for the book!

Speaking about the Missal...

2012-01-02T11:41:00.000-06:00

With the new translation already in effect for a month (and the daily Mass crowd growing more confident by the day in their responses), I expect to field a few questions when I am helping out in the book center, or otherwise engaged in "Church" stuff. At Starbucks, not so much. But there I was, waiting for a peppermint mocha (courtesy of the gift card my brother had sent) when the barista asked me my reactions to the changes in the Mass. (He didn't have to repeat the question.)

Here's a shot of the work in progress on the (world's first?) greenscreen
sewing room. We don't have any projects in mind for it, but when we do,
it will be available; all we have to do is switch out the equipment!

Then a few days ago I made a run to Home Depot. The young man in the paint department wondered why I was asking for Pantone shade 354C. I mentioned that we were going to convert one wall in our sewing room into a greenscreen for video backgrounds. "Cool! What sort of videos?" I mentioned the liturgy videos we did--sans greenscreen--and right away the conversation moved into the changes in the Mass. Another spontaneous "Roman Missal" catechesis.

I wonder where the next one will be: the grocery? The frame shop I hope to get to this afternoon?

In Memoriam

2011-12-30T15:07:00.000-06:00

Each year, much as journalists' organizations publish the names of news reporters, writers and camerapeople who were killed while carrying out their work, the Pontifical missionary news organzation Fides publishes a list of Catholic pastoral workers who suffered violent deaths on Church property or while carrying out their ministry. This list includes only priests, religious brothers and sisters, catechists and parish staff, not lay faithful who suffered martyrdom simply for holding to their faith. (That list would be long, indeed.)

According to Fides, "During 2011, 26 pastoral care workers were killed: one more than the previous year: 18 priests, 4 religious sisters, 4 lay people. For the third consecutive year, the place most affected, with an extremely elevated number of pastoral workers killed is AMERICA, bathed with the blood of 13 priests and 2 lay persons. Following is AFRICA, where 6 pastoral workers were killed: 2 priests, 3 religious sisters,1 lay person. ASIA, where 2 priests, 1 religious sister, 1 lay person were killed. The least affected was EUROPE, where one priest was killed. Biographical details can be found in the linked document.

"As in ancient times, today the sincere adherence to the Gospel may require the sacrifice of life, and many Christians in various parts of the world are sometimes exposed to persecution and martyrdom."

Pope Benedict XVI

December 26, 2011

AMERICA
In America 15 pastoral care workers were killed (13 priests and 2 lay people). They were killed in Colombia (7), Mexico (5), Brazil (1), Paraguay (1) and Nicaragua (1).
In Colombia 6 priests and 1 lay person were killed: Fr. Rafael Reátiga Rojas and Fr.Richard Armando Piffano Laguado killed by gunshot by a murderer who was traveling with the two priests; Fr. Luis Carlos Orozco Cardona, killed by a young man who shot him among the crowd; Fr. Gustavo Garcia, age 34, murdered at a bus stop (he was heading to a sick call) by a man who wanted to steal his mobile phone; Fr. Jose Reinel Restrepo Idárraga, killed by unknown persons while he was riding his motorcycle which was then stolen along with other objects belonging to the priest; Fr. Gualberto Oviedo Arrieta, age 34, found covered with wounds and knifed to death, in the rectory of his parish. To the list of priests we also add a lay man Luis Eduardo Garcia, a member of the Social Pastoral, attacked by a group of guerrillas, kidnapped and then killed.
In Mexico, 4 priests died and 1 lay woman: Fr. Santos Sánchez Hernández, attacked by an intruder who entered his house, most likely to steal; Fr. Francisco Sanchez Duran, found in the church with wounds to the neck, perhaps in an attempt to stop a robbery in church; Fr. Salvador Ruiz Enciso, who was kidnapped and killed, and whose body could only be identified through DNA; Fr. Marco Antonio Duran Romero, killed in a gunfight between soldiers and an armed group. To the list we add Mary Elizabeth Macías Castro, of the Scalabrinian Lay Movement, who worked at a newspaper and in contact with migrants, kidnapped by a group of drug dealers and brutally killed.
In Brazil, Fr. Romeu Drago was killed in his home. His body was then brought to about 25 km from his home, where he was burned.
In Paraguay, Bishop.Julio Cesar Alvarez was killed. His body was found in his room, hand and foot bound, with injuries and scratches and strangled.
In Nicaragua, Fr. Marlon Ernesto Pupiro García was kidnapped and killed .

AFRICA
In Africa, 6 pastoral care workers were killed: 2 priests, 3 women religious, 1 lay person. The killings took place in Burundi (2) and DR Congo, Southern Sudan, Tunisia, Kenya.
In Tunisia Fr. Marek Rybinsk was killed, a Salesian missionary, whose body was found dead in a local Salesian school of Manouba.
In Kenya Fr. Awuor Kiser was attacked in a suburb of the Kenyan capital. Shot in the chest with an edged weapon and died because of the serious the wounds.
In R.D. Congo Sister Jeanne Yegmane was killed in an ambush.
In South Sudan Sister Angelina died while bringing medical aid to refugees.
In Burundi, during a robbery attempt Sister Lukrecija Mamica of the "Sisters of Charity" and Francesco Bazzani, a volunteer, were killed.

ASIA
In 2011 in Asia the deaths of 4 pastoral care workers were recorded: 2 priests, 3 religious sisters, 1 lay person. They died in: India (3) and the Philippines (1).
In India, the priest Fr. G. Amalan was killed in his room by a young man who escaped with a few rupees found in the home; the religious Sister Valsha John, working among the poor, the marginalized and tribal people, killed in her home, a catechist and lay activist Rabindra Parichha, kidnapped and killed.
In the Philippines, Fr. Fausto Tentorio, PIME missionary was killed, who had dedicated his life to the service of literacy and development of the indigenous known as lumads. He was killed while on his way to a priests’ meeting, two gunmen shot him in the head and back.

EUROPE
In Spain, Fr. Ricardo Munoz Juarez was killed by thieves who broke into his home.

May they all enjoy the light of God's face, and intercede for us so that our lives of faith will allow the light of Christ to shine in the world throughout 2012!

Information from Fides, used under the Creative Commons license.

Book Report

2011-12-30T14:22:00.000-06:00

As a presenter on the new missal, I have spent the past year immersed in the texts and in texts about the texts. Today I just finished yet another book about the Roman Missal, this one by a Chicago priest (and consultant for Cardinal George). Of all the titles I have read this year, this is the book I would most highly recommend, both for the more sophisticated members of the "daily Mass crowd" and for parish staff members, especially those on liturgy committees.

Father Tuzik doesn't just give the background to the new translation of the Mass prayers or the lengthy process of the translation and its approval. (Hey, you've gotten a lot of that from me already!) As the subtitle says, he really offers "pastoral reflections" on the prayers themselves, highlighting texts that the earlier translation had not really delivered (with a kind of "before" and "after" treatment in columns, so you can see the precise word changes and appreciate the difference). He also (and this is where the book is truly unique and useful) goes into the less-frequented parts of the Roman Missal: not just the various votive Masses, but the abundant ritual masses (Baptism, Confirmation, etc.) which are now included in the altar book, and the other optional masses--and they are many! (Each category has its own chapter.) Within the treatment, he will give a few examples of specific prayers, and then offer suggestions about when that particular set of mass prayers would be best used in a parish setting. As Tuzik observed, most of the time priests use the Sunday prayer texts, when there are so many optional prayers that match the readings for the day and put into relief a dimension of faith that deserves a bit more attention.
Among the Masses for various needs and occasions, there is the Mass "for the Progress of Peoples"; one "for Refugees and Exiles"; "In thanksgiving for the Gift of Human Life." There is one Mass of thanksgiving whose prayers are suitable when people have been rescued from peril, and another Mass of thanksgiving where the prayers reflect more a sense of gratitude for successful endeavors. There are Masses for seedtime and Masses for harvest; Mass prayers for public officials (prayer may not be the most spontaneous thing that would occur to people when thinking of elected leaders!). There are Masses for the sick, and a Mass "for the Grace of a Happy Death" (which, Tuzik points out in that ever-present pastoral spirit, can be really suitable in the case of the terminally ill, acknowledging that they may even be longing for the Lord to come for them soon.) There's even a (how appropriate to our times!) Mass "for Chastity" whose prayers remind me of Ronald Knox's observation that virginity is not something slight and fragile, but something bold and grand, like a parade coming down the street: "Through the Sacraments we have received, O Lord, may our heart and our body flourish anew..."

His style is consistently pastoral and personal: refreshing in the field of liturgy! So, if you enjoy hearty reading of a theological bent, and haven't heard enough yet about the Roman Missal, or (above all) if you serve on your parish staff and assist the priests with liturgy planning, this is a book for you!

The other Babies of Bethlehem

2011-12-28T11:30:00.002-06:00

Today's feast of the Holy Innocents can be a real head-scratcher. How can infants and toddlers be hailed as martyrs? Isn't that taking things too far?

And yet.

I am beginning to think that this feast offers us one the most profound interpretation of life. For Herod, the Innocents were just collateral damage in his attempt to protect the throne he would lose anyway--when he died before those babies could have even learned to tie their own sandals. As meaningless as the deaths of those babies could seem--just a couple of dozen more victims of one of history's many despots--this feast claims that their little lives were meaningful indeed, even though they could not articulate that meaning for themselves.

After all, who gets to assign meaning to a human life when it is taken by force? The one doing the taking? The judges of history, seeing if any "benefit" came out of their suffering?

One of my daily prayer intentions is for the conversion of scientists involved in embryo research. Every day, I pray that "one more" will be converted from this hideous pursuit in which "surplus" embryos (whether from people's misguided attempts at overcoming infertility, or from abortion, or--Heaven help us--created in a laboratory for experimental purposes) are conscripted like so many minute slaves forced into someone else's service. How far does the noble goal of saving lives and overcoming dread diseases go in bestowing genuine meaning on these tens of thousands of deaths? Does that imputed meaning legitimate the exploitation of these utterly helpless members of the human family, or are they simply new, nameless victims of someone else's power? Can one human being determine or direct the meaning of another's life?

It is not the oppressor, the despot, the murderer, the exploiter, who determines the meaning of a victim's life, but only God who gave that life. Today's feast "claims for Christ" every innocent suffering, every betrayed love, every broken trust. Why? Because Jesus took on our humanity, making himself one with each and every person: with the victims of sin and injustice, to endure their lot, and with their oppressors, murderers and abusers, to atone for them--and save them, if they would accept it.

From Pope Benedict's homily for Christmas Midnight Mass:
"God has appeared - as a child. It is in this guise that He pits Himself against all violence and brings a message that is peace. At this hour, when the world is continually threatened by violence in so many places and in so many different ways, when over and over again there are oppressors' rods and bloodstained cloaks, we cry out to the Lord: O mighty God, you have appeared as a child and you have revealed yourself to us as the One Who loves us, the One through Whom love will triumph. And you have shown us that we must be peacemakers with you. We love your childish estate, your powerlessness, but we suffer from the continuing presence of violence in the world, and so we also ask you: manifest your power, O God. In this time of ours, in this world of ours, cause the oppressors' rods, the cloaks rolled in blood and the footgear of battle to be burned, so that your peace may triumph in this world of ours."
V.I.S. -Vatican Information Service. www.visnews.org

The feast continues...

2011-12-27T14:26:00.000-06:00

Illustration by Allie Aucoin, age 6.

Our community celebrated the feast of Christmas (the feasting part) with 8 guests. We had to configure our two round tables into a kind of figure 8 so everyone could be together. Sr Frances and I took care of the menu. Come to think of it, Sr Frances also took care of all the decorating. And the place-setting. Back home, the family (minus one, me) gathered at Mom's house. (That's where the illustration comes from

So here we are on the third day of Christmas.

The Christmas Octave doesn't really feel like an octave. Not the way the Easter Octave does. In Easter Time (the new "Roman Missal "designation for the liturgical period formerly known as "Season"), the Octave takes precedence over every other feast, even a solemnity! That's because every day of the Easter Octave is considered a solemnity. But the Christmas Octave is scattered about with early and medieval saints. Yesterday brought the unlikely scene of a martyrdom with the feast of St. Stephen. But it has a profound link with Christmas, when you think about it. How many of our Christmas hymns refer poignantly to the suffering the Babe in the manger will undergo for us? St. Stephen proclaims that he will (to use Paul's words) "bear a share in the hardship the Gospel entails." Today is the feast of the apostle St. John, who wrote of "seeing" and "touching" the "Word of Life."

Tomorrow, more martyrs: the baby martyrs of Bethlehem, who died at the hands of Herod. Then Thomas Becket, then Wenceslaus (the "good king"). This year, the feast of the Holy Family takes the only empty spot in the Octave. (It is usually celebrated on the Sunday after Christmas, unless Christmas falls on a Sunday.) St. Sylvester is the New Year's Eve saint, bringing us to Jan 1, the Octave of Christmas. These 8-day observances are one of those biblical influences on the liturgy. (Notice how Passover and Hanukkah also last for eight days?)

What about the "twelve" days of Christmas? That leads us to Epiphany (and the beginning, back home, of "King Cake season," which is an entirely unique semi-liturgical time of its own). It's a little tricky keeping track of the days of Christmas, given that here in the US we celebrate Epiphany on a different date every year: do the twelve days end with the liturgical observance, or with the universal (and traditional) date? What about in your family: Do you try to keep all twelve days of Christmas in some way?

Midnight Mass and the Roman Missal

2011-12-23T10:42:00.000-06:00

It's coming! Tomorrow night! Another opportunity for your not-so-liturgically-aware relatives to be introduced to the new Roman Missal!
For many people, Christmas "Midnight Mass" remains a tradition they'd never think of departing from, even though other forms of religious observance don't have a place in their calendar. That means that tomorrow night they will have their first experience of the changes in the Mass translation--starting with that opening "and with your Spirit." As I've written before, this could shake people up to the extent that they feel definitively alienated from the Church's life (and not just blasé).
We have a day and a half to prepare them.
Does your extended family have a "together at Midnight Mass" tradition?
Have your not-so-practicing relatives heard about the Mass changes yet?
What do you recommend as a non-preachy way of alerting Christmas/Easter Catholics to the changes they can expect this year?

Christmas Carols: few results

2011-12-22T12:48:00.000-06:00

Well, we're all a bit too busy to answer a survey just for fun, I suppose. Only seven people responded to the Christmas Carol Survey I posted the other day. But the results are interesting.
With so many lovely songs to choose from for best Christmas Carol, "O Holy Night" got special mention.
Among the secular favorites, I was surprised to see "Pat-a-Pan" (which also got "panned" by one respondent who never wants to hear it again). I think I might put "Pat-a-Pan" up there in my list for the favorite religious songs category: the lyrics I'm familiar with (we recorded it years ago) read like a catechism on the Incarnation: "God and man to union come // with the birth of Christ His Son // our adoption He has won..." Does that count as "stealth evangelization," then?

Advent Readings: a Turn-around!

2011-12-22T12:41:00.000-06:00

The way the Liturgy of the Word is structured (for special feasts and seasons, and most Sundays), there is ideally a kind of parallel or "match" of some sort between the first reading (from the Old Testament) and the Gospel. The Responsorial Psalm is meant to provide us with a prayer that we can carry through the day as an ongoing response to the Word of God.
Today's Liturgy of the Word turns that around a bit. Instead of there being a match between the first reading and the Gospel, it is the Responsorial Psalm (which isn't even from the book of Psalms!) that is the Gospel parallel. In fact, Scripture scholars would say there is a pretty direct correlation between the two: Hannah's canticle and Mary's Magnificat. (Of course, Mary had a lot more to sing about!)
Hannah's story is one of those lovely "types" that the Old Testament is so full of: real people and real events that were also prophetic hints of even better things God had in store.

Baby talk

2011-12-21T11:30:00.000-06:00

Today's Gospel is the story of Mary's visit to Elizabeth, and the encounter of the unborn Jesus and his precursor. It's an amazing story; even more amazing when you pair it with other Scripture texts. The liturgy pairs the Gospel with a lovely passage from the Song of Songs. That reading ends with the words "Let me see you, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet and you are lovely."
It is the sound of that sweet voice that triggers all the excitement in the Gospel. "When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb and Elizabeth [was] filled with the Holy Spirit..." As holy as the Virgin Mary is, no human voice alone has the power to fill another person with the Holy Spirit. We might go so far as to say that the unborn Savior was speaking through his mother's voice. The grown-up John seems to say, in fact, that what he heard and responded to that day was not so much Mary's voice as the "voice of the Bridegroom" she carried: "The friend of the Bridegroom stands and listens for him, and rejoices greatly at the Bridegroom's voice. That is my joy, and it is full" (Jn. 3).
In turn, the unborn prophet seemed to be speaking through his mother's voice when she said, "Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."
Ultimately, today's Advent liturgy is about being able to listen. Because only if we listen, will we be able to respond, in the words of the Responsorial Psalm, "Our soul waits for the Lord...for in him our hearts rejoice."

Christmas Carols!

2011-12-21T10:01:00.003-06:00

Just a little fun, now that we've been hearing "holiday music" on the air for a month... start thinking of your best-loved and most-loathed songs of the season, and then fill out the survey. Compare your answers with everyone else's!

Compare the answers!

Not me!

2011-12-20T20:01:00.000-06:00

Today's first reading is often heard on Marian feast days. Today being not a Marian feast day, but a Marian day of Advent, it is paired (as usual) with the Annunciation story. I have to admit, though, I get a little tired of it.
It's the story of King Ahaz, facing invasions from neighboring chieftans. Ahaz is sending ambassadors to create alliances who will help him resist the invaders, while God is telling him to have a little faith. God even offers to send Ahaz a sign, any sign he wants, as proof that God is with his Chosen People to protect them. But Ahaz says, "Not me! I'm not going to ask for a sign! That would be tempting God!" (As if Ahaz' crafting strategic alliances with Assyria was really a sign of his great faith in God.) Isn't it funny the way we can maneuver to maintain appearances of faith, while working frantically to make things work out on our own terms? That's what I got from Ahaz today.
In the end, God devised a sign of his own. Ahaz would get an heir, and we would get a tantalizing hint that this heir was, himself, a "sign" that God would be with his people: that God would be Emmanuel.

Advent: A Change in the Air

2011-12-17T13:05:00.000-06:00

Daily Mass-goers might have noticed it in the readings today: the Advent season has shifted into high gear. Did it catch your attention?
Instead of general prophecies about the Messianic age and stories from the public ministry illustrating the fulfillment of those ancient hopes, we heard the first of a series of extremely specific Messianic prophecies from the Old Testament: Jacob's "blessing" of his fourth-born son, Judah: "The scepter shall never depart from Judah." In case we missed that, the Gospel gives us that long list of Jesus' ancestors, beginning with Abraham and Isaac, then Jacob, and then Judah....leading into "David the King" and up to Jesus, shown as a descendant of Judah through Joseph.
From now until Christmas, the readings will follow that same pattern: a powerful Old Testament passage with a rather direct correlation to a Gospel reading that will always be taken from the Infancy Narratives of Matthew (as today) or Luke.
The verse before the Gospel is also unique to this octave before Christmas, with the appearance of the "O" antiphons--themselves a compilation of Messianic titles leading into the heartfelt plea: "Come!"

Advent's extra day

2011-12-16T16:06:00.000-06:00

This is it! The Advent day we hardly ever see: a Friday of the Third Week of Advent that's not within the Christmas novena. And so the reading for today are just as rare, which is too bad. The first reading is God's marvelous promise through the prophet Isaiah that his house "will be a house of prayer for all peoples." Later, of course, Jesus will cite those very words when he "cleanses" that part of the Temple that was open to the Gentiles. And as God promised to join "others" to Israel who had not been part of that people, Jesus would say that he had "other sheep not of this flock" that would be joined into one flock under the one shepherd.

Advent 2011: The Long and the Short of It

2011-12-14T12:54:00.000-06:00

It may seem as though Advent has been zipping past at the speed of light, but this year Advent is actually as long as it possibly can be. With Christmas on a Sunday, we are getting four full weeks of Advent (rather than just four Sundays and whatever days remain of the fourth week of Advent).
What are you doing to make the most of this "extended" Advent?

Virgin Martyrs

2011-12-13T14:22:00.005-06:00

On this feast of the virgin martyr Lucy, it is tempting to think that the pious stories of Roman maidens resisting seducers and standing firm against pressure to offer sacrifices to idols have no place in modern society. And then you read news like this.

2011-12-09T13:29:00.001-06:00

Advent is "this insistent call to watchfulness, to be ready to welcome the Lord. It is a time of waiting and interior preparation for our meeting with the Lord" (Bl. John Paul II).
In today's opening prayer (now called the "collect"), Advent is described a bit differently: not as a season, but as the definitive coming of Christ. "May the splendor of your glory dawn in our hearts, we pray...that...we may be shown to be children of light by the advent of your Only Begotten Son, who lives and reigns..."
This is an advent that accomplishes something. It is a coming that, in a certain sense, imposes itself as that coming at Bethlehem did not.
It is a coming that summons, judges, winnows, silences, reveals, proves, defends, vindicates, rewards, sets right.
If, as the Gospel says, "Elijah has already come (in John the Baptist) but they did not recognize him," there will be no such lack of recognition at this Coming. It will be the fulfillment of Mary's Magnificat; the answer to every prayer in its essence; the fulfillment of all the promises and of every hope: "He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the starving with good things and sent the rich away empty."
At this mid-point of the season, is this what our Advent is like?

Advent Holy Wisdom

2011-12-09T13:18:00.001-06:00

Today's Gospel seems like a bit of a negative intrusion in the overall atmosphere of joyful anticipation that is Advent: the critics of Jesus and his precursor, John the Baptist, seem to dominate with their fault-finding. John is too ascetic; Jesus too normal. Long before Abraham Lincoln's comment about pleasing some of the people some of the time, Jesus simply says "wisdom is proven by her works."
This feast of St. Juan Diego bears that out. The Aztec convert wasn't exactly the Bishop's idea of a messenger worthy of the Virgin Mary. (Juan didn't think so either, but he did Our Lady's bidding all the same.) 500 years later, wisdom's works are apparent.
Whether in John the Baptist, or Jesus, or Mary or Juan Diego, the Holy Spirit (Hagia Sophia, Holy Wisdom) was manifest for all who had eyes to see.

O (cyber) Christmas Tree!

2011-12-07T14:20:00.000-06:00

So today the Pope lit a virtual Christmas tree (made up of actual lights, but no tree), using an Android Tablet to light up a mountainside over the town of Gubbio (remember the story of St. Francis and the wolf? That Gubbio.)
Geeks everywhere interpreted the gesture as an ecumenical outreach: after all, he had previously used an iPad to launch the Vatican news portal. Although Benedict prefers the pen to the pixel himself, the head of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications says "With this Pope, Vatican communications have made enormous strides."
Go here to read the Pope's comments as he flipped the switch (er, touched the icon) to light the tree.

Thoughts on St. Ambrose

2011-12-07T10:30:00.001-06:00

One thing about the new translation of the Mass prayers that I noticed between yesterday and today is how the "proper" prayers for saints like Nicholas (yesterday) and Ambrose (today) identify the saint first as "Bishop": "O God, who made the Bishop Saint Ambrose a teacher..." Their vocation in the Church becomes part of their name.
Ambrose is one of those saints whose vocation story itself did not fit the usual model. He was the governor of the Roman province centered at Milan; just a civic leader. In terms of his relationship with the Church, he was a catechumen: a student preparing for Baptism. In other words, the least likely candidate for the office of local bishop. But the community was so divided by the Arian heresy (that Jesus is the highest of God's creatures, but not "consubstantial with the Father"), that when the old bishop died, chaos ensued. The governor had to intervene and call for calm and cooperation. And then the fateful voice rang out: "Ambrose for Bishop!" Within a week, he had received four sacraments (Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Holy Orders) and was consecrated Bishop.
This could have been the death knell for Christianity in Milan. Instead, it was its rebirth. Why? Because Ambrose was such an outstanding human being whose natural gifts met every need? Funny, but until this new translation of the Missal, that's just how I tended to see things. This morning, though, the newly translated entrance antiphon from the "Common of Pastors" set me straight: "In the midst of the Church he opened his mouth (thus far, the natural gifts of the man), and the Lord filled him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding..."
Ambrose was a gifted man, but it was the Lord who filled him with the incredible wisdom that made him one of the greatest of the Church Fathers. (He's one of the four Latin Fathers represented at the "Altar of the Chair" in St. Peter's Basilica.)
Ambrose didn't just passively accept the role of Bishop and attempt to carry it out faithfully. He took that office as his vocation and let it take over his l ife. His vocation redefined his life. Ambrose became entirely a man of the Church, devoting his prodigious intellectual and organizational and artistic gifts to the study and contemplation of Scripture, so that he could "translate" the Bible into solid and digestible teachings, into authentic liturgy and rich song. (The Church's favorite Advent hymn is not so much "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" as it is "Veni Redemptor Gentium" ("Savior of the Nations, Come"--you'll find it i n your parish hymnal): attributed to St. Ambrose.
That voice in the streets of Milan, "Ambrose for Bishop!" set the coures of his entire life, and impacted the Church until the end of time because of Ambrose's influence on his even more outstanding convert, Augustine.
And I suspect that each and every Christian who fully lives his or her vocation is meant to have the same level of influence on the Church!

From the Road

2011-12-05T08:41:00.002-06:00

We've sung through four scheduled concerts (and one somewhat impromptu one at the nursing care facility of some Dominican sisters); yesterday we made our way from New York to Northern Virginia. I'm writing from our Old Town (Alexandria) convent, where I was stationed back in the mid-80's.

So far, the concerts are going well, and seem to be hitting the right "note" for the people who attend. The theme is "Our Christmas Hope" (same as our new CD, which pretty much contains the concert lineup). The times really call for a message of hope. (Who knows what burdens people bring with them when they walk through the doors?) After our Cleveland concert (that was Friday), one woman told me, "When I came here, I was really feeling down. But the concert did lift my spirits: I feel so much better now!"

Cleveland was also where I noticed a rather serious man in a front pew, his neck draped in a scarf that was woven to look like a piano keyboard. Every so often he would jot something on a notepad. Uh-oh, I thought, this is a music reviewer! Sure enough. After the concert, he introduced himself to Sr Sean, and told her to look for his review on Tuesday. Even though he represents the highly discriminating world of classical music, I am not too worried about his review. Not because I think we're that good, but because it is clear from our concert itself that we don't take ourselves too seriously. We are there to offer a message about Jesus and to give people an hour of spiritual uplift, counting on God to do the heavy lifting.

The concert was also broadcast last night on the Diocese of Brooklyn's NETNY TV channel (and on netny.net). We caught most of it online. The visual presentation was wonderful. (This is the Christmas concert we taped back in August.) Unfortunately, the sound engineers fell asleep on the job: some of the songs were well "mixed" (as they say); the solos were clear and strong because the technicians made sure that the volume from the choir microphones was lower than the soloist. But on other songs, the solo microphone was put on the same volume level as the choir, which basically muted the solo. Or the solo mikes were left at full volume when the choir was supposed to take over. There were songs in which all the sound seemed to be what the cameras picked up, not what came through the microphones. What a disappointment to have such poor audio quality represent our entire music ministry throughout the wide area of NET NY's influence. Perhaps they rushed it through and lost track of what songs had been mixed, and which ones not... Hopefully, they will address this before next year. (There's not much hope they will fix it before the rebroadcast.)

Tonight we will do our family-style concert at Good Shepherd Parish here in Alexandria. (There's plenty to keep even young children entertained.) Tomorrow our caravan sets out for Boston and the final three concerts.

Have you been to any of this year's concerts? Did you catch the (unfortunate) NET NY concert last night?

New Roman Missal, Day 1

2011-11-27T08:00:00.001-06:00

Well, I managed a four out of five "and with you spirit" (and one really emphatic "and also with you") at my first Mass with the new missal.
How did you do?

Novena of Bl. James, Day 8

2011-11-24T10:05:00.000-06:00

Reading:
Synod of Bishops 2012 document (Lineamenta), nn. 6, 13:

Through migration “our societies are experiencing an unprecedented encounter and mixing of cultures….In such a situation, the new evangelization can provide the opportunity no longer to perceive the Church's mission as a north-south or west-east dynamic but one which transcends the geographic confines of past missionary activity. Today, all five continents are fields of missionary activity. We must also seek to understand the sectors and places in life where faith is absent, not simply as a result of drifting from the faith but from never having encountered it. Transcending the geographic confines of former missionary activity means having the capacity to raise the question of God at every moment in the encounters created by the mixing and rebuilding of the fabric of society….”

“Migrants must not simply be evangelized but be trained themselves to be evangelizing agents.”

Bl. James writes:

"Today there is a greater and greater sense of confusion: the ills of scientism and pure technique. Each and every science, invention and discovery is a chapter in the great book of creation; each is a body of knowledge of God’s creative work; each must serve as a means for humans to reach God, as the eye, the tongue and the will are an aid to them. But just as it often happens that some fail to ask themselves: 'Where do I come from? Where am I going? Why am I alive?' so, too, with knowledge, inventions and discoveries. Delighting only in possessing them, they do not ask 'Who made them? Why do I have them? What are they for?'All things must serve human beings, with a view to Jesus Christ, to God, in accord with [the words of] Saint Paul: 'Omnia vestra sunt, vos autem Christi, Christus autem Dei' (Everything is yours and you are Christ's and Christ is God's).
Studied in depth, the sciences lead to Jesus Christ, who is the way to God; that is, they prepare [the way] to receive the revelation of Jesus Christ; who, as God, while creating things enlightened humans to know them, willed to reveal other truths not impressed in nature, in order to uplift humans; [and] thus prepare them to see God, welcomed and believed through revelation, if they have used their reason properly."

Prayer: O God, who raised up in your Church Blessed James Alberione, priest, to proclaim your Son as the Way, the Truth and the Life through the many forms of communication, grant, we beseech you, that we may follow his example and devote ourselves to preaching the Gospel to all nations. Through Christ our Lord.

Changes in the Mass: Spread the Word!

2011-11-23T18:10:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving offers a great opportunity to casually mention to your extended family (all of whom may not be especially frequent Mass-goers) that the words of the Mass will be changing this weekend. It would be sad if the Christmas-and-Easter Catholics are so caught off-guard that they feel alienated for good from the Church.

Right-click to download a copy of the business card
or just click it to go to the download site.

And to help you in this endeavor, the sisters at the motherhouse have created a Mass app that doesn't just offer the new words: it offers basic explanations of key words throughout the new translation. Not to mention the inspirational quotes from spiritual authors like Blessed John Paul II.

iTunes provides a way for you to actually gift someone with an app, making it even easier to share the new translation with your wired relatives for only 99 cents a pop.

That's one thing you can do.

You could also download the Mass app poster, print it on sturdy paper (photo paper works best) and ask your pastor if it can be posted on a the parish bulletin boards. Or download the business card size to print and distribute freely!


Right-click to download a copy of the business card or just click it to go to the download site.

Thanksgiving grace

2011-11-23T12:46:00.000-06:00

Here's a printable Thanksgiving table grace in case you don't have anything particular planned...

Novena of Bl. James, Day 7

2011-11-23T10:05:00.000-06:00

Reading:
Synod of Bishops 2012 document (Lineamenta), n. 11:

“St. Paul the Apostle presents himself as an ‘apostle set apart for the Gospel of God’ (Rom 1:1; 1 Cor 1:17)…. In referring to the Gospel, we must not think of it only as a book or a set of teachings. The Gospel is much more; it is a living and efficacious Word, which accomplishes what it says. It is not so much a system of articles of faith and moral precepts, much less a political programme, but a person: Jesus Christ, the definitive Word of God, who became man. The Gospel is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. However, not only does the Gospel have Jesus Christ as its content; but even more, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ is also the promoter and the centre of its proclamation and transmission. Consequently, the goal of the transmission of the faith is the realization of a personal encounter with Jesus Christ, in the Spirit, thereby leading to an experiencing of his Father and our Father.”

Bl. James writes:

"Saint Paul: the saint of universality. [My] admiration and devotion began chiefly with the study of the Letter to the Romans and meditation on it. From then on, [Paul’s] personality, his holiness, his heart, his intimacy with Jesus, his contribution to dogmatic and moral teaching, his impact on Church organization and his zeal for all peoples – all became topics for meditation. [Paul] came across indeed as the Apostle, and thus every apostle and every apostolate could draw from him."

Prayer: O God, who raised up in your Church Blessed James Alberione, priest, to proclaim your Son as the Way, the Truth and the Life through the many forms of communication, grant, we beseech you, that we may follow his example and devote ourselves to preaching the Gospel to all nations. Through Christ our Lord.

Novena of Bl. James, Day 6

2011-11-22T10:04:00.000-06:00

Reading:

Synod of Bishops 2012 document (Lineamenta), n. 7:

“Reread the present moment in light of the Christian gift of hope. Relearning the meaning of hope leads Christians to discover what they can offer in their world of encounters, experiences and dialoguing with others, what they can share in the process and how they can better express this hope which leads to perseverance. The new sectors which call us into dialogue require turning a critical eye towards our manner of life, our thinking, our values and our means of communication. At the same time, the occasion must also serve as a self-evaluation of Christianity today, which must repeatedly learn to understand itself, beginning from its roots.”

Bl. James writes:

"Mary received a twofold communication: [a message] from the Angel Gabriel, who told her of her divine Motherhood as regards Jesus Christ, and the message of the crucified Jesus Christ, who told her of her universal motherhood as regards his mystical Body which is the Church.

We can give no greater wealth to this poor and proud world than Jesus Christ. Mary gave the world grace in Jesus Christ; she goes on offering him down the ages: in this role [as] universal Mediatrix of grace she is our mother.

The world needs Jesus Christ Way, Truth and Life. [Mary] gives him through apostles and their apostolates. She raises them up, trains them, assists them, and crowns them with good results and glory in heaven.

Everything must conclude on Sunday in one great 'Gloria in excelsis Deo et in terra pax hominibus' in honor of the Blessed Trinity, [words] sung by the angels, as Jesus Christ’s program of life, apostolate and redemption; the Pauline lives in Christ."

Novena of Bl. James, Day 5

2011-11-21T10:04:00.001-06:00

Reading:
Synod of Bishops 2012 document (Lineamenta), n. 13, 23:

“The synod fathers gave particular attention to proclaiming the Word of God to future generations. ‘Often we encounter in them a spontaneous openness to hearing the Word of God and a sincere desire to know Jesus....Concern for young people calls for courage and clarity in the message we proclaim…witnesses and teachers who can walk with them,.…[and] approaches to Christian initiation which, through listening to the Word, celebrating the Eucharist and the communal living of love and fellowship, will lead to a growth in faith.’”
“The first evangelization began on the day of Pentecost, when the Apostles, gathered together in prayer with the Mother of Christ, received the Holy Spirit. In this way, Mary, who according to the words of the Archangel is "full of grace", was present during apostolic evangelization and continues to be present in those places where the successors of the Apostles strive to proclaim the Gospel.”

Bl. James writes:

"In August 1907, he organized three Bible Sundays. He explained [the Bible] in a catechetical fashion and with catechetical applications. In those days the Gospel was rarely read and only by a few people, just as few people received Communion. There was a peculiar kind of conviction that the Gospel could not be given to the people, much less the Bible. The reading of the Gospel was almost the exclusive right of non-Catholics who gave it a private interpretation.

There was a threefold need:

For the Gospel to enter every household together with the Catechism. The Gospel had to be interpreted according to the mind of the Church: thus [supplemented] with notes of the complete Catechism: faith, morals, worship. – Since people no longer attended Sunday Vespers there was a need to explain the Gospel every Sunday during Mass. This is what he did in the Cathedral of Alba, as soon as he was ordained. Many parishes then took up this custom. Out of this came the Gospel with catechetical notes.
For the book of the Gospel to become the model and inspiration of every Catholic publication.
For the Gospel to be honored and properly venerated. Preaching must be more Gospel-centered and Gospel-modeled: above all, [one must] live the Gospel in one’s mind, heart and actions."

Novena of Bl. James, Day 9

2011-11-20T15:46:00.000-06:00

Reading (Pope Benedict's letter "Porta Fidei" announcing the "Year of Faith" that will open next October):

Through his love, Jesus Christ attracts to himself the people of every generation: in every age he convokes the Church, entrusting her with the proclamation of the Gospel by a mandate that is ever new. Today too, there is a need for stronger ecclesial commitment to new evangelization in order to rediscover the joy of believing and the enthusiasm for communicating the faith. In rediscovering his love day by day, the missionary commitment of believers attains force and vigour that can never fade away. Faith grows when it is lived as an experience of love received and when it is communicated as an experience of grace and joy. It makes us fruitful, because it expands our hearts in hope and enables us to bear life-giving witness: indeed, it opens the hearts and minds of those who listen to respond to the Lord’s invitation to adhere to his word and become his disciples. Believers, so Saint Augustine tells us, “strengthen themselves by believing”.

Bl. James writes (in the third person!)

His prayer lasted four hours after the High Mass: [it was] for the century to be born in Christ, in the Eucharist; for new apostles to reform the law, education, literature, the press, morals; for the Church to give fresh impetus to mission; for good use to be made of the new means of apostolate; for society to welcome the great teachings of Leo XIII’s encyclicals.... His mind and heart became so fixed on the Eucharist, the Gospel, the Pope, the new century, the new means, ... and the need for a new band of apostles, that from then on these things always dominated his thoughts, his prayer, his spiritual work and his yearnings. He felt an obligation to serve the Church, the women and men of the new age, and to work with others in an organized way.

Novena of Bl. James, Day 4

2011-11-20T10:04:00.001-06:00

Reading:

Synod of Bishops 2012 document (Lineamenta), n. 15, 22:

“The agent for transmitting the faith is the entire Church which manifests itself in the local Churches, where proclamation, transmission and the lived experience of the Gospel are realized…. The Spirit gathers believers into communities that fervently live their faith, a faith which is nourished through listening to the teaching of the apostles, through the Eucharist and through the communities’ life of unselfish service to proclaiming the Kingdom of God…. In these communities, the faithful are gathered together by the preaching of the Gospel of Christ, and the celebration of the mystery of the Lord's Supper, so that ‘by the food and blood of the Lord's body the whole brotherhood may be joined together’.”

“The new evangelization, then, which is primarily a task to be done and a spiritual challenge, is the responsibility of all Christians who are in serious pursuit of holiness.”

Bl. James writes:
"A secret of success is to model oneself on God by living in Christ. Thus the notion of living and working in the Church and for the Church; of being wild olives grafted onto the living olive, the eucharistic Lord; of reflecting on and nourishing oneself with every word of the Gospel, in accord with the spirit of Saint Paul – [is] always to be crystal-clear."

Prayer: O God, who raised up in your Church Blessed James Alberione, priest, to proclaim your Son as the Way, the Truth and the Life through the many forms of communication, grant, we beseech you, that we may follow his example and devote ourselves to preaching the Gospel to all nations. Through Christ our Lord.

Mother Cabrini National Shrine

2011-11-19T09:06:00.000-06:00

The Tribune had an article yesterday (should have been on Nov. 13!) about the work being done on the National Shrine of St. Frances Cabrini, right here in Chicago. Not only have I never been there (from what I understand, it's been closed all these years), I have lived an entire decade in Chicago without knowing that there even was a National Shrine in the city. But next fall if all goes well, the shrine will be reopened. That's something to look forward to! (Readers of this blog may recall my family boast that the French Quarter home of my great-great-grandfather was sold to Mother Cabrini and remained in the Sisters' community until about eight or nine years ago.)

Novena of Bl. James, Day 3

2011-11-19T08:53:00.000-06:00

Reading:
“The first sector calling for the new evangelization is culture. In our times we find ourselves in an era of a profound secularism….in which God is completely or partially left out of life and human consciousness…. [This] can be seen in the daily lives of many Christians, who are oftentimes influenced, if not completely conditioned, by the culture of images with its models and opposing forces. Temptations to superficiality and self-centredness, arising from a predominating hedonistic and consumer-oriented mentality, are not easily overcome. The “death of God” announced decades ago by so many intellectuals has given way to an unproductive cult of the individual….
“At the same time, some regions of the world are showing signs of a promising religious reawakening.”

Bl. James writes: “You are salt, you are light, you are a city set on a hill...” with respect to the world. This is the thought of the Divine Master [cf. Mt 5:13-14]. First of all, give the teaching that saves. Imbue all thought and human knowledge with the Gospel. Don’t talk only about religion but talk about everything in a Christian way; in a way similar to a Catholic university which, if it is complete, has Theology, Philosophy, Arts, Medicine, Political Science, Economics, Natural Sciences, and so on, but everything given in a Christian way and in view of Catholicism.

Prayer: O God, who raised up in your Church Blessed James Alberione, priest, to proclaim your Son as the Way, the Truth and the Life through the many forms of communication, grant, we beseech you, that we may follow his example and devote ourselves to preaching the Gospel to all nations. Through Christ our Lord.

Novena of Bl. James, Day 2

2011-11-18T13:03:00.000-06:00

Reading from the "Lineamenta" of the upcoming Synod of Bishops: The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith, n. 6:

“The new evangelization is a frame of mind, a courageous manner of acting and Christianity’s capacity to know how to read and interpret the new situations in human history which, in recent decades, have become the places to proclaim and witness to the Gospel….These sectors concern society, cultures, economics, civic life, and religion….

“…Our third great sector…[is] the means of social communications, which, while today providing great possibilities for the Church, also represents one of her greatest challenges….In this sector, the new evangelization means that Christians need to show boldness in these ‘new aeropaghi,’ where they live everyday, and find the means and approaches to ensure that the Church’s patrimony in education and knowledge, safeguarded by the Christian tradition, has a part to play in these ultra-modern places.”

From Bl. James:

"Publications for all categories of people, as well as all matters and events [are to be] judged in the light of the Gospel; its aspirations are those of the Heart of Jesus in the Mass; [all this] in the one apostolate “to make Jesus Christ known” [cf. Jn 17:3], to enlighten and to support every apostolate and good work, to take all peoples to its heart; to make the Church’s presence felt in every issue: a spirit of adaptation and understanding for all public and private needs, [for] the whole of worship, [for] law and the intermarriage of justice and charity."

Novena to Bl. James

2011-11-17T19:32:00.000-06:00

Today begins the novena before the Feast of Bl. James Alberione (this year it falls on the 40th anniversary of his death). Sr Kathryn just sent us a prepared novena text that connects this media apostle's life with the work of the upcoming Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization: a great idea! Since I don't know if the novena appears on the "official" web site where I can link to it, I will just cut-and-paste it here for you day by day:

Day 1:
In John Paul II’s words, Blessed James Alberione is “the first apostle of the new evangelization.” Not only because he used modern media to proclaim the Gospel, but because, like Paul at the dawn of Christianity, he heralded in his person and his message the central call of the Gospel: total configuration with Christ the Master, a personal, life-changing, lifelong encounter with Christ. His reference was always the Gospel and he insisted that everyone of us read it in order to live it—a novelty at the turn of the last century. His lodestar was the primacy of Christ. His journey was a personal relationship with Christ and a burning desire that the whole world would join him on that journey.

This is the meaning of the new evangelization, outlined in the lineamenta for next year’s Synod of Bishops. We entrust to Bl. James our own desire to witness to the saving love and truth of Jesus Christ with what the lineamenta calls new “ardour, methods, and expression.”
In the words of Bl. James Alberione “The love for the Gospel is the sign and characteristic of persons whom God designates for great enterprises.”

Prayer: O God, who raised up in your Church Blessed James Alberione, priest, to proclaim your Son as the Way, the Truth and the Life through the many forms of communication, grant, we beseech you, that we may follow his example and devote ourselves to preaching the Gospel to all nations. Through Christ our Lord.

Have you watched the Alberione film trailer yet? See the sidebar!

Faith that takes a stand

2011-11-15T11:46:00.001-06:00

I noticed an interesting connection between the first reading (1 Maccabees) and the Gospel (Luke 19) today, even though on first glance, the characters in each story couldn't have seemed more different.
Back in the days of the Maccabees, history's first-ever religious persecution was unfolding. Naturally, the Jewish people (with their distinctive religious practices and their unwillingness to let the "God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" be added to the local pantheon) were the targets. The goal of the persecution wasn't so much punishing the Jews, but getting each person to make some kind of concession to the local religion. A merely external act of conformity, that's all. Eat a little pork, burn a little incense. Nothing really drastic.
And in the case of old Eleazar, the officials bent the rules even more. They were so eager to have Eleazar's name on the roster, they were going to let him bring his own "pork" (no matter what animal it came from), so he could eat it publicly without actually breaking the kosher laws. It was a win-win situation!
In the Gospels, the story unfolds in a very different manner. The key character is not a law-abiding elder in the community, but a despised public sinner: the ignoble tax collector, Zacchaeus. He is not being called on to compromise his faith, but to claim it. And, just as in Eleazar's case, there is a crowd there, watching everything.
When Eleazar rejected the compromise he was offered, the crowd turned against him.
When Zacchaeus rejected the compromise he had been living with (for how long?), the crowd turned against Jesus!
In both cases, the protagonist did what no one expected. They acted on their faith at a great cost, proving themselves "children of Abraham," the "man of faith."
Isn't that manly faith just what our culture needs most?

Here's a contemporary call to men to take a stand in a crucial situation.

Another (Free!) Roman Missal Resource

2011-11-14T09:19:00.005-06:00

The Diocese of Duluth, MN is offering a free e-book, entitled "Praying the Mass Anew." It gives an overview of the Mass in general as well as explaining the new translation. You can download it and print it as-is, or save it to your favorite e-reader! I have only scanned it so far, but it looks like a fine presentation of the Mass for adults; if you haven't really had any instruction on the Mass since your First Communion, you'd probably do well to download this one.
On the website, you'll also find the individual parts of the book, so you can read it online if you prefer. The Director of the diocesan Office of Worship even shared his PowerPoint presentations and notes, so you can study on your own--and a printable version of a "pew card" with the people's parts that you can take with you to Mass.
What a service! (Thanks, Father Hastings!)

Converted by Beauty

2011-11-11T18:14:00.000-06:00

Today's magnificent first reading could almost be a prologue for the New Evangelization (in a way, it actually was the prologue to the first evangelization, the one conducted by Jesus himself, since the book of Wisdom was written within a century or so of the Incarnation).
The wise author sees that all creation is practically a self-portrait of God (God being a rather impressionistic artist, offering for the most part broad strokes of suggestion and only for the most exceptional cases giving a true image and likeness of himself). So all those people who say they find God in nature? They're absolutely right. God is "the original source of beauty," writes the Wise Man, and so admiration of nature's beauty should, by all counts, lead one rapidly to a personal knowledge of God. Ditto for experiences of nature's power and vastness.
How can we, like the author of Wisdom, regain the "way of beauty" as a valid approach to evangelization?

More on the Mass

2011-11-10T08:38:00.000-06:00

I continue my lunchtime presentations on the new translation of the Mass today (12:15-12:45)... meanwhile, here is the incomparable Fr Barron's overview in less than 15 minutes:

Missal or Missalette, what will it be?

2011-11-09T09:58:00.001-06:00

With the new translation of the Mass about to go into effect, daily Mass goers and others who let the Mass readings and prayers guide their daily meditation might be wondering if they should subscribe to a monthly missalette or invest in what used to be called a "hand missal" (as distinguished from the massive and ornate "altar missal"). Which way should you go?

Naturally, it depends on you. As someone who got my first "hand missal" as a gift when I entered the convent, I have found that using a hand missal has a distinct advantage over the subscriber model when it comes to actually learning how the liturgy works. When you are the one placing the ribbons in the particular "Week in Ordinary Time" and finding the special prayers for a Virgin Martyr (or, as we see today, for the Dedication of a Church), you get a detailed, hands-on awareness of the way the Church's prayer is put together, and how the feasts and seasons weave through the year. A hand missal is like a self-guided course in Liturgy, and one that you will continue to refresh year after year. It is a one-time investment that costs less than a one-year subscription missal.

But it's not very portable. As someone who travels frequently enough for it to matter, I keep my hand missal on my bedside stand, so I can prepare for Mass the evening before. But I also use a missalette. AND I have missal apps (the free ones) on the electronic devices I use.

There are excellent subscriber-style missalettes. Not simply the basic newsprint kind we have gotten so used to seeing in our pews, but magazine-format missalettes printed on missal paper, with the same red and black lettering you find in an altar missal. Until this summer, if you wanted something this elegant, you had only one choice, Magnificat. Originally published in France, it offers morning and evening prayer for each day, modeled on the Liturgy of the Hours, a daily meditation with some connection to the day's readings or feast, daily story of a saint, and (best of all among the "extras") a full-color reproduction of Christian art, with a detailed analysis. In all the years I have been using the Magnificat missalette for travel, my only beef has been with the lives of the saints: too many of the stories are extravagant tales built around an undated legend of dubious historical value. (But the art section more than made up for that.)

As of June, a new subscription missalette came on the scene. Give Us This Day is published by The Liturgical Press, so it has a Benedictine pedigree. It is also printed on missal paper (though not as fine as Magnificat's ultra-thin paper), and features the "liturgical" red and black type. Like Magnificat (and no doubt inspired by it--and ultimately by Vatican II's call that the faithful return to the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church), it offers Liturgy of the Hours' style morning and evening prayers. You will likewise find a daily meditation inspired by the readings and a daily inspirational biography. This is where this new kid on the block distinguishes itself from its predecessor: the biographical sketches are not only of saints and blesseds, but of outstanding 20th century and other more contemporary Christian witnesses. Overall, Give Us This Day is more up to date in its reflections (by authors like James Martin, SJ). Instead of offering an analysis of an art reproduction, Give Us This Day provides a weekly two-page commentary on a theme or person the liturgy presents. It also includes a calendar-style spread showing the distribution of feasts for the month.

And then there are the digital missals. Both Magnificat and Give Us This Day offer a digital-only subscription option with the cost of $14.99 for six months (Magnificat) or $14.95 for one year (Give Us This Day). Both appear to be offering web-access for a subscription fee. (It's not very clear on their websites.) Magnificat has an iPhone app which can be accessed by registered subscribers, or purchased month by month for $1.99.

Other virtual missals include iMissal Catholic (an app for iPod, iPad and Android devices), which offers the possibility of listening to the day's readings in audio, not just reading them on a screen. (The basic app includes standard Catholic prayers and daily meditations. You can also buy the add-in "Saint a Day" app.) The basic iMissal app is $4.99. The iBreviary app (free) is not only an electronic Breviary, but a complete liturgical prayerbook (er, app) which includes the Mass readings. And then the priest who brought you the iBreviary promised an iPad Altar Missal (which would include the prayers and antiphons, but not the readings for Mass).

Not all priests and professional liturgists are happy about missals. They fear that some people will keep their noses in the missal pages and not really listen fully as the readings are proclaimed and the Mass prayers are actually offered. (Faith, after all, "comes from hearing.") Unless you are hearing-impaired, you don't need to follow along in a book to participate in the liturgy. But having a missal (or missalette) of your own can be a great way to learn the liturgy and to grow in a genuinely liturgical spirituality.

Choir News

2011-11-08T15:49:00.000-06:00

We just got the latest album, the one we were recording in August.

"Our Christmas Hope" is also the title/theme of this year's Christmas concert series. We'll be singing mostly in familiar territory, but there are some new places, too.

And just in time for all of this, Google opened the new "Google+" for organization and event pages, so I hurried to get a virtual foot in that door for our choir. The Facebook page is still where all the interactivity happens (after all, there are almost 8,000 fans of the choir on Facebook), but it's important, I think, to at least have a presence in the new arenas, too. (If you're on G+, please follow the choir, and share the link!)

Speaking of following and sharing, a few more of my presentations on the changes in the Mass have been posted on the official Pauline website. (Just don't trust the one that says it's the "Introduction" yet...I went to check on that, and it's really the conclusion!)
Feel free to embed a video now and then on your blog, or to include a link in your email. After all, a majority of people who think of themselves as Catholic are completely unaware that these changes are coming. When, God willing, they go to Mass at Christmas, they may be unsettled enough to lose their tenuous connection with the Church on a permanent basis.(You'd be doing me and the Daughters a favor if you recommend me to your parish staff as a presenter on the Mass, especially after the changes are introduced and people have had a chance to take some of it in.)

The End is Near!

2011-11-07T21:28:00.000-06:00

Well, the end of the liturgical year is near. I noticed that when the first reading at Mass shifted the other day--from the letter to the Romans to the book of Wisdom, which we will be hearing from for a little while before we shift to Maccabees. Wisdom and Maccabees just happen to be among the latest-written books of the Old Testament; from the time closest to the actual coming of Christ in his first Advent.
So as Advent draws near, the liturgical year (in this "Year 1" set of readings) mimics or reproduces for us the time in salvation history that led directly to the Incarnation!
That means that now is also the time to begin preparing your spiritual "program" for Advent. How will you make this a season of real expectation of the coming of Jesus into your life in a new and more meaningful way? Is there something cluttering the entrance of your heart that might impede Jesus' moving in fully and making himself quite at home? Or an unanswered invitation from the Lord?
Don't let Advent sneak up on you: the liturgical year itself is telling you that's it's coming soon!

Shameless reminder: The Daughters of St. Paul published a book of Advent reflections on the Gospel for each day; I contributed a couple of the meditations. You're still on time to order a copy!

Retreat update

2011-11-05T14:05:00.001-05:00

It's rather refreshing to be here in the New England countryside in late autumn. (I had forgotten what the autumn trees smelled like!) The retreat house only got power restored the day before yesterday (power outages being a big part of the snowstorm), and the elevator was only repaired an hour or so before we arrived with an elderly retreatant who never would have managed the stairs. Talk about Providence!
The first conference today was on the theme of gratitude as an essential characteristic of ongoing conversion. The reading from Romans today offered such a fitting picture of Paul's grateful heart: at the close of that massive missive, he begins sending personal greetings to people he has met and worked with, beginning with the power couple, Prisca (Priscilla) and Aquila. Not only does he express his personal thanks to them for risking their necks (that's what the Greek really says!) for him; Paul says that "all the churches of the Gentiles owe them thanks." He goes down the long list, acknowledging various people and their contributions to the spread of the Gospel. Paul didn't take people for granted.
Then others in the room get in on the act, starting with Tertius, the scribe. You can almost hear them pipe in: the voice of the wealthy Gaius, whose house was large enough to host the community when it gathered to celebrate "the Lord's Supper"; Erastus, the aedile (treasurer)--who may have been at that very time involved in creating a public monument that archaeologists would dig up millennia later (finding his name and title inscribed on one of the stones); a man named "Quartus" (fourth), who--at least by Roman naming conventions--may very well have been Tertius' own brother (a firstborn Roman son receiving his father's formal name, and the subsequent sons simply being given numbers: Secundus, Tertius, Quartus, Quintus, Sixtus...).
Aren't they doing what Jesus urges in this morning's Gospel? Making friends by their use of this world's goods of skill (Tertius) or treasure (Gaius) or influence (Erastus) so that when they leave this world's goods, they won't be homeless, but welcomed "into eternal dwellings"?

That Wiley Steward--an Example?!

2011-11-04T15:13:00.001-05:00

As I flew in to Boston today, I reflected on the (again) amazing connections between the first reading and the Gospel. In the Gospel for the day, Jesus gives us the scandalous example of the dishonest servant--and hints that we are falling short in not being more like this crafty fellow.
The servant had gotten a hint of his impending dismissal. So what did he do? Not look for another job. Instead, he found a way to kill the two proverbial birds in one clever move. By calling in the Master's debtors and letting them rewrite their IOU's, he was able to both "stick it to the man" and create a network of "friends" (Chicago style) who would reciprocate as needed.
Jesus presents this rather unsavory fellow to motivate his followers to show a little more creative gumption in seeking the Kingdom of God!
And that surpassing example of seeking the Kingdom of God demonstrates in the first reading just how that is done. But if you don't know the back story to this passage in Romans, you won't realize just how crafty Paul really is...
Paul's declarations can pass right by, just sounding like some kind of apostolic curriculum vitae: "I have completed the task of preaching the Gospel from Jerusalem to Illyrium... preaching only where the Name of Christ has never been heard before, and not building on a foundation established beforehand by someone else..."
That should sound familiar to readers of Paul's other letters, especially his first letter to the Corinthians. Because in that letter, Paul has to defend his ministry when other preachers followed in his tracks and insinuated that he wasn't all that much of an Apostle. Paul had to remind the Corinthians, just as he had the Galatians, that he had been the very first one to publicly preach the Gospel among them. Those others, those self-vaunting "super-apostles" were building on his work! And, he hinted ominously, "each one will have to answer for how he builds" on that one foundation, which he (wise architect that he was) made sure was Christ and Christ alone.
Okay, you say, so Paul is echoing something in an earlier letter. What's so clever about that?
Here's what's so clever: he was dictating that letter to the Romans in Corinth!! If they didn't hear it the first time, when he wrote it, they were going to hear it now viva voce as his secretary, Tertius, strove to keep up.
And up in heaven, Jesus was saying, "Attaboy, Paul! Don't let the children of darkness surpass my disciples in energy or initiative when it comes to the Kingdom!"

Alberione's Media Prayer for the Poor Souls

2011-11-03T16:27:00.000-05:00

Since the whole month of November is dedicated, in the Church's devotional tradition, to the faithful departed (and since it was All Souls' Day just yesterday), I thought to share with you Bl. James Alberione's prayer for those who find themselves "on the other side" with some burden of sin related to their use of the media. Since this was written around 1950 (I'm guessing), his list of media technologies is rather incomplete by our standards, but you get the point.

Jesus, Divine Master,
I thank you for having come down from heaven
to free us from so many evils
by your teachings, holiness and death.
I plead with you on behalf of the souls who are in Purgatory
on account of the press, films, radio and television.
I am confident that these souls, once freed from their suffering
and admitted into eternal glory,
will intercede with you on behalf of the modern world,
so that the many means you have granted us
for elevating this earthly life
may also be used as means of apostolate
and life everlasting.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace. Amen.

Purgatorial! (But what does that mean?)

2011-11-02T08:59:00.000-05:00

Back in January, Pope Benedict gave one of his Wednesday talks (continuing his theme of significant women in the history of spirituality) on St. Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510), author of two books: "Treatise on Purgatory" and "Dialogues on the Soul and the Body". Her teachings on Purgatory make this Vatican Information Service summary appropriate for posting on All Souls' Day. Here's what the VIS posted on January 12:

Catherine received a good Christian education in the home before marrying at the age of sixteen, although her married life was not an easy one. At first she led a worldly existence which caused her a profound sense of emptiness and bitterness however, following a unique spiritual experience which made her aware of her own misery and defects and, at the same time, of the goodness of God, she decided to change her life and to begin a journey of purification and mystical communion with the Lord. "The place of her ascent to the mystical heights was the hospital of Pammatone, the largest in Genoa, of which she was director", said the Pope.

"The period between her conversion and her death was not marked by extraordinary events", said the Holy Father, "but two elements characterised her entire life: on the one hand, mystical experience, profound union with God and, ... on the other, service to others, especially the most needy and abandoned".

"We must never forget", he went on, "that the more we love God and remain constant in our prayers, the more we will truly manage to love those around us, because in each individual we will see the face of the Lord, Who loves without limit or distinction".

Benedict XVI then went on to refer to the works of the saint, recalling how, "in her mystical experiences, Catherine never received specific revelations on Purgatory or on the souls being purified there". She did not see Purgatory "as a place of transit in the depths of the earth: it is not an exterior fire, but an interior fire". She did not use the hereafter as a basis "to recount the torments of purgatory and then show the way to purification and conversion; rather, she began from the interior experience of man on his journey towards eternity".

Thus, for Catherine, "the soul is aware of God's immense love and perfect justice; as a consequence, it suffers for not having responded to that love perfectly, and it is precisely the love of God Himself which purifies the soul from the ravages of sin".

This mystical saint from Genoa used an image typical of Dionysus the Areopagite: the thread of gold linking the human heart to God, said the Pope. "In this way the heart of man is inundated with the love of God, which becomes his only guide, the only driving force in his life. This situation of elevation towards God and abandonment to His will, as expressed in the image of the thread, is used by Catherine to express the action of divine light on the souls in Purgatory, a light which purifies and raises them towards the splendour of the dazzling rays of God".

"In their experience of union with God, saints achieve so profound an 'understanding' of the divine mysteries, in which love and knowledge almost become one, that they can even help theologians in their studies", said the Pope.

"St. Catherine's life teaches us that the more we love God and enter into intimate contact with Him through prayer, the more He makes Himself known and enflames our hearts with His love. By writing about Purgatory, the saint reminds us of a fundamental truth of the faith which becomes an invitation for us to pray for the dead, that they may achieve the blessed vision of God in the communion of the saints".

And Benedict XVI concluded: "The saint's lifelong humble, faithful and generous service in the hospital of Pammatone is a shining example of charity towards everyone, and a special encouragement for women who make a fundamental contribution to society and the Church with their precious efforts, enriched by their sensitivity and the care they show towards the poorest and those most in need".

AG/ VIS 20110112 (690)

A Blast from the Past about a Saintly Past

2011-11-01T14:46:00.000-05:00

When I first came back from Italy in 2001, my superiors asked me to put my Pauline spirituality studies to work and prepare some material for the sisters about Father Alberione (he wasn't "Blessed" yet) and the history of the Pauline Family.
For your edification (and amazement at my ten-year-younger self), here is the first of the three classes I gave back in March 2001. The first sets the historic stage by presenting the Church, the Pope and the Centennial Jubilee..of 1900, that were so important in the life of the then-sixteen-year-old James Alberione:

Ahead this week...

2011-10-29T17:21:00.000-05:00

Tonight we pray Evening Prayer I of the Solemnity of Jesus Christ, the Divine Master. If you haven't heard of this feast before, don't worry: it's "proper" (assigned, as it were, privately) to the Pauline Family. Naturally, we make as much of it as we can. Not easy, because Sunday is not an easy day to find a priest who's free to offer such an exceptional Mass (they're all needed in the parishes), and the nearest Society of St. Paul community is 400 miles away. So we do our Liturgy of the Hours and make a special Eucharistic Hour of Adoration. And maybe a cake or something.
Except cake would begin to be redundant, since Monday will be my birthday.
Then Tuesday is the Holy Day (yes, the "obligatory" kind). (Yesterday's paper included the latest statistics on Catholic Mass attendance. More and more Catholics seem to believe that "Mass" and "obligation" have no relation to one another. (They're wrong. Not that "obligation" is the ideal motivation, but it sure makes something importance clear!)
Sr Helena and I are also on board to attend a media literacy event on Tuesday night. It looks at religion coverage in the secular news media. One of the panelists is Manya Brachear, from the Chicago Tribune. She's my contact person for those guest posts I do on occasion. This is a newspaper that actually has a religion beat! They take people's faith lives seriously, and research the news and human interest stories carefully and well. I'm sure she'll have a lot of really valuable contributions to make to the conversation.
All Souls Day isn't a Holy Day, but it deserves attention, too. And maybe some of those Purgatory Cookies I discovered years ago in Italy!)
Then Friday, I head off to Boston to give a retreat to our lay Pauline Cooperators in what has become (for now, at least) the Snow Belt. (I hope it melts down fast!)

Sems night

2011-10-28T18:13:00.001-05:00

We have extra chairs at the table tonight: it's "Sems night" for the students at St. Joseph College Seminary. They get a special "sems" discount in the bookstore, and then pizza and what we call the "Pauline indoctrination session" after closing time. Sr Helena is our hostess with the mostess. (She really goes all out when we have company.) I stayed with my strong suits, peeling vegetables for the salad and apples for the dessert (because I did not buy enough pumpkin pie at Costco today). The menu is pretty weird: pizza, meatballs and sauce, steamed veggies and salad. And dessert.

In between, I tried to perfect a poster for the Advent Women's Retreat. I think the design came out well, but I am trying to figure out now how to get it to print properly (new printer; don't like wasting ink). Chicagoland ladies, hope you can make it! (I can't! Sr Helena and I will be on the choir concert tour, so we have volunteers running it this year.) Anyway, here's the poster so far (Advent wreath photo by Sr Emmanuel):

Today's Liturgy of the Word: best read backwards

2011-10-27T12:28:00.000-05:00

If you read today's Gospel first, and then the piece from St. Paul to the Romans, it is as if Paul is commenting specifically on that Gospel! I'm always blown away when that happens, because the Lectionary was not planned out that way: the readings more or less follow in order in their own little cycle. But here it is again...
In the Gospel, Jesus is warned to escape before Herod kills him. He dismisses the threat, giving his would-be saviors a message to bring back to the King. Paul, for his part, lists all the frightful obstacles to human flourishing (anguish, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, death: things Paul faced on a rather regular basis in his ministry), and tosses them off with a rhetorical flourish: "If God is for us, who can be against us? Who will condemn us? What will separate us from the love of Christ?"
It's that very love of Christ that the Gospel shows us in Jesus' heartrending complaint against the Holy City: "How often I wanted to gather your children together as a mother hen gathers her chicks beneath her wings, and you refused me!"
And St. Paul reminds us, encouragingly, "If God did not spare his own Son, but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him?"

Is TV ready for a Catholic sitcom?

2011-10-26T16:22:00.002-05:00

Decide for yourself! CatholicTV will air the pilot on Thanksgiving...

Not the Gospel we want to hear

2011-10-26T11:42:00.001-05:00

There's a rather unsettling assertion in today's Gospel. It seems to contradict everything we associate with Jesus as savior. Instead of "Come to Me, all of you," we hear, "Enter through the narrow gate, for many will try to enter but won't be strong enough."
What?! Yet it echoes other Gospel passages, like this mysterious text: "The Kingdom of God is suffering violent attack, and the violent take it by force." Paul helpfully reminds us that "our battle is not with flesh and blood, but with the principalities and rulers of this present darkness," a hint that the gate is "narrow" precisely because it is surrounded by a host of supernatural forces intent on keeping us out. Truly, strength is needed to prevail in a case like that!
On second thought, this theme of the "narrow" entrance to salvation comes up over and over in the bible. In the Old Testament, one of the wisdom themes is that of the "two ways," one leading to life, the other to death. Remember what Moses said in Deuteronomy? "Choose life, that you and your descendants may live and have a long life in the land the Lord your God is giving you." What comes next? "For the Lord is your life."
There's also the play on strength and weakness. That lead me to reread the famous story of David and Goliath. David was only a sunburned shepherd boy, hardly strong enough to prevail against a full-grown warrior! And, truth to tell, David was not relying on his own strength, though strength was precisely what he needed. "I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts...for God does not give victory by means of sword and spear."
Like David, Paul is not intimidated by the disproportion between human weakness and the strength needed to "enter through the narrow gate." Instead, he plays a whole game in his first letter to the Corinthians, going back and forth between "weakness and strength" and their "intellectual" incarnations, "wisdom and folly." Indeed, he boasts of his weakness! That is because the narrow gate is really the "scandal of the Cross": "a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness for the Gentiles," but "for us on the way to salvation Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."

Just today, Pope Benedict just commented in the same vein:

"The sword St. Paul holds in his hand also recalls the power of truth, which can sometimes wound and inflict pain, The Apostle remained faithful to this truth unto the end, ... he gave his life for it. The same logic holds true for us, if we wish to bring the kingdom of peace announced by the Prophet Zechariah and achieved by Christ: we must be ready to pay in person, to suffer ... misunderstanding, rejection and persecution. It is not the sword of the conqueror that builds peace, but the sword of those who suffer and give up their own lives" (from Vatican Information Service).

The Church and Science back in the News

2011-10-25T17:44:00.000-05:00

Today's Trib had a short article in the business section that may have raised a few eyebrows. The Vatican signed an agreement with a stem cell company for an education and research project. (Here's a Catholic News Agency article on the same item.)
Naturally, with the Vatican as a partner, you can be sure that the research in question will be in the highly successful area of adult stem cells. (There are already quite a few proven cures attributable to "adult" stem cells, even though the more hideous, embryo-derived kind get all the publicity.) This, shortly after the news from very different quarters that an embryonic stem cell therapy for age-related macular degeneration was about to be tested in clinical trials. (So if the trials result in cures, it will be a first for the embryonic stem cells.)
The Vatican partnership is related to the STOQ project (under the Pontifical Council for Culture), and is not the first Vatican-science relationship that has resulted from it: last year, the Vatican signed an agreement with the Italian Space Agency. A book on biotechnology has been released by the STOQ office, and the stem cell partnership includes a conference on the technology to be held in Rome next month. One of the purposes of the office (the name stands for "Science, Technology and the Ontological Quest") is to support scientific research in areas that tend to be commercially overlooked, and to connect scientific progress with philosophy, so that new discoveries or therapies can be launched with a fully developed philosophy that is consistent with human dignity.
About the only thing STOQ doesn't do with panache and scientific expertise is keep its web site up to date!

Changes in the Mass!

2011-10-24T16:39:00.000-05:00

Bring your lunch! Bring your questions! Bring a friend!

I finally managed to schedule a series of short presentations on the upcoming changes in the translation of the Mass. There will be three noontime sessions on the new Roman Missal. All sessions are free; each will cover slightly different aspects of the Missal, with plenty of time for your questions. Presenter is yours truly.

Not only is this an opportunity to come to a greater awareness of what the Mass is: it is an occasion to reach out to family and friends who may have drifted away from regular Sunday Mass. Without some kind of advance warning, they may feel alienated from the Church for good if they go to Mass on Christmas (or for a funeral) and find it sounding so unexpectedly different.

So...for the first three Thursdays of November, join me here at 172 N. Michigan Avenue on your lunch break!

Praying with the Liturgy

2011-10-22T14:14:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post today in honor of the two Blesseds whose feast day it is: Bl. John Paul (well known to all) and Bl. Timothy Giaccardo (known and loved within the Pauline Family). And here are the official opening prayers for the votive Masses for these two heroes of God:

For Bl. John Paul II:
O God, who are rich in mercy and who willed that the blessed John Paul the Second should preside as Pope over your universal Church, grant, we pray, that instructed by his teaching, we may open our hearts to the saving grace of Christ, the sole Redeemer of mankind. Who lives and reigns...

For Bl. Timothy Giaccardo:
O God, you have guided Blessed Timothy Giaccardo, priest, in life and in apostolate, with the light of your Word and the power of the Eucharist. Grant through his intercession that in the Church and in the world, the instruments of social communication may be rightly employed to lead people to goodness and that they may contribute to the spreading of the Gospel message in every place. Through our Lord Jesus Christ...

Peace or the Sword

2011-10-20T12:12:00.000-05:00

Today's Gospel seems utterly contrary to everything we might assume Jesus stands for. It is as if he wants to disabuse us of our notions by stating things in as baldly contradictory a way as possible: "Do you think that I have come to establish peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division." (Some translations put that last word as "sword," heightening the contrast with peace.)
What gives? Didn't the angels sing "Glory to God and peace on earth" when Jesus was born? Isn't he Isaiah's promised "Prince of Peace"?
Of course, Jesus is making a point about what peace really is. Not the wimpy, self-content peace of compromised values; the peace that plays fast and loose with the truth. Jesus is the "sign of contradiction" whose own mother feels "the sword pierce her heart" for the sake of the true peace he came to bring: peace that takes a stand.
Paul writes to the Romans what their very own experience confirms: that the "peace" they had in their former lives of unbridled self-gratification now fills them with shame and embarrassment. It leads only to spiritual death and offers no hope beyond the pleasure of the moment. But if Jesus brings a "sword," it is a sharp and powerful blade, slicing through the bonds of slavery to the flesh and setting the person free to be a full-time servant of God, no longer waiting for mere wages, but confident of the gift of God: "eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Service Hours

2011-10-19T17:06:00.000-05:00

For years now, it has been a typical part of a Confirmation program or ordinary high school training to expect a certain number of "service hours" from young people. Ideally, it is to introduce them to ways they can continue to go outside of their own comfort zones and help others in an ongoing way. But it can often seem more like a requirement that has to get "checked off" before one can leave the program, as if the service component of life was take care of for good.
Today's readings both talk about service, but in a way that shows that we are always in somebody's service, whether we recognize it or not. St Paul even uses the word "slavery" to talk about this condition we are all in. Yes, all. For Paul, "you are the slaves of the one whom you obey," whether sin, which makes you obey your own passions, or faith, which makes you truly upright. I spotted an interesting example of the first in the news when the latest iPhone was released. Among the people waiting in line (for hours!) to acquire one was a person who said, "It's the newest thing. I have to have it." Isn't "have to" the language of slavery?
You could almost rephrase Paul's thought along these lines: slavery to sin (or any material desire) is a form of compulsion; the obedience of faith is a form of responsiveness. The one is a requirement that seems to brook no dissent; the other is a relationship that calls for personal engagement.

(Pope Benedict has just announced a whole "Year of Faith" to begin next October!)

Checking in

2011-10-18T12:31:00.000-05:00

With family still in town, I have hardly had time to turn on my computer, much less come up with anything to share other than all the activities we've been sharing. For instance, on Sunday, after the choir Mass at Mt Carmel, we all (Mom, my sisters and my niece, with me at the wheel) drove to southern Michigan to deliver one sister to her mother-in-law's for a visit. On the way, we stopped at the Indiana Dunes (National Lakeshore). It was a matter of braving the day's chilly winds to go out on the wave-lapped beach. Chicago was just barely visible to the northwest. We also stopped at "Mt. Baldy": an enormous sand dune that keeps making its way southward because the dune grasses that would have anchored it in place were trampled to death by visitors. (The Park Service is trying to restore the grasses, so most of the dune was off-limits.)
Two of my sisters really wanted to try the marked-off path to the "summit"--others of us weren't so sure. The signs warned that it was a "strenuous" climb, and we were all wearing our church shoes. But the intrepid won the day. We hiked the whole (short) way through deep sand. That's what is so interesting about the Indiana Dunes: they really are sand dunes, but forests are growing through the sand! So it looks like an ordinary, if hilly, wood, but you are tramping through nothing but sand. The last few yards went up at a "strenuous" angle, but the view from the top was worth it all. (Even Mom thought so!) Of course, we had a bit of sand to empty out of our shoes when it was all done...
Yesterday, most of my family went home; Mom watched TV while I helped in the bookstore. Then, at 4:00, Sr Helena walked in the door after a week in Italy! She has been creating high-resolution scans of the photo archives of our Founder for the documentary film. Evidently, things went fabulously well, and not just because she was enjoying our sisters' Roman hospitality. She found photos that most of us have never seen, and was even able to get an interview with the Society of St. Paul's most widely-published author, Fr. Gabriel Amorth.
My remaining sister will return from her mother-in-law's this afternoon and by this time tomorrow things in Pauline Chicago will be more or less back to "normal." (Sr Lusia is out of town, so all is not quite back to normal).

Counting on the Spirit

2011-10-15T11:49:00.000-05:00

Today's Gospel ends with encouragement from the Lord: Even in the most dire circumstances, when we are brought to the law, on trial for the Gospel, we don't have to prepare our defense. The Holy Spirit will be the one to speak, giving us the right words at the right time.
I don't know about you, but sometimes I have my doubts about this. How many times I have been on the spot, and the words that came out certainly didn't seem to have much of the Holy Spirit about them, even though I may have been praying up a storm! But then, for one thing, I am not exactly completely docile to the Holy Spirit, and may have intruded upon the Spirit's action even while imploring it. More importantly, though, I wonder how many times my negative evaluation of the outcome is based on my own presumption of just what constitutes an acceptable outcome in the first place. What if the Holy Spirit really has disposed that my awkward or incomplete contribution is just that--an incomplete contribution to a much bigger project: a pebble in the cement of a magnificent complex. I want to see my words bear fruit (fruit that I can recognize) immediately; the Holy Spirit takes the long view.
So the challenge is one of faith, that characteristic virtue of Abraham (cf the first reading!). If we can begin to relinquish not only control of events, but of their evaluation, I'll bet we will become more and more docile to the Spirit--and thus more and more available as a member of the living body of Christ to let Christ live in us.
Here's a great little prayer from Fr. Alberione that I love to say in this regard: "Live in us, O Jesus, with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit!"

Odds and ends

2011-10-12T20:28:00.000-05:00

Know what I love about the Rosary? Find out on the Among Women Podcast with Pat Gohn!

I have a few exciting and fun days ahead: tomorrow my Mom is coming to Chicago for a week, along with all four of my sisters and one niece. (The whole gang can't stay the week, but it will be quite a weekend with that many Flanagan women in one place.) My sisters, niece and I will be doing a Segway tour of Chicago while Mom takes in a quiet movie. (She's not up for that much adventure.) We hope to hit my favorite spice shop, too.

Today I had to fill in downstairs in the book center for quite a good part of the day--and then get the community some groceries (which took a bit more of the day). While I was "on the floor" I took a couple of phone calls: orders for our recent book, "The Mass Explained for Kids." As you may suspect, several of the orders were not for kids at all, but for grown-up Catholics who find the adult presentations on the changes in the Mass a bit intimidating. (That's one reason there aren't juvenile pictures in the book; the editors suspected there would be a high percentage of adult readers.) (Don't forget about my video explanations of the Mass changes; and check back occasionally for the other five or six that are still being edited.)

It seems a bit late to be commenting on today's Mass readings, but that's what happened to the day. Anyway, I was struck at how, yet again, the first reading and the Gospel, which are not intentionally paired in any way, seemed to play off each other. St Paul is getting into that massive letter to the Romans by warning of the spiritual peril of condemning others for faults you yourself have--as if by enforcing God's law on others you could fulfill it by proxy! (Paul makes pretty free use of the language of "wrath" here to describe that spiritual peril.)

Jesus doesn't speak of wrath. He prefers "Woe!" (Same difference to me.) Woe over what? Woe to those who burden others with religious obligations, and who carry out the minimum prescriptions with exaggerated care, while minimizing the things that really count in God's sight: justice, mercy, faithfulness.
It's the message of all the prophets, from Moses to Jeremiah and Amos and all the way to the Apostle James. Prayers and public devotion do not offset neglect of God's manifest will towards our neighbor.

Be it Resolved...

2011-10-11T20:14:00.000-05:00

Do you remember, way back around January, making a New Year's resolution that had anything to do with getting to know the Bible better?
In case you did, I have two suggestions for you. My first is always to read the Bible with the Church by following the daily Mass readings. (Even better, go to daily Mass!); my second comes as a result of my weekend in Kansas City, where I met the creator of a 30-session Catholic Bible study program in podcast format. You can get through the whole Bible by Christmas, just listening to the sessions every other week or so!
I haven't test-driven the program yet; I'm recommending it on the basis of its creator being Associate Director of New Media Evangelization for the Diocese of Sacramento. Seems like a pretty safe bet.
Just wanted to spread the word.

Looking for signs

2011-10-10T16:36:00.000-05:00

In today's Gospel, Jesus answers those who kept coming to him looking for signs. Short answer? No. Because the kind of sign Jesus brings isn't the kind that our eyes can see: it is a sign for our ears. We don't perceive this sign with our seeing, but with our hearing, the way the Queen of the South heard Solomon's wisdom, and the people of Nineveh (featured in last week's readings) listened to Jonah.
The first reading corroborates this in the way that Paul, in the very first words of his massive letter to the Romans, keeps repeating "hearing" language: "Paul, called to be an apostle... the gospel [good news/message] of God which he promised... the obedience [root word is "to hear"] of faith... called to belong to Jesus... called to be holy."
The Bible seems to hint at what Thomas Aquinas said about the Eucharist: "Sight, touch and taste in Thee are all deceived; the ear alone most safely is believed." Paul simply ends up saying, "Faith comes from hearing."
So keep your ears open for that sign!

Running around Town

2011-10-08T18:51:00.000-05:00

Just to clarify: I wasn't the one doing the running. Tomorrow is the Chicago Marathon, so the streets have been filled with skinny people, running. I passed quite a number of them as I made my way (walking) to the Cathedral for Mass this morning. And this afternoon, when I went up Michigan Avenue on an errand (driving), the sidewalks were packed with shoppers. Presumably the 20,000 marathoners and their cheering squads.
Adding to the general throng was (and is) a voluble group of protesters, presumably "Occupy Wall Street." I say "presumably" because a few minutes ago they passed across the street chanting about corporate greed, but yesterday (which seemed to be their organizational day), the Randolph Street staging area was arranged with signs and flyers demanding jobs and protesting NATO involvement in Afghanistan. I don't know if that was only for yesterday, or if today's march (in the early afternoon) was a catch-all protest, and only a hundred or so die-hards remained 'til the late afternoon to make their point about corporate greed which is, yes indeed, a very bad and damaging thing. Their chants are still echoing in such a way that the sound penetrates our house (what a distraction in chapel!), but you can't tell from which direction. Just a vague noise, punctuated by occasional cheers and whistles. A bit unsettling after a full day of it.
Here in Chicago there is also a regularly scheduled "protest" involving hundreds of bicycles on the major roads on particular Friday afternoons. Something about taking "back" the streets. It ties up significant resources from the police department, since there is such risk of injury to the cyclists.
I like bikes. I agree that war and greed and unemployment are all evils that should be eliminated to the extent possible. I pray for that! But what good do parades do?
Do such demonstrations contribute something positive to public discourse, or are they just a form of entertainment? I'm beginning to think the latter.

The Bishops' Guide to Better Voting

2011-10-07T09:09:00.008-05:00

Like many in Chicago, I am all too familiar with the infamous S-curve on Lake Shore Drive. You can't miss it. But many do. It has been the scene of so many crashes and other incidents that the concrete walls along the road are covered with traces of paint left by cars scraping by, and the roadway is littered with fragments from head and tail-lights crushed into the gravel.

The S-curve should not be a surprise to any approaching driver. There are any number of signs: "Reduced Speed Ahead," S-curve graphics, a clearly posted speed-limit, horizontal white strips crossing all lanes. But enough drivers rely on their own gut instinct for that curve that the city keeps talking about ripping the road out and reconfiguring that bend permanently. Meanwhile, they keep the signs up.

Something like that happens every election year. The Catholic bishops of the US typically revise and re-release a document to shed the light of Church teaching on issues at play in the election. This year, the document has not been revised, but a new “introductory note” has been added to pre-empt those who would distort the bishops' nuanced positions, and to warn all Catholics not to reduce election year concerns to one or two issues.

According to the bishops, life issues are crucial for Catholic voters (abortion is singled out as an horrendous, “intrinsic evil”), but many life issues are related to key social issues that they also present in the light of Catholic tradition: family life, parental rights, the rights of workers and of immigrants, the environment, questions about the use of force, war, the death penalty... These concerns do not fit neatly into the categories of our two-party system.

In some ways, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” is like that set of road signs on Lake Shore Drive. It offers valuable advice and guidance in a society that is losing the capacity for critical and courteous discourse, but all the evidence indicates that (like Chicago's drivers) Catholic voters tend to trust their gut more than any published sign or document, no matter how carefully thought out.

That can't be a good thing.

Add your comment to this post on the Chicago Tribune blog.

CNMC: Wish you were there?

2011-10-06T13:33:00.000-05:00

If you wish you could have joined us for the CNMC last weekend, do not despair! This being a highly wired group, you can find many of the talks online. Including my own (which starts about midway through this recorded video). Special thanks to SQPN for making so much available!

SQPN.com

Kingdom Come

2011-10-05T10:32:00.000-05:00

It's no coincidence that today's Gospel is Jesus teaching us how to pray right after we saw the harried Martha "busy with much ministering." Luke is making the point that ministry of any kind needs to come from (and remain supported by) prayer. But what is the secret to prayer? I was surprised to notice it in the first reading, the tail end of the story of Jonah.
Jonah is peeved with God for having mercy on the wicked (but repentant) city of Nineveh. And God does something strange. Instead of reproaching Jonah with a divine "and who do you think you are?" (as we see in the book of Job), God reveals his heart: "Should I not be concerned over that great city in which there are over 120,000 children under the age of seven--and uncounted numbers of cattle, too?"
Like so many fire and brimstone preachers after him, Jonah can see the wickedness, but he can't see all the rest that God sees--"the beasts and the children," as the old song went. God invites Jonah to see with divine eyes.
Isn't that the mystery of prayer?

Movie to Movement

2011-10-05T08:45:00.017-05:00

A filmmaker Sr Helena knows popped in yesterday; he's in Chicago (hometown for him) to promote an animated 3-D project on the Mass. It will be showing in 20 theaters next week, but the actual release date is in December. Tickets for the pre-release are free to those who show up at the theater with the password (which I forgot; maybe Sr Frances will remember...). But you can also buy a ticket, too: each ticket purchase will provide a year's worth of clean drinking water for a charity in Sudan associated with the production house's mission outreach, "Movie to Movement." There are other movies waiting in the wings: Cristiada (which I posted the trailer to during the summer); even a remake of the old "Marcellino Pan y Vino."

An interesting approach to mission! Get a worthwhile message yourself and help desperately needy people half a world away.
Here's the trailer for the animated version of the Mass (which will release in English and Spanish):

Martha, Martha

2011-10-04T20:37:00.000-05:00

Even though it's the feast of St. Francis, I've been keeping dear St. Martha company today, courtesy of this morning's Gospel. I love her, because I can so identify with her rather neurotic relationship with Jesus. You see, I am convinced that Martha desperately wanted to be just where Mary was. Sort of. As soon as she could get dinner out of the way, and maybe a little housecleaning. Whatever.

If Martha was really like me, she probably felt that there was stuff to do first--stuff that stood in the way of her giving herself permission to sit still and listen to Jesus. And maybe some of that pique in her voice as she tries to commandeer the Divine Guest is from the realization that Mary wasn't simply oblivious to the practical needs of life: Mary was freer of them than Martha was at that point.

That spiritual freedom is what we find in the saint of the day, too. Francis was so free of the compulsion to "seek first the practicalities of life" that he even gave away his clothes, in the confidence that God would take care of everything.

Maybe for Francis and for Mary, that freedom of spirit came from having had an experience of their relationship with Jesus that Martha had still not yet fully processed. Her turn would come (see John 11!).

KC report

2011-10-03T13:33:00.000-05:00

I'm back in Chicago, doing catch-up after a great weekend spent meeting with and chatting in person with people I've only really known online. Among them, Jeff Geerling did the wonderful service of creating a kind of summary package of the talks; I have to say that he did a masterful synthesis of my own presentation--so much so that I don't think I need to post a link to the talk itself. (But I will.) Eventually I hope to get the video the postulants took of my talk and stream that so I can have it to share with others. (Our whole group of postulants drove in from St. Louis with Sr Rebecca to take part in the conference as their first "group" experience.)

It was Jeff who gave the talk on "Gadgets and Gizmos" in which he offered a sample QR code--and I was the first in the audience to open the link from the QR code on my (Android) phone (beating out all the iPads and iPhones in that well-wired hall!). So I got a prize from among the many gadgets and gizmos that Jeff gets sent for free as a technology product reviewer. It was an iPad microphone stand. "Do you have an iPad, Sister?" Jeff asked as he presented it. "Not yet," I told him: "It's on Jesus' 'to do' list." (They loved that. But it's the plain truth.)

Next year's conference will be in Dallas, the last week of August. That creates a potential conflict with our usual August recording schedule. I have already written to the sisters in Boston to see if the recording schedule can be pushed up by a week so I can get both in!

Angel of God, my guardian dear...

2011-10-02T09:02:00.001-05:00

For the feast of the Guardian Angels, here's a great talk by Professor Peter Kreeft on the Angels according to St. Thomas Aquinas!
I've always been delighted by the whole idea of a Guardian Angel. Kreeft puts an amazing spin on the whole mind-bending doctrine that a superior being would be, as it were, a servant to a creature of a lower order. It is, he says, God's signature: the vocation to humility.
Do you have any stories of your own angelic guardian's service?

Live from Kansas City!

2011-10-01T14:18:00.001-05:00

Photo by Scott Maentz.

Well, my was live while SQPN was streaming it this morning... In the end, I had to skip about three pages of really good material I had prepared--as Fr. Alberione said, "When a Daughter of St. Paul takes pen in hand, she never has to wonder what to write about." The problem is that there's so much to say!
What a fantastic image of the missionary Church here at the archdiocesan pastoral center! Over a hundred (maybe 130) people involved in evangelization and media, new and old. They are ardent, intelligent and down-to-earth. Unlike many churchy events, this one skews young. And very wired. As someone noted on Twitter, you haven't seen this many Apple products anywhere in one place outside of an Apple store. Apple should be underwriting part of the CNMC! (Props to the Knights of Columbus who actually did help out in that direction.)
You can catch the highlights of the day on Twitter, where everyone has been posting in real time. (My phone battery died, so you won't find much from nunblogger...) And here are pictures of the event to go with the Twitter stream. You can also find the personal notes taken by participants like Jeff. I'll post some notes of my own when I have more of a chance to catch up (first I have to make my Hour of Adoration).
After lunch we were able to preview a pilot sitcom for Catholic TV; it will be broadcast (and streamed) on Thanksgiving day, after which we will be free to put it on our sites. If it clicks with enough people (pun very much intended), a series may get the go-ahead. That would be a new thing in media: a Catholic family sitcom.

Now I'm off to chapel, to thank the Lord for streaming his light through us and among us at the Catholic New Media Conference!

KCK

2011-09-29T18:46:00.001-05:00

I landed in Kansas City this afternoon, and Lisa Hendey (who had landed some time earlier) found me en route to baggage claim. Shortly after we had retrieved my bags, and "Captain Jeff" was about to take them to the car, Pat Gohn crossed our path. All four of us are now ensconced at the "Savior Pastoral Center" of the Diocese of Kansas City (KS) for the Catholic New Media Conference. I'm lucky. I have until (early) Saturday to tweak my talk; Lisa and Pat have two talks to give.

Silly me; I was working so late last night on my talk, and then this morning, that when I finally packed (around noon), I didn't check the weather in Kansas City. It's pure summer over here. I'll be nice and warm with my turtlenecks... Well, so often conference rooms are extra chilly, maybe I'll be glad I packed for the wrong season! It's comfy in my room, though, and there's a great wifi connection.

I'm sure that the proceedings on Saturday will be streamed live so you (and you, Mom) can join in; try this address or maybe this one. (I'll try to get the precise information by Saturday!) Meanwhile, counting on your prayers!

Defend us in battle...

2011-09-29T18:37:00.000-05:00

Today's feast of the biblical archangels is a special one for my community of Chicago (Sr Helena's profession name—the name she added to her baptismal name on vow day—is Raphael). And today is my great-niece Leah's third birthday, so it's special for my family, too. And face it, who isn't intrigued and entranced by these magnificent, mysterious servants of God?

At Mass, the lector (Sr Helena Raphael!) proclaimed the first reading from Daniel, rather than going with the option from the book of Revelation. I, on the other hand, had made my meditation using Revelation (“war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels prevailed over Satan...”) and the responsorial Psalm (138—the one I chose for my memorial card when I die: “In the presence of the angels I will sing your praise). And that got me thinking about Psalm 8: “on the lips of children...you have found praise to foil your enemy.”

The only conclusion I could come to was that Michael, whom I always thought of as practically the personification of power, is probably not really all that strong. In fact, that battle in heaven could have been your typical David and Goliath match, and Michael, to put it bluntly, was not the giant. It was by praise that he “foiled the enemy, silenced the foe and the rebel.” His ardent love and praise of God was the power that overcame Satan and his followers with a titanic supernatural shock wave.

And that selfsame power can be ours.

Grave thoughts...

2011-09-28T10:28:00.000-05:00

Today's readings have something odd in common. Both make fleeting references to burial. As in graveyards. In the first reading, from Nehemiah, the king's servant is mournful because "the city where my ancestors are buried" is in ruins. In the Gospel, there is a much less sentimental tone. A would-be disciple eagerly informs Jesus, "I will follow you, but first let me bury my father." (No indication that his father is dead yet, mind you.) Jesus responds, "Follow me, and let the dead bury the dead!" (This is our nice, sweet Jesus?)
In both readings, what is important is the direction of the heart. Nehemiah's heart is fixed not so much on his ancestors' graves, as on the city of Jerusalem, the city of the living God. The responsorial psalm even puts his prayer on our lips: "If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand wither!" To "sing the songs of Zion" is to sing about God: "How could I sing the songs of the Lord in a foreign land?" Jesus expects that same kind of single-hearted attachment: to himself, the ultimate dwelling-place of the living God. It is clear that Jesus had called that would-be disciple to follow him in a special way. Filial duty was just an excuse. The man's heart was in danger of death. Jesus' rough command was a kind of spiritual cardio resuscitation to bring him back to the land of the living.
Where is my heart today?