Merry Christmas!

25 DECEMBER 2014. Today the Church and all of Christendom celebrate the birth of our Savior, Christ the Lord. He who was in the beginning, has taken flesh upon Himself and been born of the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Sent by the Father to forgive us our sins, let us always praise Him who has loved us with such heavenly generosity beyond our knowing.

Merry Christmas!

Belief in Nothing is not a Protected Right that Trumps the Right to Express our Faith

24 DECEMBER 2014. In Tallahassee this year, the Department of State, concerned with law suits, has decided to let anything be displayed as a part of the Capitol's annual holiday displays.

Several groups, with the pure intent of mocking faith and the existence of God, have petitioned and been allowed to make displays which are both offensive to our community's sense of appropriateness and pitiful for their sheer display of ignorance.

Above is a picture of the Satanic Temple's holiday display. The Satanic Temple has officially gone on the record to say it does not worship Satan, but rather believes there should be absolutely no expression of religious belief in the public square. The Satanic Temple has no religious belief. The temple's display is not an exercise of religious expression. It is mere retaliation against expressions of faith that has been, now, given the equal footing to expressions of faith.

So, in the name of First Amendment rights, the Satanic Temple, with the assistance of the State of Florida, has somehow garnered to itself the right to mock and retaliate against expressions of religious faith, even offending the community, and in doing so the rights of all others to express religious belief in the public square are demeaned.

Belief in nothing is irrational. St. Thomas Aquinas, who was himself building upon the work of Aristotle who was a Greek pagan, has proven that reason alone leads each person to proof of the existence of God.

Belief in nothing is not a right guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution. Expression of belief in the public square is such a right.

Pray for our Church in the United States and Everywhere

10 OCTOBER 2014. As many have probably been following the information that is coming from the Synod on the Family in Rome, I too have been trying to learn what I can. However, I watched a recent video over at CNS (available here), which puported to display some Americans' "hopes" for the Synod from interviews with American parishoners of Santa Susanna in Rome. Frankly, I was horified.

The video protrays American attitudes toward marriage and the Church as being based more in nostalgia than anything, while at the same time calling for the Church to wake up to contemporary times, contemporary issues, and "come up to speed" with today's culture. One poor soul even articulates that the purpose of the Church is to "increase its flock" and that to do so it really must "give the people what they want." Pray, pray, pray for these poor people. I have to wonder, where is their catechises?

I pray this is not really the sentiment of the majority, or a significant number, of faithful Catholics in the United States. I want a Church that proclaims truth! I want a Church that is faithful and emphasizes that faithfulness to the Body of Christ. I want a Church that strives toward holiness and is focused on bringing all men and women closer to God so that they may be be holy saints, destined for heaven. I want a Church that loves with the tenderness of Christ, forgives sins - as Christ came to do and instituted the Church as his bride - but continues to call all of us sinners to a life that is free from sin. Oh, the folly of seeking the impossible (in the eyes of the world), but oh the joy (for the faithful) of following Christ, though I will certainly at times fail.

Watch the video and let me know if you agree or disagree with these "American" views.

I would also commend a well written, and I think insightful, article by Father Dwight Longenecker, published by Zenit. Father Longenecker takes on the dueling videos (as portrayed by the media and in social media) from Cardinal Walter Kasper and Cardinal Raymond Burke in the days leading up to the start of the Synod. While I would not question the faithfulness of either Cardinal Kasper or Cardinal Burke, Father Longenecker makes some good, if slightly over generalized, points. Points which may go a long way toward explaining a real divergence in attitudes among Catholics, particularly American Catholics.

Here are few snipets:

Catholic New Service issued videos featuring the two cardinals expressing their points of view. Video Kasper could be summed up as, “couples in a second marriage show love and tenderness. We should do the same and forgive.” Video Burke was, “Jesus said if a man divorces his wife and marries another he commits adultery. Any questions?”

 . . .

 Kasperian Catholicism is not only a European phenomenon. It is also the main religion of the American Northeast where, as in Europe, Catholicism is the de facto established religion. In this country, we might call Kasperian Catholicism “Kennedy Catholicism.” This religion regards the moral teachings of the Church as “guidelines.” The traditions of the Church are quaint customs to feel nostalgic about, and the dogmas of Catholicism are medieval notions that should be re-interpreted and understood in fresh ways for the modern world. The fact that both Kasperian and Kennedy Catholicism are found in areas where the Catholic faith is the established religion is no coincidence. It is only when a religion is established as it is in these sub cultures that it can afford the luxury of liberalism.

. . . Rather than being comfortable within the established Church, Burke seems more aware of the growing conflict between the world and the gospel. For Burkeans, Christ and culture are in conflict and the Church is there to challenge the prevailing mores, not condone them. The Burkean Catholic sees the core faith once delivered to the saints as being unchangeable, and adaptation to the prevailing culture only involves a change in emphasis, a tweaking of presentation or a re-packaging of the unchanging truths.

Read the whole article here.

I will pray more fervently for our Church, especially our Church in the United States.

Dominican Laity in Tallahassee

13 SEPTEMBER 2014. Today the Lay Dominicans del Espiritu Santo celebrate six new temporarily professed members of the Order. All this, from a gathering of two or three more than seven years ago. Praise God!

Ordained a Priest on the Threshold of Eternity

8 SEPTEMBER 2014. The Church celebrated the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary this day, but her birthday prayers were certainly with a man to be ordained on her day, as he prepared to cross the threshold into eternity with our Lord, her Son.

Read the story here about Father William Carmona, ordained as a Priest of our Lord Jesus Christ on 8 September 2014, who was born into eternal life on 10 September 2014.

Truly, this act of mercy and love, by Bishop Choby and all those who worked to make the ordination possible, shines a glorious and moving light on the value of the human person and the calling that each one of us has to pour out our lives to the God who made us and gives us all.

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May he rest in peace. 
Amen.

May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed,
though the mercy of God, rest in peace. 
Amen.

Saint Anthony of Padua

 

13 JUNE 2014. Today the Church celebrates the feast of Saint Anthony of Padua, priest, friar, and Doctor of the Church.

O Holy St. Anthony, gentlest of Saints, your love for God and Charity for His creatures, made you worthy, when on earth, to possess miraculous powers. Encouraged by this thought, I implore you to obtain for me [your request here]. 0 gentle and loving St. Anthony, whose heart was ever full of human sympathy, whisper my petition into the ears of the sweet Infant Jesus, who loved to be folded in your arms; and the gratitude of my heart will ever be yours.

Amen.

Lovely Rita

22 MAY 2014. Saint Rita of Cascia. Re-posted from Dominica. By Br. Joseph Martin Hagan, O.P.

The life of St. Rita can read like a Shakespearean tragedy.  As a young woman, Rita desired to enter the convent and consecrate herself to God alone, but her parents had other ideas.  They arranged for Rita to marry a nobleman, Paolo, and she humbly obeyed their wishes.  Sadly, her husband was an abusive, violent man who treated Rita with little dignity.  Paolo, however, died a sudden death when he was ambushed and stabbed by members of a rival family.  Rita was left a widow with two young sons.

At her husband’s funeral, Rita forgave his murderers and pleaded for peace between the feuding families.  So strong was her family’s vendetta that she asked God to take her sons’ lives rather than allow them to commit murder.  Her prayers were answered rather brutally: both of her sons died of a fatal illness before they could seek vengeance. Rita was now a widow and childless.

Returning to her childhood desire, Rita again sought to enter the local convent of Augustinian nuns; however, the nuns objected to her entrance.  Many of the nuns were related to the murderers of Rita’s husband, and they were wary of inviting dissension if they accepted Rita.  Before allowing her into the convent, they required the impossible of Rita: bringing peace to the rival families.

By this point in her story, we get the message: Rita, though innocent, had a tough life.  Is this what made her a saint?  Was her holiness merely a matter of patiently suffering the tragedies of her life?  No.  Surely suffering is part of every Christian’s journey with the Cross of Christ, but a saint suffers without the usual pessimism of a tragedy.

The life of St. Rita can also read as a song of hope.  She met adversity with an anthem of God’s unfailing mercy.  Rita did not merely endure her husband; she met his abuse with her love and kindness.  She was a mercy to him, and many accounts record that by the time of his death, he had become a good, peaceful man.  His violent death came not by his instigation, but by the betrayal of his trusted allies.

Her sons’ premature deaths too were a sort of mercy.  No good parent desires their child’s death.  And we do not know if Rita’s sons would have grown up to seek violent revenge.  But what is worse: the death of the body or of the soul?  Our dead bodies will be resurrected, but a dead soul in hell awaits no return.  Rita’s prayers potentially saved her boys from murder and from losing their souls by attempting to fulfill their inherited vendetta.

In response to the convent’s initial rejection, Rita worked one of her greatest miracles: bringing peace to a town torn by family feuds. First, she invoked the intercession of St. Augustine, St. Nicholas, and St. John the Baptist.  Then, she successfully exhorted her family to accept peace, and subsequently the rival family.  For this, she received the title the Peacemaker of Cascia.

Then, as a nun, she committed herself to a life of prayer and penance. She entered into mystical union with the Crucified Christ and received a thorn in her forehead—a suffering born of love.  Offering herself to God, her life was a blessing to all of Cascia, to all of the Church.  Even unto today, St. Rita is invoked as the saint of the impossible.

This second reading of St. Rita’s life emphasizes an important point.  Saints do not just suffer through life, waiting for it to be over.  Rather, they raise a song of hope in the midst of life’s suffering.  And even more, this song is not a solo but a chorus.  St. Rita’s holiness was contagious, bringing others closer to God.

To rightly praise St. Rita and her love of God, the words of Psalm 84 seem fitting:

They are happy, whose strength is in you,
in whose hearts are the roads to Zion.
As they go through the Bitter Valley
they make it a place of springs.
The autumn rain covers it with blessings.
They walk with ever growing strength,
they will see the God of gods in Zion.

By her intercession, may we go through the Bitter Valley of our life and make it a place of springs.  May the roads to Heaven be written in our hearts, and may we travel with ever growing strength.

St. Rita, pray for us.

✠

Image: Frederic Leighton, The Reconciliation of the Montagues and the Capulets over the Dead Bodies of Romeo and Juliet

Pope Saint Pius V

Born in a town called Bosco in Northern Italy, and raised in the humblest surroundings of poverty and obscurity, Anthony Ghislieri was born to poor parents in the year 1504.  His Baptismal Name was Anthony, as he was born on the Feast of St Anthony of the Desert (Jan 17^th).

After entering the Order of Preachers as a young man he became renowned for his holiness, and Fr Michele Ghislieri soon attracted the attention of the hierarchy in Rome. In 1566 he was elected Pope, taking the name Pius V. The new Pope led the Church with the deepest sanctity; a holiness of life that would inspire all those who encountered him. Pius V was a man intent on interior spiritual renewal of the Church. In this desire we see many similarities between him and our present Holy Father, Pope Francis. Pius’ first public act as Pope was to give all the money that was received for the installation ceremonies of the new Pontiff to the poor and neediest. The thousand crowns usually given for the banquet for the Cardinals and ambassadors were sent to hospitals and the poorest convents in the city: “For I know,” said the Pope, “that God will not call me to account for suppressing a feast for the wealthy, but he may punish me severely if I neglect His poor.”

From the first moment of his election Pius V saw as his top priority not so much the battle from without but the need for spiritual renewal within, starting with the hierarchy. Leading by example he endeavored to inspire the Cardinals to a renewed life of Christian simplicity and fervor.  He established regular life in the apostolic palace, gave conferences to his court and the Cardinals on the life of virtue that would be needed to reform the Church. Always clothed in his Dominican habit, he slept on a hard pallet and he kept continual fasts according to the rules of the Order, knowing that only sacrifice and a life of holiness would draw down the graces necessary for the re-invigoration of the Church. His table was characterized by its extreme frugality so all saw in him a man devoted to the imitation of the life of Christ shown by his Holy Father Dominic. He had a deep love for the Rosary and for this he was called ‘The Pope of the Rosary.’ Likewise he was called the “The Pope of the Crucifix” loving with all his heart the Sacred Humanity of Christ crucified. In the Saviour’s crucified humanity he saw the deepest expression of Divine love.

On May 1st 1572,  Pius V clothed in his old Dominican habit, and clutching his Rosary beads made one last request of his Lord: “Increase my sufferings but also increase my patience.” This saintly Dominican Pope shows us that the path of renewal remains the same in our day; interior conversion of life and the life of holiness practiced by all the faithful who are called by their Lord to be light to the world. He challenges us not to settle for mediocrity but to strive to be the saints of the third millennium, echoing the challenge given to us by Pope St John Paul II.

RE-POSTED FROM Domincans Interactive, Irish Province.

Saint Catherine of Siena

 

29 APRIL 2014. Today we celebrate her Feast, our spiritual Mama: patroness of the Dominican laity.

In your nature,
eternal Godhead,

I shall come to know my nature.

And what is my nature, boundless love?

It is fire,

because you are nothing but a fire of love.

And you have given humankind

a share in this nature,

for by the fire of love

you created us.

And so with all other people

and every created thing;

you made them out of love.

O ungrateful people!

What nature has your God given you?

His very own nature!

Are you not ashamed to cut yourself off from such a noble thing

through the guilt of deadly sin?

O eternal Trinity,

my sweet love!

You, light,

give us light.

You, wisdom,

give us wisdom.

You, supreme strength,

strengthen us.

Today, eternal God,

let our cloud be dissipated

so that we may perfectly know and follow your Truth

in truth,

with a free and simple heart.

God, come to our assistance!

Lord, make haste to help us!

Amen.

Saints!

WELL DONE GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANTS.
27.IV.2014

We are all called to be saints. These two popes have offered us exemplars in our contemporary world of sainthood lived.

Pope Saint John XXIII, pray for us!
Pope Saint John Paul II, pray for us!

IMAGE: By Marco Foppoli.

Christ is risen, alleluia!

20 APRIL 2014. Today, the holiest day of the year, we the Christian faithful celebrate the world turned upside down. Our world--in fact,we ourselves--are different because of what happened on this Easter morning. Christ, having been brutally killed and subjected to much torture and humiliation before, has risen from the dead.

He was dead--not metaphorically, but actually. His body lay in the tomb. Then, He rose from the dead! By doing this, everything changed! Our world is no longer the dominion of death or the devil. We now live in God's kingdom, given to us by the love of God poured out on us, for us.

Return to Him who has died and risen for us--for each of us--all that you have to offer. Because, everything has changed!

Alleluia!

Saint Nicholas of Flue

21 MARCH 2014. Today the Holy Church proposes for our commemoration St. Nicholas of Flue, a fifteenth century mystic and Patron Saint of  Switzerland.

My Lord and my God, take from me everything that distances me from you. My Lord and my God, give me everything that brings me closer to you. My Lord and my God, detach me from myself to give my all to you.

 

Happy and Blessed 2014!