To air on EWTN this Friday at 6:30 p.m. Check out the award winning show online.

Amy wrote a book about her: De-coding Mary Magdalene: Truth, Legend, And Lies

Where the police hat came from (see post below):

From Police officer’s dying wish fulfilled

A TERMINALLY ill police officer blessed by Pope Benedict before World Youth Day celebrations died in a Lismore hospital yesterday morning after a prolonged illness.

Senior Constable Gary Hill, who battled skin cancer, heart and brain tumours for the past four years, was known for his commitment to his 22-year police career and faith, the Richmond Local Area Commander, Superintendent Bruce Lyons, said.

“It was not uncommon for Gary to go and have chemotherapy in the morning and come back to work in the afternoon. I’m sure that faith kept him going.”

When Senior Constable Hill had a seizure at work two weeks ago, he told his colleagues he would visit the doctor after he finished his shift. Instead he was taken to hospital and then to palliative care when it was discovered a cluster of small tumours in his brain had returned.

Superintendent Lyons said it had been his dying wish to see the Pope: “Gary always wanted to go to Rome and stand in a crowd of 50,000 people and see the Pope come out on the balcony.”

Colleagues arranged for a meeting with the pontiff during his retreat at Kenthurst last week, where he blessed the police officer and gave him rosary beads.

The pontiff was given the policeman’s hat after he donned it for the cameras, mistakenly taking it for an akubra he had been told had been brought along as a gift.

And by extension–on the mystery of the Annunciation, from today’s Angelus message given in Sidney:

In the beautiful prayer that we are about to recite, we reflect on Mary as a young woman, receiving the Lord’s summons to dedicate her life to him in a very particular way, a way that would involve the generous gift of herself, her womanhood, her motherhood.  Imagine how she must have felt.  She was filled with apprehension, utterly overwhelmed at the prospect that lay before her.

The angel understood her anxiety and immediately sought to reassure her.  “Do not be afraid, Mary …. The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Lk 1:30, 35).  It was the Spirit who gave her the strength and courage to respond to the Lord’s call.  It was the Spirit who helped her to understand the great mystery that was to be accomplished through her.  It was the Spirit who enfolded her with his love and enabled her to conceive the Son of God in her womb.

This scene is perhaps the pivotal moment in the history of God’s relationship with his people.  During the Old Testament, God revealed himself partially, gradually, as we all do in our personal relationships.  It took time for the chosen people to develop their relationship with God.  The Covenant with Israel was like a period of courtship, a long engagement.  Then came the definitive moment, the moment of marriage, the establishment of a new and everlasting covenant.  As Mary stood before the Lord, she represented the whole of humanity.  In the angel’s message, it was as if God made a marriage proposal to the human race.  And in our name, Mary said yes.

In fairy tales, the story ends there, and all “live happily ever after”.  In real life it is not so simple.   For Mary there were many struggles ahead, as she lived out the consequences of the “yes” that she had given to the Lord.  Simeon prophesied that a sword would pierce her heart.  When Jesus was twelve years old, she experienced every parent’s worst nightmare when, for three days, the child went missing.  And after his public ministry, she suffered the agony of witnessing his crucifixion and death.  Throughout her trials she remained faithful to her promise, sustained by the Spirit of fortitude.  And she was gloriously rewarded.

Dear young people, we too must remain faithful to the “yes” that we have given to the Lord’s offer of friendship.  We know that he will never abandon us.  We know that he will always sustain us through the gifts of the Spirit.  Mary accepted the Lord’s “proposal” in our name.  So let us turn to her and ask her to guide us as we struggle to remain faithful to the life-giving relationship that God has established with each one of us.  She is our example and our inspiration, she intercedes for us with her Son, and with a mother’s love she shields us from harm.

Pope’s first text message to youth at World Youth Day, from CNA:

“Young friend, God and his people expect much from u because u have within you the Fathers supreme gift: the Spirit of Jesus - BXVI.”

I think he may have slipped and spelled out that last “u”!

Found here at Life

Catholic author (co-author)with Father Richard Hogan of the excellent Covenant of Love: Pope John Paul II on Sexuality, Marriage, and Family in the Modern World , from the Vatican:

The Holy Father appointed Fr. John LeVoir of the clergy of the archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, U.S.A., pastor of the parish of St. Michael and Mary in Stillwater as bishop of New Ulm (area 25,535, population 284,793, Catholics 66,785, priests 58, permanent deacons 3, religious 60), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in Minneapolis in 1946 and ordained a priest in 1981.

From the Vatican Information Service:

- Appointed Bishop David L. Ricken of Cheyenne, U.S.A., as bishop of Green Bay (area 27,775, population 1,008,000, Catholics 373,000, priests 293, permanent deacons 137, religious 698), U.S.A.

From the Vatican:

- Appointed Msgr. Herbert A. Bevard of the clergy of the archdiocese of Philadelphia, U.S.A., pastor of St. Athanasius parish, as bishop of Saint Thomas (area 352, population 108,612, Catholics 30,000, priests 15, permanent deacons 27, religious 27), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in Baltimore, U.S.A. in 1947 and ordained a priest in 1972.

- Appointed Bishop William Francis Malooly, auxiliary of Baltimore, U.S.A., as bishop of Wilmington (area 13,916, population 1,270,734, Catholics 230,000, priests 214, permanent deacons 94, religious 380), U.S.A. He succeeds Bishop Michael A. Saltarelli, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

From the Vatican:

Last Sunday, the Solemnity of the Apostles Peter and Paul, marked the beginning of a Year dedicated to the figure and teaching of the Apostle Paul. Today’s Audience begins a new series of catecheses aimed at understanding more deeply the thought of Saint Paul and its continuing relevance. Paul, as we know, was a Jew, and consequently a member of a distinct cultural minority in the Roman Empire. At the same time, he spoke Greek, the language of the wider Hellenistic culture, and was a Roman citizen. Paul’s proclamation of the Risen Christ, while grounded in Judaism, was marked by a universalist vision and it was facilitated by his familiarity with three cultures. He was thus able to draw from the spiritual richness of contemporary philosophy, and Stoicism in particular, in his preaching of the Gospel. The crisis of traditional Greco-Roman religion in Paul’s time had also fostered a greater concern for a personal experience of God. As we see from his sermon before the Areopagus in Athens (cf. Acts 17:22ff.), Paul was able to appeal to these currents of thought in his presentation of the Good News. Against this broad cultural background, Paul developed his teaching, which we will explore in the catecheses of this Pauline Year.

A work in progress…Year of Saint Paul

Father Z has the tradritions:

Build a fire tonight, eat snails, and sing something in honor of St. John the Baptist!

Our Sunday Visitor has co-published with The Birmingham Catholic Press a new book by Father Mitch Pacwa, S.J. on St. Paul: St. Paul: Jubilee Year of the Apostle Paul Edition: A Bible Study for Catholics

From the Vatican Information Service:

Today in the Vatican the Holy Father received participants in a symposium entitled: “The identity and mission of Catholic radio today”. The symposium was organised by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, which is presided by Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli.

 

  “As you work in Catholic radio stations you are at the service of the Word”, the Pope told the more than 100 delegates from 50 countries. “The words that you broadcast each day are an echo of that eternal Word which became flesh. … The Incarnation took place in a distant village, far away from the noisy imperial cities of antiquity. Today, even though you make use of modern communication technologies, the words which you broadcast are also humble, and sometimes it may seem to you that they are completely lost amidst the competition of other noisy and more powerful mass media.

 

  “But do not be disheartened!” he added. “The words which you transmit reach countless people, some of whom are alone and for whom your word comes as a consoling gift, some of whom are curious and are intrigued by what they hear, some of whom never attend church because they belong to different religions or to no religion at all, and others still who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ, yet through your service first come to hear the words of salvation. This work of patient sowing, carried on day after day, hour after hour, is your way of co-operating in the apostolic mission”.

 

  “If the many forms and types of communication may be seen as a gift from God to help individuals and all humankind to develop, then radio, through which you exercise your apostolate, brings words and music to people in order to inform and to entertain, to announce and to denounce, but always respecting the truth and with the clear aim of educating in truth and hope. Jesus Christ gives us the Truth about man and the truth for man and, on the basis of that truth, a hope for the present and future of humanity in the world”.

 

  The Holy Father went on to express the view that “radio, due to its association with the word, participates in the mission and visibility of the Church, but it also creates a new way of living, of being and of making the Church; this brings with it various ecclesiological and pastoral challenges. It is important to make the Word of God attractive, giving it consistency through your transmissions so as to touch the hearts of the men and women of our time, and to participate in transforming the lives of our contemporaries”.

 

  “What exhilarating prospects your commitment and your work open up!” the Holy Father exclaimed. “Even now, your networks can be a small but real echo in the world of the network of friendship that the presence of the risen Christ, the God-with-us, inaugurated between heaven and earth and among mankind of all continents and epochs. In this way your work will become a full part of the mission of the Church, which I invite you to love deeply. By helping the heart of each person to open to Christ, you will help the world to open to hope and to that civilisation of truth and love which is the most eloquent result of His presence among us”.