Congratulations! Sean and Cindy Gallagher have…

Congratulations!

Sean and Cindy Gallagher have a new baby boy, born yesterday afternoon.

From a talk given by Father Benedict Groeschel, C….

From a talk given by Father Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R. about a month ago in Yonkers concerning the present crisis:

Does this shake your faith in the Church? I hope so, because ultimately your faith should not be in the Church, ultimately. Ultimately our faith is in Jesus Christ, and we accept the Church. We support the Church. We belong to the Church because Christ established the Church.

Somebody who belongs to the Church as a big organization, as a great philanthropic thing or the great social catalyst or whatever else you want to think, they’re going to be badly shaken. They may get out.

But we belong to the Church as the crucified body of Jesus Christ. If the Church is the body of Christ, don’t be surprised that it’s crucified. Don’t be surprised that it’s dragged through the streets and spat upon and wounded and crowned with thorns. That’s what’s going on right now.

The Church is the body of Christ, and when you love the Church, you should love it as the body of Christ.

Our dear Holy Father on Good Friday wrote this: “In the acute pain of the suffering servant, we hear already the triumphant cry of the risen Lord.” Christ on the cross is the King of the new people, ransom from the burden of sin and death, however twisted and confused the course of history may appear. We know that by walking in the footsteps of the crucified we shall attain to that goal. Amid the conflicts of a world dominated by selfishness and hatred, we as believers are called to proclaim the victory of love. Today, Good Friday, we testify to the victory of Christ crucified.

Not so long ago, the Catholic Church seemed to be very triumphant. I lived through those days at the end of the council. The Church seemed to be very powerful, and I’ve lived to see the mystical body of Christ crucified, betrayed, attacked, abandoned by the frightened apostles. And we’re all part of it. We’re all part of it. Don’t ever exempt yourself. I reproach myself every day that unwittingly I went along and stupidly I got involved in things that ultimately did not serve the Church or Christ so well.

Turn to Christ.

Places to leave prayer intentions (so that others …

Places to leave prayer intentions (so that others will pray for you or your intention too) online:

Taize Community or email prayer intentions

Little Flower Society– Prayer Intentions

St. Anthony Messenger Site–Prayer Intentions

Monastery of the Holy Spirit– Prayer Requests

Holy Resurrection Monastery–(scroll down) Prayer Intentions

Leave an intention here and the good deacon will forward it to three:

Carmelite Monastery of Our Lady and St. Joseph in Pittsford, NY

Dominican Monastery of Mary the Queen in Elmira, NY

Abbey of the Genesee (Trappist) in Piffard, NY

Thanks to My Virtual Oratory for linking me.

Thanks to My Virtual Oratory for linking me.

Pope John Paul II has released an Apostolic Letter…

Pope John Paul II has released an Apostolic Letter today entitled MISERICORDIA DEI (The Mercy of God) ON CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE CELEBRATION OF THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE. A definition of “salvation” is given in the first lines:

Salvation is therefore and above all redemption from sin, which hinders friendship with God, a liberation from the state of slavery in which man finds himself ever since he succumbed to the temptation of the Evil One and lost the freedom of the children of God (cf. Rom 8:21).

The purpose of the Apostolic Letter:

With these words, I intended, as I do now, to encourage my Brother Bishops and earnestly appeal to them – and, through them, to all priests – to undertake a vigorous revitalization of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This is a requirement of genuine charity and true pastoral justice,(5) and we should remember that the faithful, when they have the proper interior dispositions, have the right to receive personally the sacramental gift.

The principle teaching of the letter seems to be–making the sacrament of reconciliation more available, making general absolution less likely, and refusing absolution to “habitual sinners” (see my post below about ‘retaining sins’):

It is clear that penitents living in a habitual state of serious sin and who do not intend to change their situation cannot validly receive absolution.

Who moved my "school?" When Father Matthew Siek…

Who moved my “school?”

When Father Matthew Siekierski, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in La Plata, was returning home April 28 and could not see the parish school in the dark, he thought to himself, “Where is my school?” Then he saw most of it — lying on the ground.

Earlier that evening, around 7 p.m., a deadly tornado ripped through southern Maryland, leaving a trail of destruction in the town of La Plata. It killed three people, injured dozens of others and left Sacred Heart’s Archbishop Neale Elementary School seriously damaged.

Many of the school’s walls were torn from the building, and roofing and other debris were scattered throughout the classrooms. The twister slammed against the school and then hit its child-care center, leveling it to the ground. Now the center’s stairs lead to a mound of rubble. From CNS

Also from CNS: National day of prayer and penan…

Also from CNS:

National day of prayer and penance on sex abuse likely to be held on June 7, Vatican official says.

From a reader of this blog: A brief mention of …

From a reader of this blog:



A brief mention of this building crisis on your blog might get just enough people talking about this (see below) where someone would

actually do something about it. It’s just the sort of thing that America and other developed nations have proven they’re actually able to handle and don’t really have any excuse not to. And if we’re really Catholic, well… these several million people our our neighbors.

He is referring to this from the Catholic New Service:

LILONGWE, Malawi — A widespread famine is looming in Malawi due to a chronic shortage of corn, a national staple, Catholic missionaries warned. Unless international aid to the southern African nation is mobilized immediately, fears are growing that up to 4 million people will be at risk of starvation by next August.

Already this year, hundreds of people — mostly children and elderly — have died from malnutrition and related diseases. After

initially denying the crisis, the government declared a national emergency and said 80 percent of the country’s 10.5 million people were at risk.

With international aid agencies caught unaware, Catholic missionaries have been at the forefront of the relief effort.

Please remember to pray for Sean Gallagher and his…

Please remember to pray for Sean Gallagher and his wife Cindy who are expecting their first child today (or may have had it already)!

From a reader of this blog: My prayer life has …

From a reader of this blog:

My prayer life has been telling me for quite awhile that our Church, my diocese and parish, are not functioning as Christ would like. But I figured, what do I know – I’ve only been a Catholic a short time, and I haven’t even read all the way through the Bible yet (I’m almost done, though).

But so many things I notice as “wrong” don’t seem to bother anyone else. I come into the Church, and already I am complaining about some of our Catholic school’s textbooks and teachers, or the ex-seminarian (who acts gay and boasted about drinking and partying at a CYM meeting), or the music director who jokes and talks behind the priest on the altar as he consecrates the Eucharist. All I know is I try to pray constantly, and keep my chin up, despite persecution at home and elsewhere.

The Eucharist seems to be the only safe haven, as even our bishop and pastor are consumed by clericalism, I’m afraid. I volunteer with a ministry that “Stands and Prays” outside our local Planned Parenthood abortion mill – a block from our public high school. We simply pray for the people on the other side of the iron fence – the babies, their parents, the volunteers and workers, and even the “doctor” who comes on Tuesdays to do from 6 – 20 abortions. We don’t scream at anyone, nor throw ourselves in front of cars. We can counsel and hand out info in the rare instance that someone comes over to talk to us.

Many protestant churches help us in our ministry, but our parish is very cold towards the idea, and even downright negative sometimes. Our pastor won’t help – wouldn’t even let us pass out postcards to the congregation to sign and send to our senators to stop pro-choice legislation. A co-parishioner who is an OB-GYN and is the president of our “Coalition for Life” was kicked out of our Catholic hospital for protesting to our bishop that the hospital was aiding in abortions! (Of course that was not the reason given).

I saw a picture recently on a Latin Mass magazine: it showed Jesus being flogged from the front and the back at the same time. I’m beginning to relate to His suffering!

This is a continuation of the 73 Steps to Spiritua…

This is a continuation of the 73 Steps to Spiritual Communion with God. The previous are posted below among the other posts and last week’s archives. Here is the fourteenth step:

(14) To relieve the poor.

I find the wording of this counsel of Saint Benedict rather interesting. In fact I felt that I had better check the translation to see if the one I was using was correct. What I found is that the word Benedict uses, that is translated as “relieve,” is “recreare” which literally means “to create again” or to “revive.”

With that in mind we see that the counsel that Saint Benedict is giving applies to a variety of the poor. The material poor as well as those who are poor in spirit.

While attending school at Saint Meinrad College I worked several work study jobs. One of these jobs was a weekend one where I assisted the Guestmaster at the Guest House. I greeted people who came to the guest house usually to inquire about the Monk’s schedule or the history of the monastery. But another group, that often made their appearance on a regular basis, were those looking for help–the poor.

Some of these were looking for food. The monastery had tickets, that I gave to those who asked for them, and they in turn would go to the monastery kitchen where food would be given to them. No questions were ever asked apart from how many members they had in their family which was a determining factor in how many tickets I would hand them.

A few of these poor souls, I recognized from my visits to the local pub in town. I did not judge them or deny them the tickets even though I knew that they had some money (at least some to buy drinks). One reason for my lack of judgment, was due to the fact that giving the monks food away, did not cost me anything. I wonder though, if the money had been coming out of my pocket, if I would have been as understanding.

Others came to the door looking for food of a different sort.

Thomas Merton in Bread in the Wilderness speaks of the psalms as God’s manna, given to feed the soul in the desert of life. The monk’s prayer, made up almost entirely of praying the psalms, provided that nourishment for many who had suffered loss or hurt from great struggles of faith.

All of us are poor. It is arrogant to think that I am somehow better than anyone else. If there is anything that I have hated throughout my life, it is those who look down on others. Sadly, it is also the part of myself that I hate the most—and the part that I know could ultimately condemn me if I do not let go of it.

Saint Benedict did not leave counsel to “help” the poor, even though we could interpret this counsel as concretely doing this. He told them to breathe life into them.

I could feed the poor with food, but if I made them feel like I was doing them a great service, I could leave them with their bellies full but still feeling very poor. If on the other hand, I fed them in the way I might some friend who I hoped to impress and win favor from, how might that leave them?

The famous, the wealthy and those in power often find that doors are opened for them and everything provided for them, although they usually have done nothing to deserve it. We may not have a “royal” family in this land of ours, but some are treated that way nonetheless. Why should some be treated that way and while others are neglected?

I can not change the way the world around me acts toward the poor, but I can change the way I act. I also cannot tell, from outward appearances, who the poor are by the way they appear. This counsel of Saint Benedict’s does not apply to one or two individuals but rather to everyone that I meet.

The question that I must ask myself is “Do people I meet on lives path, leave meeting me feeling revived in their spirit or drained of spirit?”

“And whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he shall not lose his reward, (Mt. 10:42).” Sometimes what we give, may be insignificant to us, but not to the one who receives, we should be ever conscious of that truth.