2012
Pentecost is witnessed through marriage and family
Pentecost
Like the grace received on Pentecost by the apostles, the grace received by the married couple is not just for the wedding day. With the daily guidance and love of the Holy Spirit we actively participate in this grace and our love as husband and wife is continually renewed directing and guiding us in our vocation of marriage. This unity creates a bond between us as husband and wife that helps us to be strong in our beliefs, purpose and values as we grow as a couple and as a family.
We give witness to this grace in our lives through the fruit of the Holy Spirit which include love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. When we are aware of and call upon these gifts we are not only united as a family but our family also witnesses to the power of Christ.
Perhaps at a family meal a discussion could focus on how each family member exemplifies these fruits. Identify special gifts each member has and how they use them. Then try to think of how you as a family witness the gifts of the Holy Spirit in your daily lives?
2012
A Visit to a Rural Parish
I enjoyed so much my recent visit to Hinckley, Ohio and Our Lady of Grace parish, which maintains with pride a beautiful shrine to the Two Hearts (of Jesus and Mary), complete with a lovely garden cared for by committed parishioners. My goal was to preach at the weekend Masses and speak to the Tri-County Marian Society members who have been supplying us with Rosaries on occasion. I found an active, vibrant parish community that knew the concerns and interests of rural people.
Ann Guzzy and Rosemarie Ascherl, with materials for making Rosaries
When I arrived I was reading announcements about a “llama-dooo sale” which had me wondering. One sign was a message from the ‘Dolly Llama’ saying, “Do your doooty and fertilize your fields with llama-dooo!” I was glad to see that there were no live llamas in the basement of the Church. Rather, bags of the fertilizer were stacked by the door to be purchased by interested farmers.
I found inside a wonderful “Bloom ‘n Books Sale”. People had donated hundreds of used books for sale and hundreds of plants for sale to parishioners after Mass on Mothers’ Day. What a great idea for raising funds to maintain the shrine. There was real love and real planning and hard work behind it all. This community is united and cooperated with the leadership of Fathers Joseph Mecir, the Pastor, and John McDonough, in residence. My congratulations to such a vibrant Christian community. I was happy to see you all!
2012
Father Peyton at the International Eucharistic Congress
Just a few weeks until the INTERNATIONAL EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS in DUBLIN: June 10-17. We will be there, representing the Servant of God, Father Patrick Peyton, CSC and his worldwide mission!
What is an International Eucharistic Congress? As you see on the logo, this IEC will be the fiftieth. They happen in different places: the last one was in Quebec City in 2008. Sponsored by the Vatican, these events aim to promote an awareness of the central place of the Eucharist in the life and mission of the Catholic Church and to help improve our understanding and celebration of the liturgy.
It is wonderful to celebrate it in Dublin, as time of joy and grace. We all know that the Church in Ireland has suffered much lately. May this be a time to share the Good News!
The Father Peyton Centre of County Mayo , the Irish arm of Family Rosary International will be sharing Father Peyton´s message. We will be offering the House of Mary, the multimedia Rosary experience that was so well received at Word Youth Day in Madrid. In addition, our other multimedia presentations and concerts will help IEC pilgrims understand the importance of Mary and the Rosary in a eucharistic Catholic life.
You may not be able to be there, but please pray for this event, important for the whole Church! If you know someone who is going, please invite them to come to the House of Mary!
2012
The World’s Greatest Mother
A place of profound grace and mystic beauty.
The Servant of God, Archbishop Fulton Sheen called her The World’s Greatest Mother. Father Theodore Hesburgh, CSC, President Emeritus of the University of Notre Dame, who turns 95 in two weeks, asserts that “She had to be the first one to whom her divine Son appeared after his Resurrection, no doubt about it”. Servant of God Father Patrick Peyton, CSC, referred to her as “Mother Mary.” The Gospels say, “She gave birth to her firstborn son,” {Lk 2:7} implying that there were other children to be born, not of flesh and blood but of Spirit. On the Cross Jesus said to the Beloved Disciple, “Behold, your Mother.” This weekend as we celebrate Mother’s day and pray for our mothers, living and deceased, most of us thank God with profound gratitude for the earthly mothers who gave us life, loved us, nourished us, sacrificed for us and handed on the treasure of the faith to us. Only a wise, benevolent God of love could have dreamed up mothers. So it is a sweet responsibility to honor our mothers this coming weekend, especially during the Eucharist.
May is Mary's month and I muse at that and wonder why?
The Jesuit Poet Gerard Manley Hopkins said:
”May is Mary’s month and I muse on this and wonder why:…
Ask Her, the mighty Mother: Her reply puts this other question:
What is Spring?-
Growth in everything,
All things rising, all things sizing….
Mary sees, sympathising with that world of good nature’s motherhood.
Please share your reflections on your own mother, being a mother, helping others to come to Mary as their mother through the Eucharist or praying the Rosary.
2012
A Mother’s Love
Mother's Day
When she was alive, she was always in the present still moving forward. I thought of our relationship and our varied life experiences but they were just bits and pieces of my past, some positive some not so much. Now, however, when I think of her stories I see her alive and active at whatever age she was at the time.
I study her childhood photos and hear her talking about being an official card carrying member of the “Knot Hole Gang”. For years I thought she was kidding until visiting Cooperstown and seeing that they actually had cards for kids. I can see her sitting in the bleachers with her gang and it makes me smile.
She talked about how things were when my dad was in the service. I see her watching my uniformed dad play with my sister knowing he would soon be going overseas. Her sadness is almost palpable. I see her in the new home we moved into after he returned from the war and how she loved the light coming in all the windows and how she gathered us around to read to us.
There she was when I finished high school standing so clear and proud in the stands with the other parents. Or later when I was relating a story she had told herself and how she glowed. There was the visit we had a few years before she died when she was talking about dying and planning on how she’d let me know she was OK. She said she would come in a dream “but please, don’t ask me any questions.”
And I can hear her reassure me not even a month before she died when I told her that as a child of 10 I was sure I killed grandpa because I had put my shoes on the table. She was so sad as she said she wished she would have known how I felt so she could have told me that it wasn’t my fault.
Yes, she is gone and there are no new stories to tell but this year when I celebrate Mother’s Day, I will be celebrating all the different ways she still lives in my heart and thank God for the memories and for her life.
2012
What is a Church?
Sacred Heart Basilica at Notre Dame is one of the most beautiful churches in the United States. It is a neo-gothic structure of fine proportions and ornate with statues, paintings and stained glass. As I have been studying at ND this semester I have found myself fascinated by this sacred space.
At first sight it is impressive, even imposing. It is lavish in light and color. Maybe some might even be put off by all the use of gold: why not ¨simpler¨?
But looking around we see figures, personages and symbols. What is this place trying to say to us?
Prophets, saints, kings, heavenly choirs. There are lots of symbols like wheat, chalices, water… and light: lots of light, crosses everywhere, and a lamb who was slain.
It is telling stories, rather a great story: it is telling a history: Salvation History. How the Lord saved and saves us.
It is telling our history: your story and my story, and how we live and celebrate the great story.
Clearly the focus is on two persons: Jesus and Mary. Jesus of course: He is our Savior and our God! But this church says loud and clear that we Catholics really love Mary too!
She is our Mother and she is our model and guide and the church is filled with warm and tender portrayals of her life with Jesus. Yet as I have meditated on these images I´ve realized there is more.
For Catholics and for Orthodox Christians Mary is symbol of the Church. Pope Benedict calls her a ¨personification¨ of the Church. All the images of Mary celebrate our love for her – and also they celebrate the Church herself! Seeing Mary we come to know the Church.
The Church is the Bride of Christ. This church, as is the case of all great Catholic and Orthodox Cathedrals and Basilicas, celebrates both Jesus and the Church together. What we contemplate is the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, the Heavenly Banquet in the New Jerusalem!
A great church like Sacred Heart Basilica is trying to say something so important to the whole world: about who God is, who we are in Christ and where we all are headed in Him!
As I meditate on all this I find it amazing: our great churches are really the Bible itself made into magnificent edifices! This church says what the Church is!
2012
The Perfect Man {Woman}
A Child considers his father the perfect man.
Scripture Citation: “I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.” John 15:15
Almighty and infinite God, Jesus, your son, is the model of perfect manhood. He teaches us the way to true purpose and fulfillment in this life through two demanding tasks for which He also gives us the grace. First, He is completely transparent and reveals all that the Father gives him. Second, he lays down his life for those he loves, which includes even his enemies. If I can share myself in appropriate self-disclosure and commit myself to what is true, beautiful and good, then I am His friend and follower. Father, give me the courage to be transparent with my close friends and to be faithful to all my commitments, I pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Where He goes we hope to follow.
2012
TruthSmack-Let It Go
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_eXI2ZCOPs&feature=colike
Here is a creative Hip Hop Video on Forgiveness and the power of the sacrament of Reconciliation to change lives. I recommend it. Not the usual fare for this blog but worthwhile.
God bless,
Fr. Willy
2012
After prison, what?
Prisoners in the Philippines praying for peace in all countries
Our God is a God of forgiveness, who encourages those who have sinned to “Go and sin no more”. Jesus teaches us not to condemn or hold grudges. Those in correctional facilities, with time for repentence and reviewing their lives and reading the Scriptures, can gradually come to know this God as they have perhaps never known Him before. I find those with whom I celebrate Mass in correctional institutions to be devout and contrite and very appreciative of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.
But my question is this: When those same “convicts” reach the street, will they be able to join a parish community and be welcomed for who they are? Will anyone there offer them a job, or assist them to get on their feet by establishing new and more trustworthy friendships with others of faith? Or will those “regulars” who attend Mass and are involved in the various ministries of the parish pull back and caution each other that this person is not to be trusted?
- Can we be brothers and sisters to those who have paid for their crimes?
In the State of New York, a released prisoner is given $40.00 and a bus trip back to the neighborhood where all the trouble began, where friends lie about the availability of a job for him or her; where the same folks who helped the person land in jail in the first place are the only ones he knows well enough to associate with. What do you think will happen next? Recidivism has something to do with the openness and hospitality of our parish communities or the lack of same. Can we who believe in the Resurrection of Jesus help ex-convicts to “rise from the dead as well?
2012
“For All” or “For Many”
The Sacrifice of the Mass is heaven on earth
The Great Family Prayer of the Christian people is the Eucharist which was instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ at the Last Supper on the Night before he died for us. It was and remains the “source and summit” of the spiritual life of Christians. No wonder then that the most important of recent changes in the language used at Mass seemed to be the words of consecration. The Latin “Pro Multis” is translated literally as “For Many.” However, the translation used in English for 40+ years had Jesus saying, “This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant which will be shed for you and for all men so that sins may be forgiven…” Now the priest says, “This is the chalice of my blood of the new and eternal covenant which will be poured out for you and for many….”
In the Prophet Isaiah 53:11, which Jesus evokes at the Last Supper, it says the “Suffering Servant” through his suffering, shall justify many. At the Last Supper in Mark 14:24 and Matthew 26:28 , Jesus says, “This is my blood, the Blood of the Covenant, which is shed for many.” Added to this, Luke and Saint Paul both quote Jesus as saying “This is my blood poured out for you.” Is this change narrowing the circle of those who are saved by Jesus? Is this a step backward from a Church reaching out to the whole world? Not at all. These words honor the words of scripture and the words used by Our Lord Himself at the Last Supper account in Gospels, the very high standard and authority given to us by the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
The Pope says: “The disciples know that the mission of Jesus transcends them and their inner circle; that He came to gather together all the scattered children of God. {cf. JN 11:52} This “for you” makes the mission of Jesus very concrete for those who are present…..”For you” reaches into the past and into the future; I have been named very personally,we who gather here are known as such by Jesus. In this way, “for you” is not a constriction, but a specification which is valid for every community that celebrates the Eucharist, unites itself concretely to the love of Christ.
The Pope goes on to say that one of the certainties of our faith is that Christ is the universal Savior who died for all men and women of all ages places. To say in the Eucharistic prayer that He died for Many or that he died for You does not mean that there are some for whom He did not die. It is honoring the words of the Lord in scripture and making very clear and particular that He died for you and me and each one of us and for all. He is Risen Alleluia!
Love the Mass, love the Rosary and love this great Family Prayer. LEt me hear from you.
2012
Our Lady of the Sign
- Our Lady of the Sign
¨As the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me.¨ (John 6: 57)
The Gospel texts we meditate on in the Church at this time in Easter Season are AMAZING: The Sermon on the Bread of Life which is clearly about the Eucharist. The Eucharist really is source and summit of our Christian life, as the Vatican Council said.
Our Lady teaches us what this means by her life: in a practical way!
The Icon here is called ¨Our Lady of the Sign¨. This type of portrayal is one of the oldest in the Church. As the Sign promised by God, Isaiah 7: 14, the Virgin received the Word of God so deeply that it became flesh. He became Her whole life.
Like Mary, we receive this Word made Flesh in the Eucharist. Through this, the Lord says, He wants us to live, to have his Life and strength! He is the God who is Love – so we will have His love.
If I have this Life and Love I am ready for anything: the joy, the pain, beauty, and the sacrifice of each day!
Maybe you can spend a little time now, gazing at this Icon. See yourself in Mary, with Jesus in the Eucharist within you!
2012
Martyrdom of love
Cross
On Good Friday, at the Coliseum in Rome, Pope Benedict led the Stations of the Cross, using a text written at his request by a married couple, Danilo and Anna Maria Zanzucchi, founders of the “New Family Movement.” What a tremendous blessing for family life to have a “way of the cross” that highlights the manner in which families take up the cross in their daily lives!
Blessed Moreau, founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross, taught that it was not necessary to enter a church to make the “stations of the cross.” The cross is carried every day in the struggles that people encounter in their daily lives. Surely Catholic families experience the cross as they seek to live in mutual love and fidelity, sacrificing for one another, reaching out to those in need and attempting to live by gospel values.
The Zanzucchi’s “Stations of the Cross” recognize that in family life we often live a “martyrdom of love,” but that, at times, we can be so concerned about the material wellbeing of our families that we can fail to be sensitive to the needs of the poor. They also highlight the importance of reverencing the dignity of every family member.
I was particularly struck by their prayer that asks of the Lord “to help us to raise our children in sobriety, sacrifice and renunciation.” I know so many parents that struggle to know how to raise their children with a deep sense of gratitude to God for and a deep respect for the blessings of temporal goods in a world so deeply marked by consumerism and social status.
If you have an idea on how to raise children with a proper attitude toward material goods in our world of plenty please share them with our readers.
Link to the Stations:
http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/2012/documents/ns_lit_doc_20120406_via-crucis_en.html
Page with a video link: http://www.vatican.va/liturgical_year/holy-week/2012/index_en.htm
2012
80% of Religious Persecution Directed toward Christians
Sometimes we get discouraged at the ways Christianity, especially the Catholic Church is unfairly portrayed in television or film, but these slights are nothing compared to what our brothers and sisters in 133 nations around the world are experiencing at this time. Appreciate your freedom to legally read this web site or go to mass.
World religious persecution has been growing. In the last ten years it is up 309%. According to the International Society for Human Right’s most recent report, 80% of the religious persecution in the last year has been directed toward Christians. According to a Pew Forum report, forms of religious oppression vary from prohibitions against worship, confiscation of property, physical assault and murder. 150,000 Christians were killed last year for their faith.
“Where God Weeps” reports on the plight of Christians in their Internet, television and radio programs. They point out the main sources of the persecution are: 1. Muslim Fundamentalism, 2. Extreme Nationalism and 3. State Sponsored Oppression.
Ancient Christian Communities in Iraq, Iran and other parts of the world are being decimated as Christians are intimidated into abandoning their faith, fleeing the countries or facing physical harm. The recent assassinations of the Coptic people in Egypt point to the vulnerability of Christians there.
In his Wednesday address on April 18, 2012, Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the early Church’s response to persecution. They came together united, they prayed for understanding in light of faith and asked for the courage to continue to proclaim the Gospel. The Holy Father concluded by speaking of our times:
We too, dear brothers and sisters, must know how to bring the events of our daily lives into our prayer, to find their deeper meaning. And like the first Christian community, we too, letting ourselves be enlightened by God’s Word through meditation on Holy Scripture, can learn to see that God is present in our lives, present even and precisely in difficult moments, and that everything – even things that are incomprehensible – is part of the superior design of love in which the final victory over evil, over sin and over death is truly that of goodness, of grace, of life, of God.
2012
Why Pray?
O Lord, my God, for you my soul is thirsting, my body pines for you.
Our God is all-knowing, all-powerful and all-good. Why do I need to pray if God knows all, is all powerful and is surpassing all creatures in goodness? Am I praying to inform Him of something He doesn’t already know? I don’t think so. If He is all powerful and all good, why is there so much evil in the world? Shouldn’t He take care of it without my having to tell Him what to do in my prayers?
One possible response that makes sense to me is this: Every true prayer is God’s inspiration and gift to us. So our own prayers come from God himself and we address them to Him aware that He uses them to enlarge our hearts and minds to see the world and our needs through His eyes. As Saint Paul says, It is the Holy Spirit within us that cries “Abba, Father.” Saint Andre Bessette, CSC, the Holy Man of Montreal, was fond of saying, “As soon as our mouths whisper ‘Our Father’ God has his ear glued to our lips.”
I love the Rosary but if I am in a hurry, I use the beads to pray 59 times, the simple prayer, “Come Holy Spirit” or “Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Do you have any helpful hints on praying? Please use this comment space to share them. Blessed Easter to you.
2012
Recognizing Him in the Breaking of the Bread
The only Jesus we can know in our time is the Resurrected Jesus, the One who tells us not to fear and to be at peace! Perhaps He is most recognizable at the Eucharistic Liturgy, when many brothers and sisters gather to receive the Body of Christ in order to be more authentically the Body of Christ in the world!
A congregation in Bangladesh
I like this haiku, which summarizes the Season quite well:
HE KNEW HE HAD TO GO
SO HE FOUND A WAY TO STAY:
HOLY EUCHARIST!
On this my 38th anniversary as a Holy Cross priest, I find myself so grateful for the blessing of priesthood and for the privilege of celebrating the Eucharist and thus welcoming the Resurrected Lord in His Mystical Body, the Church! I find that the faith of the people renews and invigorates me and my own meager faith. I am often moved to hear the humble, honest confessions of the people and grant them God’s absolution, and then to celebrate with them as they come forward reverently to receive the Body of Christ in order to conform their lives to His! The Holy Eucharist indeed brings renewed life to God’s people! Be not afraid! Be at peace!
2012
The Fire of Easter!
I just came upon this splendid celebration of Easter from Florence, Italy that has been in existence since 1096. You won’t believe it! Please enjoy!
2012
All Times and Places
A Catholic Mantra
The Rosary is a Christmas Prayer {Joyful Mysteries}, a Lenten Prayer {Sorrowful Mysteries}, an Easter Prayer {Glorious Mysteries} and a Prayer for All Seasons {Luminous Mysteries}. As a priest now for more than 41 years, who often celebrates Mass more than once a day, I have come to cherish the Rosary as a part of my daily life and most especially as the best way to prepare for Mass. Saint Charles Borromeo, as archbishop of Milan in the late 1500’s, is considered once of the holiest, wisest and most effective pastors ever. Once a priest confessed that he was often distracted during the celebration of Mass. Charles said, “Please tell me what you were doing just before Mass. Were you gossiping, were you doing business, were you planning your day’s activities?” Then Saint Charles said the best way to avoid distractions during Mass is to prepare for the Eucharist by personal prayer.
For me, the Rosary has become the best and most helpful way to quiet down, remove myself from the idle conversation, and ordinary business to focus on the amzing mysteries we are about to celebrate. I know of other people who pray the Rosary while they are on the treadmill or walking along the Palisades in Santa Monica, or driving the clogged freeways of Los Angeles. Actually, the positive side of heavy traffic is that it sometimes allows you to pray all 20 mysteries of the Rosary. Finally, what better way to complete the day than to bring the Rosary to bed and pray the mysteries until you fall asleep and then let the Angels finish it for you.
If you pray the Rosary, when do you prefer to pray it? Does it help you focus on the Mysteries before Mass? Easter Blessings on you and your family and friends.
2012
The Power of the Resurrection Message to Families
The Resurrection story has much to offer families. Like Mary grieving in the garden, the fearful apostles in the upper room or the distraught disciples on the road to Emmaus, there are always times within a marriage and family when circumstances are such that one or the other needs consolation, support, and encouragement. There are other times when we hurt each other thoughtlessly or carelessly and need forgiveness. During these times, we may think nothing will ever get better but with God there is always hope.
As long as the relationship is physically safe, there is actually strength in the knowledge that failure is not an option. Nothing provides more self motivation than the faith and support of a loved one and there is no greater gift to offer than that same belief when a family member is filled with self doubt or seems unable to grow beyond a certain place. Prayer is the greatest recourse in these instances; to pray for strength, hope, insight, and the ability to see what may not be apparent. Mary Magdala was overcome with grief and yet, when Jesus first appeared, she didn’t recognize Him. The Emmaus travellers didn’t even recognize Jesus until he was gone and they realized “how their hearts had been burning within them.” Like the apostles, families have the risen Lord present in their daily lives to share the dying and rising, the despair and hope that is the Easter story.
v Family Activity:
- Once a day, perhaps at the dinner table, take turns having each member share a “high” (positive happening) and a “low” (negative happening) from the day.
- Say a prayer together as a family, thanking Jesus for the gifts of his Resurrection – Faith, Hope and Love – and praying with gratitude for each other as well as for the needs mentioned during the “High-Low” exercise.
- Let us know how helpful this exercise is for your family.
2012
Escape from The LRA: A Journey Toward the Light
Christ escaped the grip of evil to rise to new life. He calls us all to have courage to escape the grip of sin and the captivity that evil may have over us.
Stephen Raphael Kilama was a 14 year old, high school seminarian when he was abducted by the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) lead by Kony. After a few tortuous months he escaped. Stephen is now in the major seminary in Uganda and tells the story of his harrowing escape through the jungle.
Father Willy Raymond and I interviewed Stephen at World Youth Day and offer his story through a series of videos you can find On You Tube. Stephen hopes that his story will move the world to stop the activities of Kony and the LRA who continue terrorizing families and abducting children into their evil army. May we all be as brave as he was in fleeing from evil.
2012
Touchdown Jesus Raised Up!
Touchdown Jesus Raised Up!
It’s a beautiful mosaic adorning the Hesburgh Library at the University of Notre Dame. Most call it “Touchdown Jesus”, since it is visible from the football stadium between the uprights and the gesture Jesus makes is similar to that made by the referee once a touchdown has been scored.
But in truth it is Jesus risen from the dead, the only Jesus we of this particular century have ever known. Two thousand years ago Jesus “touched down” upon this earth in his Incarnation. This great mystery of God becoming one of us gives us great encouragement about our being able to navigate the joys and sorrows of our own lives. The “touched down” Jesus raises up his arms as He prays to the Father. We pray in this way at Mass as the priest holds his arms in this “orans” (praying) position. Many a charismatic does the same. Isn’t it like the way a child asks an adult to be picked up and carried? We identify with this “touched down” Jesus because our lives feel very much touched down to the earth, mired sometimes in sin and error, or just the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” we know on a daily basis.
But now comes the risen Jesus, to raise us up with Him. This is the mystery that reinforces our hope! His message is “Peace!” and “Be not afraid!”. The fact that Jesus has conquered death gives us the new confidence of true believers. The Lord has truly been raised and his arms are now raised in victory! Not the earthly victory of a football game, as exciting and entertaining as it may be, but the heavenly victory of eternal life, a goal worth living our lives well for! He is risen! Raise your arms and praise God! Alleluia!
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