Great Christmas Gift!

Book by Father Benedict Groeschel and Bishop Robert Baker (I wrote the preface)...beautifully illustrated throughout with the iconography of Mila Mina, hardcover and only $10.17 on Amazon! There is an amazing story behind the creation of this book that I share in the Preface...read to learn how you "are" encountering Christ right now and as the perfect gift to give to someone at Christmas so that they too can keep Christ in their celebration!

Papal Encyclical This Week?

From Detroit NewsThe topic being:
"a meditation on returning Christ to the center of church and human life."


Another report says that while the document was due to be released this Thursday and indeed will carry that date it likely will not be released now until after Christmas.

New Auxiliary for Chicago

From the Vatican Information Service:

The Holy Father has:

Appointed Fr. George J. Rassas of the clergy of the archdiocese of Chicago, U.S.A., vicar general, as auxiliary of the same archdiocese (area 3,653, population 6,104,000, Catholics 2,442,000, priests 1,781, permanent deacons 632, religious 3,953). The bishop-elect was born in 1942 and ordained a priest in 1968.

 

Reid thinks Bin Laden is Dead

From Channel 4 KRNV.com:

"Nevada Senator Harry Reid thinks Osama Bin Laden was killed in last month's earthquake in Pakistan.

Speaking Wednesday on News 4's Nevada News Makers, Reid says he was informed today that Bin Laden may have died in the October temblor.

'I heard today that he may have died in the earthquake that they had in Pakistan, seriously.' Reid says that if that is the case, 'that's good for the world.'"

Plenary Indulgence for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

Perhaps his first encyclical will be Marian in scope?

 

From the Vatican Information Service:

 

 "December 8," the text reads, "will mark 40 years since Servant of God Paul VI, Supreme Pontiff, who had already proclaimed the Virgin Mary as Mother of the Church, in closing Vatican Council II dedicated great praise to the Virgin who, as Mother of Christ, is Mother of God and spiritual Mother to us all.

 

  "On this Solemnity, the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI, when he renders public homage of praise to Mary Immaculate, has the heartfelt desire that the entire Church should join with him, so that all the faithful, united in the name of the common Mother, become ever stronger in the faith, adhere with greater devotion to Christ, and love their brothers with more fervent charity. From here - as Vatican Council II very wisely taught - arise works of mercy towards the needy, observance of justice, and the defense of and search for peace."

 

  For this reason, the decree continues, the Holy Father "has kindly granted the gift of Plenary Indulgence which may be obtained under the usual conditions (sacramental Confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer in keeping with the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff), with the soul completely removed from attachment to any form of sin, on the forthcoming Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, by the faithful if they participate in a sacred function in honor of the Virgin, or at least offer open testimony of Marian devotion before an image of Mary Immaculate exposed for public veneration, adding the recitation of the Our Father and of the Creed, and some invocation to the Virgin."

Crowds Flock to View Bloody Tears of Statue

The most viewed image on Yahoo images over the weekend...

From Foxreno.com:

Crowds have begun gathering at a tiny Catholic Church on the outskirts of Sacramento to view an outdoor statue of the Virgin Mary that appears to be shedding tears of blood.

Members of the parish -- the Vietnamese Catholic Martyrs Church on Jackson Road -- first noticed the tears last Wednesday, but the statue was wiped clean by one of the parish's priests, fearing it was the work of someone playing a prank.

Pope's Angelus for Today

Referencing today's Gospel reading...

From Asia News Italy:

The Gospel invites us today to remain vigilant in anticipation of Christ’s second coming. Jesus says: ‘Keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come’ (Mk 13:35-37). The short parable about the master who leaves for a trip and the servants charged with keeping watch, highlights the importance of being ready to welcome the Lord when, unexpectedly, he comes. The Christian community anxiously awaits his “manifestation” and the apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, exhorts them to trust in God’s faithfulness and to live in such a way as to be found ‘faultless’ (cfr 1 Cor 1:7-9) on the day of the Lord. Therefore, it is very opportune that the Liturgy should put the words of the Psalm on our lips at the beginning of Advent: ‘Show us Lord, your mercy, and give us your salvation’ (Ps.84:8)

“We may say that Advent is the time in which Christians should reawaken in their heart the hope of being able, with God’s help, to renew the world. From this point of view, I want to call to mind, today too, the Constitution of the Second Vatican Council Gaudium et Spes about the Church in the modern world: Christian hope is deeply pervasive in its text. I refer in particular to no. 39, entitled “New earth and new heaven”. Here we read: “We are taught that God is preparing a new dwelling place and a new earth where justice will abide (cfr 2 Cor 5:2; 2 Pt 3:13)… the expectation of a new earth must not weaken but rather stimulate our concern for cultivating this one”. We will find the good fruits of our work again when Christ hands over his eternal and universal Kingdom to his Father. The most Holy Mary, Virgin of Advent, enables us to live this time of grace vigilant and hardworking as we wait on the Lord.