Sunday, February 19, 2006

Fallen State of Man Requres a Savior

Pope Benedict's Angelus today...

From AsiaNews.it :

"Sin prevents humanity from “advancing swiftly” in brotherhood, justice, peace and holistic development. Even if all these values are upheld in “solemn statements”, there is something which “blocks the… journey”. In today’s Angelus, taking his queue from the gospel of today’s Mass (VII Sunday of Year B), which narrates how a paralytic was healed by Jesus, Benedict XVI said “only Jesus can truly heal” the sick man. “Man, paralysed by sin, needs God’s mercy, which Christ came to give him, so that healed in the heart, his entire existence can blossom once again,” said the pontiff.

“The paralytic is an image of each human being who is prevented by sin from moving freely, from walking in the path of righteousness, from giving his best. In effect, evil, nestling in the heart, ties man with straps of deceit, anger, envy and other sins, and little by little, paralyses him.”"

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Good Day for Amy and Moi on Amazon's Top 100 Catholic Bestsellers

As of Saturday Evening (2/18/2006):

#5 The How-To Book of the Mass: Everything You Need to Know but No One Ever Taught You

#21 The Power of the Cross: Applying the Passion of Christ to Your Life

#41 Here. Now. A Catholic Guide to the Good Life.

#65 Loyola Kids Book of Saints (Loyola Kids)

#66 How To Get The Most Out Of The Eucharist


By the way #21 The Power of the Cross: Applying the Passion of Christ to Your Life is a Lenten Devotional (you can search inside the book, for a sample read "Day 14", Ash Wednesday is only a week and a half away!

Cardinal Karl Lehmann



From Yahoo News:

Cardinal Karl Lehmann delivers a speech during the traditional carnival award ceremony 'Wider den tierischen Ernst' (Against Deadly Seriousness) in the western German city of Aachen February 11, 2006. Friedrich Merz, former financial spokesman of the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU), received this year's decoration 'Wider den tierischen Ernst', which is awarded every year to persons in public life showing humanity and a good sense of humour.

Friday, February 17, 2006

On 6/6/06-The Beast is Released?

Movie called The Beast is being released with great hoopla on 666...the premise of which is that a Christian high school student investigates the disappearance of her scripture scholar father who has "discovered" that Jesus never existed--no small feat, I might add. Christian fundamentalists are the enemy in this film. As someone has said it is the antitheseis of The Passion of the Christ.

You might want to arm your people with Amy's Prove It! Jesus (Prove It!).

For others I would suggest opening your Bible to John 6:66 and reading and reflecting on who the beast might really be.

On a side note, I remember a scripture scholar saying some years ago that the shroud of Turin couldn't be the true shroud of Jesus because (and I think you'll enjoy this) it matched the Gospel accounts to closely--anyone who has studied the bible at the graduate level will appreciate that and anyone who maintained their faith through the process won't agree with it.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

How To Focus More on Lent... this Lent

Ash Wednesday is just a week and half away!

Daily Meditations based on the Gospel Reading of the day from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday…

  • For Use as a private Lenten Devotional
  • For Use as in a Group Bible Study

    National Catholic Register
    Weekly Book Pick February 2005

For launching into Lent, Clare Siobhan recommends "The Power of the Cross: Applying the Passion of Christ to Your Life" by Michael Dubruiel.


And from those who've used it and plan to use it:

We just finished studying your book "The Power of the Cross" – ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!!!!!!!.
It was soooo Catholic and thank you for speaking the truth. We have a lot of Catholics out there (including myself) who missed these lessons over the last 20 years. We have made Catholicism what we wanted it to be. Not how is really is. I believe your book opened the eyes of a lot of the ladies in the group.
Vickie Loftis, Women's Bible Study, San Juan Del Rio Catholic Church, Switzerland, FL

“The Power of the Cross” will be our text for adult education classes during Lent. Keep on writing!

Pastor, Saint Patrick Catholic Church, Sarasota, FL




Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Ferder and Heagle

Interesting tale of a nun and priest who have been at the center of much silliness in the Catholic Church and may even be responsible for sowing some of the chaff amidst the wheat...yet joyfully continue along the path.

From The Seattle Weekly:

As they turn to walk toward their offices from the lobby, Heagle gently sends Ferder forward by putting his hand on the small of her back. It is an intimate gesture, born of a relationship that spans some 30 years. The twoare so obviously close that some have observed they seem like husband and wife. Ferder says the relationship is celibate but acknowledges their "deep, deep friendship." They live and work in the same house, teach together, and write books together. Together they belong to what they call a "support group" of friends who socialize and take trips, composed of three priests and three nuns. It seems as close to marriage as a nun and priest in good standing can get.

Pope Concludes Catechesis of John Paul


After almost a year, Pope Benedict today concluded the catechesis of his predecessor:

At the beginning of the general audience Benedict XVI recalled that today's catechesis was the last "of the long cycle begun years ago by my beloved predecessor, the unforgettable John Paul II," who wished to cover "the entire sequence of Psalms and Canticles that constitute the basic fabric of the Liturgy of the Hours and of Vespers.

"Having reached the end of this textual pilgrimage - like a journey through a flower garden of praise, invocation, prayer and contemplation - we now come to the canticle that closes the celebration of Vespers: the Magnificat."

The Pope went on: "It is a canticle that reveals ... the spirituality ... of those faithful who recognized themselves as 'poor,' not only in detaching themselves from all forms of idolatry of wealth and power, but also in profound humility of heart, free from the temptation to pride and open to the irruption of divine saving grace."