Pope's General Audience

From Asia News Italy:

The Church, “in spite of all human frailties”, expresses the communion, the “participation in trinitary life”. It is a “gift that brings us out of our solitude and enables us to participate in the love that binds us to God and to one another.” We can understand its greatness “only if we consider the divisions and conflicts that afflict relations between individuals, groups and entire peoples.”

Today, on a true day of spring, Benedict XVI spoke of the gift of communion to 40,000 faithful gathered for the general audience in St Peter’s Square. Communion is a gift from which the Church stems and which the Church expresses, he said. Through its apostolic ministry, it “will live across time building and nourishing the communion in Christ and the Spirit”.

“The Twelve prepared their successors (cf 1 Clem 42, 4) so that their mission might continue after their death. In the course of time, the Church, organically structured under the guidance of its legitimate Pastors, has thus continued to exist in the world as the mystery of communion in which is somewhat reflected the trinitary communion itself”.

Archbiship Marini Hospitalized?

Rumor floating around Rome is that Papal Master of Ceremonies, Archbishop Piero Marini has suffered a heart attack and has been hospitalized.

Now if this is true, let me make one comment. I noticed at the Mass on Saturday that Marini kept rubbing his eyes during the Pope's homily. ..which struck me as strange as these papal attendants usually are very stoic. If there is someone with medical knowledge could rubbing of the eyes be a warning sign?

It might be that Marini is getting too old to handle the rigours of papal liturgies (three in the past three days)!

Btw, I wasn't the only one who noticed. Check out what Shouts has to say:

Just as Marini being passed over for cardinal doesn't necessarily mean
anything neither does his remaining on the job as M.C. As is always the case we
don't get to decide for him what the Pope's actions (or lack thereof) mean.
Besides, there's always next year for more red hats, right? Perhaps that's why
Piero seemed so out of it at yesterday's Consistory? Perhaps, the axe is about
to fall and he's bummed? Maybe the axe has already fallen and it just isn't
public yet so he's feeling whistful for the "old days" of the last millenium
when he had more control?

(emphasis mind)

Cardinal Masses' From on Site Bloggers

Cardinal O'Malley's mass at the North American College via Sister Bernadette

And...

Cardinal Leveda's Mass via Zadok

Yes, We Can!

Half a million protest immigration bill in LA...

From Access North Georgia:

More than 500,000 protesters - demanding that Congress abandon attempts to make
illegal immigration a felony and to build more walls along the border -
surprised police who estimated the crowd size using aerial photographs and other
techniques, police Cmdr. Louis Gray Jr. said.

Wearing white T-shirts to
symbolize peace, the demonstrators chanted "Mexico!" "USA!" and "Si se puede,"
an old Mexican-American civil rights shout that means "Yes, we can."

Article on Fr. Robert Barron in the NY TImes

I thoroughly enjoy Father Baron's talks as well as his books.

In Chicago, Energizing the Catholics

Daily Lenten Audio Post

From the book of Lenten meditations written by me:

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

And in the Angelus...on the Color of Red

From Asia News Italy:

“The Consistory was an opportunity to feel closer than ever to all those Christians who suffer persecution because of their faith. Their witness, which we are informed of daily, and above all the sacrifice of those who were killed, are edifying for us and urge us to an ever more sincere and generous Gospel commitment.” The pope also recalled that the red colour of the Cardinal’s vestments, “the colour of blood”, indicated the “fidelity” and readiness of cardinals to spread the Gospel “to the point of sacrificing one’s life”.