Crowds greet the pope as he arrives at the Monastery:
In prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in the Monastery:
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Crowds and Solitude in Brazil
Both at a Monastery that I know of from a Jewish friend who some twenty years ago, walked into and asked out loud in the Chapel, "Tell me if it is true, are you the messiah?" What happened next, he would never say, but today he is a Catholic priest.
Crowds greet the pope as he arrives at the Monastery:
In prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in the Monastery:
Crowds greet the pope as he arrives at the Monastery:
In prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in the Monastery:
Fatima and Pope's Trip to Brazil
Which concludes on the anniversary of the first Marian apparition at Fatima in Portugal on May 13th 1917 (90 years ago this Sunday). The pope was asked about this coincidence of being in a country where Portugese is spoken...
From Papa Ratzinger Forum via John Allen:
Tenth Question (from Catholic radio in Portugal):
Your Holiness, good morning. I’m from Portugal. The Portuguese are following and praying for this trip, which coincides with May 13, the 90th anniversary of the apparitions of Fatima. Do you want to offer us a word about this coincidence, also for the Portuguese people?
Yes, for me it’s really a sign of providence that my visit to Aparecida, the great Marian sanctuary of Brazil, coincides with the 90th anniversary of the apparitions of the Madonna of Fatima.
In this way, we see that the same Mother, this Mother of God and Mother of the church, Our Mother, is present to the various continents, that she shows herself to be a mother to the various continents, always in the same way but with a closeness for every people. To me, this is quiet beautiful.
It’s always the Mother of God, always Mary, and yet in a certain sense she’s ‘inculturated,’ with her specific face wherever she is – in Aparecida, in Fatima, in Lourdes, in all the countries of the earth. Thus, she reveals herself as a mother who is close to everyone, and everyone can come close to one another through her maternal love.
This connection which the Madonna creates among the continents, among the cultures, because she’s close to every culture and yet she unites them all, seems important to me – this specificity of the cultures, all of which have their riches, yet leading to communion in the one family of God.
Memorial of Blessed Damien of Molokai
From Vultus Christi, who sees in Damien the patron for all whose lives don't turn out as they planned:
When Providence Writes One's Life
Blessed Damien is, I think, a very suitable patron for those who lives have not turned out as they planned. By the time a child has reached adolescence, he has already dreamed dreams and nourished hopes for his life. The vivid reveries of little boys and girls take shape in a kind of autobiography written in the imagination and lived ahead of time in a world of fantasy. In that world no desire is broken, no hope dashed, no dream unfulfilled, but rarely do the life stories we write for ourselves correspond to those written for us by Providence. Events and circumstances — illness, loss, changes in fortune, failure — shatter dreams, close some doors and open others. The chance encounter with one person or the discovery of a particular book can change the direction of a life, leading to unexpected twists and turns.
The Designs of the Heart of Jesus
God intervenes in a thousand little ways, and sometimes dramatically, to realize in every generation “the designs and thoughts of His Heart” (cf. Ps 32:11). “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Is 55:8-9).
Yes to the Plan of God
The life story of each of us written in the Heart of God surpasses by far anything we could have imagined or written for ourselves. When one realizes that one’s life is not unfolding as one thought it would, two responses are possible. One can refuse the path opened by God, “kicking against the goads” (Ac 26:14), or one can say “Yes” to it.
Blessed Damien said “Yes” to God’s astonishing plan for him, a plan that led him from Belgium to Hawaii and, after ten years, to the dreaded leper colony of Molokai. The suffering Christ called Damien to a costly, sacrificial love, and to configuration with himself. He became “as one from whom men hide their faces” (Is 53:3), identified fully with the suffering Christ and with the lepers he served.
A Benedictine Without A Monastery
As a religious of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Father Damien’s life was based on the Rule of Saint Benedict. Without living in a monastery and without the benefits and protection of the cloister, Father Damien found himself living the Rule of Saint Benedict on Molokai in ways prepared for him by the Providence of God. “To relieve the poor. To clothe the naked. To visit the sick. To bury the dead. To give help in trouble. To console the sorrowful. To avoid worldly behaviour. To set nothing before the love of Christ” (RB 4:14-21). “The care of the sick,” says Saint Benedict in another place, “is to be given priority over everything else, so that they are indeed served as Christ would be served, since he himself said, ‘I was sick and you visited me’” (RB 36:1-2).
Rudy Won't Talk of Pope, Abortion
From Newsday.com:
Giuliani himself declined to respond directly to the pope's comments and wouldn't answer questions about whether he believed his support for abortion rights could damage his standing in the church.
"I don't get into debates with the pope," Giuliani told reporters.
"Issues like that for me are between me and my confessor. ... I'm a Catholic and that's the way I resolve those issues, personally and privately," he said. "That's what religion is all about -- it's something that's between you and your conscience and God and then whoever your spiritual advisers are.
"The Giuliani campaign Wednesday night deflected questions about Giuliani's spiritual advisers and whether he takes Communion -- saying, as the mayor did, that those are private issues.
Giuliani himself declined to respond directly to the pope's comments and wouldn't answer questions about whether he believed his support for abortion rights could damage his standing in the church.
"I don't get into debates with the pope," Giuliani told reporters.
"Issues like that for me are between me and my confessor. ... I'm a Catholic and that's the way I resolve those issues, personally and privately," he said. "That's what religion is all about -- it's something that's between you and your conscience and God and then whoever your spiritual advisers are.
"The Giuliani campaign Wednesday night deflected questions about Giuliani's spiritual advisers and whether he takes Communion -- saying, as the mayor did, that those are private issues.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
DeStefano's "Yes" Prayer Set to Music
On You Tube so with video also! From his new book...Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To: Divine Answers to Life's Most Difficult Problems
Aboard the Papal Plane to Brazil by Michael Dubruiel
On politicians who support abortion (from the Washington Post):
The Pope was asked whether he supported Mexican Church leaders threatening to excommunicate leftist parliamentarians who last month voted to legalize abortion in Mexico City.
"Yes, this excommunication was not an arbitrary one but is allowed by Canon (church) law which says that the killing of an innocent child is incompatible with receiving communion, which is receiving the body of Christ," he said.
"They (Mexican Church leaders) did nothing new, surprising or arbitrary. They simply announced publicly what is contained in the law of the Church... which expresses our appreciation for life and that human individuality, human personality is present from the first moment (of life)."
About The Church and Latin American problems (From the Papa Ratzinger Forum):
"The Church as an institution does not do politics, we respect secularity, but the Church indicates the conditions in which social problems can be resolved....The Church's mission is religious, but it opens the way for the solution of important social problems."
About liberation theology (From the Papa Ratzinger Forum):
"There is room in the Church for a legitimate debate on how to create the conditions necessary for human liberation, how to make Church social doctrine effective, and how to indicate the social and human conditions in which the right values can grow."
He added that "The situation has changed profoundly from when liberation theology was born...It is clear that the facile millenarisms that thought they could realize a complete revolution of human life were wrong. Now everyone knows this. Ut the point is what role should the Church play inthe struggle for justice - theologians and sociologists are divided over this."
He noted that when he was at the CDF, "we tried to discern how the church could get rid of these false millenarisms and of politicization."
About El Salvador's martyr bishop Oscar Romero (From the Papa Ratzinger Forum):
"I have no doubt he will be beatified. I know that the cause is proceeding well at the Congregation for the Cause of Saints," but said he did not have precise information.
"He was certainly a great witness for the faith, a man of great Christian virtue who was committed to peace anad against dictatorship." Recalling that Romero was assassinated during the Consecration of the Host, he said it was 'an incredible death.'
On this last comment a note, for those who don't know the Greek word "martyr" means "witness" which hightlights what the pope is saying in regard to Archbishop Romero.
The Pope was asked whether he supported Mexican Church leaders threatening to excommunicate leftist parliamentarians who last month voted to legalize abortion in Mexico City.
"Yes, this excommunication was not an arbitrary one but is allowed by Canon (church) law which says that the killing of an innocent child is incompatible with receiving communion, which is receiving the body of Christ," he said.
"They (Mexican Church leaders) did nothing new, surprising or arbitrary. They simply announced publicly what is contained in the law of the Church... which expresses our appreciation for life and that human individuality, human personality is present from the first moment (of life)."
About The Church and Latin American problems (From the Papa Ratzinger Forum):
"The Church as an institution does not do politics, we respect secularity, but the Church indicates the conditions in which social problems can be resolved....The Church's mission is religious, but it opens the way for the solution of important social problems."
About liberation theology (From the Papa Ratzinger Forum):
"There is room in the Church for a legitimate debate on how to create the conditions necessary for human liberation, how to make Church social doctrine effective, and how to indicate the social and human conditions in which the right values can grow."
He added that "The situation has changed profoundly from when liberation theology was born...It is clear that the facile millenarisms that thought they could realize a complete revolution of human life were wrong. Now everyone knows this. Ut the point is what role should the Church play inthe struggle for justice - theologians and sociologists are divided over this."
He noted that when he was at the CDF, "we tried to discern how the church could get rid of these false millenarisms and of politicization."
About El Salvador's martyr bishop Oscar Romero (From the Papa Ratzinger Forum):
"I have no doubt he will be beatified. I know that the cause is proceeding well at the Congregation for the Cause of Saints," but said he did not have precise information.
"He was certainly a great witness for the faith, a man of great Christian virtue who was committed to peace anad against dictatorship." Recalling that Romero was assassinated during the Consecration of the Host, he said it was 'an incredible death.'
On this last comment a note, for those who don't know the Greek word "martyr" means "witness" which hightlights what the pope is saying in regard to Archbishop Romero.
Alligator Alley Closed for Wildfire Smoke
I watched a little of the Marlins game last night and it was so smokey there that I thought they had set off a ton of fireworks...but I guess it was this. Fires all over the country.
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