Amy in the Dallas Morning News today. Just as an aside when we entered the church there was a long line that I thought was for communion. I was wrong it turned out to be a line of people taking turns reverencing a very worn statued of St. Francis (Xavier) lying in repose. Also the homily while simple was suberb the priest (a Franciscan) preached on Divine Mercy pointing out that Jesus appeared to his sinful (rejecting God is sin and they had abandoned the Son of God) disciples and forgave them immediately and sent them on a mission to extend that forgiveness. We only will get the good news when we can internalize the message that we are forgiven sinners who need to extend that forgiveness to everyone we meet. We'll continue to be mired in our own business as long as we sit in judgment of others...
From DallasNews.com | News for Dallas, Texas | Points:
"The day after John Paul II died, I attended Mass at the San Xavier del Bac mission south of Tucson, Ariz.
The 'White Dove of the Desert' rises out of scrubby earth ringed by mountains. Sunday morning Masses at the mission are back-to-back and all crowded, busy affairs. In the gorgeous, rococo setting, angels dance on the ceiling in charming 18th-century garb and stare down at the living body of Christ, as they have for centuries.
In a film on a recent restoration of the church, one expert remarks that the Franciscans who built the church 'would have used neon if it had existed.' He meant simply that the missioners knew the importance of making a splash, in a way that would simply get the curious through the door so that then the story --the good news-- could be preached and perhaps even heard. "
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Saturday, April 9, 2005
Seminarian from Alabama Read the Second Reading at Funeral
From For a Young U.S. Seminarian, the Reading of His Life (washingtonpost.com):
"It would be an exaggeration to say that John G. McDonald is a nobody in the Roman Catholic Church.
After all, among his 150 fellow students at the Pontifical North American College, the biggest U.S. seminary in Rome, McDonald is well-known for his shrimp gumbo, which everyone agrees is delicious, and for his colorful stories about growing up in the small town of Citronelle, Ala. But as a second-year theology student, still two years away from ordination as a priest, McDonald, 28, is not exactly a household name here. "
"It would be an exaggeration to say that John G. McDonald is a nobody in the Roman Catholic Church.
After all, among his 150 fellow students at the Pontifical North American College, the biggest U.S. seminary in Rome, McDonald is well-known for his shrimp gumbo, which everyone agrees is delicious, and for his colorful stories about growing up in the small town of Citronelle, Ala. But as a second-year theology student, still two years away from ordination as a priest, McDonald, 28, is not exactly a household name here. "
Friday, April 8, 2005
The Next Pope "From the glory of the olive"
This blogger lays it out thus:
"The next pope is de gloria olivae ("from the glory of the olive"). You can view the odds on who this might be. Symbolically, the olive could be a reference to any (or none) of the following:
"The next pope is de gloria olivae ("from the glory of the olive"). You can view the odds on who this might be. Symbolically, the olive could be a reference to any (or none) of the following:
the Jewish race (for which the olive branch is an ancient symbol)
Jesus' prophecy on the Mount of Olives
Peace-making
Dark skin
Italy, Greece and/or Spain"
Make John Paul a Saint Immediately!
Cries the crowd at his funeral (someday someone may read this and chalk it up to hagiography--but we have witnessed it ourselves!)
From Yahoo! News - Poor and Powerful Mourn Pope at Emotional Funeral:
"'We can be sure that our beloved Pope is standing today at the window of the Father's house, that he sees us and blesses us,' Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger told hundreds of thousands of people packed into a windswept St. Peter's Square.
'Santo subito' (Make him a saint immediately), the crowds chanted in Italian, holding up the Mass for more than 5 minutes in an outpouring of emotion for a giant of the 20th century who ruled his Church for more than 26 years. "
From Yahoo! News - Poor and Powerful Mourn Pope at Emotional Funeral:
"'We can be sure that our beloved Pope is standing today at the window of the Father's house, that he sees us and blesses us,' Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger told hundreds of thousands of people packed into a windswept St. Peter's Square.
'Santo subito' (Make him a saint immediately), the crowds chanted in Italian, holding up the Mass for more than 5 minutes in an outpouring of emotion for a giant of the 20th century who ruled his Church for more than 26 years. "
Cardinal Ratzinger's Homily
A Gospel that evolved in meaning over the pope's life, from the Vatican Information Service:
"Follow me! Together with the command to feed his flock, Christ proclaimed to Peter that he would die a martyr's death. With those words, which conclude and sum up the dialogue on love and on the mandate of the universal shepherd, the Lord recalls another dialogue, which took place during the Last Supper. There Jesus had said: 'Where I am going, you cannot come.' Peter said to him, 'Lord, where are you going?' Jesus replied: 'Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow me afterward.' (Jn 13:33,36). Jesus from the Supper went towards the Cross, went towards his resurrection - he entered into the paschal mystery; and Peter could not yet follow him. Now - after the resurrection - comes the time, comes this 'afterward.' By shepherding the flock of Christ, Peter enters into the paschal mystery, he goes towards the cross and the resurrection. The Lord says this in these words: '... when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go' (Jn 21:18). In the first years of his pontificate, still young and full of energy, the Holy Father went to the very ends of the earth, guided by Christ. But afterwards, he increasingly entered into the communion of Christ's sufferings; increasingly he understood the truth of the words: 'Someone else will fasten a belt around you.' And in this very communion with the suffering Lord, tirelessly and with renewed intensity, he proclaimed the Gospel, the mystery of that love which goes to the end (cf. Jn 13:1).
"Follow me! Together with the command to feed his flock, Christ proclaimed to Peter that he would die a martyr's death. With those words, which conclude and sum up the dialogue on love and on the mandate of the universal shepherd, the Lord recalls another dialogue, which took place during the Last Supper. There Jesus had said: 'Where I am going, you cannot come.' Peter said to him, 'Lord, where are you going?' Jesus replied: 'Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow me afterward.' (Jn 13:33,36). Jesus from the Supper went towards the Cross, went towards his resurrection - he entered into the paschal mystery; and Peter could not yet follow him. Now - after the resurrection - comes the time, comes this 'afterward.' By shepherding the flock of Christ, Peter enters into the paschal mystery, he goes towards the cross and the resurrection. The Lord says this in these words: '... when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go' (Jn 21:18). In the first years of his pontificate, still young and full of energy, the Holy Father went to the very ends of the earth, guided by Christ. But afterwards, he increasingly entered into the communion of Christ's sufferings; increasingly he understood the truth of the words: 'Someone else will fasten a belt around you.' And in this very communion with the suffering Lord, tirelessly and with renewed intensity, he proclaimed the Gospel, the mystery of that love which goes to the end (cf. Jn 13:1).
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