Requiescat in pace, Archbishop Sambi

From EWTN News:

Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Holy Father’s diplomatic representative to the U.S., died in the evening on Wednesday, July 27. The nuncio was at a Baltimore hospital, where he was on a ventilator because of complications from a lung surgery performed two weeks ago.

On Monday, the nunciature, along with Archbishop Sambi's family, who traveled to Baltimore from Italy after Archbishop Sambi’s condition worsened, asked “Bishops, priests, religious, and lay faithful” to offer “sacrifices and prayers” for his recovery.

Archbishop Sambi was appointed by Pope Benedict in 2005 as the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States. He began his duties in Washington, D.C. in February of 2006.

Continue reading here.

Families: Be Holy!

This is an important reminder to parents especially if their child may be called to a religious vocation.  God entrusts parents with the lives of their children to help them become the people He made them to be - to give them proper direction in the journey to heaven.  God has prepared a path for this child to come back to Him and is asking the parents to assist the child in discovering that path.  It is so important, therefore, for the parents to encourage the possibility of a religious vocation for their children. We will be the happiest in the vocation to which God has called us.  Parents, and future parents, you will aid your child in finding happiness and, most importantly, aiding them in their journey to heaven, if you support them if they think they may be called to religious life.  Sadly, many parents discourage their children if the possibility of a religious vocation is brought up, but if there is support rather than hostility, then the reception of the vocation to which the child is called will allow, not only the child, but the whole family to flourish in the freedom of the Holy Spirit. Family life is so incredibly important - families are the basic unit of society and if the family falls apart the society itself will fall apart.  If, however, families are seeking holiness then they have the ability to transform the culture from a culture of death to a culture of life and civilization of love. The family is what it all hinges upon so to speak.  The family is where the child first learns how to love.  This has dramatic consequences whether for good or for ill.  The Church speaks of the family as the 'ecclesia domestica' or 'domestic church'.  Bl. JPII recognized the importance of the family so much that he dedicated the whole year of 1994 as the 'Year of the Family' because he saw a need for a renewal in family life and he also wrote one of his thickest encyclicals 'Familiaris Consortio' on this topic.  Families, be holy!  Bl. John Paul the Great, intercede for us that our families may seek the holiness for which they are made.



This is probably the closest you'll ever see Fr. Patrick to a motorcycle.  Check out the story here.




Photo by Fred Lynch

  

What Mass looks like from a communion of saints view:

From Fr. Z.'s blog

The New Translation - It's Gonna Rock Your Socks

Word for Word [Teens] from Life Teen on Vimeo.

Can't make it to WYD? Make a virtual pilgrimage

If you can't make it to World Youth Day in Madrid Aug. 16-21 in person, the tech-savvy have created a virtual pilgrimage website where you can create an avatar, follow twitter updates, facebook updates, watch video, etc. It's kinda fun actually - they've even made a little Pope avatar (even though the Pope will be there - haha!) Around 2,398 people have signed up virtually as of now.  Learn more here.

But, of course, you will also want to unite yourself with WYD pilgrims not only through technology but also spiritually through prayer and the Sacraments. :)

By the way, in a lot of the WYD 2011 Logos like the one pictured, instead of "WYD" you may have seen "JMJ" which stands for "Jornada Mundial de la Juventud" which means "World Youth Day" in Spanish since it's being held in Madrid, Spain this year.

Padre Pio Coming to a Retreat Center Near You

If you have time to make a quick trip over to Vandalia, Illinois I highly encourage you to do so either on Tuesday, August 2 anytime between 10am-8pm or Friday, August 5 between 10am-Noon to venerate one of the gloves and dried blood (basically a scab - I know it sounds gross, but it's actually really cool) from his stigmata.  A priest who lived with St. Pio at San Giovanni Rotundo will be there, Fr. Ermelindo di Capua. 

Read more from the St. Louis Review.  Check out more info about the retreat that coincides with this at Our Sorrowful Mother's Ministry.

Chillin' at Castel Gandolfo

This is a pretty cool tradition that Pope Benedict is continuing with his former university students:

From the Rocky Mountains to Rocky's Hometown

This is big news:

Photo by James Baca
August, 2010



Cardinal Justin Rigali will hold a news conference this morning to announce that Pope Benedict XVI has named Archbishop Charles J. Chaput O.F.M., Cap. as the 13th Bishop and 9th Archbishop of Philadelphia. Archbishop Chaput will be Installed on Thursday, September 8, 2011, the feast of the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul at 2:00 p.m. The Holy Father has also appointed Cardinal Rigali as Apostolic Administrator with all of the responsibilities of Archbishop until the Installation of Archbishop Chaput.

Archbishop Chaput, who is 66, is a member of the Order of Friars Minor, Capuchin. He was ordained a priest in 1970 and became a bishop at the age of 43. At that time he became the Bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota. Since 1997 he has served as Archbishop of Denver. A member of the Prairie Band Potowatami Tribe, Archbishop Chaput is the second Native American to be ordained a Bishop in the United States and the first Native American Archbishop.

I LOVE Archbishop Chaput!  He is amazing!  Philadelphia is so blessed to have had Cardinal Rigali and now Abp. Chaput - who will most likely come to be known as Cardinal Chaput.  Keep Cardinal Rigali, Abp. Chaput and the Archdioceses of Philadelphia and Denver in your prayers during this time of transition.

Update:
Here is the video of Archbishop Chaput's remarks at the press conference:

A man who needs no introduction...

Today is the Feast of St. Benedict, the twin brother of St. Scholastica.  He's kind of a big deal. :) 

A sacramental that is widely used in the Church is the St. Benedict medal.  Click here to read about the entire medal, but my favorite part is this: around the edge of the back of the medal are the letters V R S N S M V S M Q L I V B:

VADE RETRO SATANA; NUNQUAM SUADE MIHI VANA.
Get behind me, Satan; Never suggest vain thoughts to me.

SUNT MALA QUAE LIBAS;
The cup you offer is evil;

IPSE VENENA BIBAS!
Drink the poison yourself!

Take that, Satan!

84 Years of Faithfulness at 103 Years Old

Check out this video of Sr. Teresita - a cloistered nun in Spain who is 103 years old and has spent 84 years in the convent.  I love that she says she's hoping to meet the Pope when he comes to Spain for World Youth Day next month!  hehe! 
There's a lot of good stuff in this video - the encouragement of her parents to join the convent and discern a vocation, the fact that she joined simply because she was called, the misconceptions she had about nuns before she entered, how happy she is in the cloiseter, the prayer that she always offers which she talks about toward the end of the video - good stuff:


Tip of the hat to Fr. Z.

JPII! We love you so much we're naming stuff after you!

I love this picture - I just keep wondering what
he's reading and what he's looking at.

The name of Bl. John Paul the Great is popping up everywhere which I must say I am thrilled about!  Here is a sampling of churches, newman centers, universities and schools that are adopting the name of this great saint of modern times:

John Paul the Great University
John Paul the Great Catholic High School - Dumfries, VA
John Paul II High School - Plano, TX
John Paul II Institute
John Paul II Newman Center at Illinois State University
John Paul II Newman Center at the University of IL - Chicago
John Paul the Great Student Center at Christendom College
John Paul II Student Resource Center at the University of Sydney
John Paul II Center for Special Learning
Bl. John Paul II Parish - Big Fork, Montana
Bl. John Paul II Parish - Southbridge, Massachusetts

Life: Imagine the Potential

This video was made a few years ago but I happened upon it again this morning and it's definitely worth revisiting:

St. Maria Goretti: Model of Purity and Forgiveness

Today is the Feast Day of St. Maria Goretti.  Maria is fairly well known in our day and I highly recommend seeking her intercession, especially for youth who may be struggling with embracing chastity.  Maria was only 11 years old when she died in 1902 after a young farm hand named Alessandro Serenelli attacked her with lustful intentions.  He ended up stabbing her many times; wounds which ultimately caused her death.  On her deathbed she spoke words of forgiveness for her attacker.  She is often depicted with lilies and a palm branch; the lilies symbolize her purity and the palm branch symbolizes her martyrdom.  

Alessandro was sent to prison for his crime and during his time there Maria appeared to him with lilies.  This experience was powerful for Alessandro who reformed his ways and upon his release from prison went to live with Capuchin friars until his death in 1970.  Maria was canonized in 1950 in Rome.  Maria's mother was accompanied by Alessandro at the canonization.  The story of Maria and Alessandro is an amazing story of purity, forgiveness, conversion and redemption. The redeeming power of Christ can change even the hardest of hearts. 

Alessandro himself gives testimony to the harmful effects of much of what the world continues to struggle with (and even on a grander scale today) when he wrote the following: "My behavior was influenced by print, mass-media and bad examples which are followed by the majority of young people without even thinking."  As the saying goes, "garbage in, garbage out".  What we watch, listen to, who we look up to, has a profound effect on who we become and the vices or virtues that we practice.  The content of much of our entertainment has become filled with degrading material and the pornography business rakes in billions. But while there is much to fight, there is also much to be hopeful about. 

God is more powerful than our sins, our failings or our disappointments.  A renewal in the life of the family and the Church is happening and as a renewal in the family and the Church happens a renewal in society happens.  Just as when the family is broken, the sociey is broken; when the family is renewed, the society is renewed.  God always sends us what we need when we need it.  Bl. John Paul the Great's Theology of the Body is playing a major role in this renewal as well as Pope Benedict's efforts regarding the liturgy and unity.  Be of good cheer - God knows what He's doing and He is still in control!  Continue to pray for the virtues of chastity, temperance and fortitude.  When you show the world the joy that you experience from embracing a life of chastity you become a witness of redemption and through you God gives others grace to experience that same joy - just like St. Maria Goretti.  Will you be the saint He has made you to be?

Read more about St. Maria Goretti here.

Corpus Christi

"Christ, "the living bread which came down from heaven" (Jn 6: 51), is the only one who can appease the hunger of human beings of every time and in every corner of the earth." ~ Bl. Pope John Paul the Great



 
Read about the history of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ and the Eucharistic Miracle of Orvieto which is strongly connected to this celebration here.

A Monkey Couldn't Paint the Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

Yesterday a group of students and other community members began a summer study of Karol Wojtyla's (Bl. JPII) Love and Responsibility.  A dense and awesome philosophical work by the man who would become pope, L&R explores what it means to be a person and how the reality of who we are as persons effects our relationships with one another, particularly the relationship between man and woman.  The groundwork of what would later be known as the Theology of the Body, L&R heavily discusses the personalistic norm - that persons are not objects to be used by one another, but are subjects possessing inherent dignity and worth meant to receive and give love, not to be used.   Love is to will the good of the other.  So I'll be posting reflections, comments, thoughts, etc. as time permits about the text.  And now, drum roll please, by the grace of God, let us begin:

One of the first things Wojtyla does in L&R is to establish the fact that the human person is essentially different from the rest of the created world.  Man is not simply another animal on the level of dogs, cats, zebras, lions, platypus, etc. There is something different about us. He says, "...man has the ability to reason, he is a rational being, which cannot be said of any other entity in the visible world, for in none of them do we find any trace of conceptual thinking."  Animals cannot grasp concepts like justice, beauty, peace, truth, etc.  It would be utterly impossible for a monkey to ever paint something like the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and even further impossible for him to paint it, sit back and marvel at it contemplating the truth, beauty and goodness that it reveals to him and then desire to be more true, beautiful and good himself and ponder the meaning of his existence.  Only the human person is capable of such a thing.  The image that comes to mind is a scene from George of the Jungle that has George's best friend, an ape, wearing glasses on the tip of his nose while reading a classic work of literature and, of course, talking to George like he earned a doctorate at Harvard.  Cute, but totally outside reality.  I mean, really, why do we think it's hilarious when movies show depictions of animals talking and doing things that only humans can do?  Because it's ridiculous so we think it's funny. 

As Wojtyla points out, only the person has an interior life, a spiritual life:

In man cognition and desire acquire a spiritual character and therefore assist in the formation of a genuine interior life, which does not happen with animals.  Inner life means spiritual life.  It revolves around truth and goodness.  And it includes a whole multitude of problems, of which two seem central:  what is the ultimate cause of everything and - how to be good and possess goodness at its fullest.

What immediately comes to my mind here is that the person asks the questions 'who am I?', 'why am I here?', 'how do I find happiness?'.  Animals don't ask these kinds of questions.  He also talks about how the person desires goodness.  How often are we seeking the good even if we often fail in recognizing the true good and falling for a lie?  And if I could just briefly venture into some theology here, I would like to point out that God himself is the Ultimate Good and as St. Augustine famously quoted, "O God, our hearts are restless until they rest in you."  Therefore, being that we are made in the image and likeness of God and that we were made to share in the eternal exchange of love between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we can say, yes, God, who is the Ultimate Good, is calling us back to himself and our hearts are ever seeking to dwell in that Goodness - the person desires goodness because the person desires God and we are restless until we rest in him - until we 'possess goodness at its fullest'.

Wojtyla goes on to discuss how the person is a subject who interacts with the world not only on a physical, sensual plane but also on a spiritual plane and that the person possesses free will. 

That's probably enough to chew on for the day.  In the next section he begins to discuss  the "first meaning of the verb 'to use'" and then "'love' as the opposite of 'using'" which I hope to discuss in the next post for the book. 

Feast of Sts. Thomas More and John Cardinal Fisher

If for some reason you happen to be looking for a lawyer, today would be an excellent day to choose one as we celebrate the patron of lawyers, St. Thomas More.  We also celebrate St. John Cardinal Fisher today.  Thomas was a layman in England who served as chancellor for King Henry XIII and was a devout and faithful Catholic.  When Henry wanted to divorce his wife to marry another woman, the Pope upheld the teaching of Christ that a valid marriage is binding until the death of one of the spouses.  This obviously didn't sit well with Henry, but Thomas defended the teaching of Christ and the Church, the papacy and marriage, which of course dissatisfied Henry even more so he had him beheaded.  And Henry actually liked Thomas, so I bet all of Henry's friends were gettin' nervous.
Here is an excerpt of a letter that Thomas had written to his daughter, Meg, before his beheading:

 I will not mistrust him, Meg, though I shall feel myself weakening and on the verge of being overcome with fear. I shall remember how Saint Peter at a blast of wind began to sink because of his lack of faith, and I shall do as he did: call upon Christ and pray to him for help. And then I trust he shall place his holy hand on me and in the stormy seas hold me up from drowning.

Read the rest of the letter here.

If you're looking for a good movie to watch tonight, may I suggest A Man for All Seasons which portrays the story of St. Thomas More?

St. John Fisher was the bishop of Rochester, England and also defended the validity of Henry's marriage which, again, Henry wasn't so happy about, so he had him beheaded too - actually Cardinal Fisher was beheaded prior to Thomas and both were beheaded at London Tower. Henry proceeded to start his own church. 

Read a little more about Cardinal Fisher here.

On a related note, being the feast of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher, who were such heroic defenders of marriage, please pray for the state of New York today as the state legislature is deciding whether to legalize same-sex "marriage" or not.  As the family goes, so goes the nation as Bl. John Paul the Great would often remind us, so it is important for us to recognize, uphold and witness to the great sanctity and dignity of marriage between one man and one woman, for in this relationship we see a grand reflection of the love of God that is uniquely expressed between spouses and cannot be duplicated in the same way in other relationships.  As Archbishop Dolan has stated time and time again in his efforts to defend marriage in his state, marriage is a public and common good.  Study after study shows how detrimental it is for children to be deprived of a father and a mother and same-sex "marriage" would have dire consequences in this area.   The National Organization for Marriage, who have suggested praying through the intercession of today's saints, has been working hard with many people to uphold marriage in New York.  Prayer is powerful and effective, so let us pray with the archbishop today through the intercession of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher that marriage will once again be defended for the common good of the family and the nation.

Happy Father's Day

Gracias, Marcel.

The Presence Is Real

Watch this video about the Jewish roots of the Eucharist to strengthen your belief in the Eucharist, the Priesthood and our Catholic faith.  You can also buy Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist for more info regarding what you hear in the video.