Feast of the Holy Family

This weekend, we continue our Christmas celebration with a contemplation of the Holy Family. The feast allows us to ponder the love and model of the Holy Family, how St. Joseph and the Blessed Mother provided a stable home for Jesus Christ.

This Feast also gives us the opportunity to thank God for our own families, in which we were raised to respond to our vocations, and to ask the Lord fro his grace in forming that safe place for those who have been placed in our care.

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas!

Christ is truly born for us...

From the Christmas Proclamation:


Today, the twenty–fifth day of December,

unknown ages from the time when God created the heavens and the earth

and then formed man and woman in his own image.

Several thousand years after the flood, when God made the rainbow shine forth as a sign of the covenant.

Twenty–one centuries from the time of Abraham and Sarah;

thirteen centuries after Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt.

Eleven hundred years from the time of Ruth and the Judges;

one thousand years from the anointing of David as king;

in the sixty–fifth week according to the prophecy of Daniel.

In the one hundred and ninety–fourth Olympiad;

the seven hundred and fifty–second year from the foundation of the city of Rome.

The forty–second year of the reign of Octavian Augustus; the whole world being at peace,

Jesus Christ, eternal God and Son of the eternal Father,

desiring to sanctify the world by his most merciful coming,

being conceived by the Holy Spirit,

and nine months having passed since his conception,

was born in Bethlehem of Judea of the Virgin Mary.

Today is the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.

All Saints Day 2009

The Feast of All Saints reminds us that we are called by God to be saints. In all circumstances, the saints found blessedness in God. They responded to the grace of God, and we celebrate that they are in the presence of God. They show us how to live and love so completely so as to be in His presence. They knew themselves to be the children of God, and now they are something 'more', yet to be revealed to us. They responded to the grace of God, the same grace that we are given in the Sacraments. They struggled in the same ways (certainly circumstances change, though) that we do.

We have communion with them - they assist us by their prayers, and we follow their model. May we follow them into the Kingdom of God, being filled with His love, and serve Him all of our days.

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

What must we do to inherit eternal life? The Question that the rich young man is our question, too. Jesus responds to him to keep the Commandments, and then invites him to discipleship. Keeping the Commandments is important, but only a first step, a minimum step. Christ desires us to be more than minimum - we are to live life to the full, to place our trust in Him alone. So we, too, are asked to leave everything behind and to follow the Lord. When we do, we will find every need meet, and will be given everything in extravagance.

Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Marriage is a vocation, and as such it requires a commitment that is lifelong. Marriage, like priesthood, is under attack. So many seem to simply desire to define these sacraments their own ways, claiming a moral superiority over the Church, Tradition, and ultimately even Christ, based on their 'conscience'. Marriage is between one man and one woman, who willingly, knowingly choose to enter into the union for the good of the couple and the good of children, until death parts them. Anything else ceases to be marriage and rather a perversion of the truth. Christ gives marriage a sacramental grace, and those who enter it enter for life do so with this gift of grace. Just the same, those who are called by God to be priests and respond do so for life, and are given the grace that is needed to live it out their entire lives...

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary time

There is the reality of sin - and Hell - that we sometimes forget. We are to be so radical to avoid sin that we would do whatever it takes. Christ Jesus himself speaks of the reality of condemnation and Hell, and as the savior, He comes to save us from sin. His power is shown not in simply saying "Everything is okay" but in "I forgive you". Our lives are to be able to give glory to God. Not only that, but we must remember that Jesus asks us to be so aware of our actions that we not lead others into sin by word or example. If we do, He says that we would be better to have a millstone tied around our necks and thrown into the sea (to drown). Again, we are to be so separated from sin. Christ gives us the grace to do so.

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

From within us, from our unredeemed hearts, evil pours forth, as we hear in this weekend's Gospel. God's law is to put the limits on this evil, but more important, the Word of God, Jesus Christ, redeems us and makes us capable of true transformation. After listening to the Bread of Life discourse, it is perhaps most appropriate that we return to the Gospel accord to Mark with this passage. The Eucharist is Christ given to us, and at every Mass, we have the re-presentation of Calary - Christ's grace poured out for us, and - in our reception of Christ - in us! How great God is in giving us His Law, and that Word of God that is planted in our souls. May we allow it to grow, and in doing so, allow Him to direct us to all that is good and holy.

Vatican to Prepare Document on Seminarians

Zenit reports that the Vatican to Prepare Document on Seminarians. Keep them in prayer as they do this - sounds like it will be timely and very much useful!

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus Christ is Living Bread that comes from heaven. The Jews were repulsed by the idea, asking how He can give His flesh to eat. But Jesus strengthens His statement, telling them unless the eat His flesh, they cannot be truly alive. Jesus, the Son of God, gives Himself to us for the life of the world. We are invited to eat His flesh and drink His blood, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and to respond to the will of our heavenly Father.

Pope examines relationship of Mary to priests

Catholic News Agency reports on the Pope's Wednesday Audience in "Pope examines relationship of Mary to priests".

Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Aug 12, 2009 / 10:48 am (CNA).- During Wednesday’s general audience in Castel Gandolfo, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of there being a “nexus” between the Blessed Virgin Mary and the priesthood. Like St. John, he said, all priests “are called to accept her into their home.”

Pope Benedict pointed out that this nexus is rooted in the mystery of the Incarnation. “God does not act against our freedom,” he explained. “He needed the yes of his creatures.”

“St. Bernard of Clairvaux, in one of his homilies, explained in dramatic manner this decisive moment of universal history, when heaven, earth and God Himself await this creature’s response,” he added.

“Mary is truly and profoundly involved in the mystery of the Incarnation, of our salvation. … Sacrifice, the priesthood and the Incarnation go together and Mary is at the heart of this mystery,” the Pontiff said.

Pope Benedict also reflected on the tie between priests and Mary.

From the cross, Jesus sees his mother and the beloved apostle, an important individual, but more importantly a prefigurement of loved people and especially all priests.

“The Second Vatican Council invites priests to see Mary as the perfect model of their existence,” the Pope added.

“The Curé d'Ars, who we think of this year especially, loved to repeat that after Jesus Christ gave us everything he could give, he wanted to make us heirs of what was most precious to him, his holy mother,” the Pope continued. “This applies to all Christians, but especially for priests.”

"Every priest can and should truly feel himself to be the son of this most holy and most humble mother," he said.

...

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

This weekend, we read of Elijah and his journey to Mount Horeb nourished by the bread of the angel. In our Gospel, we hear Jesus telling us that He is the Bread of life, that leads to eternal life. Without Christ, the Bread of Life, the Eucharist, we are bound to fail. We need the Eucharist to nourish us on our journey through life. At the end of Elijah's journey, he was assured that God had heard him and his plea. God hears us, too. We come to the Eucharist, to receive Christ.

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

"Lord, Give us this bread always", we hear the people ask Jesus. It is a profound prayer of the heart, a prayer that both reveals that deep desire, but also betrays a certain sense of misunderstanding. Jesus is the Bread of Life, and we can receive Him in the Eucharist, but this is not simply for the feeding of our bodies. It nourishes our souls, and in the Eucharist, we are consumed to become the Body of Christ. Give us this Bread always, not our humanistic understanding, but Christ's understanding of what He offers.

To continue this reception of the Bread of Life, Christ has given to the Church priests, and in ordination configures them to offer the sacrifice that becomes the Eucharist, Christ truly present. We need the Eucharist, we need priests to confect the Eucharist.

The Blessed Virgin Mary's Role in Celibacy

In a post Ignatius Insight: The Blessed Virgin Mary's Role in the Celibate Priest's Spousal and Paternal Love, the author Carl Olson writes of the role of the Blessed Mother in the celibate priesthood, based on the book of the same title by Fr. John Cihak, STD.

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings this weekend tells us that the shepherd will protect his flock, not take advantage of them. The shepherd will lead to peace, seeking a refuge of rest and freedom. The Lord is our shepherd, and like a shepherd, He leads us to peace. But He also calls us yet today, like He called the apostles, to follow Him to rest and to serve. Let us follow Him, finding rest and peace.

Caritas in veritate

I am slowly working my way through the new encyclical "Caritas in veritate" of His Holiness Benedict XVI. So far, it provides great fruit for reflection. Especially in light of the first paragraph:

1. Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness by his earthly life and especially by his death and resurrection, is the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity. Love — caritas — is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace. It is a force that has its origin in God, Eternal Love and Absolute Truth. Each person finds his good by adherence to God's plan for him, in order to realize it fully: in this plan, he finds his truth, and through adherence to this truth he becomes free (cf. Jn 8:22). To defend the truth, to articulate it with humility and conviction, and to bear witness to it in life are therefore exacting and indispensable forms of charity. Charity, in fact, “rejoices in the truth” (1 Cor 13:6). All people feel the interior impulse to love authentically: love and truth never abandon them completely, because these are the vocation planted by God in the heart and mind of every human person. The search for love and truth is purified and liberated by Jesus Christ from the impoverishment that our humanity brings to it, and he reveals to us in all its fullness the initiative of love and the plan for true life that God has prepared for us. In Christ, charity in truth becomes the Face of his Person, a vocation for us to love our brothers and sisters in the truth of his plan. Indeed, he himself is the Truth (cf. Jn 14:6).

17. A vocation is a call that requires a free and responsible answer. Integral human development presupposes the responsible freedom of the individual and of peoples: no structure can guarantee this development over and above human responsibility.

18. Besides requiring freedom, integral human development as a vocation also demands respect for its truth. The vocation to progress drives us to “do more, know more and have more in order to be more”

Wednesday's Audience: On Priestly Identity

Here's the link for the full text of Pope Benedict's Wednesday audience On Priestly Identity.
Some highlights:

... In truth, precisely considering the binomial "identity-mission," every priest can better see the need for this progressive identification with Christ that will guarantee him fidelity and fruitfulness in the evangelical testimony.

... The mission of every priest depends, therefore, also and above all on the awareness of the sacramental reality of his "new being." The priest's renewed enthusiasm for his mission will always depend on the certainty of his personal identity, which is not artificially constructed, but rather given and received freely and divinely. What I have written in the encyclical "Deus Caritas Est" is also true for priests: "Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction" (No. 1).

... Yes! The priest is a man totally belonging to the Lord, because it is God himself who calls him and who establishes him in his apostolic service. And precisely being totally of God, he is totally of mankind, for all people. During this Year for the Priest, which will continue until the next solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let us pray for all priests. May there be an abundance of prayer initiatives and, in particular, Eucharistic adoration, for the sanctification of the clergy and for priestly vocations -- in dioceses, in parishes, in religious communities (especially monasteries), in associations and movements and in the various pastoral groups present in the whole world -- responding to Jesus' invitation to pray "to the lord of the harvest that he may send workers to his harvest" (Matthew 9:38).

Prayer is the first task, the true path of sanctification for priests, and the soul of an authentic "vocational ministry." The numerical scarcity of priestly ordinations in some countries should not discourage, but instead should motivate a multiplication of opportunities for silence and listening to the Word, and better attention to spiritual direction and the sacrament of confession, so that the voice of God, who always continues calling and confirming, can be heard and promptly followed by many youth.

One who prays is not afraid; one who prays is never alone; one who prays is saved! St. John Vianney is undoubtedly a model of an existence made prayer. Mary, Mother of the Church, help all priests to follow his example so as to be, like him, witnesses of Christ and apostles of the Gospel.

[Translation by ZENIT]

The Essential Elements of Priestly Ministry

In Pope Benedict XVI's weekly audience, he addressed the essential elements of Priestly Ministry: Announcement/word and Power/Sacrament. Special attention should be paid to the last paragraph of the article - it contains his prescription for vocations!

AUDIENCE: THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF PRIESTLY MINISTRY

VATICAN CITY, 1 JUL 2009 (VIS) - The Year for Priests was again the theme of the Holy Father's catechesis during his general audience, held this morning in St. Peter's Square.

The Pope began his remarks by expressing the hope that the Year "may be an opportunity for the inner renewal of all priests and, consequently, for the revitalisation of their commitment to the mission". He then announced that his catecheses over the next few months will focus on the figure of St. John Mary Vianney, the holy "Cure of Ars", on the 150th anniversary of his death.

What most stands out in the life of this saint, said Benedict XVI, "is his complete identification with his ministry. He used to say that a good pastor, a pastor after God's heart, is the greatest treasure the good Lord can give a parish".

"In fact, it is by considering the dual term 'identity-mission' that each priest will become better aware of the need for that progressive self identification with Christ which guarantees the faithfulness and fruitfulness of his evangelical witness. Thus, in the life of a priest, missionary announcement and worship are inseparable, just as sacramental identity and evangelising mission are likewise inseparable".

"The goal of priests' mission is, we could say, 'of worship': that all men and women may offer themselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, receiving the charity which they are then called to dispense abundantly to one another. ... Love for others, concern for justice and the poor are not so much a question of social morals as the expression of a sacramental conception of Christian morality because, through priestly ministry, the spiritual sacrifice of all the faithful is accomplished, in union with the sacrifice of Christ, the only mediator. This is the sacrifice that priests offer bloodlessly and sacramentally while awaiting the second coming of the Lord".

"In the face of so many uncertainties and so much weariness, even in the exercise of priestly ministry, it is vitally important to regain a clear and unequivocal view of the absolute primacy of divine grace", said the Holy Father. "The mission of each individual priest depends, then, also and above all on an awareness of the sacramental reality of his 'new existence'. Upon the certainty of his own identity - not artificially and humanly constructed but freely and divinely given and received - depends his perennial enthusiasm for the mission".

"Having received such an extraordinary gift of grace with their consecration, priests become permanent witnesses of their own encounter with Christ", and "are able to carry out their mission to the full, announcing the Word and administering the Sacraments.

"Following Vatican Council II", Pope Benedict added, "in some places the impression arose that there were more important things in the mission of priests in our time: some people believed that the priority was to build a new society".

Yet "the two essential elements of priestly ministry" always remain "announcement and power", said the Holy Father recalling how Christ sent His disciples out to announce the Gospel giving them the power to drive out demons. "Announcement and power", in other words "Word and Sacrament, are the pillars of priestly service, over and above the many forms it can take".

The Pope continued: "When the 'diptych' of consecration-mission is not taken into due account, it becomes truly difficulty to understand the identity of priests and of their ministry in the Church. ... During this Year for Priests", he said, "let us pray for all the clergy. ... Prayer is the primary duty, the true path of sanctification for priests and the heart of authentic pastoral care of vocations".

And he concluded: "The low numbers of priestly ordinations in some countries not only must not discourage us, it should stimulate us to dedicate greater space to silence and to listening to the Word, to improving spiritual guidance and the Sacrament of Confession, so that the voice of God, which always continues to call and to confirm, may be heard and followed by many young people".
AG/YEAR FOR PRIESTS/...VIS 090701 (690)

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

What kind of faith do you have? Is it the faith of Jairus, who seeks out Jesus Christ to heal his ailing daughter? The faith of the woman with the 12-year hemorrhage, without assets and long suffering at the hands of doctors? The faith of the apostles, who stand by in awe of Jesus? The faith of the mourners, ridiculing Jesus for His asking for faith? Or perhaps the faith of the daughter of Jairus - dead and apparently lifeless? It seems that no matter the type of faith, Jesus Christ can bring healing. With a strong faith, we are to ask for the healing that we need, like the woman who dares to reach out to touch Jesus' clothing. We are also to ask Jesus to help those who are lying in their faith's deathbeds. May the Lord speak the word that will rouse all of us, allowing us to respond to His voice!

Purpose for the Year for Priests

The Pope recently stated his reasons for the Year for Priests, as reported by Zenit

YEAR FOR PRIESTS: COMPLETE IDENTIFICATION WITH CHRIST

VATICAN CITY, 24 JUN 2009 (VIS) - During today's general audience, held in St. Peter's Square, the Pope focused his remarks on the Year for Priests which he inaugurated last Friday, Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and day of prayer for the sanctification of the clergy, and which is intended to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Mary Vianney.

"Why a Year for Priests?" the Pope asked. "And why should it recall the holy 'Cure of Ars' who apparently did nothing out of the ordinary?"

The Holy Father went on to explain how "Divine Providence ordained that the figure [of St. John May Vianney] should be associated with that of St. Paul" because, "although the two saints followed very different life paths, ... these exists nonetheless a fundamental factor that unites them: their total identification with their ministry, their communion with Christ".

"The aim of this Year for Priests", he went on, "is to support each priest's struggle towards spiritual perfection, 'upon which the effectiveness of his ministry particularly depends', and to help priests, and with them the entire People of God, to rediscover and revive an awareness of the extraordinary and indispensable gift of Grace which the ordained ministry represents, for the person who receives it, for the entire Church, and for the world which would be lost without the real presence of Christ".

"Although the historical and social conditions in which the 'Cure of Ars' worked have changed, it is right to ask how priests can imitate him by identifying themselves with their ministry in modern globalised societies", said the Pope.

"In a world in which the common view of life leaves ever less space for the sacred, in place of which 'functionality' becomes the only decisive category, the Catholic concept of priesthood could risk losing its due regard, sometimes even in the ecclesial conscience".

The Holy Father identified two conceptions of the priesthood, "which do not in fact contradict one another". On the one hand "a social-functional conception which identifies the essence of priesthood with the concept of 'service'. ... On the other hand there is a sacramental-ontological conception" which sees priestly ministry "as determined by a gift called Sacrament, granted by the Lord through the mediation of the Church".

"What", the Pope asked, "does it mean for priests to evangelise? In what does the primacy of announcement exist? ... Announcement coincides with the person of Christ", he said, "a priest cannot consider himself as 'master' of the Word, but as its servant".

"Only participation in Christ's sacrifice, in His 'chenosi', [Note: This means kenosis or self-emptying]... and docile obedience to the Church ... makes announcement authentic. ... Priests are Christ's servants, in the sense that their existence, ontologically configured to Him, have an essentially relational character. The priest is in Christ, for Christ and with Christ at the service of humankind. Precisely because he belongs to Christ, the priest is radically at the service of man".

Benedict XVI concluded by expressing the hope that "the Year for Priests may lead all the clergy to identify themselves completely with Christ Who died and rose again, so that, imitating St. John the Baptist, they may be ready 'to diminish' that He may grow; and that, following the example of the 'Cure of Ars', they may be constantly and profoundly aware of their mission, which is both sign and presence of the infinite mercy of God".
AG/YEAR FOR PRIESTS/...VIS 090624 (580)

Tips toward vocations recruitment

The National Catholic Register posted an article How to Get More Priests by Tom Hoopes. He asked Dioceses that seemed effective 6 questions, and they all were answered yes. The questions were:

1. Is the Eucharist the center of vocation efforts?

2. Is the diocese unabashed about personally inviting men to be priests?

3. Is the seminary faithful to the magisterium of the Church?

4. Are there many strong and faithful families to draw from?

5. Do young men know and interact with priests?

6. Did young people in the area go to World Youth Day?