VATICAN CITY, 11 JAN 2012 (VIS)
Jesus’ prayer during the Last Supper was the theme of Benedict XVI’s catechesis during his general audience, which was held this morning in the Paul VI Hall in the presence of 4,000 faithful.
The Pope explained how the emotional backdrop to the Last Supper, in which Jesus bade farewell to His friends, was the immanence of His approaching death. Moreover, in the days in which He was preparing to leave His disciples, the life of the Jewish people was marked by the approaching Passover, the commemoration of the liberation of Israel from Egypt.”It was in this context that the Last Supper took place”, the Holy Father said, “but with an important novelty”. Jesus “wanted the Supper with His disciples to be something special, different from other gatherings. It was His Supper, in which He gave something completely new: Himself. Thus Jesus celebrated the Passover as an anticipation of His Cross and Resurrection”.
The essence of the Last Supper lay in “the gestures of breaking and distributing the bread, and sharing the cup of wine, with the words that accompanied them and the context of prayer in which they took place. This was the institution of the Eucharist: the great prayer of Jesus and the Church”. The words the Evangelists use to describe that moment “recall the Jewish ‘berakha’; that is, the great prayer of thanksgiving and blessing which, in the tradition of Israel, is used to inaugurate important ceremonies. … That prayer of praise and thanks rises up to God and returns as a blessing. … The words of the institution of the Eucharist were pronounced in this context of prayer. The praise and thanksgiving of the ‘berakha’ became blessing and transformed the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus”.
Jesus’ gestures were the traditional gestures of hospitality which a host would extend to his guests, but in the Last Supper they acquired a more profound significance, Pope Benedict explained. Christ provided “a visible sign of welcome to the table upon which God gives Himself. In the bread and the wine, Jesus offered and communicated His own Self”. Aware of His approaching death, “He offered in advance the life that would shortly be taken from Him, thus transforming His violent death into a free act of the giving of Self, for others and to others. The violence He suffered became an active, free and redemptive sacrifice”.
“In contemplating Jesus’ words and gestures that night, we can clearly see that it was in His intimate and constant relationship with the Father that He accomplished the gesture of leaving to His followers, and to all of us, the Sacrament of love”, said the Pope. During the Last Supper Jesus also prayed for His disciples, who likewise had to suffer harsh trials. With that prayer “He supported them in their weakness, their difficulty in understanding that the way of God had to pass through the Paschal mystery of death and resurrection, which was anticipated in the offer of bread and wine. The Eucharist is the food of pilgrims, a source of strength also for those who are tired, weary and disoriented”.
Benedict XVI went on: “By participating in the Eucharist we have an extraordinary experience of the prayer which Jesus made, and continues to make for us all, that the evil we encounter in our lives may not triumph, and that the transforming power of Christ’s death and resurrection may act within each of us. In the Eucharist the Church responds to Jesus’ command to ‘do this in remembrance of me’, she repeats the prayer of thanksgiving and blessing and, therewith, the words of transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Lord.
Our Eucharistic celebrations draw us into that moment of prayer, uniting us ever and anew to the prayer of Jesus”.
“Let us ask the Lord that, after due preparation also with the Sacrament of Penance, our participation in the Eucharist, which is indispensable for Christian life, may always remain the apex of all our prayers”, the Pope concluded. “Let us ask that, profoundly united in His offering to the Father, we too can transform our crosses into a free and responsible sacrifice of love, for God and for our fellows”.
At the end of his catechesis the Holy Father delivered greetings in a number of languages to the pilgrims present in the Paul VI Hall, inviting them to participate with
“faith and devotion” in the Eucharist which, he said, is indispensable for Christian life as well as being the school and culmination of prayer. Addressing young people, the sick and newlyweds, he pointed our that last Sunday’s Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord is an occasion to reflect upon our own Baptism. “
Dear young people”, the Pope exclaimed, “live your membership of the Church, the family of Christ, joyfully. Dear sick people, may the grace of Baptism ease your sufferings and encourage you to offer them to Christ for the salvation of humanity. And you, dear newlyweds, … base your marriage on the faith which you received as a gift on the day of your Baptism”.
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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 12th, 2012 at 9:30 am
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Archbishop Dolan shares a personal story of his experience at World Youth Day in Toronto in hearing a young woman who had been a prostitute talk about how God’s love fundamentally changed her. Dolan defines human dignity, and describes the “doctrine of the dignity of the human person.” This video is the first of four discreet sections of Archbishop Dolan’s full talk. The full presentation is also available on YouTube.
Tags: catholic, catholic podcast, catholic prayer, catholic social teaching, cathollc spirituality, dignity of human person
This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 at 9:47 pm
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“Do not try to have your trials taken away from you, rather, ask for the grace to endure them wellâ€.
Pope Benedict XVI at St. Andre’s caniozation –
“Brother André Bessette, born in Quebec, in Canada, and a religious of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, knew suffering and poverty very early in life. This led him to turn to God for prayer and an intense interior life. Doorman at the Notre Dame College in Montreal, he showed boundless charity and did everything possible to soothe the despair of those who confided in him. With little instruction, he nevertheless understood what was essential to his faith. For him, to believe meant to submit freely and lovingly to Divine Will. Everything existed through the mystery of Jesus, he lived the beatitude of the pure of heart, that of personal rectitude. It is thanks to this simplicity, he showed many God. He had the Saint Joseph Oratory of Mont Royal built, where he was the faithful guardian until his death in 1937. There, he was the witness of many healings and conversions. “Do not try to have your trials taken away from youâ€, he said, “rather, ask for the grace to endure them wellâ€. For him, everything spoke of God and His presence. May we, following his example, search for God with simplicity to discover Him always present in the core of our lives! May the example of Brother André inspire Canadian Christian life!”
by Fr. Andrew Gawrych, CSC
Associate Director, US Office of Vocations
Notre Dame, IN
The Seven Crosses of St. Andre Bessette
Growing up, I feared that my life might be meaningless. In fact, it was the search for a truth and a love that could give my life eternal meaning that led me into the arms of Jesus and of the Church. Eventually, on March 29, 2010, I became a priest in the Congregation of Holy Cross – the same religious family of Brother André Bessette.One of the main lessons I have drawn from my saintly brother is that no life is meaningless in God. There were countless reasons why Brother André’s life should have ended up meaningless, and yet here we are celebrating his canonization. His life is the powerful story of how our crosses can be borne as a gift and transformed into our hope for true meaning and life. I invite you to join me in praying with this hero of our faith so that our lives, like his, might take on an eternal, life-giving meaning.
1. The Cross of Low Expectations
Brother André, the expectations for you couldn’t have been lower. They baptized you the day after your birth because they did not think you would survive. Later on, your physical frailty and lack of education made others expect so little of you, leaving for you only the more menial tasks like tending the door. Yet you fulfilled these simple tasks with such great love, exceeding the expectations of everyone. Intercede for us so that God may grant us the same courage to overcome our world’s paltry expectations of us. May we achieve the true greatness of holiness for which God lovingly created us.
Brother André, you knew what it was like to wander through this life. While still young, you were orphaned and forced from your home. For many years, you journeyed from town to town and job to job, even leaving your homeland for the textile mills in the United States, in search of a new home. You only found your home in this life when Divine Providence led you to your vocation to the religious life in the Congregation of Holy Cross. Intercede for us that we may allow God to guide us towards the vocation to which we are called. May we, too, find our homes in this life.
Brother André, you knew what it was like to be rejected. Your own religious family of Holy Cross did not accept you at first. You yourself said, “When I first arrived to the college, I was shown the door … and I remained there for forty years!â€Â Yet even more painfully, when the Lord chose you to be His healing hand in others’ lives, you incurred the misunderstanding and rejection of those who failed to see God’s greatness through you. Intercede for us, so that we may have the same strength in the face of ridicule. May we remain steadfast to the mission God has entrusted to us to bring Him glory.
4. The Cross of Others’ Suffering
Brother André, you truly knew the weight of others’ suffering. As news of the healings spread, more and more people came to you, often expecting a miraculous cure. Their burdens became your burdens; their crosses became your crosses. Your ministry exacted its toll on you, draining your strength and patience and even bringing you to tears. You revealed to those suffering the hope of the Cross of Christ, the hope of the God who is always with us in our need. Intercede for us so that we may be able to enter into others’ sufferings and bear their crosses with them. May we unleash the healing hope of the Crucified One.
Brother André, even the works God accomplished through your life did not come without their setbacks. At many times during the construction of the Oratory dedicated to your patron St. Joseph, it seemed that the ambitious project would never be completed. Yet you continued to place your trust in Divine Providence. You even had a statue of St. Joseph placed under the unfinished roof so he could raise the remaining funds. And defying all predictions, St. Joseph did just that! Intercede for us so that we may have the same faith in Providence. May the setbacks of our life not distract us from fulfilling God’s will.
6. The Cross of Our Own Suffering
Brother André, from your birth and throughout your life, your health was frail. Rarely did you eat more than bread dipped in watered-down milk or soup. You knew physical suffering and its seeming meaninglessness that afflicted the many broken and ill people who came to you. But in God, your weakness became your strength, letting you enter more deeply into the hurts and pains of others. You journeyed in faith with them through the Cross to new life in Christ. Intercede for us so that we may be able to transform our weaknesses into strengths. May our sufferings be transformed into a redemptive balm in the lives of others.
Brother André, like all of us since our ancestors Adam and Eve, you had to bear the ultimate cross of death. But death was not the end of your life or your life’s story. Battling the cold, over a million people came from far and wide to pay their last respects. Your funeral was just the preview of the millions who continue to visit the Oratory each year, as well as the many ministries to the poor and the sick that bear your name throughout the world. Intercede for us so that we, too, may have life in God and produce an even greater harvest for God’s people. May we, too, lay down our lives in such a way that we can be counted among the saints.
Tags: Andre Bessette, catholic, catholic podcast, catholic prayer, cathollc spirituality, congregation of holy cross, faith, holy cross, pope benedict xvi, saint joseph oratory, suffering, vocations
This entry was posted on Friday, January 6th, 2012 at 5:38 am
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December 16, 2011. (Romereports.com)
Benedict XVI is set to appoint Hildegard of Bingen as a Doctor of the Church in October of 2012. She was a German Benedictine nun and was known for her visions and prophecies.
Hildegard of Bingen lived in the twelfth century. In addition to being a nun, she was a composer, philosopher, physicist and ecologist. A multi-talented woman, and a pioneer for many of these fields during the Middle Ages.She came from a wealthy family and when she was only eight years old was sent to study in a monastery. She eventually decided to become a nun and later became an abbess.
Her visions and prophecies were recognized by the pope during that time, allowing her to speak about them publicly.
Since she has not been officially canonized, the ceremony is likely to take place before the pope names her as a Doctor of the Church in October.
Benedict XVI dedicated several of his general audiences to this German nun, saying that she “served the Church in an age in which it was wounded by the sins of priests and laityâ€.
Benedict XVI
September 8, 2010Â
“She brought a woman’s insight to the mysteries of the faith. In her many works she contemplated the mystic marriage between God and humanity accomplished in the Incarnation, as well as the spousal union of Christ and the Church. She also explored the vital relationship between God and creation, and our human calling to give glory to God by a life of holiness and virtue.â€So far there are 33 doctors of the Church, only 3 of whom are women. During World Youth Day, Benedict XVI also announced that the Spanish San Juan de Avila would also be appointed as a Doctor of the Church.
With this appointment, the Church recognizes a person’s contribution to Catholic theology, which is still felt despite the passage of time.
Tags: benedict xvi, benedictine, catholic, catholic podcast, catholic prayer, cathollc spirituality, Hildegard of Bingen, mystic of the Church, st hildegard of bingen
This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 4th, 2012 at 8:47 am
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And what would happen next………
.
A strong man who wavered for a moment, but then learned one cannot come to terms with evil and so became a strong churchman, a martyr and a saint—that was Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, murdered in his cathedral on December 29, 1170.
His career had been a stormy one. While archdeacon of Canterbury, he was made chancellor of England at the age of 36 by his friend King Henry II. When Henry felt it advantageous to make his chancellor the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas gave him fair warning: he might not accept all of Henry’s intrusions into Church affairs. Nevertheless, he was made archbishop (1162), resigned his chancellorship and reformed his whole way of life!
Troubles began. Henry insisted upon usurping Church rights. At one time, supposing some conciliatory action possible, Thomas came close to compromise. He momentarily approved the Constitutions of Clarendon, which would have denied the clergy the right of trial by a Church court and prevented them from making direct appeal to Rome. But Thomas rejected the Constitutions, fled to France for safety and remained in exile for seven years. When he returned to England, he suspected it would mean certain death. Because Thomas refused to remit censures he had placed upon bishops favored by the king, Henry cried out in a rage, “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest!†Four knights, taking his words as his wish, slew Thomas in the Canterbury cathedral.
Thomas Becket remains a hero-saint down to our own times. From Saint of the Day
For a greater telling of this saint’s life – EWTN Library
Note: T. S. Eliot wrote a play — “Murder in the Cathedral” — about his life, and a movie — “Becket” (1964) — starring Peter O’Toole and Richard Burton has been made, too
Prayer for St. Thomas a Becket
Taken from the Roman Missal.
O God, for the sake of whose Church the glorious Bishop Thomas fell by the sword of ungodly men: grant, we beseech Thee, that all who implore his aid, may obtain the good fruit of his petition. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who livest and reignest with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.
Tags: archbishop of Canterbury, Archishop of Canterbury, Canterbury cathedral, catholic, catholic podcast, catholic prayer, cathollc spirituality, Church, england, Henry II, martyr, matyrdom, middle ages, St. Thomas Becket, Thomas Becket
This entry was posted on Thursday, December 29th, 2011 at 5:19 am
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“The Feast of the Holy Innocents reminds us that shortly after the coming of Hope into the world, in the form of God as a new-born child, the fallen World has its own sickening and brutal response.
Some of the tragic news we hear each day echoes the inhuman tragedy of the massacre of the innocents. We witness the same kind of brutality that Herod unleashed on the innocent children of Judea every day in a myriad of unspeakable actions: murder, abortion, war, exploitation, slavery and countless other types of violence and oppression, much of which is against innocent children.
Herod’s actions are not only echoed in the extreme examples of evil cited above. In the actions of secularists, materialists and atheists, who seek to emulate Herod in their attempts to eradicate God from the world in favour of their own interests and agendas, we see various social effects manifesting that, in one way or another, enable a whole plethora of great and small evils to stir in men’s hearts.”– Traditio et Virtus
We remember today, O God, the slaughter of the holy innocents Of Bethlehem by King Herod. Receive, we pray, into the arms of your mercy all innocent victims; and by your great might frustrate the designs of evil tyrants and establish your rule of justice, love, and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 28th, 2011 at 2:19 am
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“I can tell you what Christmas is all about….â€
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This entry was posted on Saturday, December 24th, 2011 at 12:53 am
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Dr. Peter Kreeft stood before an audience so large it threatened to cause Franciscan University’s Christ the King Chapel to burst at the seams.
Kreeft’s November 17 lecture, “How to Win the Culture War: A Christian Battle Plan for a Society in Crisis,†drew hundreds of Franciscan students, faculty, and guests to hear the Boston College philosophy professor—who has published over 63 books—speak on the fate of the Church.
Kreeft used a seven-letter acronym, PHONEYS, to highlight society’s biggest problems—Politicization, Happy talk, Organizationalism, Neoworship, Egalitarianism, Yuppiedom, and Spirituality. With deadpan humor and a collection of “Kreeft-isms,†he explained the challenges they present to the Church.
Beginning with politicization, Kreeft described the tendency Americans have to confuse politics for religion. He drew awareness to the trend of defining oneself by politics instead of religion, saying, “We have persuaded many of them to judge their faith by the standard of ‘political correctness’ rather than vice versa.â€
Kreeft’s principle of happy talk raised the ante on the average ignorance-is-bliss mentality. He pointed out that Catholics must first return to being Catholic, and correct their own practices before projecting to non-Catholics. “Catholics abort, contracept, sodomize, fornicate, divorce, and sexually abuse,†he said, “at almost exactly the same rate as non-Catholics. Amid this devastation, keep them happy talking. Keep them saying ‘Peace, Peace,’ when there is no peace.” He wants Catholics to take responsibility for their behavior, make a conscious effort to change it, and to acknowledge that blame can’t be placed entirely on the secular world. (more…)
Tags: catholic, catholic podcast, catholic prayer, cathollc spirituality, Christ the King Chapel, culture war, Peter Kreeft
This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 at 3:22 pm
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A Recent Performance of John Michael Talbot on Catholic TV program!
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 at 12:16 am
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A modern meditation on the Divine Mystery of the Annunciation of Gabriel to Mary.
Tags: annunciation, blessed virgin mary, catholic, catholic podcast, catholic prayer, cathollc spirituality, meditation, The Annunciation
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 20th, 2011 at 7:37 am
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Mark Hart is an author, speaker, director and teacher, Mark’s work both written and spoken, is known across the country and world. While he serves as the Vice President of LIFE TEEN, he is known to tens of thousands simply as the “Bible Geek ®†Mark passionately echoes the gospel to all he encounters. He is as deep as he is funny, and his love for his wife and daughters is second only to his immense love for Jesus Christ.
Tags: Advent Mark Hart, catholic, catholic podcast, catholic prayer, cathollc spirituality, lifeteen, mark hart
This entry was posted on Saturday, December 17th, 2011 at 7:57 am
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Monsignor James P. Moroney introduces to us the Collect for the Third Sunday of Advent (from the new English translation of the Roman Missal, Third Typical Edition).
The last part of the introductory rites is the Collect prayer, or what is commonly referred to as the opening prayer. In the early Church, this prayer probably served to gather the assembly for worship, but now it serves to collect or focus the assembly’s prayer at the beginning of the liturgy.
The Collect is a carefully constructed prayer and can be broken down into several parts: the priest’s invitation to prayer, “Let us pray;” a brief period of silence for private prayer and recalling one’s own intention; the prayer itself (containing praise of God, a petition, and the hoped outcome for the petition); a concluding doxology, “Through Christ our Lord;” and the people’s response, “Amen.”
All of the Collect prayers have been retranslated in a way that more accurately captures their original structure and meaning in Latin. Obviously, some of the literary devices such as rhyme and word play, among others, will not shine through as they do in the Latin, and some of the sentences are long and complex. However, the words matter; the words articulate the truths of the Christian faith. The words shape and form us as a believing community, and the words contribute to the unity of the Church across the world.
Tags: catholic, catholic podcast, catholic prayer, cathollc spirituality, third sunday of advent
This entry was posted on Sunday, December 11th, 2011 at 6:34 am
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Mark Hart is an author, speaker, director and teacher, Mark’s work both written and spoken, is known across the country and world. While he serves as the Vice President of LIFE TEEN, he is known to tens of thousands simply as the “Bible Geek ®†Mark passionately echoes the gospel to all he encounters. He is as deep as he is funny, and his love for his wife and daughters is second only to his immense love for Jesus Christ.
Tags: Advent Mark Hart, catholic, catholic podcast, catholic prayer, cathollc spirituality, lifeteen, mark hart, third sunday advent
This entry was posted on Saturday, December 10th, 2011 at 6:23 am
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Hail Holy Queen, Mother of mercy
[Hail] our life, our sweetness and our hope!
To thee do we cry, poor banished chidren of Eve,
To thee do we send up our sighs,
Mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn, then, o most gracious advocate,
Thine eyes of mercy and after this our exile
Show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, o loving, o sweet Virgin Mary.
 Latin text
Salve Regina, Mater Misericordiae,
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, Salve!
Ad te clamamus, exsules filii [H]evae,
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes,
In hac lacrimarum valle.
Eja ergo, Advocata nostra,
Illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte
Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
Nobis, post hoc exilium, ostende,
O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria. (more…)
Tags: catholic, catholic podcast, catholic prayer, cathollc spirituality, English translation, French translation, hail holy queen, hymn, Jesus, mercy, prayer, salve regina, translation
This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 at 9:41 pm
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Monsignor James P. Moroney introduces to us the Collect for the Second Sunday of Advent (from the new English translation of the Roman Missal, Third Typical Edition).
The last part of the introductory rites is the Collect prayer, or what is commonly referred to as the opening prayer. In the early Church, this prayer probably served to gather the assembly for worship, but now it serves to collect or focus the assembly’s prayer at the beginning of the liturgy.
The Collect is a carefully constructed prayer and can be broken down into several parts: the priest’s invitation to prayer, “Let us pray;” a brief period of silence for private prayer and recalling one’s own intention; the prayer itself (containing praise of God, a petition, and the hoped outcome for the petition); a concluding doxology, “Through Christ our Lord;” and the people’s response, “Amen.”
All of the Collect prayers have been retranslated in a way that more accurately captures their original structure and meaning in Latin. Obviously, some of the literary devices such as rhyme and word play, among others, will not shine through as they do in the Latin, and some of the sentences are long and complex. However, the words matter; the words articulate the truths of the Christian faith. The words shape and form us as a believing community, and the words contribute to the unity of the Church across the world.
Tags: 2nd sunday advent, catholic, catholic podcast, catholic prayer, cathollc spirituality
This entry was posted on Sunday, December 4th, 2011 at 12:01 am
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