Quote for the Day

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Deacon Bob

“One thing we may be sure of: God is watching all, and in His own time and way will turn all to His glory and ours, in as much as we shall have persevered in His service.” — Solanus Casey, OFM Cap

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Eucharistic Adoration

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Deacon Bob

Tonight, I began monthly Eucharistic Adoration at the small rural parish to which I am assigned. This parish is in a town of about 400 people. It has about 60 families registered. It is clustered with a parish of about 700 families down the road about 7 miles. I am assigned to that parish as well.

Seven of us showed up for an hour of prayer, reading, homily and benediction. Not bad for the size of the parish and given it is in the dead of winter here in Minnesota.

For any parishioner that may be reading this, it was a wonderful time of being together with each other and with our Lord. You don’t want to miss this next month!

It will change your life, if you let Him.

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Blessed Pope John Paul II?

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Deacon Bob

Andrea Tornielli of the Italian newspaper Il Giornale reported yesterday that a second miraculous healing has been attributed to the intercession of Pope John Paul II and his beatification will be this year, maybe as early as April.

Sister Marie Simon-Pierre of France was suddenly cured of an aggressive form of Parkinson’s disease in June, 2005 through the intercession of the pope. The medical consultants of the Congregation of the Saints verified the cure and the theologians who studied this agreed.

You may recall after John Paul II’s death the throng of people in St. Peter’s square who called out, “Santo subito!” which means, “A saint, now!”

Stay tuned for more as the weeks pass.

Posted in Church News, Popes, Saints and Prophets | 2 Comments

Three Anglican Bishops to Become Catholic Priests

Posted on January 4, 2011 by Deacon Bob

Catholic New Service is reporting that three former Anglican bishops were received into the Catholic Church just hours after they formally resigned from their offices in the Anglican communion.

John Broadhurst of Fulhan, Keith Newton of Richborough, and Andrew Burnham of Ebbsfleet — all in England– resigned at midnight, December 31 and were received into the Church later the next day.

They are scheduled to be ordained to the diaconate on January 13 and two days later to the priesthood. With their ordinations, they will be incardinated into the English ordinariate which will be established by papal decree sometime before the ordinations.

Pope Benedict XVI, on November 9, 2009, issued Anglicanorum coetibus which allowed the group reception of disaffected Anglo-Catholics to enter the Catholic Church. With this new ordinariate, the Anglican converts will be able to retain much of what was their Anglican liturgical practices and other aspects of Anglicanism, such as married priests.

Also received into the Catholic Church were three former Anglican nuns, and a group of former lay Anglicans.

It is reported that the new ordinariate will soon include up to 50 former Anglican bishops and clergy, plus hundreds of lay men and women. Other Anglican priest who wish to become Catholic will be ordained on Pentecost, June 12.

I suspect this is only the beginning of a larger phenomenon that will occur in the upcoming years in our relationship with Anglicanism. I am hopeful it signals an eventual reunification of what was a painful split in the Church 450 years ago when Henry VIII separate the Church in England from the Catholic Church in a dispute with the pope over Henry’s divorce and the indissolvibility of his first marriage.

Our Church, which is so often described as divisive, is in fact one of the most inclusive churches. We have so many rites, rituals, cultures, peoples and such a long history. We are a very human church with a divine master who guides the Church through what are at times very rough waters. Our time is not God’s time, and in His own time, God will bring us together again as one flock.

Our task is to do the leg work. We cannot just sit around and wait. Let us reach out to those who are disaffected around us and invite them back to the Church, their home.

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Odometer Reading

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Deacon Bob

This blog is approaching  a quarter million visits. I am so please that over that past couple of years you have found something of interest here.

Never be afraid of leaving a comment to a post. All comments are moderated, but I have seldom had to edit or delete a sincerely posted comment.

Blogs are meant to be dialogues and opportunities to learn. I welcome your feedback.

Blessings to each of you.

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St. Peter Chrysologus and the Epiphanies of the Lord

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Deacon Bob

Today’s Office of Readings includes a writing from St. Peter Chrysologus on the relationship between the Incarnation, the Epiphany, the Baptism of the Lord,  the wedding feast at Cana, and the Eucharist.

All of these events in our Lord’s life were epiphanies. They all were revelations of the person and natures of Jesus.

My translation of the Italian text I use.

“In fact, he who willed to be born for us, did not want to remain hidden from us, and thus, he manifested himself in this way so that this great mystery of our piety may not be an occasion for error. Today the Magi… found him who was wailing in the crib. Today the Magi saw clearly, wrapped in clothes, he whom they for so long had to only contemplate in an obscure way in the stars…. he who the world cannot contain within the little body of a baby…. Today Christ is descended in the bed of the Jordan to wash away the sins of the world. The same John that had affirmed that he had come into the world exactly for this: ‘Behold the Lamb of God; behold him that takes away the sin of the world’. Today, the servant has in his hand the Lord; the man, God; John, Christ. He held him to receive forgiveness not give it to him….. Today Christ begins the heavenly signs, changing water into wine; but the water must then be changed into the sacrament of his blood so that Christ would pour out to he who wished to drink a pure chalice of the fullness of his grace.” Discourses of St. Peter Chrysologus Disc. 160.

We celebrate in rather rapid order several feasts of the Lord at the end of the year and the beginning of the next:  Christmas, Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord. Later comes the Transfiguration and the wedding feast of Cana. All these accounts of the events of our Lord’s life are epiphanies for us, times when the mystery becomes seen, when the divine person of Jesus Christ is made evident.

Let us open our eyes in awe and wonder and experience the wonders of the Incarnation— God with us.

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Quote for the Day

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Deacon Bob

“The Son of God was nobler than we, and he made himself poor in this world for our sake.” — St. Francis of Assisi

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Permanent Deacons and the Roman Collar

Posted on December 31, 2010 by Deacon Bob

Deacon Greg Kandra (see link at lower right) brought to my attention a blog post by Fr. Zulsdorf about the whole thing of permanent deacons and clerical attire.

Permanent deacons are clerics of the Church.  Same as transitional deacons, priests and bishops.  We have received the one Sacrament of Holy Orders that other clerics have received. Because of our station in life, to live in the secular world while bridging that world with the holy and the Church, canon law has exempted us from the obligation to wear clerical attire.  Various dioceses have differing norms as to the wearing of the Roman collar by permanent deacons, which leads to some confusion among the faithful.

Fr. Z’s post is interesting and Iwould suggest you take the time to read it. Log on to: Fr. Z for the whole discussion.

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Still Waiting

Posted on December 31, 2010 by Deacon Bob

I am still waiting for my computer to return. I am sitting in my office at the clinic typing away. (I am on vacation, so I don’t relish being in my office at the moment.)

New Year’s Day is right around the corner, and the Feast of Mary the Mother of God. Too bad it falls on a Saturday and the obligation to attend Mass is lifted for this year.  It always seems appropriate to start the New Year out correctly by celebrating the Eucharist with the community.

Many all of you have a safe and blessed New Year’s. May our Blessed Mother watch over us with her maternal love throughout 2011!

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Yes, I Am Here

Posted on December 29, 2010 by Deacon Bob

Yes, I am still here.  I haven’t been able to post anything because of busyness during Christmas travels, some furnance problems that have caused me headache, traveling to Chicago to help my son and daughter-in-law move, and last of all, computer problems (my trusty iMac is in the shop for a couple of days).

Suffice it to say that despite all of this, I have also been caught up  in the joy of the Christmas season and the octave in which we now find ourselves. Yesterday’s feast of the Holy Innocents was especially meaningful to me this year.

Unexpectedly, I received a letter from a former classmate from seminary back in 1973-77. Thanks again, Mark, for remembering me!

I’ll be back regularly in a day or so.

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Reflection for the Day

Posted on December 23, 2010 by Deacon Bob

I received this from an college friend of mine, who happens to be my insurance agent now. I believe he read it in the pope’s encyclical, Evangelium Vitae.

“Man is called to a fullness of life which far exceeds the dimensions of his earthly existence, because it consists in sharing the very life of God. The loftiness of this supernatural vocation reveals the greatness and the inestimable value of human life even in its temporal phase. Life in time, in fact, is the fundamental condition, the initial stage and an integral part of the entire unified process of human existence. It is a process  which unexpectedly and undeservedly is enlightened by the promise and renewed by the gift of divine life, which will reach its full realization in eternity (cf. 1John 3: 1-2). At the same time, it is precisely this supernatural calling which highlights the relative character of each individual’s earthly life. After all, life on earth is not an ‘ultimate’ but a ‘penultimate’ reality; even so, it remains a sacred reality entrusted to us, to be preserved with a sense of responsibility and brought to perfection in love and in the gift of ourselves to God and to our brothers and sisters.”

The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II repeatedly emphasized the centrality of the human person, a person’s inestimable value in the sight of God, and divinization of humankind through the pursuit of Truth in our adoption as sons and daughters of God.

If only the world would listen and believe this!

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Something Beautiful for God – Missionary Servants of Pope John Paul I

Posted on December 23, 2010 by Deacon Bob

I’d like to thank Dr. Lori Pieper for bringing to my attention the following article from The Parable, the magazine of the diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire. It is about Lauretta and Ray Seabeck, who have given themselves to the poor of Haiti, in line with the work of Mother Teresa and keeping alive the memory of Papa Luciani (Pope John Paul I).

I highly recommend you take the time to read it, and if you can, extend your support to the Seabecks.

http://www.catholicnh.org/media-1/parable/inside/january-february-2010/cover-story/

It is no secret to my readers of my fondness for Papa Luciani, and my belief that he is a saint who will become more and more prominent in the minds and hearts of others as the years pass by. Despite his short pontificate of only 33 days (reflecting the age of Christ (33 years) when he was crucified) and the manner in which his successor, John Paul II so understandably overshadowed him with the force of his personality and the length of his pontificate (some 27 years), Papa Luciani will one day be among those we recognize as St. John Paul.

What I haven’t said much at all about is my fondness for Mother Teresa and her work.  For a number of years, I gave thought to joining her lay associates. It never came to fruition, but the thought was there.

I am delighted that the Seabecks have, it would seem, similar sentiments to both of these saints to be, and have gone far beyond where this lowly deacon and blogger has gone in honoring them.

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Quote for the Day

Posted on December 23, 2010 by Deacon Bob

“The Son of God was nobler than we, and he made himself poor in this world for our sake.” — St. Francis of Assisi

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The Pope’s Talk to the Roman Curia Yesterday

Posted on December 21, 2010 by Deacon Bob

The Holy Father gave a talk to the Roman Curia yesterday, an annual event at Christmas time. He said a lot which I cannot summarize adequately in a blog post. You can read it in its entirety at:  http://press.catholica.va/news_services/bulletin/news/26594.php?index=26594&po_date=20.12.2010&lang=en

I do want to comment on the opening paragraphs. It is a rather somber description of the present moment in the world. I quote the official English translation:

“Excita, Domine, potentiam tuam, et veni. Repeatedly during the season of Advent the Church’s liturgy prays in these or similar words. They are invocations that were probably formulated as the Roman Empire was in decline. The disintegration of the key principles of law and the fundamental moral attitudes underpinning them burst open the dams which until that time had protected peaceful coexistence among peoples. The sun was setting over an entire world. Frequent natural disasters further increased this sense of insecurity. There was no power in sight that could put a stop to this decline. All the more insistent, then, was the invocation of the power of God: the plea that he might come and protect his people from all these threats.

“Excita, Domine, potentian tuam, et veni. Today too, we have many reasons to associate ourselves with the Advent prayer of the Church. For all its new hopes and possibilities, our world is at the same time troubled by the sense that moral consensus is collapsing, consensus without which juridical and political structures cannot function. Consequently the forces for the defence of such structures seem doomed to failure.”

The Holy Father then goes on to address the issue of sexual abuse of children by priests and follows that with a teaching on the true nature of conscience, reinforcing the truth that conscience is not just an individual’s judgment on right or wrong depending on personal experience, but rather conscience is the capacity each of us has to recognize truth and the obedience to the truth, a truth that is ultimately objective and recognizable and to which we orient ourselves.

The Pope’s likening of our present world to that of the declining Roman Empire is striking to me. His perception that the forces at work to support the structures of society appear to be failing is sobering.

At one other point in the talk, he says, “The very future of the world is at stake.”

Wow! I don’t think he means to speak in hyperbole. I wonder why these comments are not getting more press.  The Italian newspapers were headlining it earlier this morning.

What do you think?

Posted in Church News, Popes | 1 Comment

Meditation of Our Blessed Mother’s Fiat

Posted on December 20, 2010 by Deacon Bob

St. Bernard wrote a beautiful homily about Mary’s fiat. It is in today’s Office of Readings. I want to post it for your consideration today. It is my translation from the Italian text used.

“You have heard, O Virgin, that you will conceive and bear a son; you have heard that this will happen through the work of the Holy Spirit, not man. The angel waits for your response: he must return to God who sent him. We also are waiting, O Lady, for a word of compassion, we who are miserably oppressed by a sentence of condemnation.

“Behold, you are offered the price of our salvation: if you consent,we will immediately be freed. All of us were created in the eternal Word of God, but now we are subjected to death: through your brief response we must be renewed and recalled to life.

“Adam, in tears, pleads with you, O pious Virgin, he who is an exile from paradise along with his descendents in misery; Abraham and David plead with you; the holy patriarchs, your ancestors,  who live in the darkness of death, plead incessantly to you. All the world awaits, prostrate at your knees: from your mouth the consolation of those in misery depends, the redemption of prisoners, the liberation of the condemned, the salvation of all the sons of Abraham, of the whole human race.

“O Virgin, give a quick response. Attentively respond to the angel, for through the angel you respond to the Lord. Give your word and accept the Word: give your human word and conceive the divine Word, express the workd that passes and receive the Word eternal.

“Why do you wait? Why fear? You believe in the work of the Lord, give your assent to it, receive it. In your humility, be bold, in your demurity take courage. In no way now must you, in your virginal simplicity, forget prudence, but in this one thing, O prudent Virgin, do not fear presumption. If in silence is found modesty, now, however, piety to the word is needed. Open, blessed Virgin, your heart of faith, your lips that give assent, your womb to the Creator. Behold, he to whom the desire of all mankind is turned, now knocks at the door. May he not pass by while you hesitate, and you then may have to begin to search for him whom you love once again. Lift yourself us, run, open! Lift yourself in faith, run with devotion, open up with your consent.

“Behold,” you say, “I am the servant of the Lord; may it be done to me as you have said.”

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