We’re officially off and running in our new formation year and our theme “Hearers of the Word.” Technically, we’re still Aspirants until the Rite of Candidacy which is scheduled for December. Tonight, we gathered for our first lecture which was on Canon Law, Tomorrow will have more on the Canon, Christian Anthropology, Documents of Vatican II, Singing and Scripture with the follow up on Sunday. We also began our new forum for leading prayer of which I was first to lead. We also seen a new element added–a feedback panel. This will give us guidance and help us to improve our leadership, especially public prayer.
Lord Jesus, I lift up our class, staff and faculty, to your love and guidance as we move forth this academic year.
“To you alone, Lord, we look with confidence; you are ever close to those who call upon you.“
After last week’s hike up to Summerland in MRNP, we stopped at the restroom just before the park exit. This guy had just rode up the mountain on this bike. Looks like it would be a blast to ride.
American Papist shares with us a letter written by Fr. Jenkins of Notre Dame:
Posted for informational purposes (thanks to the readers who forwarded this to me).
Dear Members of the Notre Dame Family,
Coming out of the vigorous discussions surrounding President Obama’s visit last Spring, I said we would look for ways to engage the Notre Dame community with the issues raised in a prayerful and meaningful way. As our nation continues to struggle with the morality and legality of abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and related issues, we must seek steps to witness to the sanctity of life. I write to you today about some initiatives that we are undertaking.
Each year on January 22, the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, the March for Life is held in Washington D.C. to call on the nation to defend the right to life. I plan to participate in that march. I invite other members of the Notre Dame Family to join me and I hope we can gather for a Mass for Life at that event. We will announce details as that date approaches.
Speculations are that the scandal is affecting there financial interests..
Update: LifeNews has this to say:
Notre Dame President to Join March for Life, Form Pro-Life Task Force on Abortion
South Bend, IN (LifeNews.com) – In apparent attempt to regain favor with pr-life Catholics upset that Notre Dame invited pro-abortion President Barack Obama to give its commencement address and gave him an honorary degree, university president John Jenkins says he will attend the 2010 March for Life. <<More Here>>
Lahore, Pakistan, Sep 16, 2009 / 01:20 am (CNA).- A Friday outbreak of anti-Christian violence in Pakistan, which included the burning of a church, was reportedly sparked by a Muslim woman who was furious that her daughter had become romantically linked with a Christian man. The mother allegedly tore pages from a Koran and framed the young man for the deed.
Hundreds of Christians in Jethki village in the Sialkot district of Punjab Province fled for their lives as extremists went on rampage.
The extremists were armed with bricks, stones and sticks. They sprinkled kerosene on the church before setting it on fire and desecrating it, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) reports.
The mob set fire to two Christian homes next to the church and threatened to kill the village’s inhabitants.
Church leaders claim the violence was sparked by a Muslim mother who was determined to break off the three-year-old relationship between her 18-year-old daughter and a 19-year-old Christian man. Clergy allege that she ripped a page containing verses of the Koran out of a book and was seen throwing it in front of the man’s house. <<Read more here>>
This is tragic. Modern day persecutions.
Stark truth from one commentor:
The words of Our Lord ring true that those who follow in His Name will be persecuted and even killed. Despite all, we need for love and forgive even those who persecute us. As the Lord says, we are in this world though we are not of this world. All our sufferings here are actually blessings in Heaven. Let us continue to keep our fullest trust in the Lord, Amen.
Amen.
This was the outcome.
Man framed with Koran desecration dies in police custody
Lahore, Pakistan, Sep 16, 2009 / 05:08 pm (CNA).- The Catholic and Anglican bishops of Pakistan have written to the country’s president demanding an inquiry after a young Christian man died under suspicious circumstances in police custody. The man’s relationship with a Muslim woman sparked anti-Christian riots after the woman’s disapproving mother accused him of blasphemy.
The body of Robert Fanish, 19, was released to his family on Tuesday, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) reports. His body was covered with marks on his torso and arms, leading observers to believe he had been severely beaten.
I was browsing Father Mauer’s Blog “Followers of the Way” and in a recent posting, he shared something passed on to him which I thought was just beautiful. It’s called, “Choosing Thomas” which is presented in streaming media. Chronicling a story of new parents, they were faced with a daunting choice, which ended up not being very daunting. Rather they quickly chose for the moment to know this tiny person, no matter how brief.
Warning: Keep a kerchief nearby, but it’s worth the tears.
“Sometimes great suffering in itself reveals the meaning behind it” – Fr. Maurer
I make a point to experience an hour with our Lord at least once a week. I find this take to “watch” with the Lord a value with exponential value. So imagine my response to Notre Dame professor and Father McBrien’s article in the National Catholic Reporter, which in my opinion, slams the practice of Eucharistic Adoration.
No, I don’t live in a cave, it’s not the first time I’ve heard this. In an class sponsored by our dioceses a few years back in a program called Liturgical Ministries Institute, the speaker was also a priest, whose opinion was of the same as McBrien’s. There more than a few of us present then, that were both taken aback and confused at his explanation of what we thought was the “Source and Summit” of our faith, being reduced to a special meal.
I listened respectfully but came away with a even more fervent faith in the “real presence” of Christ in the Eucharist. There were other things mention that day that resembled McBrien’s recent remarks:
The sexual abuse scandal made him ashamed of wearing his clerics
Jesus said, “Take and eat, not take and watch..”
The Eucharistic sacrifice wasn’t magic, it is a meal only
I felt bad for him, because he was or seemed to be someone uncomfortable with his role as Christ’s priest.
The event, sponsored by Children of the Eucharist, a program of the World Apostolate of Fatima, will invite children worldwide to follow the example of the young shepherds of Fatima who were taught by Our Lady and the angels to pray before the Blessed Sacrament. – Source: Zenit
Adoration is central to our faith. Jesus is fully present and exhorts us “to keep watch” and be vigilant.
There is so much beauty to this timeless devotion. When I let my mind fully exposed to his loving gaze, things happen. When I’m not watching, I use the time to compose thoughts (a lot last year for my papers) and ask his help to concentrate. Being in his presence is so inspiring.
I can remember a time where I couldn’t see why people would do this. I struggled and prayed for understanding.
Presence. Just be present.
Don’t ask why, just say: “Jesus, I don’t know how you are, just that you are and said you’d always be with us.”
They will gather before the Blessed Sacrament to “console the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, and to pray for their families, and in this Year for Priests, there will be special intentions made for children to pray for the world’s priests,” the communiqué explained.
This is truly a day to give thanks. God always rights the wrongs…
Until last year, never before have I undergone “Spiritual Direction” and never understood what one could receive from the experience. I’ve since been enlightened. Before, I usually received some instruction when going to confession. But I started feeling this nudge from my confessor, that the sacrament was meant for confessing sins, not for spiritual direction.
When I began my first year in Diaconal Formation, the requirement was stated, we must find spiritual direction. Naturally, I wanted to conform so in earnest I sought out such a director from the authorized list. I was beginning to fret because I kept hearing, “I’m not taking on any more directees” or “I’m no longer performing such a service”. In short, I was becoming desperate as the deadline loomed.
One day, I came home from work and found a message on my voicemail. It was from a priest (my obvious first choice) and he told me he would be glad to walk with me and help me to discern God’s call. I must say, I was thrilled and still am. He’s become a good friend, confidant and guide. One that challenges me to look deeper within myself. I think all the pain I went through before, was God’s way of preparing me for something better. I felt affirmed by God’s choice, and that he truly wanted the best for me.
VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 16, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Everyone — priests, religious, laypeople — and especially youth, should have a spiritual director to help them in the Christian life, says Benedict XVI.
I cannot tell you the benefits I’ve obtained by this. I only hope that God calls more priests to this vocation. We need qualified people to help both young and old to discern their Christian vocation, as our Holy Father points out:
“The Bishop of Rome encouraged especially young people, but also priests, consecrated persons and laypeople”to take recourse to the counsels of a good spiritual father.”
You may note he mentions “spiritual father” and I believe he does so because their are moments in direction where you may be inspired to reconciled. Only a priest can do this. Being reconciled by confessing is a natural human process. We always feel the need to tell someone what’s bothering us, how it’s affected us and perhaps led us to undesirable outcome–thus experiencing guilt. Mine has helped me to understand the nature of sin, what it’s comprised of and that saves me the doubting whether or not I confessed something truly sinful or perhaps not.
I think it’s a blessing we have such a wise person as our Holy Father:
“We always need a guide, dialogue, to go to the Lord,” Benedict XVI affirmed. “We cannot do it with our reflections alone. And this is also the meaning of the ecclesiality of our faith, of finding this guide.”
I do know there is not enough priests available, so we should not only pray for vocations to the priesthood, but also priests open for providing direction so desperately needed.
Thank you Lord, bless Benedict our Pope, and protect him in spirit and health.
For our upcoming class on “Christian History” we’ll be reading “The Story of Christianity” ~ The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation. Author, Justo L. Gonzales
