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Pope Francis:
He
ascended into heaven Painful
goodbyes & the Ascension
Ron Rolheiser OMI
This
week's smile
- a story for Mother's Day
and
- God and grass
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To
prepare for Pentecost
let's reflect on Holy Spirit
during the coming days |
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Ascension cloud was Holy
Spirit! |
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Cloud
and light. These two images occur together in the manifestations
of the Holy Spirit. In the theophanies of the Old Testament, the
cloud, now obscure, now luminous, reveals the living and
saving God, while veiling the transcendence of his glory - with
Moses on Mount Sinai, at the tent of meeting, and during the
wandering in the desert,5 and with Solomon at the
dedication of the Temple.
In the Holy Spirit, Christ fulfills these figures. The Spirit
comes upon the Virgin Mary and "overshadows"
her, so that she might conceive and give birth to Jesus. On the
mountain of Transfiguration, the Spirit in the "cloud
came and overshadowed" Jesus, Moses and Elijah, Peter, James
and John, and "a voice came out of the
cloud, saying, 'This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to
him!'"
Finally, the cloud
took Jesus out of the sight of the disciples on the day of his
ascension and will reveal him as Son of man in glory on the day of
his final coming.
- CCC 697 |
Pope
meets European bishops
Vatican
II Reflection 86
What did Vatican II actually say
about the use of Latin?
John W - Blog - May 12
A beautiful song for Mother's Day
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Loss
of enthusiasm
John W
"You can only have
long-lasting enthusiasm if you have a fire
that burns within you"
Romero
sainthood cause
on long tangled path
Yesterday, May 12:
Pope
canonised 802 saints
Benedict
XVI did more than John Paul II for Christian Unity
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To
prepare for Pentecost
let's reflect on the Holy Spirit
during this week |
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The
seal is a symbol close to that
of anointing. "The Father has set his seal"
on Christ and also seals
us in him. Because this seal
indicates
the indelible effect of the anointing with the Holy Spirit in the
sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders, the image of
the seal
(sphragis) has been used in some theological traditions to
express the indelible "character" imprinted by these three
unrepeatable sacraments.
- CCC
698 |
Russian
Patriarch meets
Chinese President
Could be a sign that Beijing may be
willing to resume high-level dialogue with the leaders of Christian
Churches, starting with the Catholic Church
12,000
Lourdes participants
focus on the poor
Interactive
Bible Quiz - Exodus
Based on the actual words of the Bible.
How many times you can get 3/3 ?!
Climate Change:
Hundreds
of millions homeless?
North
Dakota's last abortion clinic
Old
age is a gift to be enjoyed
Joseph Girzone
When “The Homeless
Bishop” came out, and the new pope was elected, many of those who
read the book were struck by the many similarities between the homeless
bishop and the new pope, even to their decision not to live in the papal
palace, but in a little apartment in a house on the Vatican grounds. One
twelve year old boy who read “The Homeless Bishop” was watching the
news one night and when the reporter was talking about the new pope, the
boy ran out into the kitchen and told his mother to come and look the
news, “The homeless bishop was just made pope.” c.f.
The
Homeless Bishop
Vatican
II Reflection 87
Liturgy
- cultural adaptations:
dream or nightmare?
John W - Blog - May 13
Photo
report of last Saturday
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In
view of reflections above
- re Holy Spirit and
fire
("Loss of enthusiasm")
- re Holy Spirit and
seal
(Preparing
for Pentecost)
This
song takes on extra meaning!
Set me
like a seal on your heart,
like a seal
on your arm.
Set me like a seal on your
heart,
how right it is to love you
For
love is stronger than death
stronger even than hell.
A flash of it is a flash of fire,
a flame of Yahweh
himself
Come
then my love, come my beloved.
No flood can quench
our love,
for love, if real, has no end
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Tuesday
May
14
Feast of St Matthias,
apostle
"the
luckiest day of the year"???
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Letters
from Vatican City
Martin Mallon
(Tuesday blogger from Ireland)
Reading
Letters From Vatican City
is quite shocking fifty years later. I have read a few books on Vatican II
and the Council dealings, but this one brings out the differences clearly
and shows how some cardinals and bishops gave false information during the
debates
Reading Reflection Prayer
- with readers' comments
Menu for today May 14 |
At a time of crisis in the
Church,
Matthias is a great example of faith and trust and loyalty and
perseverance |
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Please add a comment |
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See
previous comments |
Saint Matthias was overlooked:
c.f. this
list of famous people who were successful after being overlooked or
unsuccessful
After Bangladesh tragedy:
Retailers
are pressed
on safety at factories
And the Rev. Seamus P. Finn, representing shareholders from the Catholic
organization Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, has been circulating a
letter among religious organizations — groups that control more than
$100 billion in assets — to express displeasure with the nation’s
retailers. He says the retailers have not done nearly enough to improve
workplace safety for the more than three million garment workers in
Bangladesh.
Sweatshops:
where corporate greed
and human misery meet
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To
prepare for Pentecost
let's reflect on the Holy Spirit
during this week |
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The
hand is another symbol of the Holy Spirit. Jesus heals
the sick and blesses little children by laying hands
on them. In his name the apostles will do the same. Even more
pointedly, it is by the Apostles' imposition of hands
that the Holy Spirit is given. The Letter to the Hebrews lists the
imposition of hands
among the "fundamental elements" of its teaching. The
Church has kept this sign of the all-powerful outpouring of the Holy
Spirit by having the priest at Mass extend his hands
over the bread and wine as he says "Let your Spirit come upon
these gifts to make them holy"
- c.f. CCC
699 |
Vatican II
Reflection 88
Liturgy a source of unity or
disunity?
This
Saturday night and Sunday,
Pope has 2 important engagements: 18
Saturday - Pentecost Vigil
Saint Peter's Square, at 18:00
Pentecost Vigil with the Ecclesial Movements 19
Pentecost Sunday
Saint Peter's Square, at 10:00
Mass with the Ecclesial Movements |
John W - Blog - May 14
Reflection on St Matthias
- "never mind what might have been"
Today's
article by Martin Mallon mentions how the Eastern Church had a far
richer understanding of the Holy Spirit than the Western
Church. Some ideas re this topic
are in
this article
Martin's
article also mentions
"the
Eastern idea of divinisation".
c.f. "Divinisation
in early Christianity"
...the second main section
of this
article
Also
related is the way
Pneumatology
divides the Church
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The
shadow of the Cross
Chris McDonnell
(UK
Wed blogger)
It is the
shadow of the cross that has hovered over Europe
and many parts of the Earth for 2000 years. It is an
integral part of our Christian Faith. We talk about “the crosses that we have
to carry”, the difficulties and stress that are part of our human condition.
But that burden is something that we do not carry alone
Reading Reflection Prayer
- with readers' comments
Menu for today May 8 |
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YouTube:
Though the mountains may fall |
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All
leaders, especially Christians leaders, should care for the
poor,
the needy
and the weak |
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Is
it ok to pray that a young person who has died will come back to
life? |
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How a non-baptized
person can go to Heaven, and how a baptized person can go to Hell |
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Please add a comment! |
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See
previous comments |
What's in a name?
A great
wrap up of the early days of Pope Francis' ministry
Pope
Francis is attached to traditional devotions and not afraid to show it
Vatican
meeting: Sisters grasp the extended hand
(Sisters
due to meet with Pope today, May 8)
Protestant
gathering
praises Pope
Cultural
blindness in Church abuse investigations
Enough
already
There is no point at which those
who accumulate money become satisfied
Why
are we so resistant
to teaching Jesus
as our religion?
Vatican II Reflection 82
Which rite is right?
John W - Blog - May 8
All groups, small and large, have 3 choices:
-
die out
-
stagnate
-
grow
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To
prepare for Pentecost
let's reflect on Holy Spirit
during the coming days |
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The Holy Spirit is the living water
"welling up to eternal life" in the heart that prays. It
is he who teaches us to accept it at its source: Christ. Indeed in
the Christian life there are several
wellsprings where Christ awaits us to enable us to drink of the
Holy Spirit. |
Speaking
of water...
Bangldesh:
drinking water fast disappearing
A
Vatican cardinal
pulls back the curtain
- on power
struggle opera
Sisters meeting in Rome:
Obedience
to God's voice
heard in the poor No
mention of row
as Pope meets sisters
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Every Thursday, Daniel
Daring's reflection on the Sunday readings,
to help us prepare for Sunday:
The
Ascension
(C):
Between
Jesus' absence
and the Spirit's presence
The realization of Jesus’ absence never hit me so
strongly as in Macau. The city
has many old churches, filled with Christian paintings and statues,
but empty of people, save for a few visitors. Yet you can find tens of
thousands of people in nearby casinos
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Point of this
article:
include the laity and succeed, leave them out and fail.
Has all sorts of ramifications
Reading Reflection Prayer
- with readers' comments
Menu for today May 9 |
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No
"house of prayer" should ever turn anyone away |
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Evil
regimes have within them the seeds of destruction |
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Don't
hesitate to do anything helpful for others |
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A
mind compromised by evil |
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Please add a comment! |
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See previous
comments |
Jesuit Podcast:
Young and imprisoned
Inmates wrote to Pope
to thank him for washing inmates' feet
Ted's Talks - Video (6 min)
Read Chinese easily (!)
Association
of US priests to hold annual meeting June 24-27
Speakers include
Robert Kaiser and Robert Mickens
Vatican II Reflection 83
Tridentine Rite used only 1%
of the Old Testament and only 16.5% of the NT
John
W - Blog - May 9
How
to protect first fervor from becoming "just going through the
motions"
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Anglican
Ordinariate,
Lutheran Ordinariate,
and Blessed John Henry Newman
Fr Harry Winter OMI
(USA blogger)
I would beg any Catholic who has misgivings about the Anglican Ordinariate,
to find a former Anglican pastor who has survived the first year of the
preparation course for ordination to the priesthood in the Catholic
Church. By this time, the
angry ultra-conservatives have either been weeded out or transformed. I
think you will like those you meet, and welcome them as a blessing to our Church.
Reading Reflection Prayer
- with readers' comments
Menu for today May 10 |
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Words
to help us hear Pope's call to help poor |
Parents/teachers
...& next generation |
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Don't
waste money, food...life |
source
and summit
of Christian faith |
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Please add a comment |
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Previous comments |
Pope's meeting with 800 sisters:
Report 01
02
Pope's morning homily:
Evangelize,
don't proselytize
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To
prepare for Pentecost
let's reflect on Holy Spirit
during the coming days |
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The symbolism of anointing
with oil also signifies the Holy Spirit, to the point of becoming a
synonym for the Holy Spirit. In Christian initiation, anointing
is the sacramental sign of Confirmation, called "chrismation"
in the Churches of the East.
Its full force can be grasped only in relation to the primary anointing
accomplished by the Holy Spirit, that of Jesus. Christ (in Hebrew
"messiah") means the one "anointed"
by God's Spirit. There were several anointed
ones of the Lord in the Old Covenant, pre-eminently King David.
But Jesus is God's Anointed
in a unique way: the humanity the Son assumed was entirely anointed
by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit established him as
"Christ."
The Virgin Mary conceived
Christ by the Holy Spirit who, through the angel, proclaimed him the
Christ at his birth, and prompted Simeon to come to the temple to
see the Christ of the Lord. The Spirit filled Christ and the power
of the Spirit went out from him in his acts of healing and of
saving. It was the Spirit who raised Jesus from the
dead.
Now, fully established as "Christ"
in his humanity victorious over death, Jesus pours out the Holy
Spirit abundantly until "the saints" constitute - in their
union with the humanity of the Son of God - that perfect man
"to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ"
- "the whole Christ," in St. Augustine's expression.
- CCC 695 |
Vatican
II Reflection 84
Avoiding
liturgical extremes
John W - Blog -
May 10
Praying for collapse of
Communism in China
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Today is the feast of
Our Lady of China
A history of this
feast
Another
history
By a happy coincidence,
today is also the
anniversary of both Matteo
Ricci (1610) and his early companion Michele
Ruggieri (1607)
- the Jesuit pioneers in China who established a great love for Mary in
the hearts of the people of China
A VIP article:
Don't let spring turn to winter
Hans Kung re
Pope Francis
If Pope Francis tackles reforms,
he will find he has the wide approval of people far beyond the Catholic
Church
Reading Reflection Prayer
- with readers' comments
Menu for today May 11 |
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Mary
part of the apostolic group praying for coming of Holy Spirit |
With
Mary, praise God
from sunrise to sunset |
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Jesus mother our heavenly mother |
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Please add a comment |
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See
previous comments |
Check it out: Today
there will be
three popes in Vatican!
Put
an end to fear in the Church
Tomorrow: Pope
to canonise
Colombia's first saint
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To
prepare for Pentecost
let's reflect on Holy Spirit
during the coming days |
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Fire.
While water signifies birth and the fruitfulness of life given in
the Holy Spirit, fire
symbolizes the transforming energy of the Holy Spirit's actions. The
prayer of the prophet Elijah, who "arose like fire"
and whose "word burned like a torch," brought down fire
from heaven on the sacrifice on Mount Carmel. This event was a
"figure" of the fire
of the Holy Spirit, who transforms what he touches. John the
Baptist, who goes "before [the Lord] in the spirit and power of
Elijah," proclaims Christ as the one who "will baptize you
with the Holy Spirit and with fire."
Jesus will say of the Spirit: "I came to cast fire
upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!" In the
form of tongues "as of fire,"
the Holy Spirit rests on the disciples on the morning of Pentecost
and fills them with himself The spiritual tradition has retained
this symbolism of fire
as one of the most expressive images of the Holy Spirit's actions.
"Do not quench the Spirit."
- CCC 696 |
Vatican
II Reflection 85
More, not
less, Scripture
in the Liturgy
John W - Blog - May 11
A good day to pray for China!
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Many thanks for checking
this website each day
Engagements
of Pope Francis
Humble photo
Barefoot man in cold and rain
St Peter's Square
2013-03-12
praying for conclave
Homeless Jesus
More bloggers,
more tank people,
wanted from all parts of the world!
Please email jdwomi@gmail.com
Please
encourage more people to see 1-10 re Bishop Bill Morris:
1:
Judge's conclusions
2: Canon lawyer's report
3: Radio interview with judge
4: "The Age" file of letters
5:
Summary re Rome
6:
Frank Brennan's update
7: ABC radio Fr Frank Brennan
8. Update from Frank Brennan
9. Vatileaks & Bp Bill Morris
10: Tablet letter - Frank Brennan
After
reading 1-10, check the "Pravda" report of CNA
Google "Morris" at top of this page
for many articles re Bishop BM,
the most recent being talk of March 26, 2013: Reclaiming
the Spirit of Vatican II
Bishop Geoff Robinson
and Bishop
Bill Morris:
Petition
to Pope Francis
to stop sexual abuse
and to reform Church
- & calling for a new
Ecumenical Council !
(John W has signed petition)
Brian Coyne (Catholica):
Support
this petition
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