To Know Holiness is an Act of Faith: Remembering Blessed John Paul II

My friend Antonio Russo, formerly of the Guardia Svizzera Pontificia, shared this photo with me via Facebook. Here he is attending his final audience with the Holy Father before departing service with the GSP a few years ago. He has in his hand a zucchetto that I obtained with the purpose of giving to the Holy Father to wear in the hope that he would offer it back as he frequently was known to do. He wore the zucchetto for the duration of the audience and then at the end asked Antonio, "Quale vuole?", meaning, "which do you want: the one you gave to me or the one I am wearing?" Antonio asked for the zucchetto he had offered and then returned the zucchetto to me, now a relic of the second class.

I first met Blessed John Paul as a seminarian, celebrating Mass and receiving communion in his private chapel. I was able to kiss his ring as a sign of reverence for the office of the Vicar of Christ on earth and to say a few words to him. I was moved to be able to enjoy this privilege desired by so many Catholics.

During the Jubilee Year 2000, now as a priest, I once again was invited to the chapel to concelebrate with the Holy Father who was now quite advanced in years and less energetic but who still radiated prayerfulness.

I remember on one of those occasions being ushered into the chapel while he was still kneeling at his prie dieu in prayer and hearing him groan aloud, his spirit seeking God in the midst of a world of problems great and small with the tragedies of injustice and evil, the scourge of wars and inhumanity. And so many of these evils were brought to his attention as Christ's representative on earth, first for his prayerful intercession but also for his active efforts to work with others for a more just and peaceful world that would better reflect the love of God who made the world and everyone and everything that it is in it. A world apart from God would destroy itself. The work of Christ in His Church must be to restore through grace what has been taken from God's purpose for the good of men and the glory of God. This need has its place in the mission of every successor of Peter. Pope Benedict mentioned the mission of the Redeemer through the pope and the Church in his homily at the beatification Mass for John Paul.

"It is the same one that John Paul II presented during his first solemn Mass in Saint Peter’s Square in the unforgettable words: 'Do not be afraid! Open, open wide the doors to Christ!' What the newly-elected Pope asked of everyone, he was himself the first to do: society, culture, political and economic systems he opened up to Christ, turning back with the strength of a titan – a strength which came to him from God – a tide which appeared irreversible. By his witness of faith, love and apostolic courage, accompanied by great human charisma, this exemplary son of Poland helped believers throughout the world not to be afraid to be called Christian, to belong to the Church, to speak of the Gospel. In a word: he helped us not to fear the truth, because truth is the guarantee of liberty. To put it even more succinctly: he gave us the strength to believe in Christ, because Christ is Redemptor hominis, the Redeemer of man." (Benedict XVI, JPII Beatification homily)

To believe in the possibility of holiness, that is to put faith in the dream that human beings can become so like unto God so as to possess and to fully share His eternal life is an act of faith. To believe that a man, like Blessed John Paul II, can now confirm his communion with God and all the blessed in heaven through a miracle as a response to the prayer of faith requires in itself the courage made possible only through the power of grace. Of course, that faith must find its constant source in Jesus Christ who alone makes it possible for humans, by means of the human nature he shared with us, to become like God, through the divine nature that was joined to His human nature in the one divine person Jesus Christ. This mystery of the Incarnation our our constant source of hope.

The Incarnate one, having truly died as we do, and having truly Risen according to His all-powerful nature as God, now desires in love to share His life with us forever. This is the joy of Easter. This was the joy that John Paul II shared as a believer like us. This is the hope that John Paul II and all the blessed call us to constantly share through the victory of our holy Faith. We must live fully in this world as do all human persons but, marvelously, at the same time find the possibility through the grace of Faith to live very much as though this world is passing away.

"We know neither the moment of the consummation of the earth and of man, nor the way in which the universe will be transformed. The form of this world, distorted by sin, is passing away, and we are taught that God is preparing a new dwelling and a new earth in which righteousness dwells, in which happiness will fill and surpass all the desires of peace arising in the hearts of men." (CCC 1048)

The mission of the Church in this passing world is to give what Blessed John Paul II took so well from her: the means of sacramental grace through Christ, the Word living and breathing in the Holy Spirit who works through the Word proclaimed and the grace of the sacramental life.

"In the Church this communion of men with God, in the 'love [that] never ends,' is the purpose which governs everything in her that is a sacramental means, tied to this passing world. '[The Church's] structure is totally ordered to the holiness of Christ's members. And holiness is measured according to the 'great mystery' in which the Bride responds with the gift of love to the gift of the Bridegroom.' Mary goes before us all in the holiness that is the Church's mystery as 'the bride without spot or wrinkle.' This is why the "Marian" dimension of the Church precedes the 'Petrine.?' " (CCC 773)

To believe in the holiness of Blessed John Paul means that we must also believe at the same time in the possbility of our own call to holiness, of the purpose of God in Christ through the way of the Church to make blesseds and saints also of each one of us. The courage to believe and to follow this way of Christ, lit up for us now also by Blessed John Paul, requires the courage that can come only through Faith, only through the gift of God. Jesus Christ is the way in which God constantly offers this gift to us which truly answers and satisfies our hope. And the Church, the "place of faith" as Pope Benedict calls her, is the way in which Jesus Christ walks this daily path of the words and works of faithful love.

To "open wide the doors to Christ" as Blessed John Paul called us to do, means very simply to start with ourselves, to open the doors of our hearts and minds to the words and works of Christ who is God among us and with us and in us. This can happen in the fullest way only as children of the Church, living together and loving one another in faithfulness to the liturgy of holy Mass on Sundays and at other times. This means also seeking Christ's forgiveness particularly through confession when we have sinned gravely. Having opened ourselves to God and having truly received Him in sacramental grace we must then give this God in us to others thereby growing in His life.

Blessed John Paul, pray for us!

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No Taxpayer Funding of Abortion Act: Call and ask your Representative to “Vote Yes on H.R. 3"

Dear Friend of CV,

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has announced a major vote on the No Taxpayer Funding of Abortion Act (H.R. 3) on or around Wednesday, May 4.

This major piece of legislation would establish a permanent, government-wide prohibition of federal funding for abortions.

Please take 3 minutes and tell your Representative: “Vote Yes on H.R. 3.”

Call the Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or look up your Representatives phone number here: http://www.house.gov/zip/ZIP2Rep.html

Despite what the some politicians and the media have reported, there is no permanent, government-wide prohibition on federal funding of abortion.

During the recent debate over taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood as well as the health-care debate, President Obama and others repeatedly cited the Hyde Amendment as “settled federal law.” But the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funding of most abortions, is an annual appropriation fight. What pro-abortion advocates don't want you to know is that the Hyde Amendment expires at the end of every fiscal year.

That’s why we need a permanent, government-wide ban on direct federal funding of abortion, including federal subsidies for health plans that cover abortion.

At stake in Wednesday’s expected vote is an important principle. Our government wastes a lot of money. But waste on pork projects is one thing. Forcing American taxpayers to directly fund a procedure that results in the intentional death of an unborn child is unacceptable. And over 60% of Americans agree with us.1

There facts are plain -- the Hyde Amendment has saved thousands of lives every year. And now the pro-life majority in the House is behind us. We must make this ban permanent!

Call your Representative today at (202) 224-3121.

Finally -- you should know that even though we were unable to stop federal funding of Planned Parenthood this year, several states are moving legislation that would block this notorious organization from receiving state aid. This week, Indiana is expected to be the first to end state funding to Planned Parenthood. And other states may follow.

Our work together to expose Planned Parenthood is moving forward. There is much more work ahead, but we are making progress.

Politicians have no room to hide on this one. There is no "women's health" excuse to hide behind. This is about taxpayers and direct abortion funding -- nothing else.

Let’s build on this momentum. Let’s enshrine in federal law a ban on taxpayer funding of abortion.

Urge your Representative to "Vote Yes on H.R. 3."

Sincerely,
Brian Burch
CatholicVote.org


1. http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/11/18/abortion.poll/

"Cohabitations's Curse"

The following column, by Monsignor Owen F. Campion, first appeared in a recent edition of Our Sunday Visitor. It is reprinted with the permission of Monsignor Campion, the Associate Publisher of that publication.

A few weeks ago, a reader of Our Sunday Visitor called me, not to complain about something that we had published but to state her great indignation that apparently Britain’s Prince William and his fiancée, Kate Middleton, have been intimate already, and for a time now, since they are living together and have lived together in the past.

She thought that this was an outrage, because of the prince’s status as a superstar in many places in the world, but also because that if one day he becomes King William V, he will be head of the Church of England.

“Doesn’t the Church of England have any rules?” she demanded. I had to put my best ecumenical ingenuity to work to answer this one without being sarcastic and harsh. The Church of England, sadly, has abandoned many of its once-cherished teachings regarding morality, either by precisely negating what was taught in the past as Christian tradition, or by compromising and in the end holding nothing.

The call raises a point involving many more people than the heir to the British throne. It involves more than the Church of England.

Throughout Western society, so traditionally and historically Christian, cohabitation, the circumstance that this caller mentioned in reference to the prince, is rampant. It is a sign of how far respect for religion and religious values has slipped in our own country that sexual intimacy before, or outside, marriage is commonplace.

We Catholics cannot cast many stones. Every priest knows that a high percentage of couples whom he sees to prepare for marriage already are sexually active with each other. Of course, the general impression is that most priests would be offended by this fact, so couples avoid the issue, or if confronted, they lie.

(Priests are on the spot in such circumstances. They can criticize, even denounce, such conduct, but pre-marital sex does not give a priest grounds under Church law to deny Catholic marriage to the couple involved.)

It is a greater problem than how to manage marriage plans for a couple already living together. It is the cultural acceptance of the practice, Catholics being guilty of this acceptance as often as not. Catholics live together without marriage. Catholic parents tolerate this among their children.

Years ago, before his death, TV reporter Barbara Walters, famous for her questioning the great and famous, interviewed Bing Crosby, the legendary singer, admittedly a man with faults, but also a committed Irish-Catholic, especially in his later years.

She asked him what would he do if one of his adult children who might be in an intimate relationship with a person outside marriage came home for Christmas with the “significant other?” Would Crosby allow them to occupy the same room if they stayed overnight?

Quite calmly, Crosby simply said, “No.” Aghast, considering the way things are now in America, Walters asked, why?

Crosby said that, as a Catholic, he believed what the Church taught about marriage and the dignity of sex. If he allowed such a situation under his roof, he was failing, as a father, to teach his children what was right and for their own good.

God bless him. However, the reaction of Barbara Walters, utterly incredulous at his position, shows how far things have gone in our society.

This is one point from this story. Cohabitation, simply speaking from sociology and psychology, is problematic. No one does anyone a service by simply condoning this particular behavior. (Remember the story in the Bible of the father who gives a child a snake when asked for a fish?) Warn youths, and indeed others, of the sin involved but also of the other problems so often associated with cohabitation.

Secondly, the Church has the truth about how we are to live. It is vastly more reliable than social conventions or how individually we feel.

La Forma Straordinaria della Santa Messa a la Chiesa di Santa Giusta / Extraordinary Form Mass at the church of Santa Giusta

We celebrated the memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena, according to the local calendar, for the intentions of my parishioners at home and also for my mother, Mary Catherine, appropriately on the feast of one of her heavenly patrons.Prayers at the foot of the altar

ConfiteorLeonine Prayers after Mass

Servers assisting, l to r, Alessio, Giacomo and Filippo Easter candle lit and altar decorated for the Easter Season

I Nuraghi di Sardegna / Nuraghe fortifications of 1500 BC

The "Nuraghi" are prehistoric fortifications found throughout Sardegna. Together with my host, Don Luca, pastor of Santa Giusta in Gesico, Sardegna, and Fathers Fabrizio and Ferdinando today I visited an extensive site surrounding one of these nuraghi at"Su Nuraxu di Buramini", considered to be the most significant of the nuraghi and a UNESCO world heritage site.

From inside the tower a view of the sky.

A view from within one of the four towers toward the central courtyard surrounding the underground potable water source which still flows. The nuraghi were built over water sources which guaranteed life and prosperity.

A piece of the pavement which originally covered a walkway connecting the towers near the top of the structure once 20 meters high. The fragment now rests near ground level next to the opening above the well.

A closed conical room inside a tower.

Father Luca, center, and Father Ferdinando, right, visible next to an opening from a tower into the central courtyard.

A view from the top of the remaining structure reveals the remnant of a guard tower built later in the evolution of the complex and additional structures built by later civilizations using stones from the larger towers.



A sacred fount and small chapel within a living complex which had seven rooms opening off of a central courtyard and believed to have a roof of wood and grass. Visible to the right of the small cultic circular stone bench surrounding a type of font for a ritual using water one can see what remains of the arch over a fireplace. A stone receptacle next to it would have been used to heat water.

Another cultic room again with circular bench and sacred font.

A mill structure for grinding grain with what remains of an oven for baking bread in the far section of the surrounding wall.

An artist's conception at left gives an idea of the outlines of the original structure with four crenellated towers surrounding a central higher tower. The ruins are in the background.


The base of a tower with monumental stones dates to the earliest construction 1500 B.C.


The largest stones found at the base of the structure are the most ancient, mined of volcanic basalt formations in nearby hills, and according to one theory moved by donkey and cart to the building site to be placed one on top of another without use of cement. The construction was probably accessed by means of frames or ramps built up around the structure as it rose higher and higher.
The guide holds a picture of an artistic conception of the ancient complex.



The complex was continually improved and enlarged as circumstances and resources permitted as seen with these remains of a tower built into an additional fortification wall surrounding the inner four towers and central tower next to the well.

John Paul II is blessed because he met and loved Jesus Christ in the Church and teaches us to do the same

Captions and more photos coming soon from the Mass of beatification for Blessed John Paul II yesterday in Rome. Please visit again.

Grazie mille,

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The image of Blessed John Paul II is revealed after he is declared to be so by His Holiness BenedictXVI
At the Mass of Beatification I sat next to Father Scott, SOLT from Canada. After already having kept vigil throughout the previous night with many others at the concert held at the Circus Maximus, Father Scott struggled manfully to remain awake and spiritually present during the Mass.

The pilgrims kept arriving for hours after the conclusion of the Mass of beatification to line up in order to enter the basilica of Saint Peter's and ask for the new Blessed's intercession in the presence of his remains in the rotunda.

Another view of the some of the estimated 1 million plus pilgrims who came to honor the memory of Blessed John Paul II and celebrate his earthly acclamation as one who now shares the beatitude of eternal life with God.

Over 1 Million Today at John Paul II Beatification: he "helped believers throughout the world not to be afraid"

"By his witness of faith, love and apostolic courage, accompanied by great human charisma, this exemplary son of Poland helped believers throughout the world not to be afraid to be called Christian, to belong to the Church, to speak of the Gospel. In a word: he helped us not to fear the truth, because truth is the guarantee of liberty. To put it even more succinctly: he gave us the strength to believe in Christ, because Christ is Redemptor hominis, the Redeemer of man. This was the theme of his first encyclical, and the thread which runs though all the others."

-- Benedict XVI, Homily for Mass of Beatification

Italian police estimated the size of the crowd at Saint Peter's Basilica and at other locations around Rome for the beatification of Pope John Paul II at more than 1 million persons.

I am posting these photos from the Holy See Press Office. The esplanade was decorated with flowers, trees and plants for today's Mass of beatification. As the crowds disperse following the Mass of beatification young people visible here from the Diocese of Rome are helping with crowd control. The press of people in Saint Peter's Square made exit difficult.

Priests in the hundreds were seated where the esplanade meets the Square. The day began cloudy and cool but quickly turned hot. Many pilgrims took refuge under umbrellas to prevent excessive "sun bath".

Cedars, olive trees and flowers frame the altar and the Holy Father's cathedra under a red canopy in the central position under the portrait of Blessed John Paul II. Cardinal Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, was easily visible during the Mass, seated as he was under the canopy with the other concelebrating cardinals at the left in this photo and at the end closest to the Piazza.

Crowds stretch from Piazza San Pietro to the River Tevere and spilled out into the side streets surrounding Vatican City.

Swiss Guards in red-plumed headgear help to channel the human flow between the Square and the Basilica which will be open for visits to view the casket of Blessed John Paul in the upper church until it is placed in its new altar after 5 am Monday.

Click here to view the video of some of the thousands who are passing in procession to venerate the remains of Blessed John Paul II in Saint Peter's Basilica until early Monday.