Celebrate and defend religious freedom in Washington, DC, on Sunday, June 24

Event Details

Take part in the Fortnight for Freedom by joining over 4,000 faithful from the Archdiocese of Washington for a Celebration of Freedom!

The event will take place at the George Washington University’s Smith Center at

4pm on Sunday, June 24, 2012.

The afternoon will include a rally of music and videos tracing the history of religious liberty

while celebrating our Catholic experience!

Cardinal Wuerl will invite attendees to join in him prayer and will conclude the event with Benediction.


Bus transportation is available from the following parishes in Southern Maryland:

Jesus the Good Shepherd Church (1601 W. Mount Harmony Road, Owings)

Saint Peter Church (3320 St. Peter's Drive, Waldorf)

Saint Aloysius Church (22800 Washington Street, Leonardtown)

Garden up!

Zucchini and squash are yielding and I tasted the first peas today.
Sunflowers are blooming.

Benedict XVI: Do not exclude contemplation, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament

EUCHARISTIC COMMUNION AND CONTEMPLATION ARE INSEPARABLE

Vatican City, 8 June 2012 (VIS) - At 7 p.m. today, Solemnity of Corpus Christi, Benedict XVI celebrated Mass in the basilica of St. John Lateran, then led a Eucharistic procession along Via Merulana to the basilica of St. Mary Major.

During the liturgical celebration, the Pope pronounced a homily in which he focused on the sacredness of the Eucharist, and in particular on the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

"A unilateral interpretation of Vatican Council II has penalised this dimension", the Holy Father explained, "effectively limiting the Eucharist to the moment of celebrating Mass. It is, of course, very important to recognise the importance of celebration, in which the Lord calls His people, bringing them together around the table of the Word and Bread of life, nourishing them and uniting them to Himself in the sacrificial offering. This interpretation of the liturgical gathering, in which the Lord works and achieves His mystery of communion, naturally retains all its validity, but a rightful balance must be restored. ... By concentrating our relationship with the Eucharistic Christ only on Mass we run the risk that the rest of time and space is emptied of His presence. Thus our perception of Jesus' constant, real and close presence among us and with us is diminished".

"It is a mistake to establish a contrast between celebration and adoration, as if they were in competition with one another. The opposite is true. The cult of the Blessed Sacrament represents the spiritual 'environment' within which the community can celebrate the Eucharist correctly and truthfully. Only if preceded, accompanied and followed by this interior attitude of faith and adoration, can liturgical activity express its full meaning and value", the Pope said.

He then went on to explain that, at the moment of adoration, we are all at the same level, "on our knees before the Sacrament of Love. The common and ministerial priesthood come together in the cult of the Eucharist. ... By remaining together in silence before the Lord, present in His Sacrament, we have one of the most authentic experiences of being Church, one that is complementary to our celebration of the Eucharist. ... Communion and contemplation cannot be separated, they go together", and if contemplation is lacking "even sacramental communion can become a superficial gesture on our part".

Turning then to consider the sacredness of the Eucharist, Benedict XVI noted that here too, in the recent past, there has been "some misunderstanding of the authentic message of Holy Scripture. The Christian novelty of worship has been influenced by a certain secularist mentality of the 1960s and 1970s. It is true, and it remains valid, that the centre of worship is no longer in the ancient rites and sacrifices, but in Christ Himself, His person, His life, His Paschal Mystery. Yet this fundamental novelty must not lead us to conclude that the sacred no longer exists".

Christ "did not abolish the sacred but brought it to fulfilment, inaugurating a new worship which is entirely spiritual but which nonetheless, as long as our journey in time continues, still uses signs and rites. These will only fall into disuse at the end, in the celestial Jerusalem where there will be no temple".

Moreover, the Holy Father went on, "the sacred has an educational function. Its disappearance inevitably impoverishes culture, and especially the formation of the new generations. ... Our Father God ... sent His Son into the world, not to abolish the sacred but to bring it to fulfilment. At the culmination of this mission, at the Last Supper, Jesus established the Sacrament of His Body and His Blood, the Memorial of His Paschal Sacrifice. By doing so he put Himself in the place of the ancient sacrifices, but He did so in the context of a rite, which he ordered the Apostles to perpetuate as a supreme sign of the true sacrifice, which is Him. With this faith, ... day after day we celebrate the Eucharistic Mystery, and adore it as the centre of our lives and the heart of the world".

Benedict Corpus Christi 2012

"Adoremus in aeternum sanctissimum Sacramentum."

The altar is prepared with lilies grown in the church garden

Ministers seated during the chanting of the Gloria

Reverencing the altar with a genuflection at the predella

Incensation

The deacon proclaims the Gospel Incensation of the priest after the Gospel

The subdeacon delivers the paten

In illo tempore: Dixit Iesus turbis Iudaeorum: Caro mea, vere est cibus: et sanguis meus, vere est potus. Iohn 6:56-59 The elevation of the chalice at the consecration of the Precious Blood

Exposition of the Eucharist in the monstrance for carrying the Lord in procession The procession begins Priests, seminarians, families and young people celebrated the Solemnity of Corpus Christi in union with the Holy Father in Rome and Catholics around the world at the parish of Saint Francis de Sales in Benedict, Maryland.
The procession returns to the church The customary procession of Corpus Christi concludes with Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament as the people both worship the Lord's Eucharistic Presence under the sign of bread and receive His blessing Prospective and current college seminarians of the Archdiocese of Washington participated Father Reutemann assisted as deacon and Greg DeStefano as subdeacon

With prayerful gratitude to MC George Walter, SFDS servers Sid Marcus, Walt and Caleb Shorts, ADW college seminarians Kevin Kayser and Greg DeStefano, prospective ADW college seminarian Greg Portner, prospective Pittsburgh college seminarian Jonathan Teeney, Jacob Zeitler, organist Bill Gilligan and cantor Steve Karsteter.

"Laudate Dominum omnes gentes: laudate eum omnes populi."

We Are Catholic

The Catholic Church is my home, and it is a beautiful place of absolute truth. Unfortunately the world has tried to define it in ways that are far from the truth. I was inspired to make this video in an effort to reach out to some truth seeking teens who are trying answer the question of what it means to be Cathttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifholic.

I don't expect this to appeal to all, but hopefully it will grab some of you and help you realize what being Catholic is... "all about."




Uploaded by DefendUsInBattleBlog on Aug 28, 2011

Benedict XVI on Gabriele case: "increasing conjecture, amplified by the communications media, which is entirely gratuitous, goes beyond the facts"

THE POPE: DESPITE THE WEAKNESS OF MAN, THE LORD WILL ALWAYS SUPPORT HIS CHURCH

Vatican City, 30 May 2012 (VIS) - At the end of today's general audience, the Holy Father made some remarks concerning recent developments in the Vatican.

"The events of recent days involving the Curia and my collaborators have brought sadness to my heart. However, I have never lost my firm certainty that, despite the weakness of man, despite difficulties and trials, the Church is guided by the Holy Spirit and the Lord will ensure she never lacks the help she needs to support her on her journey.

"Nonetheless there has been increasing conjecture, amplified by the communications media, which is entirely gratuitous, goes beyond the facts and presents a completely unrealistic image of the Holy See. Thus, I wish to reiterate my trust and encouragement to my closest collaborators and to all those people who every day, in silent faithfulness and with a spirit of sacrifice, help me carry out my ministry".

Don Ivan Martini, 65, dies in second Modena earthquake, crushed salvaging statue in earthquake-damaged parish church

A country priest's only possession is his church. It does not matter if it is not a part of the history of architecture, if it does not include major masterpieces. Every statue, every piece, is, as it were, a part of town. Father Ivan Martini, 65, for nine years parish priest in Rovereto, one of the towns of the lowlands of Modena most affected by [today's] earthquake, died this morning in his collapsed church. ...
Don Ivan loved his church, and all that was inside it. The parish church of Santa Caterina had been damaged and had been condemned following the previous earthquake, but a search was needed in order to remove some objects that had been left inside. Therefore, this morning, joined by two firemen, he entered the church to try to salvage some statues, in particular one of the Virgin of which many of his parishioners were especially fond. This is where the strong quake found him. Don Ivan was hit by the fall of a stone or of a beam, and he could not escape. The two firemen who were with him were unharmed and were able to return to safety. Rovereto, then, in the midst of so many structural damages, cries for its only victim, its parish priest, loved by the town.

Source: ANSA.