According to an anonymous source, the Vatican has decided for security reasons to send Pope Benedict's decoy (who is known normally in the Vatican only as Dr. Petrus) to Turkey. He has been practicing the part as pope the last couple of days including this photo period taken on Sunday before the Angelus. Pope Benedict sends his apostolic blessing to his decoy and prays for his protection before the big trip. There is only one problem everyone is crossing their fingers about---he doesn't know a word of German.
Monday, November 27, 2006
According to an anonymous source, the Vatican has decided for security reasons to send Pope Benedict's decoy (who is known normally in the Vatican only as Dr. Petrus) to Turkey. He has been practicing the part as pope the last couple of days including this photo period taken on Sunday before the Angelus. Pope Benedict sends his apostolic blessing to his decoy and prays for his protection before the big trip. There is only one problem everyone is crossing their fingers about---he doesn't know a word of German.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Q. 1. Your article on Mysterium-Fidei on how a liturgical abuse at your parish stopped is very exciting! Please explain to your knowledge how this abuse started, in your parish.
A. About 6 months ago, our bishop sent a seminarian to Delta to assist our pastor during the Holy Week Liturgies. Now, our pastor did not want the seminarian to feel like he had nothing to do, so he allowed him to fraction the wine [Precious Blood], thinking this was just one more thing. (Please understand, our pastor did not mean bad by this.) Prior to this event our pastor did not fraction.
Q. 2. Why do you think this abuse continued even after Rome put out Redemptionis Sacramentum stating that fractioning was to come to an end?
A. Rome put this document out, because it knew that the Precious Blood was being spilled often. So, they figured that if the wine was poured during the Offertory, than if it was spilt, "O well, it's just wine!" Now, before our pastor started fractioning, the Precious Blood had not been spilled, but after he started, it has been spilled 7 times.
Q. 3. What happened that caused the fractioning to come to an end?
A. Well, after much controversy in the parish, the priest was notified by about 10 people, urging him to stop this act which was a sin against the Precious Blood. The priest felt pressured and decided to change his mind. The secondary thing that changed his mind was that it was less time consuming to do it the correct way.
Q. 4. What advice would you give to others who have similar abuses in their parishes that want to do something?
A. Please, I beg you, don't run in like a lion. Charity above all. First pray, and then talk to your liturgist, and if that doesn't work, talk to the priest himself. Give him the reasons, and show him the document. Be persistent, but not pushy! If this doesn't work, than you can always go to your local ordinary. While the Congregation for Divine Worship is another step, it is unlikely they will take this matter as a "gravatori delictica." If nothing happens, go back to step one: pray. Pray for conversion of heart.
Just as an update as to the situation in my parish: I have written my liturgist and I am going to be talking to her next week. Please pray all goes well!
Copyright 2006 Our Lady of Sorrows inc.
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
VATICAN CITY, NOV 21, 2006 (VIS) - The Holy See Press Office today released a communique stating: "The Holy Father Benedict XVI has completed writing the first part of a book, the title of which is 'Gesu di Nazareth. Dal Battesimo nel Giordano alla Trasfigurazione' (Jesus of Nazareth, From His Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration) and, within the last few days, has consigned it to the Vatican Publishing House. The book will be published in spring 2007"
VATICAN CITY, NOV 22, 2006 (VIS) - Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J., has written a note concerning a forthcoming book by Benedict XVI, scheduled for publication in the spring of 2007. The title of the volume is: "Gesu di Nazareth. Dal Battesimo nel Giordano alla Trasfigurazione" (Jesus of Nazareth, From His Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration).
The Vatican Publishing House, which holds the copyright on all the Pope's writings, has ceded the world rights for the translation, distribution and marketing of this book to the Rizzoli Publishing House.
"The fact that Benedict XVI has managed to complete the first part of his great book on Jesus, and that within a few months we will have it in our hands, is wonderful news," writes Fr. Lombardi in his note. "I find it extraordinary that despite the duties and concerns of the pontificate, he has managed to complete a work of such great academic and spiritual depth. He says he dedicated all his free time to the project; and this itself is a very significant indication of the importance and urgency the book has for him.
"With his habitual simplicity and humility, the Pope explains that this is not a 'work of Magisterium' but the fruit of his own research, and as such it can be freely discussed and criticized. This is a very important observation, because it makes clear that what he writes in the book in no way binds the research of exegetes and theologians. It is not a long encyclical on Jesus, but a personal presentation of the figure of Jesus by the theologian Joseph Ratzinger, who has been elected as Bishop of Rome."
In the book's preface, Fr. Lombardi's note says, the Holy Father "explains that in modern culture, and in many presentations of the figure of Jesus, the gap between the 'historical Jesus' and the 'Christ of the faith' has become ever wider. ... Joseph Ratzinger, taking into consideration all the achievements of modern research, aims to present the Jesus of the Gospels as the real 'historical Jesus,' as a sensible and convincing figure to Whom we can and must trustingly refer, and upon Whom we have good reason to base our faith and our Christian life. With his book, then, the Pope aims to offer a fundamental service to support the faith of his brothers and sisters, and he does so from the central element of the faith: Jesus Christ."
In the introduction to the book, Fr. Lombardi continues, "Jesus is presented to us as the new Moses, the new prophet who speaks with 'God face to face,' ... the Son, deeply united to the Father. If this essential aspect is overlooked, the figure of Jesus become contradictory and incomprehensible. With passion, Joseph Ratzinger speaks to us of Jesus' intimate union with the Father, and wishes to ensure that Jesus' disciples participate in this communion. It is, then, a great work of exegesis and theology, but also a great work of spirituality."
Fr. Lombardi concludes: "Recalling the profound impression and the spiritual fruits that, as a young man, I drew from reading Joseph Ratzinger's first work - 'Introduction to Christianity' - I am sure that this time too we will not be disappointed, but that both believers and all people truly disposed to understand more fully the figure of Jesus, will be immensely grateful to the Pope for his great witness as a thinker, scholar and man of faith, on the most essential point of the entire Christian faith."
OP/BOOK BENEDICT XVI/LOMBARDI VIS 061122 (600)
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
A Secret Society... A Spirit.... And a Catastrophe....
Monday, November 13, 2006
Thursday, November 09, 2006
I have just recently finished helping teach at our church in our First Reconciliation Class. I feel confident that some of the students are ready to make their First Confession. And yes, I said some. Unfortunately, some of the students do not know much at all. They come to class, and although the class may be good, it is only 1 hour each week. If the children have not had proper religious education at home, they will suffer in their faith, and a First Confession class will only confuse them. For example, if they don't know who God is, they can't possibly understand His mercy and why we need forgiveness. Religious education at home is what is essential. The local parish may be able to provide some education, but it should only be supplementary. I can tell the difference between the children whose parents at home have gone over the "homework" (the terms and ideas of Reconciliation), and those kids whose parents bring them but do not teach their children.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Sunday, November 05, 2006
"An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints" (Indulgentarium Doctrina norm 1)."An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin" (ibid. norm 2, norm 3).What that means is that an indulgence will remove either partially or completely your temporal punishment from sin. So what is temporal punishment? Temporal punishment is the punishment acquired even though our sins may have been forgiven in whole. It is like if you broke your neighbor's window when you were a kid playing baseball. Even though you would tell them your sorry, and they forgive you, you will still have to pay for the broken window. Temporal punishment is that. Namely, we still have punishment- not that it will send us to Hell-but that it must be paid for because of the very fact we have sinned. It's called making reparation for your sin.So, how do I gain an indulgence? There are certain requirements that must be followed in order to gain an indulgence.1. First of all you must be in a state of sanctifying grace. That is, you have no mortal sin on your soul.2. You must be Catholic3. You must have the intention of gaining the particular indulgence.For partial indulgences:You have to carry out the action with a contrite heart.For Plenary indulgences:Same as partial, plus you must go to confession within 8 days before or after the act is done, receive Holy Communion, pray for the pope's intentions, (1 Our Father and Hail Mary are enough, but substitutions are allowed.), and you must be free from all attachment to all sin including venial sin.So, to gain the Plenary Indulgence for a soul in Purgatory you must go to confession, receive Holy Communion, Pray for the pope's intentions, be free from all attachment to all sin (no matter how small!), and visit a cemetery and pray for the souls in Purgatory! Wowsers! I hope you got all of that! Really it is not that difficult to fulfil, except for perhaps the condition that requires one to be free from all attachment to sin. I know that only God can know if we truly are, and not many of us are anywhere close.One final note: Indulgences are not a means to earn one's salvation. To receive an indulgence, one must already be a in a state of Sanctifying Grace (the grace needed for Heaven). As I said before, indulgences only remove temporal punishment-not eternal punishment. Also, indulgences can not be bought over e-bay, or sent in the mail. They are something that God bestows on us through His Holy Catholic Church. The Pope cannot just wave his hand and put an indulgence on you. They are not magic. It is only a gift from God, to help us grow closer to Him, and it is a sign of His infinite Mercy!