A news round up - 15 October 2014

Here are few items of news you might have missed:

• Police in Utah are searching for a woman who robbed a Super 8 motel while, according to witnesses, dressed like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume. Though she apparently wore a black mask over her face, my guess is she had Raphael in mind; this seems like something he might do when angry.

• The U.S. Department of Justice created a Facebook page under the name of a woman and with pictures taken from her cell phone  - without her knowledge or permission - to help, they say, in criminal investigations. She is now suing the government for a breach of privacy and is seeking more than $250,000 in damages.

• The budget deficit of the U.S. federal government has now fallen to just $486,000.000,000. This is down from a budget deficit of more than $1,000,000,000,000 in President Obama's first term and after hitting a record $1,400,000,000,000 in 2009. This fall of the budget deficit is, I suppose, good news. Still, I wouldn't mind a personal budget like this.

• After studying data collected from the temperature of the oceans at various depths, the National Aeronautics and Space and Administration reports that it is unable to explain why global warming (even in the waters) has slowed over the last ten years, in clear contradiction to the projections of the computer models.

• As further proof that saints are just like us, Saint John Paul II was a fan of the classic movie, The Princess Bride. According to Cary Elwes, the late Pope called the movie, "Very good film. Very funny." That's a good enough endorsement for me.

• A petition on the web site of the White House to "Investigate Jehovah's Witness' [sic] Leaders for Child Abuse Cover Up and Protecting Child Abusers" has 191 signatures since being posted on Monday. 

• I'm not sure how I managed to miss this one until today, but a prisoner in Santa Fe is suing the state of New Mexico because his First Amendment freedom to practice Satanism is not being respected.

• The tallest cow in the world - standing at 6'4" - lives in Orangeville, Illinois (I didn't know where it was, either).

Blessed John Paul II Sunday

In a decree dated August 22, 2011, the memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, His Excellency the Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki has decreed October 16, 2011 to be celebrated as a day of thanksgiving to God for the life of Blessed Pope John Paul II in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.

The text of his decree follows:

DECREE

Whereas, following the death of the great Pope John Paul II, the faithful fervently asked His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to raise his predecessor to the dignity of the altars, and

Whereas, when, after the appropriate investigations into his life and holiness were complete, the Holy See set the date for the beatification of Blessed Pope John Paul II and received numerous requests from the faithful requesting permission to celebrate the memorial of Blessed Pope John Paul II in locations outside of Vatican City State and Poland, where his memorial has been placed on the local calendars of liturgical celebrations, and

Whereas, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, in the Decree on the Liturgical Observance of the Cult of Blessed John Paul, Pope of April 2, 2011, has granted to Diocesan Bishops permission to allow the celebration of the Holy Mass of Thanksgiving to God for the gift of Blessed Pope John II on the days and in the places of his choosing within the time of a year following his beatification, and

Whereas the College of Cardinals gathered in Conclave elected then Karol Cardinal Wojtyła to the See of Peter on October 16, 1978,

Therefore I, Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki, by the grace of God and the Apostolic See Bishop of Springfield in Illinois, hereby decree Sunday, October 16, 2011 to be observed as a Day of Thanksgiving to God in all of the parishes, churches, shrines and chapels within the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois for the life, teaching and ministry of Blessed Pope John Paul II and that Masses be celebrated in honor of Blessed Pope John Paul II.

In accord with the Decree on the Liturgical Observance of the Cult of Blessed John Paul, Pope, the Collect [Opening Prayer] is to be prayed in honor of the blessed; the Preface, antiphons, first reading, Psalm, Alleluia verse and Gospel readings are taken from the Common of Pastors, For a Pope (all of which accompany this decree); the second reading shall be taken from the Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A.  This Mass is to be celebrated both on the evening of October 15, 2011 at the anticipated Masses for Sunday and throughout the day of October 16, 2011.

Given at Springfield, Illinois, this 22^th day of the month of August in the Year of Our Lord, 2011, the Memorial of the Queenship of Mary.  

                                                                        Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki

                                                                        Bishop of Springfield in Illinois

Pope: My own service was sustained by John Paul II's spiritual depth

The Vatican Information Service provides us today with the text of the homily preached by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI at the Mass of Beatification of Blessed Pope John Paul II.  The text follows, with my emphases:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,


Six years ago we gathered in this Square to celebrate the funeral of Pope John Paul II. Our grief at his loss was deep, but even greater was our sense of an immense grace which embraced Rome and the whole world: a grace which was in some way the fruit of my beloved predecessor's entire life, and especially of his witness in suffering. Even then we perceived the fragrance of his sanctity, and in any number of ways God's People showed their veneration for him. For this reason, with all due respect for the Church's canonical norms, I wanted his cause of beatification to move forward with reasonable haste. And now the longed-for day has come; it came quickly because this is what was pleasing to the Lord: John Paul II is blessed!

I would like to offer a cordial greeting to all of you who on this happy occasion have come in such great numbers to Rome from all over the world - cardinals, patriarchs of the Eastern Catholic Churches, brother bishops and priests, official delegations, ambassadors and civil authorities, consecrated men and women and lay faithful, and I extend that greeting to all those who join us by radio and television.

Today is the Second Sunday of Easter, which Blessed John Paul II entitled Divine Mercy Sunday. The date was chosen for today's celebration because, in God's providence, my predecessor died on the vigil of this feast. Today is also the first day of May, Mary's month, and the liturgical memorial of Saint Joseph the Worker. All these elements serve to enrich our prayer, they help us in our pilgrimage through time and space; but in heaven a very different celebration is taking place among the angels and saints! Even so, God is but one, and one too is Christ the Lord, who like a bridge joins earth to heaven. At this moment we feel closer than ever, sharing as it were in the liturgy of heaven.

'Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe' (Jn 20:29). In today's Gospel Jesus proclaims this beatitude: the beatitude of faith. For us, it is particularly striking because we are gathered to celebrate a beatification, but even more so because today the one proclaimed blessed is a Pope, a Successor of Peter, one who was called to confirm his brethren in the faith. John Paul II is blessed because of his faith, a strong, generous and apostolic faith. We think at once of another beatitude: 'Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven' (Mt 16:17). What did our heavenly Father reveal to Simon? That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Because of this faith, Simon becomes Peter, the rock on which Jesus can build his Church. The eternal beatitude of John Paul II, which today the Church rejoices to proclaim, is wholly contained in these sayings of Jesus: 'Blessed are you, Simon' and 'Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe!' It is the beatitude of faith, which John Paul II also received as a gift from God the Father for the building up of Christ's Church.

Our thoughts turn to yet another beatitude, one which appears in the Gospel before all others. It is the beatitude of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Redeemer. Mary, who had just conceived Jesus, was told by Saint Elizabeth: 'Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord' (Lk 1:45). The beatitude of faith has its model in Mary, and all of us rejoice that the beatification of John Paul II takes place on this first day of the month of Mary, beneath the maternal gaze of the one who by her faith sustained the faith of the Apostles and constantly sustains the faith of their successors, especially those called to occupy the Chair of Peter. Mary does not appear in the accounts of Christ's resurrection, yet hers is, as it were, a continual, hidden presence: she is the Mother to whom Jesus entrusted each of his disciples and the entire community. In particular we can see how Saint John and Saint Luke record the powerful, maternal presence of Mary in the passages preceding those read in today's Gospel and first reading. In the account of Jesus' death, Mary appears at the foot of the Cross (Jn 19:25), and at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles she is seen in the midst of the disciples gathered in prayer in the Upper Room (Acts 1:14).

Today's second reading also speaks to us of faith. St. Peter himself, filled with spiritual enthusiasm, points out to the newly-baptized the reason for their hope and their joy. I like to think how in this passage, at the beginning of his First Letter, Peter does not use language of exhortation; instead, he states a fact. He writes: 'you rejoice', and he adds: 'you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls' (1 Pt 1:6, 8-9). All these verbs are in the indicative, because a new reality has come about in Christ's resurrection, a reality to which faith opens the door. 'This is the Lord's doing', says the Psalm (Ps 118:23), and 'it is marvelous in our eyes', the eyes of faith.

Dear brothers and sisters, today our eyes behold, in the full spiritual light of the risen Christ, the beloved and revered figure of John Paul II. Today his name is added to the host of those whom he proclaimed saints and blesseds during the almost twenty-seven years of his pontificate, thereby forcefully emphasizing the universal vocation to the heights of the Christian life, to holiness, taught by the conciliar Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium. All of us, as members of the people of God - bishops, priests, deacons, laity, men and women religious - are making our pilgrim way to the heavenly homeland where the Virgin Mary has preceded us, associated as she was in a unique and perfect way to the mystery of Christ and the Church. Karol Wojtyla took part in the Second Vatican Council, first as an auxiliary Bishop and then as Archbishop of Krakow. He was fully aware that the Council's decision to devote the last chapter of its Constitution on the Church to Mary meant that the Mother of the Redeemer is held up as an image and model of holiness for every Christian and for the entire Church. This was the theological vision which Blessed John Paul II discovered as a young man and subsequently maintained and deepened throughout his life. A vision which is expressed in the scriptural image of the crucified Christ with Mary, his Mother, at his side. This icon from the Gospel of John (19:25-27) was taken up in the episcopal and later the papal coat-of-arms of Karol Wojtyla: a golden cross with the letter 'M' on the lower right and the motto 'Totus tuus', drawn from the well-known words of Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort in which Karol Wojtyla found a guiding light for his life: 'Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt. Accipio te in mea omnia. Praebe mihi cor tuum, Maria - I belong entirely to you, and all that I have is yours. I take you for my all. O Mary, give me your heart' (Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, 266).

In his Testament, the new Blessed wrote: 'When, on 16 October 1978, the Conclave of Cardinals chose John Paul II, the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, said to me: "The task of the new Pope will be to lead the Church into the Third Millennium"'. And the Pope added: 'I would like once again to express my gratitude to the Holy Spirit for the great gift of the Second Vatican Council, to which, together with the whole Church - and especially with the whole episcopate - I feel indebted. I am convinced that it will long be granted to the new generations to draw from the treasures that this Council of the twentieth century has lavished upon us. As a Bishop who took part in the Council from the first to the last day, I desire to entrust this great patrimony to all who are and will be called in the future to put it into practice. For my part, I thank the Eternal Shepherd, who has enabled me to serve this very great cause in the course of all the years of my Pontificate'. And what is this 'cause'? 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. This was the theme of his first encyclical, and the thread which runs though all the others.

When Karol Wojtyla ascended to the throne of Peter, he brought with him a deep understanding of the difference between Marxism and Christianity, based on their respective visions of man. This was his message: man is the way of the Church, and Christ is the way of man. With this message, which is the great legacy of the Second Vatican Council and of its 'helmsman', the Servant of God Pope Paul VI, John Paul II led the People of God across the threshold of the Third Millennium, which thanks to Christ he was able to call 'the threshold of hope'. Throughout the long journey of preparation for the great Jubilee he directed Christianity once again to the future, the future of God, which transcends history while nonetheless directly affecting it. He rightly reclaimed for Christianity that impulse of hope which had in some sense faltered before Marxism and the ideology of progress. He restored to Christianity its true face as a religion of hope, to be lived in history in an 'Advent' spirit, in a personal and communitarian existence directed to Christ, the fullness of humanity and the fulfillment of all our longings for justice and peace.

Finally, on a more personal note, I would like to thank God for the gift of having worked for many years with Blessed Pope John Paul II. I had known him earlier and had esteemed him, but for twenty-three years, beginning in 1982 after he called me to Rome to be Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, I was at his side and came to revere him all the more. My own service was sustained by his spiritual depth and by the richness of his insights. His example of prayer continually impressed and edified me: he remained deeply united to God even amid the many demands of his ministry. Then too, there was his witness in suffering: the Lord gradually stripped him of everything, yet he remained ever a 'rock', as Christ desired. His profound humility, grounded in close union with Christ, enabled him to continue to lead the Church and to give to the world a message which became all the more eloquent as his physical strength declined. In this way he lived out in an extraordinary way the vocation of every priest and bishop to become completely one with Jesus, whom he daily receives and offers in the Eucharist.

Blessed are you, beloved Pope John Paul II, because you believed! Continue, we implore you, to sustain from heaven the faith of God's people. How many time you blessed us from this very square. Holy Father, bless us again from that window. Amen".

Prayer of Pope John Paul II

Blessed Damien,
you left yourself to be guided by the Holy Spirit,
like a son who obeys the will of the Father.

With your life and your missionary activities,
you express the kindness and mercy of Christ for every man,
waking the beauty of the interior being,
that no disease, no deformity and no weakness can disfigure completely.

With your work and your preaching,
you recall that Jesus made His the poverty and the suffering of men,
and that he revealed the mysterious value of it.

Intercede with Christ
medic of the body and of the soul,
for our sick brothers and sisters,
in order that in the anguish and the pain,
they won’t feel abandoned but,
united to the Risen Lord and to His Church,
they discover that the Holy Spirit descends upon them
and they can obtain this way the consolation promised to the afflicted.

From the homily delivered at the Beatification Mass for Damien of Molokai. Translated by Jay.

The Apostle to the Lepers

Jay, the lover of cheese, very kindly translated for me the homily delivered by the Servant of God Pope John Paul II on Pentecost 1995 at the Mass of beatification for Father Damien of Molokai.

I am very grateful to Jay for his good - and swift - work and ask you to remember him in your prayers for his kindness.

What follow are excerpts of the homily that concern the "apostle to lepers":

....Today, through my words, the Church recognises and confirms the exemplary value of Father Damien, on his walk to holiness, giving thanks to God for having guided him right to the end of his existence, a long walk, often difficult. She looks with joy at what God can achieve through human fragility, since “it is He that gives holiness, and man who receives it (Origen, Homily on Samuel, l 11, 11).

Father Damien lived a particular type of holiness in the course of his ministry; he was at the same time Priest, Religious and Missionary. Through these three qualities, he has revealed the face of Christ, showing the path of salvation, teaching the Gospel and being an inexhaustible agent of development. He organised religious life, social and fraternal of of Malokai, islands of exile from society at that time; with him, everyone had his place, everyone came to be known and loved by his own brothers.

....Dear brothers and sister of Belgium, everyone of us is called to holiness; put your talent at the service of Christ, of the Church and of your brothers; let yourselves be moulded with humility and patience by the Spirit! Holiness is not perfection according to human criteria; it is not reserved for a select few of exceptional individuals. It is for all; it is the Lord that gives us access to holiness, when we accept to collaborate for the glory of God in the salvation of the world, in spite of our sinfulness and our sometimes rebellious temperament. In our daily lives we are called to make choices that are sometimes an uncommon sacrifice (Veritatis Splendor, 102). True happiness has this price. The apostle of the lepers is testimony to this.

Today’s celebration is also a call to solidarity. While Damien was among the sick, he could say in his heart: "Our Lord will give me the graces I need to carry my cross and follow him, even to our special Calvary at Kalawao". The certainty that the only things that count are love and the gift of self was his inspiration and the source of his happiness. The apostle of the lepers is a shining example of how the love of God does not take us away from the world. Far from it: the love of Christ makes us love our brothers and sisters even to the point of giving up our lives for them.

...Dear brothers and sisters of Belgium, today it is your turn to take back the torch of Father Damien. His testimony is an appeal to you, above all for the youth, so that you can all know him, and, through his sacrifice, grow in your desire to love God, the fountain of true love and a happy life, and grow in the desire to make your life an authentic offering.

My heart turns to how many still today suffer from leprosy. In Damien, they now have an intercessor, though, before he became ill, he was already identified with them, often saying “We others, lepers”.

....This faith in the divinty of Christ, Father Damien, in a certain manner, sucked with the maternal milk, in his family in Flanders. It grew with him and he took it with him to his brothers and sisters in the far away islands of Molokai. To confirm right to the end the truth of his testimony, he offered his life with them. What else could he offer to the lepers, condemned to a slow death, if not his faith and that truth which is Christ is Lord and God is love? He became leper amongst the lepers, and he became leper for the lepers. He suffered and died as they did, believing in the resurrection of Christ, since Christ is Lord!

....The expression of Paul is universal [cf. I Corinthians 12:4-7], and, in this universal expression, we find certainly a part of the life of our blessed: his charisma, his vocation and his ministry. In all this, the Holy Spirit is manifested for the good of all. The beatification of Father Damien brings benefit to all the Church. It redresses a particular importance for the Church in Belgium, and also for the Church in the Oceanic Isles.

....May the glory of the Lord endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works; (Psalm 104 v31) With these words of the Psalmist I wish to conclude our meditation, in this solemn much awaited day, during which the mature fruit of holiness – Father Damien de Veuster – receives the glory of the altars of his native land. Brothers and sisters, be open to the Holy Spirit, in order that through your life men can discover God from whom comes every perfect gift!

It has come

Saturday, I received in the mail the holy card and what will be the relic - we pray - ex indumentis ("from the clothing") of the Servant of God Pope John Paul II. It is a small piece of white cloth that is from part of one of the vestments he wore.

On the back of the holy card is the "Prayer to implore favors through the intercession of the Servant of God Pope John Paul II":

O Blessed Trinity,

we thank You for having graced the Church with Pope John Paul II

and for allowing the tenderness of Your Fatherly care,

the glory of the Cross of Christ,

and the splendor of the Spirit of love,

to shine through him.

Trusting fully in Your inifnite mercy

and in the maternal intercession of Mary,

he has given us a living image of Jesus the Good Shepherd,

and has shown us that holiness is the necessary measure of ordinary Christian life

and is the way of achieving eternal communion with You.

Grant us, by his intercession, and according to Your will,

the graces we implore,

hoping that he will soon be counted among Your saints.

Amen.

For graces received, contact:

Postulazione della Causa di Beatificazione e Canonizzazinone del Servo di Dio Giovanni Paolo II, Piazza S. Giovanni in Laterano, 6/a - 00184, Roma

This is awesome!

Thomas has outdone hismself with this PPOTD. Do have a look, but be forewarned: be ready to fall out of your chair due to fits of nearly uncontrolable laughter.

Conclusions and beginnings

Some good news from Rome:

ROME, March 11 (CNA) - The Diocese of Rome has concluded its examination of the life and virtues of the Servant of God, Pope John Paul II. Cardinal Camillo Ruini, Vicar General for the diocese, announced on Saturday that the important investigation had been concluded and will be marked by a ceremony at Rome’s Cathedral, the Basilica of St. John Lateran on April 2nd, the AP reports.

The study of those who are candidates for being declared “Blesseds” and Saints usually begins at a diocesan level before being passed on to a Vatican congregation which conducts its own study.

Whereas all Popes serve as the Bishop of Rome, the study of John Paul II’s life began both there and in Poland, where the young Karol Wojtyla grew up and served as a priest and bishop before being elected Pope. In January, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the late Pope’s longtime secretary and current Archbishop of Krakow announced that the Polish investigation was nearly complete.

Cardinal Ruini emphasized that diocesan officials investigated “the life, virtues and reputation for holiness” of the late Pope. During the diocesan inquiry, church officials interviewed those who knew the Pope and examined documentation.

Although the conclusions of diocesan investigations are only one step, they are an important one on the way to the beloved Pope’s eventual Beatification and Canonization as a Saint. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints must now conduct a similar investigation and verify miracles attributed to the intercession of Pope John Paul II.

Shortly after John Paul's death, with scores of faithful clamoring for quick canonization, Pope Benedict XVI, the Pontiff's successor, waived the customary five-year waiting period to open the case for possible sainthood.

According to the AP, in addition to the presentation of the Rome Diocese’s study at St. John Lateran, Pope Benedict will preside at a Mass in memory of John Paul in the late afternoon of April 2nd in St. Peter's Basilica. The date marks the 2nd anniversary of Pope John Paul’s death.

Pope John Paul II, pray for us!