TOB tonight!

It will be our last session for the summer ("see you...in September"), so don't miss it! 7:30 at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/theology-of-the-body

Free Day

No, it wasn't a day off. This is the kind of day it was:
I walked down Lake Street this morning, and came home with four boxes of cereal. This afternoon, going to St. Peter's for adoration, someone handed me a set of two plug-in air freshners (each with their respective scent supply). Plus, when I went to Millennium Park to do my writing project, there was free music (a rehearsal for tomorrow night's concert; I'll miss that, due to our Theology of the Body session here).
So it was a "free" day!

TOB tomorrow

Know anybody who scratches his or her head in perplexity over Church teachings on marriage and sexuality? Send them to the Theology of the Body online study tomorrow night for an hour or two of clarity. It's a chance to find out what the Church really teaches, rather than swallow the common assumptions, usually filtered through pop culture. Fr. Thomas Loya is guiding the study group through Pope John Paul's actual teachings, starting at 7:30 Eastern, 6:30 Central time. Go to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/theology-of-the-body.
Facebook members, become a fan of the "Theology of the Body" and get regular updates, plus meet others who are excited about this amazingly beautiful and life-giving approach to human relationships.

the Days of Elijah

The first reading for Mass this week is taken from the first book of Kings; we're in the "Elijah cycle," with stories about that unique prophet, the "model" prophet of Israel. The setting is a three-year drought. Evil King Ahab has killed all the prophets but Elijah, who has escaped his hand. Even though Ahab is sending armies to the neighboring kingdoms, in case any of them is harboring his nemesis, Elijah is safe in the desert. God "commanded the ravens to bring him...bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening," and he found water in a little stream. (I have consistently been distracted from my meditation by those ravens. I would have to be pretty darn hungry to eat "bread and meat" dropped to me by flying scavengers.)
Today's reading continues the drought story: the brook dried up, and Elijah, still in peril from the king, has to move on. It struck me that even though Elijah was a great prophet, a "man of God" "at whose word the heavens were shut" from giving rain, he also suffered the effects of the drought. He wasn't given some magic dispensation from the drought; he bore in his own body the same sufferings everyone else was enduring. And he was no less an "accredited prophet of the Lord" for that. Funny how I subconsciously expected that the prophet would get a free pass on the punishment being felt by the people of the land! It's not God's way at all. He wouldn't even give himself a free pass on suffering when he "was made flesh and dwelt among us."

Hoop Dreams

Chicago made it to the "short list" for the 2016 Olympics. The city has a lot of work to do to actually win nomination, but should that happen, we'd be right in the midst of it all. The big decision comes next year.

Blues Notes

Well, I did get to the Blues Festival yesterday and really enjoyed what amounted to a "revival" at one of the concert stages. The musicians were a church group, and the music was more Gospel than blues; they sang things like "Jesus is the joy of my life" and "I signed a contract with Je-sus and it (something) for the rest of my life" and "The Lord will make a way." It confirmed me in my June retreat meditations! (Ya gotta love Chicago.)

Printer's Row

Decisions, decisions. There are two really interesting events happening in Chicago this weekend: do I detour through Grant Park to catch the Blues Festival, or go out of my way toward the south Loop for the Printer's Row Book Fair? Today I did both: Blues Festival on my way to Mass at Old St. Mary's, and Printer's Row on the way back.
While walking by tents and tables full of books, old and new, I heard myself being summoned by a woman at a table I had just passed. It was the Catholic Writers Guild. Karina presented the Guild's mission of fostering Catholic writing and publishing, and informed me that membership fees are waived for priests and religious (a very good thing, that!). So I hope to join and benefit from their online conferences and other services.
At the next table was the Writers Cafe, another guild (not a coffee shop). The gentleman there wanted me to know about the Christian sci-fi, fantasy and horror focus of the "Lost Genre Guild" (their motto: "Who says faith can't be fun?")
As I continued on, my eagle eyes spotted an unusual number of red book bags. Sensing a nearby freebie, I followed the clues up to the C-Span trailer and got my own free bag. Then I saw green book bags... But I really had to get home by that point. I picked up my free Ghirardelli chocolates instead and turned north.
Tomorrow, we are hoping to bring our chairs to Grant Park to hear BB King at the Blues Festival. But first, I have to make my monthly retreat for June.

Sr. Ruth is Romeward Bound!

Sr. Maria Ruth, the voice of "Radio Paulinas" from our Boston motherhouse, will be taking our Mother General's seat at the next meeting of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications on June 20. Our Superior General is unable to attend, and since the topic will be the radio apostolate, she asked Sr. Ruth (with over 20 years of radio background) to take her place.
Felicidades, Hermanita!

Food Films

All you movie-lovers out there, it's time to register for the National Film Retreat.
This year's theme is "Melting Pots: Food and Family," but my favorite food movie is not on the agenda! Sr. Helena and I frequently quote to each other (and to bewildered witnesses) its central theme: "The secret of life is butter." (The movie is "The Last Holiday," in case you were wondering.)

The heart of the Gospel

Turns out it was in the Old Testament all along: Love the Lord with all your mind, will, strength and heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.
I love that when the scribe gave Jesus kudos on his answer, the Lord commented, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God."
That Kingdom is Jesus.

Nightstand

I'm really enjoying an embarrassment of riches when it comes to new books right now. I'm in the middle of three others (in addition to the upcoming Kathleen Norris book I posted about the other day). What's on the nightstand?
A Friendship Like No Other, by William Barry, SJ. I like Barry's familiar style, as comfortable as a cup of good coffee. Other books on prayer can seem so high-flown I get intimidated; Barry reminds me that prayer is really as normal and vital as breathing.
Bumping into God in the Kitchen, by Father Dominic Grassi. This is a collection of stories and recipes all bound up with priestly life. I'd recommend this pleasant little book to young men looking into the priesthood. Father Grassi's pastoral heart will give you as good an insight as any into the vocation. And I, for one, am looking forward to trying the recipes.
More than a Dream: How One School's Vision is Changing the World (The Cristo Rey Story), by C. R. Kearney. I just started this one at breakfast yesterday, happy to learn the backstory to a successful and hope-filled approach to educating at-risk young people in our city.
What's on your nightstand?

blog explosion

I thought it was just me. I was unable to check my blog stats this weekend. Turns out it wasn't one of those little techno-flukes. Here's what I learned this morning:
Due to an explosion in The Planet Datacenter at the weekend, service on this
partition was interrupted. Depsite our best efforts 24 to 30 hours of stats
spread across Sunday GMT and some of Monday morning have been lost. We sincerely
apologise for this.
Readers in Houston, where the explosion took place, may have been aware of this incident.
As for me, I am impressed that what I took for granted as an electronic glitch (I had enough of those yesterday myself)--in other words, a virtual problem--was, in fact, a very real and very dangerous event. (Thankfully, no one was killed.) Isn't it odd how technology can guide our assumptions? I wonder what other assumptions or instant interpretations are being influenced more by a technological mindset than by reality...

Stanley

Pity the lone hockey fan in a convent community. No, not me: Sr. Helena. (Living in Canada for 8 years left an impact.) So last night, while I was in chapel, I heard loud cries of excitement coming from down the hall. "WOOOOO! Did you see that? DID you SEE that?!!! WOOO!"
What could be sadder than rooting for your team (the Penguins) and cheering its success all by yourself?
So I finished my prayer and went to the little TV room so Sr. Helena could gush about whatever it was that had just happened. She was still cheering. On the phone. With her mom.
And Pittsburgh brought the cup home.

The Noonday Devil: Coming Soon!

Well, not the noonday devil, exactly, but a new book by Kathleen Norris dealing with the dread temptation of acedia--a spiritual threat understood in so nuanced a fashion by the desert fathers that no one since has ever succeeded in translating the word. "Noonday devil" sounds so much more enticing, though. I was able to get (joy of joys) an advance copy of the book, Acedia and Me, which will be released in September. I started reading it yesterday and the edges are already bristling with red sticky tape flags. You wouldn't think that a book that sums up years of research on a vice usually called "sloth" would make for riveting reading, but this is Kathleen Norris.
I can tell that Acedia and Me is going to be one of those books I will recommend far and wide to those who are interested in spirituality.

Visitation

Today's Feast of the Visitation was a favorite of Bl. James Alberione. He saw it as the "defining" feastday of Mary, showcasing her essential mission throughout time: to bring Jesus to a waiting world.
The feastday itself is not limited to Mary's "arrival" at the house of Zechariah and Elizabeth: it is the feast of her entire stay with them, a time when blessings radiated from the unborn Christ and the Holy Spirit caused somersaults of joy in his precursor, leading his mother to prophesy and Mary to "proclaim the greatness of the Lord" for all generations.
Some fruits we could gather from today's celebration might be:

• to recognize and confess the hidden presence of the Lord in our life
• to give ourselves, like Mary, to God's praise
• to renew our commitment to evangelization, according to the possibilities offered in our daily life.

TOB

Just in time for next week's Theology of the Body online study group session, the Pontifical Council for the Laity has launched a new website with resources on the role of women, with the goal of fostering an intelligent and informed international conversation.
So read up! And mark your calendars for next Wednesday's live video TOB session, 7:30 Eastern Time. If you're in Chicago, come join us in person at 6:30!

World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests

Here's the prayer proposed by the Vatican for the day:

Lord Jesus, present in the Most Blessed Sacrament,
and living perpetually among us through Your Priests,
grant that the words of Your Priests may be only Your words,
that their gestures be only Your gestures,
and that their lives be a true reflection of Your life.

Grant that they may be men who speak to God on behalf of His people,
and speak to His people of God.
Grant that they be courageous in service,
serving the Church as she asks to be served.

Grant that they may be men who witness to eternity in our time,
travelling on the paths of history in Your steps,
and doing good for all.

Grant that they may be faithful to their commitments,
zealous in their vocation and mission,
clear mirrors of their own identity,
and living the joy of the gift they have received.

We pray that Your Holy Mother, Mary,
present throughout Your life,
may be ever present in the life of Your Priests. Amen

But now I see

You really have to love Bartimaeus, the irrepressible blind beggar in today's Gospel story. Nobody could shush him up. "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!" Over and over and over, until Jesus himself took notice. But Jesus didn't call Bartimaeus over: he gave the order to others, "Call him." And when Bartimaeus did come, the cloak of his old life cast aside like something he would no longer need, Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?"
Wasn't it obvious?
It must have been important to Jesus that Bartimaeus be allowed to speak for himself (something the man clearly had no problem with!).
I love that even though Jesus used the language of a servant with the beggar ("What do you want me to do for you?"), Bartimaeus did not give Jesus a command like "Give me my eyesight" or "Fix my eyes." He just said, "I want to see."
"By their fruits you shall know them." Bartimaeus got his sight--and how! He "began to follow Jesus on the way." Blessed are the eyes that see what you see, Bartimaeus!

This is GOOD news?

Today's readings pretty much sum up the paradox that we call the "good news." In the Gospel, Jesus is saying (among other things), "the Son of Man [Jesus himself] ... will be condemned to death, handed over, mocked, spit on, scourged and killed." And "whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant...and the slave of all."
It's not only in the Gospel of Mark that we find this sort of language: John saves it for the Last Supper, when Jesus acts the part of a slave, washing the disciples' feet while explicitly emphasizing that he is doing this as their "Master and Lord." And St. Paul, too, consistently referred to himself with terms like "servant" and "slave."
I strongly suspect that the disciples (whether of Jesus, John or Paul) did not especially like where all this talk was going. It's the opposite of our expectations--as today's Gospel also makes clear: "Rulers among the Gentiles lord it over them and make their position felt." That's exactly what James and John were looking for when they asked for places at Jesus' right and left in the kingdom. They got what they were asking, even though they didn't know what they were really asking for.
All that Jesus was doing was to undo the primordial sin and every sin since then, all originating in the will to a misbegotten form of greatness.

the works

Well, I dropped Mother General and her translator off at the airport (after a weekend that saw me working hard to revive my Italian!), and now I am working on...deadlines! But today's readings from the Mass have such an interesting connection, I couldn't resist sharing it.
In both, we hear the voice of Peter. The first reading is from the First Letter of Peter. It's advice for a beleaguered Christian community (or, more likely, a little chain of communities). Among other things, Peter encourages them "set your hopes completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
In the Gospel, Peter is asking what he can hope for after leaving "everything" to follow Jesus.
In both instances, then, there is the sense of risking everything for the sake of Jesus: putting all one's hopes on the person of Jesus himself, so that if it were possible for Jesus to fail, the person would truly have nothing, nothing, nothing. I was reminded of venerable old Simeon from the Gospel of Luke: he hoped for nothing but "the consolation of Israel," and had been promised that he would not die before seeing the Messiah. That's why he could recognize the 40-day old Jesus as "the light of revelation to the nations." I can just imagine Peter, too, at the end of his long life, saying his "Nunc dimittis": "Now, Lord, you can dismiss your servant in peace; you have fulfilled your word."

Africa Day

May 25 is Africa Day, commemorating the establishment of the Organization for African Unity. One of the General Councilors who was with us this week spent over 20 years in East Africa (mostly Kenya, but also some time in Uganda and Nigeria), and she was updating us on this travailed "Continent of Hope" (as Pope John Paul called it). Evidently, things are still quite unsettled in Kenya, not so much in Nairobi as in the villages.
All in all, a good day to pray for the people of Africa and for all those who work for them and with them.

Welcoming the Kingdom

Today's Gospel is the oft-cited "let the little children come to me." I was struck by the likewise oft-cited "whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." Usually, homilies focus on what it means to be "like a child," but I found myself more interested in the word "accept." What does it mean to "accept" the Kingdom of God? What does it mean to "enter" the Kingdom of God? It seems that by accepting the Kingdom, receiving it, taking it in, we enter in--we are taken into the Kingdom. It is sort of like receiving the Eucharist: we receive the Eucharist, taking the Host into ourselves, but it is we who are assimilated to the Eucharistic Christ, and not the other way around. Interestingly, Jesus in the Gospel says that this is related to being "like a child," whereas Augustine portrays the Eucharistic Christ as saying, "I am the food of grown men."

I'll be back

Canon Law calls for an official visitation of religious communities on a regular basis. This is to help renew the members in spirituality and in the mission, to communicate priorities on a more personal basis, and to allow the major superiors (those on the national and international levels) to get to know the concrete situations in which the sisters are living and the people they are serving.

So that's what we're involved in this week. It doesn't leave much time for blogging, twittering, or even taking those wonderful walks in the park! 

Please keep us in prayer. I'll be back...when I can!

Taking wing

Today's Psalm expresses a deep human intuition and at the same time, a loss and frustration: "If only I had the wings of a dove, I would fly away and be at rest." It is as if deep down, we knew that we were supposed to have wings; we were supposed to fly: Where are our wings? 

It's easy enough to want wings to just "fly away and be at rest far away" as the Psalm says, but this is not mere escapism. The Psalmist isn't just flying away; this is a flying "towards": "I would wait for him who saves me."

Him-who-saves-me might as well be another name for Jesus. And today's feast of St. Bernardine of Siena is in its own way a feast of the Name of Jesus. Wherever Bernardine (15th century Franciscan, not a Jesuit, despite his devotion to the Holy Name!) would preach, people would create signs and paint frescoes with the abbreviation IHS (the Greek of J-E-S). And Bernardine would preach the "only name under heaven by which we are saved."

That custom of plastering the city with Jesus monograms also makes Bernardine the patron of advertisers...

CSI: Convent

Sr. Laura remembered that as our Saturday afternoon thief was strolling toward the exit, he suddenly jerked with surprise, made a little "huh?" sound and then shrugged. He must have seen our security cameras. They saw him, too. Here he is making his way through the book center. The whole process took less than 15 minutes.

Here at Pauline, we are praying for the conversion of the man who made his way into our convent and walked away with the proceeds of a bookfair. Talk about stress! That was Saturday, shortly after my St. Paul talk. On one level, a lot of things went wrong on Saturday: not only the theft, but also the recording of my talk--somehow the setting was changed on the recorder, and there was no pick-up from the microphone I had so carefully clipped on. Something else distressing happened, too, which I am glad not to remember. All in all it was one of those days for which today's Gospel prayer is just perfect (and I am using my rosary beads to repeat it over and over): Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!

Erin and Ronnie

Congratulations to the newlyweds! So far, all I have is this cell-phone picture from last night... I hope more are coming!

The cost of non-discipleship

You know those "helpful" little summaries you often find at the beginning of a Bible passage? "The Question of Baptism"; "Bread of Life Discourse" and so on? Well, the Gospel today usually appears in Bibles with a header inspired by Bonhoeffer: "The Cost of Discipleship." And it is that: "If you want to be my disciple, take up your cross." But the passage could just as easily be headed "The Cost of non-discipleship." After all, "the one who seeks his life will lose it.... what profit does anyone show who gains the whole world but loses his own life?" It's a good commentary on yesterday's harsh "Get behind me, Satan!" directed to Peter: Follow me! 

Yesterday's Lost Post: Knock-knock

Today's Gospel reminded me in an odd way of the typical knock-knock joke. "Knock, Knock. Who's there?" It seems to resolve with the first answer: "Tennis." But that first answer is incomplete or even misleading. "Tennis Who?" "Tennessee!"

Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do people say I am?" And then, "what about you?" 

When we hear Peter answer for the disciples that Jesus is "the Christ of God," you would think the story would end there. But Jesus, in effect, tells them that they've only gotten half-way. "The Son of Man is going to be handed over and killed..."

Today people are rather free in giving their opinions about who Jesus is. Ancient holy man. Jewish peasant who didn't mean for any of this history-changing stuff to happen. Prophet. Myth. Bohddisatva, even. It's just as challenging now as it was 2,000 years ago to accept the folly of the cross, and to accept what being "the Christ" really means, because (as Peter intuited when he tried to talk that folly out of Jesus) it means accepting our own "share in the sufferings of Christ and the glory to be revealed" (1 Peter 

Attention, migraine sufferers!

You've ingested Imitrex. You've tested Topamax. You've relied on Relpax.
These prescription medicines usually do mitigate your migraines, but they have scary side effects, and cost, on average, $20 a pop.
Have I got a cure for you.
At the first sign of a migraine, go to your nearest Chipotle restaurant. Order a steak burrito with everything on it. Eat at least half of that enormous burrito.
Placebo or no placebo, the $5.95 burrito beats the $20 pill just about every time.
And it tastes better, too.

In lieu of grateful accolades, you may send me Chipotle gift cards.

Going places

Today is the anniversary of my Confirmation. Appropriately enough, it is also the feast of St. Matthias, the fill-in apostle who was added to the "Eleven" after the Resurrection of Jesus. The Gospel for the feast day is that beautiful Last Supper passage, "You did not choose me, I chose you..." But that same Gospel passage seems to present us with mutually exclusive directions. On the one hand, the mystical, contemplative, "Remain." And on the other, "GO and bear fruit that will last."
So what do we do: stay or go?
The clue is in one tiny word: "in." "Remain in my love." If we remain/abide/dwell (all possible translations of John's Greek) IN Christ's love, we can come and go and at the same time, never leave our true home! And for the mission of evangelization, it is vital that we "remain" all the time, because "apart from me you can do nothing."
Today's Gospel tells us that if we see a contradiction between contemplation and mission, we don't really understand either one.

TOB tonight!

Our Theology of the Body study group meets tonight: in Chicago, if you're here, and streaming online if you're not. Discussion starts at 6:30 Central Time; Father Thomas Loya will give a presentation at 7:00 (again, Central Time!!!).
Read Sr. Helena's notes from last month, especially if you didn't have time to read Pope John Paul's original... (Man and Woman He Created Them, just the talks, not the intro, up to page 178.)

(Slightly) Belated Kudos

Yesterday's Tribune offered an enthusiastic review of the concert Friday night by the William Ferris Chorale at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church. As the reviewer noted, "Small musical organizations depend on a charismatic and creative guide." And in just three years (and seven years after the sudden death of the Chorale's founder), "conductor Paul French['s] ...guidance has paid off handsomely."
Hearty congratulations, Paul and Chorale (and you, too, "Gary").

New Faces on the Street

After almost seven years in Chicago, I know who the "regulars" with their paper cups held out for spare change. But lately I have seen some new people--people so new that they don't even know about the paper cup approach. One is a forty-something man, an almost burly type, pushing a little boy in a cheap stroller and almost whispering, "Can you help out a little bit?" Then there is the woman on a corner. She still has an ID badge hanging around her neck. "A little help, please?" And on another corner, a man in one of those industrial-type electric scooters. This one does have a paper cup, but it is held between two toes. He can't reach high enough to shake it in anyone's face, so he just sits there with his outstretched left leg, and the paper cup dangling from his foot.
These are only a few of the people who had been making it, just barely, until now. Even if the newspapers didn't tell me that there was something unfortunate going on in people's lives across the nation, my daily walk to St. Peter's would have made it perfectly clear.

Looking out for leaven

Today's Gospel has an interesting sort of correlation both with the feast of Our Lady of Fatima and with the message of Pope Benedict's visit here just a few weeks ago. In the Gospel, shortly after multiplying loaves to feed hungry (and immense) crowds, Jesus warned his disciples about "the yeast" of the Pharisees and of Herod. Two different kinds, evidently. Of course, the word "yeast" (or "leaven") made the hungry disciples think about the bread they did not have in the boat with them. This did not go over well with Jesus. But what was he getting at?
I remember the "friendship bread" craze years ago. You needed the "starter" in order to make a delightful coffee cake. Butyou never knew when that bubbling beige mass was going to end up bursting out of its zip-locked prison. There is a good "ferment" we need for the spread of the Gospel. It is the leaven of the Holy Spirit. Pope Benedict (speaking to the US bishops) connected the leaven that is effective Christian mission to the "state of the family in society" and activities "in harmony with the Church's teachings on today's key ethical questions."
But leaven/yeast/fermenting can also lead to a kind of infective influence. Perhaps the "leaven" of the Pharisees was religious observance turned inward, corrupted and corrupting: religious observance for its own sake. The leaven of Herod was something else again: this could be thoughtless identification with power and pleasure. In either case, a means has been turned into an end, and the true "end" has been lost from view. Pope Benedict also warned us in particular about these two leavens in society. Here in the US, we are particularly vulnerable to a religious devotion that is allowed to flourish as long as it doesn't interfere with consumer interests or impose its values on the wider world. But "imposing on the wider world" is exactly what leaven does!
The disciples with Jesus did not see or understand what Jesus was doing and what it meant, but those three children at Fatima did see and hear and understand, and they remained uncorrupted by the Pharisees' leaven of sterile religiosity and Herod's leaven of self-adoration. They brought their message to the world and declared it not just with verbal boldness, but at the cost of personal sacrifice that would be impressive in an adult. And so, almost 100 years later, their message still comes to us with the kind of power that can leaven our world.

Midnight Fright

Okay, it wasn't really midnight, but it was close enough to count. A high-pitched tone sounding across our fourth floor (our "dorm" area) meant that something or someone had tripped the burglar alarm. Yikes! I sprinted from my bed toward the alarm panel. "1st Fl Foyer GB" it informed us (three of us arrived simultaneously). "1st Fl Foyer" we understood, but GB? I called 911, and then answered the alarm company's call. The police were on their way. Who would go down with me? Sr. Laura shrunk back a little, so Sr. Helena stepped to the plate. But first she went to our Michigan Avenue window to see if there was anything going on in front of the book center. Nothing. Well, there was a crew doing a power-cleaning of the sidewalk, but other than that, people were walking by placidly...
Sure enough, it had been the powerful blast of water that shook the entranceway and set the alarm off. And no, it wouldn't count as a "false alarm" ($100 a pop for those). And yes, when Sr. Mary Thecla calls the city about dirty sidewalks, she gets action.
Maybe a little too much action!

Driven to Distraction?

Fr. Sprott's offering in this month's bulletin from St. Peter's offers some sage advice from both Merton and our local Franciscan about what steps you can take to provide for your spiritual life.

Prayer for China

Religious communities got a special request and reminder from the Holy See (Congregation for the Evangelization of the Peoples) that the Pope has made May 24 a "World Day of Prayer for the Church in China." The day was chosen because it is the special feast of Our Lady in the shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai.

This year, the first year in which the World Day is to be observed, the day of prayer falls within a week of a terrible earthquake in Central China. Maybe the government will let up on its efforts to restrict traffic to the pilgrimage site in Shanghai and prevent groups from carrying out planned pilgrimages.

Meanwhile, nothing is stopping us from setting this day apart in a particular way to bring the power of prayer to bear on all the painful situations the Chinese Church is facing.

Nothing Ordinary

Back to "Ordinary Time." The Angelus takes over from the Regina Coeli, and we have our two-year cycle of daily Mass readings instead of the day by day uniqueness of the Easter season.
I found a great thought from Pope John Paul for this day after Pentecost:
"While it is an historical fact that the Church came forth from the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost, in a certain sense one can say that she has never left it. Spiritually the event of Pentecost does not belong only to the past: the Church is always in the Upper Room that she bears in her heart" (Encyclical on the Holy Spirit, n. 66).

There's a Reason

A comment on my post about the woes of recording my St. Paul talks reminded me about my years in door-to-door book ministry. We used to leave a little prayer card (usually an array of inspirational leaflets) with every person we met. One of the favorites was a comforting little poem entitled "There's a Reason." Having looked at it hundreds (thousands) of times, I memorized at least the opening verse: "For every sorrow we must bear, for every burden, every care, there's a reason."
I don't yet know the "reason" I haven't gotten a full-length recording of a single talk yet, but we did have a little experience in community this week of things seemingly going awry and working out for good. It sure didn't look that way earlier this week when Sr. Helena's review of Ironman was lost somewhere in cyberspace and didn't make the Catholic New World deadline. So her review of another movie was published instead. The Life Before Her Eyes isn't getting much attention in the entertainment pages. But today Sr. Helena said she's glad, glad, glad that the review of the blockbuster missed the deadline, because now a movie that she really hoped people would pay attention to will get...a little more attention.
There's a reason.

I was reflecting that at Pentecost, it's easy to focus so much on the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the apostles, that we (or at least I) forget that they still had their human weaknesses to contend with. When I lose sight of that, I get a little extra discouraged over my own spiritual cluelessness... As usual, St. Peter is the one who puts things in a different light. The Holy Spirit did come upon him so strongly that the cowering man who "did not know" Jesus was breaking the door down to go into the middle of city and proclaim Jesus as the Lord. But down the road a piece, Peter waffled when some of the Jerusalem community reproached him over the way Gentiles were being admitted to the Church. And even the "Quo Vadis" legend hints that Peter was a little too ready to flee imminent martyrdom in Rome.
The Holy Spirit didn't just come and go in Peter's life: the Spirit came for a purpose, the preaching of the Gospel. Peter's human weakness was still there, underlining the fact that "the surpassing power is from God and not from us."

Is this really happening?

My second St. Paul talk went very well this morning, at least for the audience. The recording, intended to reach untold thousands of others, ended abruptly when the recorder memory maxed out.
Last week's talk, also intended for the vast public beyond the confines of Chicago, was "recorded," too. Except it turns out that the pause button was on the whole time.
So I get to try again!
There's still one more talk (next Saturday). We're going to try to (don't laugh too hard) record it!
Let's see what happens.

Birds in the Hand

Today's the day for all you New Jerseyites to take your binoculars and join the "World Series of Birding," a 24-hour, all-you-can-name extravaganza. How many species can you find and identify in one day?

Today's Gospel is that touching story of the Risen Jesus asking Peter "Do you love me?" Three times. As in Peter's "before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." As is "I do not know the man!"
Jesus didn't ask the same question three times. Two times, he asked Peter, "Do you agape-love me?" And Peter said, "I philo-love you." So the third time, Jesus said, "Do you philo-love me?"
That hurt.
But Peter just said, "You know everything. You know how I love you." Because now Peter is "in Christ"; all his thoughts were completely open to "the one who searches hearts." As Paul would later write to the Corinthians, "We are in your hearts, to live together and to die together."
Jesus in effect said that by the end of Peter's life, that friendly affection of Peter's would be transformed into self-giving sacrificial love, and he encouraged Peter to take that road by telling him, "Follow me."
Today would be a good day to read the First Letter of Peter in your Bible. Notice how many times Peter keeps going back to the theme of the sufferings of the Messiah, Jesus. He was following that Jesus by constantly meditating on the Lord's death and resurrection. (Tradition has it that Peter never stopped weeping over his part in the Lord's suffering; the old vestment called a "maniple," a kind of hanging armband, represented the handkerchief with which Peter kept drying his eyes.)
"Follow me."

Take courage

My post this morning was incomplete (brain lapse). I wanted to also mention a side of Paul that we don't usually associate with his personality at all, but that comes out at least twice in Acts, and that you can read between the lines in some of his letters: Paul's fear. When he arrived in Corinth, the ancient world's city of sin ("What happens in Corinth, stays in Corinth"), the Lord appeared to him in a vision, telling him "Do not be afraid; keep preaching. There are many of my people in this city." And in today's reading, with Paul in Roman custody, the Lord tells him "Take courage! You are going to bear witness to me in Rome" (a city Paul had been hoping to get to). This makes the Responsorial Psalm for the day all the more fitting (it's one of my favs anyway): "Keep me safe, O God, you are my hope."

Yesterday's first reading had Paul boarding a ship for Palestine, "knowing that chains and hardship await" (and the people on shore crying their eyes out at the realization that they would never see his face again). In today's reading, Paul is already in custody. We'll see Paul deal with those chains with grace and humor: to King Agrippa he would testify, "I wish that everyone could be as I am...but without these chains."

The whole truth

Today's gospel includes a prayer of Jesus on our behalf: "Consecrate them in the truth."
What a great prayer! To be "consecrated/sanctified/set apart" in the truth, the whole truth (and nothing but the truth!)... to live from the standpoint of how things really are in the sight of God.
That's my prayer today.

the secret of life

Today's Gospel is from the "Priestly Prayer" of Jesus (John 17, the whole chapter). In it, we learn the secret of life: "to know you, the only true God, and the one whom you have sent, Jesus Christ."
But that's got to be the intimate, personal kind of "knowing," not just the abstract, intellectual kind. Our Founder recommended using a simple "method" to help make sure that prayer and meditation on the Word of God led to the right kind of "knowing God." Using the mnemonic Way, Truth, Life (from John 14:6), he suggested starting out with the TRUTH that the Word offers for our mind, but only long enough to recognize or articulate it. Then let that truth address your "WAY" of living and following Jesus. Do your choices, does your way of living, reflect the reality of that truth? Because in Jesus, "truth" is for living; it is for discipleship, not just for the mind. Choose a practical expression of that truth for the day, and then turn to Jesus who is the source of LIFE with gratitude for the light you have received, with praise for the goodness of God revealed in the word of truth you have encountered, and asking the grace and strength that your way of life will be transformed...

I'll be there...

God willing, I'll be taking part in the Atlanta Eucharistic Congress (helping Sr. Clare with a book exhibit) and in the Catholic New Media Celebration. Who else is hoping or planning to go? (Registration is free!)

Food for Thought

I took advantage of the beautiful weather to bring my work out to Millennium Park. Of course, the first challenge is finding a free table! Just as I approached, a group got up from table (the umbrella'd kind!), so I set up shop there to work on my talk for Saturday ("St. Paul and the Bible"). I now have the outline for the talk. All I need now is (more) content. I prefer to be seriously over-prepared whenever I am going to be presenting something, and right now I don't have quite enough material ready. (My usual goal is to have about 10 times more information than I need to present.) I do have a stack of books piled up. (Actually, three stacks, each in a strategic location.) Plenty of food for thought. And in between things, I also prepared several months' worth of material for the "Pauline Thought a Day" widget for the Pauline Year. It's all lined up through New Year's, so far. (Did you add the widget to your blog or homepage yet?)

This post is going to count for today's feast and tomorrow's observance (at least here in the Midwest). Today is the feast of the apostles Philip and James, witnesses of the Ascension that we celebrate tomorrow (or that you lucky people out there in other ecclesiastical provinces celebrated on Thursday). So I got to thinking about the apostles there, just before the Ascension. And their great, clueless question, "Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?"
Once again, they had it all backwards.
The Holy Spirit would help them realize that it was not that the Lord was going to restore the kingdom to Israel; the new Israel was to collaborate in restoring the kingdom to God.
"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations....and know that I am with you always, until the end of the world!"

Saint of the Day

Ah, here it is: the first day of the Pentecost Novena, and the feast of St. Athanasius!
My first acquaintance with today's saint was in my postulant year: the "Athanasian creed" was in one of our community prayerbooks. I suppose it was due to its high Christology (and poetic beauty) that it was attributed to Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria. Regardless of who the author was, praying this magnificent creed today would be an appropriate way to make the first day of the Pentecost Novena while honoring a great Father and Doctor of the Church.

St. Paul for Beginners

My series of talks on St. Paul
begins this Saturday (10:30-12:00) with "The Life and Legends of Paul in Art." Some of the classic works of art depicting St. Paul portray events most people have never heard of; they certainly aren't in the Bible, but they have made a visible impact on the Church's life and devotion. (You will have never seen so many images of St. Paul in your whole life.)
The series continues for the following two Saturdays, covering "St. Paul and the Bible," and, finally the "Five Big Ideas We Owe to Paul." Come and learn a little more about Paul before the Pauline Year begins!

(There is a $10 registration fee per talk, or $25 for the series, unless you are Sr. Helena's guest...)

A Voice for Real Peace

While all the politicians are fighting over the best way to attain peace, Chicagoans have a chance to listen to someone with some real experience of peacemaking in one of the most conflicted areas on the globe.
Melkite Catholic Archbishop Elias Chacour (the Melkite Archbishop of Galilee!) will be in Wheaton on May 17. He will be speaking on "The Future for Peace: A Model for Change" at a breakfast at First Presbyterian Church. Tickets (a pitiful $10 each) are limited! Call 630-668-5147. (The talk begins at 8:30 a.m.) I'd be there, but I'm giving a talk here that morning.

Three in One

No, I don't mean the Trinity! I mean the convergence of observances today: in most parts of the world, it is Ascension Thursday (here in Chicago, alas, the feast has been moved to Sunday); it is "May Day" in Socialist-inspired contexts, but the feast of St. Joseph the Worker for us Catholics; and it is the beginning of a whole beautiful month dedicated to Mary. (For us Paulines, it is also the beginning of our novena in honor of Mary Queen of Apostles; I'll try to share something of that with you every day until her feast, if not for the whole month of May.)
Anyway, in honor of the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, here is a prayer our founder wrote some decades ago. It is especially appropriate in view of the many people who have suddenly found themselves out of work.

St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus Christ, you were the work-teacher to the Son of God, who became a humble laborer for us. Assist with your prayers all who labor in intellectual, moral and material work. For the nations, obtain legislation inspired by the Gospel, the spirit of Christian charity, and a way of governing in accord with justice and peace. St. Joseph the Worker, pray for us.

If our Ave Maria
continuously rises up to heaven,
so, too will there descend from heaven
continuous blessings
for society,
for the Church,
for families,
and for the mission.


Bl. James Alberione

The Holy Spirit "will take from what is mine and declare it to you." Whatever that means, it has to be important, because it is repeated in the next sentence, with the explanation, "Everything that the Father has is mine."
Now, God doesn't have "possessions." God IS. So if the Holy Spirit "takes from what is mine" (as Jesus said), he is drawing from "everything that the Father has" and "declaring it" to us: revealing, offering, giving away "the life that was before the beginning" so that we can be, as St. Peter wrote, "sharers in the divine nature."

Theology of the Body

I found thirty "Theology of the Body" events listed on Facebook!

Paul in chains

Today's first reading starts with Paul and his missionary companion Silas jailed in Philippi. Luke specifies that they had not only been thrown into prison, but put in the innermost cell with their feet chained to a stake. There, Luke says, they sat "praying and singing hymns to God as the prisoners listened."
I find it interesting that Luke didn't say "as the other prisoners listened." It is as if Paul and Silas were the only free men in Philippi, chains or no chains. Today's Gospel tells us of the source of their freedom: "the ruler of this world has been condemned."

Holy, Holy, Holy?

A funny thing happened at Mass, and in some vague way, I sense there is a parable in it.
The celebrant murdered the Alleluia, and then went on to attack, I mean, "intone," the Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy). The melody was somewhat familiar, so as soon as I perceived which version he was aiming at, I turned on the volume, in order to support the assembly in singing it acappella. Unfortunately, Father had changed key three times by the fourth word, and he had the mike. I kept bravely trying, wincing at the resulting chord (it was an augmented, demented--oops, diminished--something, for sure), until Father shot out the same kind of "evil eye" that my esteemed choir director has been known, on rare occasion, to send as a warning to an errant member of the group. I relinquished my effort, figured out what key he had landed on, and joined him there. All was again well.

Year of St. Paul

The official "Pauline Year" website from the Basilica of St. Paul-outside-the-walls is finally available in English!

Sr. Thecla and I had a full day at the First Communion. Our little friend was one of 150 at the parish today; another 150 children received their First Communion there last week. Given Chicago's traffic, we didn't get home until 5:30. It was when setting the ribbons in my Liturgy of the Hours that I realized we were already at the sixth Sunday of Easter! Good Heavens, that means we are in Ascension week! And just two weeks from Pentecost! I'm hoping to prepare a kind of Pentecost novena for the blog, even though I have several other things in the works. It's just too significant a day in the Church to let pass; not even the first Pentecost happened without a novena, after all.
In just a few days we also begin the month of May. I have another idea I'd like to do for May, but I really "may" have to put that one on hold until next year. (I wish these things wouldn't keep happening!) The upcoming month is more than full already: I am commmited to giving three talks on St. Paul, to singing for a wedding, preparing a video "lecture" on our Founder for a meeting of the sisters this summer, and... we have our official every-six-years visit from Mother General in May, as well.
One day at a time, as they say!

St. Mark

For today's feast, I scoured my hard drive for a symbol of the Evangelist Mark. Somehow, I came up with nothing. (Jesus, how about a little picture-taking trip to ... Venice? There are plenty of Markan lions there!) The symbols of the four Evangelists can be confusing, all the more so in Mark's case. What's with the lion? From what I have been told, the primary connection of this one of Ezekiel's "four living creatures" is with the Judean desert, the abode of jackals and, yes, lions. Mark's Gospel opens with John the Baptizer "in the wilderness." Then Jesus goes there (for forty days of fasting and prayer), and Mark specifies "he was with the wild beasts, and angels ministered to him." Wild beasts, lions... The lion was also invoked in the blessing of Jacob over his son Judah. Judah, the patriarch said, was like the offspring of a lion, and as the lion was the "king of beasts," so Judah would enjoy the kingship. Not coincidentally, Jesus was born of the tribe of...Judah.
There is also a legendary connection of Mark with a lion: the Evangelist and his father were threatened by a lioness with her young (in, where else? the Judean wilderness). Mark promised his father that Christ would save them. He prayed and the lioness dropped dead and Mark's father came to faith!
The Markan lion is usually depicted with wings, since Ezekiel's vision was of cherubim around God's throne in heaven.

This was fun!

Thanks to Barb in Nebraska for pointing out this interesting device for Twitter afficionados.

In the mind of God

I realized today that sometimes when I am reading the day's Scriptures, if they include an obscure reference to another book of the Bible, I just read and keep going. I rarely give the cited passage any extra attention, unless it is one of those particularly striking passages from Isaiah.
Well, today there was just a little something in the reading from Acts that caught my notice (interestingly, it was not from Isaiah, but from Amos). In the passage from Acts, St. James was addressing the Jerusalem community, gathered with the leaders of the early Church to consider what to do about all the Gentiles who were coming to faith in Jesus. James reminded them that the prophet had written, "so that the rest of humanity may seek out the Lord, even all the Gentiles on whom my name is invoked....says the Lord."
And I marveled that someone, somewhere, had "invoked the name of the Lord" upon my ancestors and me, calling down the blessing that we who were "no people" would be able then to "call on the name of the Lord," the very name that had been "called down" upon us in an anonymous blessing.

We're still talking here in community about last night's Theology of the Body session. About 16 people joined the 18 or so here through the Internet. Father Loya covered the first three or so of John Paul's talks, the very first ones that broached the idea of a "theology of the body." I think some of the Internet participants, especially the young men, were trying to fit what John Paul was saying into the classical models they were more familiar with. You could see them there, in the chat room text box, kind of grappling with the wrong things, concepts that are too abstract or romantic or just particular to one state in life rather than another to allow the Theology of the Body to have its real impact. Ultimately, it seems to me (as someone who has been profoundly influenced by the Theology of the Body!) that the core concepts of the male-female relationship as the image of God come down to "gift" and "receptivity." These are lived and expressed differently by men and by women, but unless both live these "virtues," the image of God risks compromise and even the distortion of violence.
We meet again May 14 at the same URL; if you'd like to join us, read John Paul's first 7 or so talks by then! (We're using the critical edition of the talks: Man and Woman He Created Them.)

Vine and branches

Today's Gospel takes us back to the Last Supper.
I find it rather consoling that it is the "fruitful" branches that get pruned.
I'm going to try to keep that in mind next time I see the Lord with his pruning gear in hand...

TOB tonight

You'd think I was excited about this new venture; I even dreamed about setting up the computer and camera in our conference room for tonight's first-ever, live streaming of the Theology of the Body study. Meet us online at 6:30 Central Time!

Theology of the Body

Just right to coincide with tomorrow's Internet "webcast" of the Theology of the Body study group (tomorrow 6:30 central time), here are some more TOB-connected events:

1. Fr. Thomas Loya's new internet radio program: "A Body of Truth." It is a no-holds-bar treatment of contemporary issues using the principles of the Theology of the Body. The program accepts call-ins and emails.

2. A men's retreat aimed at helping men move beyond lust and pornography. The retreat is called, "The Gift of the Interior Gaze." May 16-17, 2008 at Annunciation Church, 14610 Will-Cook Rd. in Homer Glen, IL. Directed by Fr. Thomas J. Loya and the Tabor Life Institute. For information call 708-645-0762 or email: taborlife@earthlink.net

Awaiting Atlanta

I just got permission to attend the "Catholic New Media Celebration" in Atlanta this June. While I'm there, I was hoping to stay a few extra days, perhaps giving my "Life and Legends of Paul in Art" talk in view of the Pauline Year (which opens a week after the media event). If you are in the Atlanta region and can think of a parish or group that might be interested in a multi-media presentation on Paul, get in touch with me!

God's Green Earth

This year, plastic bags are out, out, out. Even illegal in some places, but definitely out of favor. Even at PBM. Not entirely for environmental reasons (we really can't afford the good quality ones we had been stocking for several years), but it's all for the best. Even better, we recently added cloth shopping bags to our inventory, the lightweight scrunchable kind you can get for one environmentally conscious dollar. And ours even come with a nice Papal quote about care for creation. I would include a picture of them, but we ran out, just in time for Earth Day.
I guess that's actually a good thing, but I hope we get some more in soon!

Making a difference

I just learned of an interesting event scheduled for May 3: the idea is to create waves of prayer totaling a million rosaries for the protection of unborn human life. But not just through a generic promise! Instead, the program asks that the rosaries be prayed in rotation. We here in the Central Time zone are asked to pray a rosary sometime between 8 and 9 in the morning on May 3. It's a good thing to pray a rosary any time, but to join with others on the first Saturday of May (Mary's month) for such a critical intention and in a concerted way is an even better thing. And you can "register" your promise as a way of confirming your good will and giving moral support to others. (So far, there are 6,000 registered participants, so there's quite a ways to go to reach the goal!)

Pope Benedict's Last Day

The Holy Father is going to be mighty glad to reboard "Shepherd 1" tomorrow evening after an intense week here. I'm just glad I'll be able to join the Yankee Stadium Mass by TV! His talks all week have been rich, deserving of repeated review and reflection, and his private sessions with abuse victims as well as with the Jewish leaders at the JP2 Cultural Center prove that this trip was not crafted as a series of spectacles, but was really a pastoral visit. I hope it will go far in healing relationships and allowing for a new reality to begin to grow.
What aspect of the Pope's visit made the strongest impression on you?
What aspect of his message do you find yourself reflecting on the most?

Asking anything

The Gospel for Sunday will sound particularly familiar to daily Mass-goers. That's because we heard it on Friday (first part) and Saturday (second part). In the first part, Jesus affirms, very solemnly, that he is "the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me." (Notice that he uses the verb "comes": that's a hint that he sees that movement from the Father's perspective.) In the second half of the passage, Jesus goes on to affirm, "whoever sees me, sees the Father."
And then he says those perplexing words, "if you ask the Father anything in my name, I will do it, so that the Father will be glorified in the Son."
St. Theresa capitalized on that promise as part of her "little way" of confidence. but I suspect many of us, with less complete confidence (and almost certainly less personal holiness) wonder why the many things we ask the Father in the name of Jesus don't seem to happen at all. Does Jesus, like Popeye, mean what he says, and says what he means? Is it really just too good to be true? Or does St. James have it right when he says that "we ask and do not obtain because we ask amiss"?
We surely don't "ask amiss" when we plead for healing, or pray for a loved one in danger or on a wrong path in life. Perhaps we could tweak our prayer a little, though, by trying to bring our desires more and more into conformity with Jesus' ultimate goal, as stated in the Gospel, "that the Father will be glorified in the Son"--or, as it says in the Sermon on the Mount, "see first God's kingdom and holiness," so that "all other things will be given in addition."

The papal visit is bringing our sisters in New York and even Boston a little extra (and much-needed) publicity.

Yesterday's post seems to have been swallowed up in cyberspace. Oh, well! In it, I attempted to draw your attention to the Twitter posts ("tweets") of Patti Hanley, who is in the Press Corps for the Papal Visit. The tweets let you follow the events minute-by-minute.
Today's Gospel is particularly appropriate: "After Jesus washed their feet, he said, '...No slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it...whoever receives the one I send receives me'."
Even though in the lectionary, the words "after Jesus washed their feet" are in parenthesis, as if just to situate the "real" lesson, I think the preface is critical. Only after we, like Jesus, have "taken the form of a servant" can the rest of the passage apply to us as followers of Jesus--and even more in the case of those called to leadership in the Church. Pope, bishop, priest, sister, baptized disciple: only after we have washed the feet of those among us are we credible messengers of the one who sends us.

Yet more "Papal Welcome" videos

They keep coming!
From Fargo, Rochester, , http://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif Los Angeles...

Coming soon...

If you haven't read up on the Pope's visit, here's a good place to start.
I was just marveling that the last Papal visit to the US was 13 years ago: before the Internet entered just about every home in the country. Now we can all follow the streaming video if we want to, and share our insights in real time with others. Amazing.



On a personal note, happy birthday, Thomas More!

Upcoming Events

Chicagoans, the Lumen Christi Institute is offering two events this week that you might want to pencil in on your calendar; both are being held at the University of Chicago:
Thursday, "The Christian Identity of Europe" lecture by Louis Dupre (Professor Emeritus, Yale): Kent, Room 120 at 4:30
Friday, in the Bond Chapel at 7:30, the Schola Antiqua of Chicago will present a concert of late medieval liturgical music, including the "Missa Quem malignus spiritus."
Then, next month, I'm going to try to make it to "Faith, Reason & the Eucharist: Music as a Model for their Harmony" by Denys Turner. That will be May 14.
For more info, call 773-955-5887

Does the Papal Visit Matter?

Yesterday's New York Times featured a lengthy op-ed piece entitled "The View from My Pew" by Dan Barry. Barry is, thanks be to God, not one of those 10% of the US population who are fallen-away Catholics, but his Catholicism is emotionally and perhaps intellectually indifferent to the papacy. Barry looks on the upcoming Papal visit as something that has very little to do with him. Barry defines his Catholicism almost exclusively in terms of his parish, his family, his "pew" in what one Chicagoan (a Knight of Malta) identified (rightly, I think) as a form of incipient Congregationalism that is not altogether rare among American Catholics. Barry doesn't project his perspective on others, but he is rather firmly ensconced in it, in an attitude that has become typical of our relativistic culture: "This is MY truth; your truth is just fine for you. And ne'er the twain shall meet."
The problem is, he is writing about Catholicism, and even etymologically that precludes "mine" and "yours": the word itself means "universal" or "according to the whole." That isn't something I can claim for "my" pew. The view from "my" pew is too restricted to be Catholic. In fact, that is one of the gifts the papacy offers Catholics: the bigger picture of Christianity and of its claims on us.
Too often, I suspect, the "view from my pew" turns into a perch from which I can look with detachment upon the madding crowd. It allows me to forget what St. John Chrysostom wrote in the 4th century: "He who lives in Rome knows that those in the Indies are his members." It may be quite comfortable in "my pew", but if I stay there, I am missing out on an essential feature, the essential feature, of Catholicism: its universality, which is served, maintained and symbolized in the papacy (which is also our visible link to the apostolic Church and its origins in Jesus).
If a practicing Catholic finds that the papal visit doesn't seem to matter one way or the other, it's time for a self-examination: how "catholic" is my Catholicism?

More Papal Visit Videos

I found the beginnings of a whole genre of videos on YouTube: the Papal Visit Welcome video genre.

Hard to Swallow

Today's Gospel is the conclusion of the Bread of Life discourse (John, chapter 10). After all Jesus said, drawing on the ancient story of the manna in the desert to illustrate his promise to give us "the real bread from heaven" which is "my flesh for the life of the world," Jesus sees a considerable number of disciples walk away. It was too much for them to bear listening to, much less look forward to. At Mass today, the homilist said that years ago, while doing his ministry studies, he interviewed the head of Chicago's rabbinical association. "What was it," he asked the rabbi, "that led to the definitive split between Jewish believers in Jesus and the rest of the Jewish community? Was it the indifference of the Jesus-group to the desecration of the Temple by the Romans in 70 AD?" "No," the rabbi said. "It was the Eucharist: the thought of 'eating the flesh and drinking the blood' of the divinity is too abhorrent."
Perhaps those Jews, ancient and modern, who were scandalized by Jesus' words took them more seriously than many Catholics do today.

Welcoming Pope Benedict

Even though he's not coming to Chicago (this time)!

Purity: the New Cool?

Someone noticed that there's a movement afoot by young adults: a purity movement that is both brilliant and bold. And located in some of our nation's leading universities... The Princeton group says of itself: "This group also aims to provide a support network for a minority group of students - those with commitments to living a chaste life and with commitments to a pro-woman, pro-motherhood feminism."
Here's the article from New York Times Magazine, courtesy of Sr. Helena, and here are the groups' sites:
True Love Revolution (Harvard)
The Anscombe Society (Princeton)
The Anscombe Society (MIT)

Eric from "Outside da Box" is coming over for coffee and conversation about video ministry. Sr. Helena and I are looking forward to meeting with him and seeing how outsidedabox and the Daughters of St. Paul might be able to collaborate. The possibilities are so enormous, it is almost intimidating! If you are involved in youth ministry in any capacity, Eric's non-profit can provide you with DVDs; they also have a clever membership program that is worth looking into.

Speaking of video ministry, I just learned that SQPN will be hosting a Catholic New Media gathering in Atlanta this June. I'd love to participate, but I'm not sure my community commitments will permit it. Still, I'm putting it in St. Paul's hands. He'd have to arrange several things: (a) time, (b) travel (not easy with the rising costs of airfare) and (c) accommodations! (Okay, Paul, let's see what you can do...)

Looking for stem cells in all the wrong places

An article in today's Wall Street Journal noted that the FDA is beginning the approval process for medicines derived from embryonic stem cells. Interestingly enough, I just read online that researchers in Australia have found stem cells in breast milk.

The other Philip

Usually in the context of the Bible, a mention of "Philip" brings the Apostle Philip to mind. He's the one who said to Jesus at the Last Supper, "Show us the Father and that will be enough for us" (!!), provoking from Jesus a slightly exasperated, "Have I been with you all this time and you still don't know me? Whoever sees me sees the Father!"
But that's not the Philip we read about in today's liturgy. This is "Philip the Evangelist," and from the way Luke writes about him in Acts, he seems to have been one of the most likable people in the whole Bible. We first encountered Philip in Acts 6, where he was one of the Greek-speaking members of the Jerusalem community chosen to administer the food pantry. Named right after Stephen, Philip was considered "of good reputation, filled with the Spirit and wisdom." Next, we see him in Samaria, preaching with great enthusiasm and winning a whole town to the gospel. And in today's first reading, he overhears the royal treasurer of Ethiopia reading the prophecies of Isaiah and offers him a Christological interpretation of the Suffering Servant passage.
That's not the last we see of Philip. Toward the end of Acts, we find him settled in Caesarea, where he gives hospitality to Paul, Luke and their entourage right before Paul's arrest in Jerusalem. Luke adds that Philip has four virgin daughters who are prophets. Clearly, Luke is not highlighting the women's marital status, which would be irrelevant to the Christian reader. Instead, this is the first evidence we have of Christian chastity being adopted as a lifestyle; the first witnesses of what we now call religious consecration.

Little things

Years ago, the bumper sticker wisdom was "don't sweat the small stuff." But in today's liturgy, I would say, "don't skip the small stuff!" In particular, I mean the little antiphons you find at the beginning of the Mass and at Communion. Generally, these are tidbits of psalms with some connection to the spirit of the liturgical celebration. Today's entrance antiphon (in the Easter spirit, of course) is "Fill me with your praise, and I will sing your glory..." I like to turn it around a bit, and ask the Lord to fill me with the very praise that is in his own heart.

An interesting observation on the first reading: Luke notes (in Acts) that when a fierce persecution started, "all but the apostles" fled to the outlying districts. What a difference Pentecost makes! In Gethsemane, those same apostles had fled to safety, and only John was anywhere near the cross. Now, the entire community is endangered, and it is the apostles who are able to stay put. Providentially, though, the persecution led to the first wave of Christian mission!

Nightly news

The Daughters in New York were interviewed about the upcoming Papal Visit. Watch Fox News (New York only?) tonight to see if they made it to the finished version.

Bread of Life

It certainly is interesting how the evangelist John covers so many of the selfsame teachings as the synoptics, but with a distinctive twist. Between yesterday's passage and today's from the Bread of Life discourse (John 6: the whole long chapter!), we are reminded that "man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God"--and the Johannine twist is that Jesus himself is that "Word" who becomes real, living bread, so vital for us that (as we'll hear in a later passage) unless we eat this bread, we have no life at all! For John, man does live on bread alone: it's only a question of "which" bread you are talking about.

Somehow it always escaped me how close a connection there is between the Sermon on the Mount and John's "Bread of Life" discourse, but there it is in today's Gospel: "do not work for perishable food, but for food that remains unto life eternal, food which the Son of Man will give you..." ("Do not be anxious about food, what you are to eat or drink, or about clothing... Seek first God's kingship and righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.")

Disciples on the road

It is becoming more common lately to depict the two disciples leaving Jerusalem on Easter morning as a husband-wife team, rather than just two men. There are even some contemporary icons of the supper at Emmaus showing Jesus seated between a man and a woman as he breaks the bread that will reveal his true identity.
We really have no way of knowing who the two were, except that one of them was (according to Luke) named Cleophas. But before going gung-ho to put Mrs. Cleophas on the road, leaving the community on Easter morning, we do well to notice how Jesus speaks to them before launching into his "opening of the Scriptures." "Oh foolish ones, slow of heart to believe!" In all of the Gospels, Jesus never berated a woman for lack of faith. In fact, one of the points the Gospel writers are at pains to show is that the women consistently believed and proclaimed the resurrection, while the apostles themselves were "slow of heart to believe." Luke's story of the two discouraged disciples may very well be underlining this point.

Priorities

Today's first reading, from Acts, might surprise people a bit. In it, the apostles look for assistants (those whom we now call "deacons") to take care of the practical matters of the community. They appoint deacons especially to see to running the apostolic food bank, saying "It is not right for us to neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables.... We will dedicate ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word."
What was most important for the Church was that the apostles continue to witness to the Lord's resurrection. The care of the poor could not be neglected, but neither was it reserved especially to the apostles.
Some might find fault with the apostles' reasoning. Clearly, though, the apostles are not denigrating the social dimension of Church life: they were running it! But when it began to take over the foundational matters of prayer and preaching, priorities had to be established.

Update on Prayer Intention

The family mentioned a few posts ago has been keeping their blog updated. The baby is doing well, and the CF mom who just gave birth to her is recovering from a lung transplant. These days remain critical for both patients; continued prayer for them, and for all people in need of special mercy, will not go wasted!

Speaking of New Orleans...

While I was in San Antonio, I found myself with two fellow Louisianians (Sr. Tracey and Sr. Margaret Charles), a sister currently stationed in New Orleans (Sr. Lupe) and at least one sister with vivid recollections of the years she spent in my fair city. All of which led to joking reminiscences of some peculiarly local turns of phrase. Where else would people come in for a copy of the Viaticum II documents? Or pray the Litany of the Hours? Or give a "chastity set" as a Baptism gift? (Hint: "Christening set.") Someone there once commented about a prosperous friend who ran a "ludicrous business." (It may have been "lucrative," too.) And one newcomer from the East Coast remarked joyfully, "I just love living in Louisiana! It's close enough to the U.S. that I can visit any time!"

I was awakened during the night by a deep rocking sensation. I didn't think it could possibly be an earthquake, and according to the sisters here, all of whom (except me!) have experienced earthquakes in Alaska and southern California, what we felt this morning was just a tremor... but it was good enough to count as my first earthquake. I still do not know any specifics, so I prayed for the people who may have been deeply affected near the epicenter (wherever that was). I hear that the many high rises under construction here will all have to have their cranes checked to make sure they are still secure...
Did anyone else get awakened by the earthquake? Where do you live?

Why are you reading my blog when you can be listening to the Holy Father addressing so many important issues?! Or following Patti Hanley's tweets minute by minute from the press corps?

Adios, Juan!

Today, Bl. James Alberione's birthday, is also the last day at work for our Chicago sales associate, Juan Villegas. After two years with Pauline, Juan is leaving us. Tomorrow he will enter the religious life of the Missionaries of the Word of God, a community founded in his native Mexico. A-Dios, Juan! We are delighted to have been part of your discernment as you shared our Pauline mission of evangelization. May you live a fully consecrated life in mission!

From Deb S.:
When you read this, can you please say a prayer for Tricia Lawrensen? Her story is here http://cfhusband.blogspot.com/2008/04/its-go.html ; She's a young Christian mother with cystic fibrosis who refused to abort her child even at the risk to her life. Her daughter's a micropreemie but doing great, and Tricia is being prepped RIGHT NOW for the double-lung transplant that will save her life. Please pass it on!

San Antonio Scenes

(I sure hope this works!) Back to Chicago tomorrow; meanwhile basking in sunshine (at least as much as comes through the windows while we work) and in a few escapes to the delightful Riverwalk and historic sites. I was fascinated to see a spot in the apse of the Cathedral has been named the "official center of San Antonio": all highway mile markers indicate the distance to this point, just yards from the tabernacle.