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Saint of the Day
ACO
St. Paul Miki and Companions
Nagasaki, Japan, is familiar to Americans as the city on which the second atomic bomb was dropped, immediately killing over 37,000 people. Three and a half centuries before, 26 martyrs of Japan were crucified on a hill, now known as the Holy Mountain, overlooking Nagasaki. Among them were priests, brothers and ...
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Prayer to St. Michael New
Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle,
be our protection
against the malice and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him we humbly pray;
and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan
and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls.
Amen. Lent
LENT 4.5
CHRISTIAN SIMPLICITY
A 7-WEEK FAITH FORMATION ~ PROGRAM FOR LENT
Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving
· Protecting God’s Creation
· Embracing Gospel Justice
· Nurturing Spiritual Fulfillment
Saturday Mornings
February 18-March 31 ~ 9-10.30 am
Church Library (Lower level of church)
Cost: $15
Registrations accepted until February 13
Please pick up materials at the Parish Center
(There is reading prior to the first session)
To register contact Mary Bechtel at 828.8242 or
mbechtel@holytrinitybloomington.org or use the registration form in the bulletin and mail to the Parish Center.
News From Our Schools
Church News
Catholic World News
God's love overcomes the misery of illness, Pope teaches
Vatican City, Feb 5, 2012 / 12:05 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Faith in the love of Jesus Christ can overcome the suffering of long-term illness, Pope Benedict XVI said in his Sunday Angelus address Feb. 5.
Just as Jesus faced the devil "with the power of love that was from the Father,' the Pope explained, so also a sick person can "overcome and defeat the test of disease with a heart immersed in the love of God.'
Indeed, he noted, "we all know people who have endured terrible suffering because God gave them a deep serenity.'
Pope Benedict addressed his remarks to thousands of pilgrims braving the cold and snow in St. Peter"s Square. From the window of the papal apartments, he reflected on the day's Gospel in which Jesus "healed many who were sick with various diseases,' and "cast out many demons.'
He observed how the four Evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all describe "freedom from disease and illness of any kind, together with preaching, as the main activities of Jesus in his public life.'
While disease is "a sign of the evil in the world and in man,' Christ"s healings show that "the Kingdom of God is near,' and they serve as "a foretaste of his victory obtained by his death and resurrection.'
The Pope recognized that if healing does not arrive swiftly and suffering is prolonged, those who are sick "can remain crushed, isolated,' and even "depressed and dehumanized.'
Appropriate medical treatment is in order and, as the Pope pointed out, "medicine in recent decades has made great strides.'
But he also noted that the "Word of God' teaches "a decisive attitude' toward illness, an attitude which is "that of the faith.'
Even in the face of death, "faith can make possible what is humanly impossible.'
"But faith in what?' the Pope asked, answering that faith in God's love "is the true answer, which radically defeats evil.'
As an example of how to bear illness through the love of God, Pope Benedict highlighted the life and death of Blessed Chiara Badano, an Italian teenager who died in 1990 from an aggressive and painful bone cancer.
Although she was struck "in the bloom of youth,' those who visited her during her illness saw that she manifested "light and trust' through her love for Christ.
The Pope concluded by noting that next Saturday, Feb. 11, is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and also the World Day of the Sick.
On that day, he suggested, believers should imitate people of Jesus' time and "spiritually present to him all the sick people, confident that he wants to and can heal,' while also invoking the intercession of the Virgin Mary "especially in situations of immense suffering and abandonment.'
"Mary, Health of the Sick,' he declared, "pray for us!'
Detroit's blogging bishop documents Roman pilgrimage
Rome, Italy, Feb 4, 2012 / 06:39 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Currently
on an "ad limina' visit to the Vatican, Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Arturo
Cepeda is taking the Michigan faithful along with him by means of his
blog.
"My blog is for all of my people in the Archdiocese
of Detroit who can actually follow every single movement that I do,'
Bishop Arturo Cepeda told CNA Feb. 3. "I call it a 'virtual
pilgrimage."'
"So I"m blogging every single day, every meeting I
go to. I take pictures and send them to my blog. I"m able to text and
tell them what my feelings are and what"s going on.'
Ordained in May 2011 as an auxiliary bishop for Detroit,
42-year-old Bishop Cepeda is making the pilgrimage required of all
dioceses every five years to meet with the Pope.
The current visit allows the bishops of Detroit and Cincinnati to
update the Pope and the Vatican on the health of the Church in their
regions of the U.S.
For Bishop Cepeda, the "updating' goes two ways.
"For example, when I go to meetings with the
different Vatican congregations, I give those reading the blog some
idea of the issues we"ve just discussed,' he explained.
The auxiliary bishop's relative youth places him in a
generation more at ease with the world of new media like Facebook,
Twitter, and blogs.
"I"m a product of the 70s,
and that was when that particular technological revolution began,' he
said, "so I"ve always been on top of all the technological gadgets that
are out there and I feel very comfortable with it all and I believe
that our future generations of Catholics feel very comfortable with it
too.'
As the Church approaches Pope Benedict XVI"s "Year
of Faith' which begins in October 2012, Bishop Cepeda also believes
that such technologies can aid in the "New Evangelization' of the
traditionally Christian West.
"I do believe in the new media and I do believe in
communication. It"s a gift not only for society but it"s also a gift
for our Church.'
"We want to communicate our
feelings, we want to communicate our thoughts. We want to communicate
faith, and truth, and how the truth can change our culture.'
Recent blog entries by the bishop have covered his
Feb. 3 audience with Pope Benedict, as well as the unusually heavy snow
covering Rome.
"Let me tell you, I lived here
in Rome for five years and never saw snow fall once. So this is the
first time I"ve seen snow in my life here in Rome and it is coming down
pretty heavy.'
Detroit Catholics, of course, got an update about it at http://aodonline.wordpress.com/.
"I have already taken pictures and sent them to my
blog,' Bishop Cepeda said, clutching his smartphone. "I told them:
'Guess what! Right after our meeting with the Holy Father it began to
snow so it seems that Detroit is following me all the way to Rome!"'
Vatican astronomer says Big Bang theory in tune with creation history
Vatican City, Feb 4, 2012 / 06:09 pm (CNA).- The director of the Vatican Observatory said that the Church is open to the scientific theory that the world began from a cosmic explosion billions of years ago.
"The Big Bang is not in contradiction with the faith, ' Father Jose Gabriel Funes said during a Feb. 2 announcement of a Vatican exhibit that will feature photos, research tools and minerals from the Moon and Mars.
The exhibit titled "Stories from another world: The Universe within us and outside us,' will be on display March 10 - July 1 in Pisa, the birthplace of Galileo, the father of modern astronomy.
Fr. Funes told CNA at the event that the Big Bang explanation "is the best theory we have right now about the creation of the universe.'
The theory holds that creation began some 14 billion years ago with a colossal explosion in which space, time, energy and matter were created, and galaxies, stars and planets which are in continual expansion came to be.
"We know that God is the creator,' he added, "that He is a good Father who has a providential plan for us, that we are his children, and that we everything we can learn by reason about the origin of the universe is not in contradiction with the religious message of the Bible.'
Fr. Funes said that as an astronomer and a Catholic, he is open to this explanation of the creation of the universe, despite "some yet unanswered questions.'
He noted, for example, that while there is no proof of other intelligent life in the universe, "we cannot rule it out,' since studies show that there are nearly 700 planets orbiting other stars.
"If in the future it was established that life, and intelligent life, exists, which I think would be very difficult, I don"t think this contradicts the religious message of creation because they would also be creatures of God,' he said.
Ultimately, Catholics "should see the cosmos as a gift of God' and should "admire the beauty that exists in the universe.'
"This beauty we see in some way leads us to the beauty of the creator,' he said.
"And also, because God has granted us intelligence and reason, we can find the logos, that rational explanation that exists in the universe that allows us to engage in science as well.'
The Church"s official interest in astronomy dates back to the 16th century. In 1891, Pope Leo XIII decided to officially create the Vatican Observatory to show that the Church is not against scientific development, but rather promotes it.
Since then, the Vatican Observatory has operated out of Castel Gandolfo and uses a telescope located in Tuscon, Arizona, for research.
Being Catholic means 'paying a price,' says Detroit archbishop
Vatican City, Feb 3, 2012 / 08:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Being Catholic in 2012 involves "paying a price' for loving Jesus Christ and his Church, says Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit.
"If we are not willing to pay a price for the grace of the revelation then it is a sign that we don"t really treasure it,' the archbishop told CNA Feb. 3.
"And maybe that is what God is asking us to do to re-appropriate our own conviction about how precious the knowledge of Jesus is to us.'
Archbishop Vigneron is currently in Rome with 16 other bishops from the Provinces of Detroit and Cincinnati to update the Vatican and Pope Benedict on the health of their dioceses. As part of their "ad limina' visit, the group has also made pilgrimages to the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul.
"When I see those tombs,' said Archbishop Vigneron, "I immediately think of Our Lord"s big recruitment speech to the apostles when he said 'I am sending you out like lambs in the midst of wolves" and I imagine them looking around at one another and saying 'Is he talking to us?"'
And yet, Christ's prediction that "if they rejected me they"ll reject you,' is present for Catholics "in every age' even if "it differs in how it takes its shape,' he said.
He believes that one clear manifestation of this is the Obama administration"s decision to force all health insurance to cover sterilization and contraception services, including abortifacient drugs. The "price to be paid,' he said, could be in terms of religious freedom and also financially.
"If I think about these fines that it seems the government will impose upon us, well that is money I could use in my Catholics schools, it"s money I could use for feeding the hungry, providing services to people with addiction. I expect we"ll have to pay a price like that.'
The one price that Archbishop Vigneron said he will refuse to pay is any violation of Catholic moral teaching. As Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan of New York recently said, "they"ve given us a year to figure out how we can violate our principles it"s not going to happen.'
On Friday morning, Archbishop Vigneron led the bishops of the Detroit Province as they met with Pope Benedict XVI in a private audience. During the seminar-style discussion, the Pope was asked about how to authentically interpret the Church"s mind as regards the liturgy.
"The Pope"s way of talking about it was to say that the liturgy is the experience of the Church and what should happen is that people experience at the Mass the existence of the Church as it is true through all time. I thought that was a very good way to talk about it,' said Archbishop Vegneron
He added that he has "heard the Pope make this point before. The liturgy isn"t something we do. It"s something we inherit and enter into.'
Archbishop Vigneron said the meeting with the Pope also "confirmed' the bishop"s own intuition "that we really have to focus ourselves on the new evangelization,' which involves giving "intentionally focused energy on bringing the Gospel to people who think they"ve already heard.'
That doesn"t involve "some sort of miracle program,' he contended, but does involve "helping people who are strong in their faith to share their faith.'
The archbishop said he took inspiration from the 19th century English cleric, Cardinal John Henry Newman, who saw faith as growing "from being passed from one heart to another heart.'
In modern society, there is immense opportunity to evangelize those "parts of our culture that look upon the Gospel and Gospel way of life as a burden which they seem to think they are fortunate to have escaped,' he noted.
"What we bring is not an onerous burden we bring a liberation,' he said, "and people may not know they do want this good news from Jesus but it really is what they"re looking for.'
Archbishop Vigneron and the other bishops conclude their "ad limina' visit on Monday Feb 6. He said they return home full of "new encouragement' after a week that has helped them to "take stock of our lives and to find some new breath to go back to reapply ourselves to our task.'
Pope reflects on Christ, the light of the world
Vatican City, Feb 2, 2012 / 07:16 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI marked the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord with vespers and explained that the presentation of Jesus in the temple reveals Christ as the light of the world.
"In the encounter between the old man Simeon and Mary, a young mother, the Old and New Testaments come together in a wondrous way in giving thanks for the gift of the light that shone in the darkness and has prevented it from prevailing: Christ the Lord.'
The Pope presided over solemn vespers at St Peter"s basilica for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, Feb. 2.
The feast recalls the occasion when Mary and Joseph, in observance of Jewish custom, presented their first born son to the priest in the temple in Jerusalem 40 days after his birth.
There they were met by the old priest Simeon who was promised that "he should not see death before he had seen the Lord"s Christ.' It is he who declared the infant to be "the light to enlighten the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.'
This "ritual act' of the parents of Jesus is in the "style of humble obscurity that characterizes the Incarnation of the Son of God,' said the Pope.
He noted that the feast is "one of the cases in which the liturgical season reflects the historical because today is precisely 40 days from the feast of Christmas.'
"The theme of Christ the Light, which has characterized the series of Christmas feasts and culminated in the Feast of the Epiphany, is taken up and extended to the celebration today.'
Indeed, one of the traditional names given to today"s feast is "Candlemas' denoting the blessing of candles which often takes place and the candlelit procession that begins and concludes the liturgy of vespers.
Pope Benedict also noted that today is the World Day for Consecrated Life. The term "consecrated' applies to those Christians who have taken public vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Many monks, nuns and others who live consecrated lives were present in St. Peter"s basilica for vespers.
The Pope told them that the presentation of Jesus "is a significant icon' for those who serve both Church and world "through the evangelical counsels, the characteristic traits of Jesus, chaste, poor and obedient, the Anointed of the Father.'
He recalled how the day had been instituted by Blessed Pope John Paul II in 1987 to give "praise and thanks to the Lord for the gift of this state of life, which belongs to the Church"s holiness.'
He also said that the day is an occasion for those who live the consecrated life to give "testimony' to the world and to "renew and revitalize' their own vocation.
"This we do today, this is the commitment that you are called to carry out every day of your life,' he told them.
He concluded by looking ahead to his Year of Faith which begins in October 2012. He told those living the consecrated life that the "most important and distinctive element' of their existence was their "deep closeness to the Lord' and that this would have a "positive influence' on everybody during the Year of Faith.
His hope was that they will "engage enthusiastically in the new evangelization,' through "the contribution of your gifts, in fidelity to the Magisterium, in order to be witnesses of faith and of grace, credible witnesses for the Church and for the world today.'
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