Praying in the Garden

Mark 14: 39-42:

Withdrawing again, he prayed, saying the same thing. Then he returned once more and found them asleep, for they could not keep their eyes open and did not know what to answer him. He returned a third time and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough. The hour has come. Behold, the Son of Man is to be handed over to sinners. Get up, let us go. See, my betrayer is at hand."

The image above is from here.

Living Our Best

Rocco, Mike and Deacon Greg all have taken note of the words of Bishop David Zubik at the Holy Tuesday evening "Service of Apology" at St. Paul Cathedral in Pittsburgh.

I have said it before. I will say it again: Bishop Zubik makes me very proud to be a native son of the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

His words are worth citing here in full:

“I’m Sorry; We’re Sorry”

The following is the reflection given by Bishop Zubik
at the Service of Apology on
Tuesday, April 7, 2009 at
Saint Paul Cathedral, Pittsburgh

In the name of and on behalf of the nearly 800,000 faithful of the Church of Pittsburgh, I am humbled to welcome and thank all who have gathered together in this moment of prayer. This night we take the opportunity to both acknowledge and celebrate God’s mercy and forgiveness as we acknowledge the failings, the sins of men and women who represent the Church. And while the Church is truly divine, fully given its mission as the Body of Christ by Jesus Himself, we are also a very human Church, comprised of people who are human and sinful. You come here, many of you, with hurts that you hold, and perhaps painfully so, in the inner recesses of your hearts. And so within the context of our prayer, as Bishop of this Church of Pittsburgh, I stand here to apologize in the name of the Church for any ways in which any representatives of the Church have hurt you.

Now I ask you to turn your attention to three powerful vignettes which speak to our being here this night.

Within this context and in anticipation of the millennium year 2000, the late great Pope John Paul II stood before the world’s stage and did something unprecedented. He asked the world for forgiveness for the ways in which the world was hurt by the words and actions of the members and leaders of the Church.

In prayerful fashion, Pope John Paul II began his apology quoting from the Old Testament Book of Daniel: “Blessed are you O Lord, the God of our Fathers for we have sinned and transgressed by departing from you and we have done every kind of evil. Your commandments we have not heeded or observed.” (Daniel 3:26, 29-30) The Pope continued: “The Church imitates an example of this prayer and asks forgiveness for the historical sins of all of her children. “Church should become fully conscious of the sinfulness of her children recalling all those times in history … when … instead of offering to the world the witness of a life inspired by the values of faith, indulged in ways of thinking and acting which were truly forms of counter witness and scandal especially when they involve the respect that is owed to individuals and communities.”

The second story is the one we’ve heard tonight from the lips of Jesus Himself. Shortly after His resurrection from the dead, Jesus meets an embarrassed Peter as head of the Church, a position entrusted to him by Jesus Himself, who must now look Jesus eyeball to eyeball and acknowledge that he betrayed Jesus not once, not twice, but three times. With three questions from the lips of Jesus, “Simon Peter, do you love me more than these others do?”; a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”; and again a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Jesus gave Peter, “the head of the Church” not one, not two, but three opportunities to both acknowledge his sins and failures and to respond to new opportunities of trust. To Peter, Jesus said, “feed my lambs;” “look after my sheep;” “feed my sheep.” And in answer to each of Jesus’ three questions, embracing Jesus’ three acts of trust, Peter responded by saying, “Lord, you know that I love you.”

The third story and clearly the most painful of the stories is our story, our gathering together in this Mother Church of Pittsburgh. In a very real moment of woundedness, I stand before you tonight as Shepherd of the Church of Pittsburgh and embrace the presence of each of you, women and men, who come here tonight showing by your presence that somewhere, sometime in your life you have been hurt by someone who was entrusted to represent Jesus and His Church, but failed to do so. Some of you have already expressed your hurt; for many others of you, you do so this night by your being here. You call me, as leader of the Church of Pittsburgh, to not only not forget the sins of those who have hurt you, but you charge me with the need to continue to work to secure that the sins not happen again.

As I stand before you, I see also the face of Christ, the Jesus who met Peter on the seashore, confronting Peter’s betrayal. Your very presence here tonight both painful and trusting, confronts the need for the Church to ask forgiveness from you and the opportunity to renew your trust in the Church as Jesus renewed His trust in Peter.

To those of you who looked for the compassion of Christ in the sacrament of Penance but found only scolding and harsh judgment in return—I ask you, the Church asks you, for forgiveness.

To those of you who found sacred moments in your life and the life of your family (baptisms, weddings, funerals) met with callous, heartless, unfeeling, un-Christian-like attention to your need—I ask you, the Church asks you, for forgiveness.

To those of you who are here tonight who have in any way been the victims of any abuse, sexual or otherwise, whether as a child or as an adult, or as a parent, or sibling, or friend who shared in the pain of that someone you love—I ask you, the Church asks you, for forgiveness.

To those of you who came to the Church, rightly expecting her to help you understand the rich tradition of our teachings and traditions, but met with a less than half-hearted response—I ask you, the Church asks you, for forgiveness.

To those of you who have been hurt by the poor judgment of others entrusted with leadership—I ask you, the Church asks you, for forgiveness.

To those of you who believed in the Church to be a voice against prejudice but found, rather, a deafening silence—I ask you, the Church asks you, for forgiveness.

To those of you who looked to the leaders of the Church—lay, religious or ordained—to give good example but met, rather, with a philosophy that said: “Do as I say, not as I do,”—I ask you, the Church asks you, for forgiveness.

To those of you who needed the Church to be with you in sickness, in grief, in trauma, in turmoil, but found her representatives to be too busy—I ask you, the Church asks you, for forgiveness.

To those of you who have offered your talents for the mission of the Church, but experienced an injustice in the Church’s workplace—I ask you, the Church asks you, for forgiveness.

For whatever ways any representative of the Church has hurt, offended, dismissed, ignored, any one of you—I ask you, the Church asks you, for forgiveness.

For any ways that I personally, as your Bishop, whether in speech or deed, by omission and commission, have disappointed, not heard, or dismissed you, I ask you for your forgiveness.

At the conclusion of his public act of repentance for the sins of anyone who represented the Church, Pope John Paul II said: “the penitent attitude of the Church in our time turns our gaze to the past and to the recognition of sins, so that they will serve as a lesson for a future of ever clearer witness.”

With all the love in my heart and with all the sincerity in my soul, you can be assured that I will do all that I am able to do to restore your trust in the Church and to work together with you to reflect the very love, compassion, mercy of Jesus Himself in and through the Church.

Shortly before her death from cancer in 1990, Sister Thea Bowman, an African American Sister who had a reputation of portraying the very face of Christ and challenged all whom she met to become more like Christ, was part of a concert for people afflicted with AIDS. Her words that day brought a challenge to all. Thea Bowman said: “I have come tonight seeking a blessing. I have come tonight seeking a healing. I don’t usually talk about myself, but tonight I want to tell you a little about me. I have cancer. More importantly, I have something in common with my brothers and sisters who have AIDS—weight loss, hair loss, loss of voice, weakness, fatigue, exhaustion. I’m here tonight to say, God IS! GOD MADE ME! GOD LOVES ME. I WANT TO LIVE MY BEST; I WANT TO LOVE MY BEST; I WANT TO DO MY BEST; I WANT TO GIVE MY BEST.”

Like Sister Thea, I stand before you tonight on behalf of the Church seeking your blessing, seeking your forgiveness, seeking a healing so that we as Church can live our best; love our best; do our best; and give our best.

Watch and Pray

In the Western Christian traditions, today is Holy Thursday. This evening, we will begin our solemn observation of the Sacred Triduum.

After the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper, many churches will remain open for several hours for the Faithful to pray before the tabernacle. The time is sometimes called a "Night Watch" and recalls Jesus' Agony in the Garden.

One piece of music often used often for this time of prayer is the Taizé chant "Bleibet hier" or "Stay With Me." (In English, the verse is: "Stay with me, remain here with me, watch and pray, watch and pray.")

From YouTube:


And, in 2007, from Cologne, Germany:

Struggling Toward Goodness

In today's New York Times, columnist David Brooks asks if we have reached "The End of Philosophy"?

He concludes:

The rise and now dominance of this emotional approach to morality is an epochal change. It challenges all sorts of traditions. It challenges the bookish way philosophy is conceived by most people. It challenges the Talmudic tradition, with its hyper-rational scrutiny of texts. It challenges the new atheists, who see themselves involved in a war of reason against faith and who have an unwarranted faith in the power of pure reason and in the purity of their own reasoning.

Finally, it should also challenge the very scientists who study morality. They’re good at explaining how people make judgments about harm and fairness, but they still struggle to explain the feelings of awe, transcendence, patriotism, joy and self-sacrifice, which are not ancillary to most people’s moral experiences, but central. The evolutionary approach also leads many scientists to neglect the concept of individual responsibility and makes it hard for them to appreciate that most people struggle toward goodness, not as a means, but as an end in itself.

Memory of a Priest Swap

Deacon Greg today posted a clip of a Pittsburgh Catholic report on "pulpit sharing” or “priest swap" -- when priests from neighboring parishes exchange pulpits for a Sunday morning.

This isn't a totally new thing in the 'burgh.

One Sunday morning, when I was a kid growing up at St. Alphonsus Church in McDonald, PA, our pastor, Fr. Gentile, swapped pulpits with "Father Ed," a youngish priest from Our Lady of Lourdes Church in nearby Burgettstown, PA.

It just so happens that, last Thursday, that one-time parochial vicar from Burgettstown was installed as the Catholic bishop of Juneau, Alaska.

Storyship at the F-V Station

Tonight, after I left the gym a little after 11 p.m., I went down into the F-V subway station at 14th Street and 6th Avenue for the ride downtown.

Performing on the platform was a young four-man group called Storyship playing guitar, banjo, accordion, drums and more. I was on the platform long enough to hear them perform three songs, including The Beatles 1965 tune "We Can Work It Out."

They were good. I was impressed by their vocal harmonies.

Here, thanks to YouTube, is how Storyship sounded a few days ago at the Union Square station (minus their bass player):


Here they are with Radiohead's "High and Dry":

Summer '53

Sunday's New York Times had a fun column by Matthew Algeo on Harry and Bess Truman's post-White House road trip in the summer of 1953.

A few graphs:

In Truman’s time, things were quite different. When he retired, 10 years before the Kennedy assassination, former presidents had no Secret Service protection. Nor were they entitled to pensions. Truman’s only income was an Army pension of $111.96 a month, and he refused to “commercialize” the presidency by accepting lucrative business offers or extravagant speaking fees. Like his hero Cincinnatus, the Roman leader who forsook power to return to his farm, Truman believed he could easily make the transition from leader of the free world to, as he put it, “plain, private citizen.”

So, that first summer after leaving the White House, Truman and his wife, Bess, did what ordinary Americans do every summer: they took a vacation. For 19 days they drove around the country, from their home in Independence, Mo., to the East Coast and back again.

Harry and Bess Truman were frugal travelers. They ate a lot of fruit plates at roadside diners. In Decatur, Ill., they stayed at the Parkview, a motel on Route 36 where rooms cost about five bucks a night. (That motel is now a prison for work-release inmates.)

And like countless other road trippers, they crashed with friends. In Indianapolis, they stayed at the home of Frank McKinney, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and his wife, Margaret. When the McKinneys’ daughter Claire came home late from a night of dancing, she found the former president banging away on the living room piano.

In Frostburg, Md., the Trumans stopped at the Princess Restaurant, where they splurged on chicken dinners (70 cents each). The cook, George Pappas Jr., a World War II veteran, recognized his old commander in chief right away. Telephones all over town started ringing, and soon business was booming at the Princess. “I had been there before,” Truman wrote, “but in those days they didn’t make such a fuss over me. I was just a senator then.”

A little farther down the road in Frederick, Truman stopped at Carroll Kehne’s Gulf station for gas and a Coke. When Kehne asked him to give his mechanic, Albert Kefauver, a hard time for being a Republican, Truman declined. “It’s too hot to give anybody hell,” he explained. After Kehne died in 1994, his son found Truman’s Coke bottle and donated it to the local historical society.

Read the entire column here.

The NYT illustration above is credited to Brian Cronin.

"That Almost-Baptized Feeling"

If you're in Brooklyn, Queens or Long Island Monday afternoon or evening -- you may want to check out Soul Wow!:



(Notice the authentic NY accent on the word "sure".)

Hat-tips: Deacon Greg and The Anchoress

"Eloi, Eloi, Lema Sabachthani?"

Today is Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week. For Catholics, today is formally called "Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion."

The Gospel at Mass was one of the accounts of the Crucifixion of Jesus.

From Mark Chapters 14 and 15:

The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were to take place in two days' time. So the chief priests and the scribes were seeking a way to arrest him by treachery and put him to death. They said, "Not during the festival, for fear that there may be a riot among the people."

When he was in Bethany reclining at table in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of perfumed oil, costly genuine spikenard. She broke the alabaster jar and poured it on his head. There were some who were indignant. "Why has there been this waste of perfumed oil? It could have been sold for more than three hundred days' wages and the money given to the poor." They were infuriated with her.

Jesus said, "Let her alone. Why do you make trouble for her? She has done a good thing for me. The poor you will always have with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them, but you will not always have me. She has done what she could. She has anticipated anointing my body for burial. Amen, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed to the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her."

Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went off to the chief priests to hand him over to them. When they heard him they were pleased and promised to pay him money. Then he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, "Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?"

He sent two of his disciples and said to them, "Go into the city and a man will meet you, carrying a jar of water. Follow him. Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says, "Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?"' Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there."

The disciples then went off, entered the city, and found it just as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover.

When it was evening, he came with the Twelve. And as they reclined at table and were eating, Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me." They began to be distressed and to say to him, one by one, "Surely it is not I?"

He said to them, "One of the Twelve, the one who dips with me into the dish. For the Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born."

While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, "Take it; this is my body."

Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many. Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."

Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Then Jesus said to them, "All of you will have your faith shaken, for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be dispersed. But after I have been raised up, I shall go before you to Galilee."

Peter said to him, "Even though all should have their faith shaken, mine will not be."

Then Jesus said to him, "Amen, I say to you, this very night before the cock crows twice you will deny me three times."

But he vehemently replied, "Even though I should have to die with you, I will not deny you." And they all spoke similarly.

Then they came to a place named Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." He took with him Peter, James, and John, and began to be troubled and distressed.

Then he said to them, "My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch."

He advanced a little and fell to the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass by him; he said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Take this cup away from me, but not what I will but what you will."

When he returned he found them asleep. He said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."

Withdrawing again, he prayed, saying the same thing. Then he returned once more and found them asleep, for they could not keep their eyes open and did not know what to answer him. He returned a third time and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough. The hour has come. Behold, the Son of Man is to be handed over to sinners. Get up, let us go. See, my betrayer is at hand."

Then, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived, accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs who had come from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. His betrayer had arranged a signal with them, saying, "The man I shall kiss is the one; arrest him and lead him away securely."

He came and immediately went over to him and said, "Rabbi." And he kissed him.

At this they laid hands on him and arrested him. One of the bystanders drew his sword, struck the high priest's servant, and cut off his ear.

Jesus said to them in reply, "Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs, to seize me? Day after day I was with you teaching in the temple area, yet you did not arrest me; but that the Scriptures may be fulfilled."

And they all left him and fled.

Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked.

They led Jesus away to the high priest, and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. Peter followed him at a distance into the high priest's courtyard and was seated with the guards, warming himself at the fire. The chief priests and the entire Sanhedrin kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus in order to put him to death, but they found none. Many gave false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. Some took the stand and testified falsely against him, alleging, "We heard him say, 'I will destroy this temple made with hands and within three days I will build another not made with hands.'"

Even so their testimony did not agree.

The high priest rose before the assembly and questioned Jesus, saying, "Have you no answer? What are these men testifying against you?"

But he was silent and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him and said to him, "Are you the Christ, the son of the Blessed One?"

Then Jesus answered, "I am; and 'you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.'"

At that the high priest tore his garments and said, "hat further need have we of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?"

They all condemned him as deserving to die. Some began to spit on him. They blindfolded him and struck him and said to him, "Prophesy!" And the guards greeted him with blows.

While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the high priest's maids came along. Seeing Peter warming himself, she looked intently at him and said, "You too were with the Nazarene, Jesus."

But he denied it saying, "I neither know nor understand what you are talking about." So he went out into the outer court. Then the cock crowed.

The maid saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, "This man is one of them." Once again he denied it.

A little later the bystanders said to Peter once more, "Surely you are one of them; for you too are a Galilean."

He began to curse and to swear, "I do not know this man about whom you are talking." And immediately a cock crowed a second time.

Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had said to him, "Before the cock crows twice you will deny me three times." He broke down and wept.

As soon as morning came, the chief priests with the elders and the scribes, that is, the whole Sanhedrin held a council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate questioned him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"

He said to him in reply, "You say so."

The chief priests accused him of many things. Again Pilate questioned him, "Have you no answer? See how many things they accuse you of."

Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.

Now on the occasion of the feast he used to release to them one prisoner whom they requested. A man called Barabbas was then in prison along with the rebels who had committed murder in a rebellion. The crowd came forward and began to ask him to do for them as he was accustomed. Pilate answered, "Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?"

For he knew that it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed him over.

But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead. Pilate again said to them in reply, "Then what do you want me to do with the man you call the king of the Jews?"

They shouted again, "Crucify him."

Pilate said to them, "Why? What evil has he done?"

They only shouted the louder, "Crucify him."

So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas to them and, after he had Jesus scourged, handed him over to be crucified.

The soldiers led him away inside the palace, that is, the praetorium, and assembled the whole cohort. They clothed him in purple and, weaving a crown of thorns, placed it on him. They began to salute him with, All Hail, King of the Jews!" and kept striking his head with a reed and spitting upon him. They knelt before him in homage.

And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him out to crucify him.

They pressed into service a passer-by, Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.

They brought him to the place of Golgotha — which is translated Place of the Skull — They gave him wine drugged with myrrh, but he did not take it.

Then they crucified him and divided his garments by casting lots for them to see what each should take. It was nine o'clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, "The King of the Jews."

With him they crucified two revolutionaries, one on his right and one on his left. Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying, "Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself by coming down from the cross."

Likewise the chief priests, with the scribes, mocked him among themselves and said, "He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe."

Those who were crucified with him also kept abusing him.

At noon darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three o'clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Some of the bystanders who heard it said, "Look, he is calling Elijah."

One of them ran, soaked a sponge with wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink saying, "Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to take him down."

Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.

The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. When the centurion who stood facing him saw how he breathed his last he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!"

There were also women looking on from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joses, and Salome. These women had followed him when he was in Galilee and ministered to him. There were also many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem.

When it was already evening, since it was the day of preparation, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a distinguished member of the council, who was himself awaiting the kingdom of God, came and courageously went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Pilate was amazed that he was already dead. He summoned the centurion and asked him if Jesus had already died. And when he learned of it from the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.

Having bought a linen cloth, he took him down, wrapped him in the linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock.

Then he rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses watched where he was laid.

Flashbacks: Palm Sundays 2008 and 2007.

A Concord Pastor has some background on today's liturgy. Deacon Greg has posted his Palm Sunday homily. Rocco has a post on Palm Sunday in Rome. And, Mike has some thoughts for today, too.

The image above is from here.

From Antwerp, Belgium

The Anchoress today deemed this offering from Antwerp, Belgium, a terrific "palate cleanser."

I agree -- even if it is a blatant steal of this.

Gets groovy at the 2:13 mark:



An aside: Longtime readers may recall that yours truly is 12.5 percent Belgian.

Banana Pancakes

Before entering into the intensity of Holy Week, I thought it might be good to have a light-hearted tune for this week's "YouTube clip for a peaceful weekend."

To fill that need -- and because it was raining here in New York today -- here is "Banana Pancakes" by Jack Johnson.

Peace:



Here's another version with the lyrics:



Jack Johnson flashback: "Better Together" (Jan. '08)

ASSME

How about this for a gathering of the like-minded?:

The American Society of Shitcanned Media Elites

Hat-tip: mediabistro

"Ever More Human"

Today is the fourth anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II.

Here are some good thoughts of JPII on mercy and forgiveness:

Society can become ever more human only if we introduce into the many-sided setting of interpersonal and social relationships, not merely justice, but also that “merciful love” which constitutes the messianic message of the Gospel.

… Forgiveness demonstrates the presence in the world of the love which is more powerful than sin. Forgiveness is also the fundamental condition for reconciliation, not only in the relationship of God with man, but also in relationships between people. A world from which forgiveness was eliminated would be nothing but a world of cold and unfeeling justice, in the name of which each person would claim his or her own rights vis-à-vis others; the various kinds of selfishness latent in man would transform life and human society into a system of oppression of the weak by the strong, or into an arena of permanent strife between one group or another.

For this reason, the Church must consider it one of her principal duties – at every stage of history and especially in our modern age – to proclaim and to introduce into life the mystery of mercy, supremely revealed in Jesus Christ. Not only for the Church herself as a community of believers but also in a certain sense for all of humanity, this mystery is the source of a life different from the life which can be built by men.

From the November, 1980 encyclical letter “Dives in Misericordia” or “On the Mercy of God.”

The image above is from here.

Anniversary Hat-tip: Rocco

"The Dance of Life"

This brightened my day:



Hat-tips: Deacon Greg and Julie

Where's the Tofu?

Friar Rick from Canada has an interesting take on this past Saturday night's "Earth Hour" and B16's recent comments on condoms:

Thanks to another Toronto Catholic blogger, Vox Cantoris I read an interesting critique about the Earth Hour. It’s in the National Post. I guess I am partial to this point of view as I don’t really get the purpose… besides symbolic. However the social pressure to comply is great. It irks me. In a similar way I found myself, several times today, defending the Pope’s comments on condoms. The Pope’s comments on the plane, perhaps not savvy from a PR point of view… are in fact true. If women in some part of Africa are being abused and forced into dangerous sex… well of course a condom would help stop the transmission of HIV. The Pope certainly understands that. But what the Pope is asking… correctly... is why are women being put into that situation in the first place? Condoms are not the real issue. But when you say that condoms are not the solution… people look at you funny like you’re from another planet. I get the same look from people when I ask why we are turning our lights off for Earth Hour? They look at me as if I hate the planet and want to kill baby seals. But honestly, I don’t get the Earth Hour thing… besides being about PR. I really believe in good PR.. but I also believe in substance. Where’s the beef? Oops sorry… “Where’s the tofu!”

The Whole Point

On Thursday morning, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe during her trip to Mexico. As part of the visit to the basilica, she left a bouquet of white flowers on behalf of the American people.

I think it's very good that Secretary Clinton visited Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. The visit itself was a smart and thoughtful thing to do. And, I hope that HRC came away from it blessed and Spirit-filled.

But.

There is a news report indicating that, when Secretary Clinton was shown the image of Our Lady, she asked, "Who painted it?".

It's possible she was misquoted. It was early in the morning. Maybe she misspoke. Maybe there was translation problem.

And, as a commenter said over at Deacon Greg's, "at least 'who painted it' is the right question to ask."

But, if she really did ask this, it shows that either Secretary Clinton or her handlers aren't doing their homework. "Who painted it" is the entire reason the image is what it is. There's not a massive cathedral outside of Mexico City because there's just a beautiful painting there.

Our belief in the miracle is the whole point of the place.

Note to the State Department: IF your boss really asked this question, it's an indicator that you need to improve your system for preparing her for the important work she has to do. A mistake like this in the Jerusalem or Mecca could have been much more damaging.

A final thought: IF this is true, it's no wonder HRC didn't gain the Democrats' nod for the White House. She didn't know a key detail about something that is very important in the lives of Mexican-Americans -- and many other Catholics in the United States.

God bless her.

The image above is from The Anchoress.

"I Have Glorified It"

Today is the Fifth Sunday of Lent.

At Masses where R.C.I.A. catechumens are present, today's Gospel reading will be the powerful account of the raising of Lazarus. For that passage, visit my 2008 post for this Sunday.

At other Masses, the Gospel will be a discourse of Christ exploring His role in salvation history.

From John Chapter 12:

Some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus."

Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.

"Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.

"I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name."

Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it and will glorify it again."

The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, "An angel has spoken to him."

Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come for my sake but for yours. Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself."

He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.

A Concord Pastor has a good homily on this Gospel.

And, here is a video reflection on the passage:

"A Brezhnev-era Apparatchik"

I haven't had the chance to do much research on British Tory MEP Daniel Hannan -- and I don't know a lot about the U.K. response to the financial crisis -- so I am posting the clip below without endorsement.

It's a powerful bit of oratory (albeit a rather rude way to address the head of one's government in an international forum):



FYI #1: Daniel Hannan's blog. (He's got a snarky writing style to match his oratory.)

FYI #2: The European Parliament (I don't know much about it. Do you?). Apparently, they have business casual days.

Hat-tip: The Anchoress who came to it from Gerald Warner. Sully had a related post, too.

Where the Headless Chicken Lands

The wisdom of South Park:



Hat-tip: Sully

If You Fall

How about some more from Eva Cassidy for this week's "YouTube clip for a peaceful weekend"?

Here she is with Cyndi Lauper's 1984 hit "Time After Time." (I actually think it's a good song for Lent if you think about the lyrics in a spiritual context.)

Pax:

"Love in the Time of Commenters"

I do not get many comments on this blog.

It's never really bothered me.

But, maybe it's why I'm still single:



FYI: Ann Althouse's blog.

Hat-tip: Alarming News

Full of Grace

For Catholics, today (March 25) is the Feast of the Annunciation (or, more formally, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord).

A song for the day:

"When the Night Has Come ... "

Good tune for a Monday afternoon:


"Stand by Me" performed by musicians around the world from SKAT on Vimeo.

Hat-tip: Deacon Greg

A Man Blind From Birth

Today is the Fourth Sunday of Lent or "Laetare Sunday." Like last Sunday, the readings at Mass varied if special prayers were being said over the R.C.I.A. catechumens.

If catechumens were not present, the Gospel reading was a discourse of Christ from John Chapter 3, including the well-known verse John 3:16.

As my parish did have two catechumens present, the Gospel at Mass we heard was the account of "the man born blind."

From John Chapter 9:

As Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth.

His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him. We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes, and said to him, “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” —which means Sent—.

So he went and washed, and came back able to see.

His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?”

Some said, “It is," but others said, “No, he just looks like him.”

He said, “I am.”

So they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”

He replied, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’

So I went there and washed and was able to see.”

And they said to him, “Where is he?”

He said, “I don’t know.”

They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees. Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a sabbath. So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see.

He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.”

So some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the sabbath.”

But others said, “How can a sinful man do such signs?”

And there was a division among them.

So they said to the blind man again, “What do you have to say about him, since he opened your eyes?”

He said, “He is a prophet.”

Now the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and gained his sight until they summoned the parents of the one who had gained his sight.

They asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How does he now see?”

His parents answered and said, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. We do not know how he sees now, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he is of age; he can speak for himself.”

His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone acknowledged him as the Christ, he would be expelled from the synagogue. For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; question him.”

So a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give God the praise! We know that this man is a sinner.”

He replied, “If he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.” So they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?”

They ridiculed him and said, “You are that man’s disciple; we are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this one is from.”

The man answered and said to them, “This is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him. It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything.”

They answered and said to him, “You were born totally in sin, and are you trying to teach us?”

Then they threw him out.

When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, he found him and said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

He answered and said, “Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”

Jesus said to him,“You have seen him, the one speaking with you is he.”

He said, “I do believe, Lord,” and he worshiped him.

Then Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind."

Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not also blind, are we?”

Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.

A song for the day:

"...was blind but now I see":

B16 in Africa

A regular reader of this blog asked for my thoughts on the visit this week of Pope Benedict XVI to Africa.

I'm sorry to say that my annual spring cold/allergy thing has kept me from following the "Apostolic Journey to Cameroon and Angola" as closely as I would like.

But, the National Catholic Reporter's John Allen -- one of the best journalists on any beat -- today provided a report called "Benedict in Cameroon, a Tale of Two Trips." It should be required reading for anyone interested in commenting on the visit.

Some key graphs:

... I don't think I've ever covered a papal trip where the gap between internal and external perceptions has been as vast as over these three days.

It's almost as if the pope has made two separate visits to Cameroon: the one reported internationally and the one Africans actually experienced.

In the U.S. and many other parts of the world, coverage has been "all condoms, all the time," triggered by comments from Benedict aboard the papal plane to the effect that condoms aren't the right way to fight AIDS. In Africa, meanwhile, the trip has been a hit, beginning with Benedict's dramatic insistence that Christians must never be silent in the face of "corruption and abuses of power," and extending through a remarkable meeting with African Muslims in which the pope said more clearly and succinctly what he wanted to say three years ago in his infamous Regensburg address, and without the gratuitous quotation from a Byzantine emperor.

This is just a snip. The whole thing is worth reading.

The image above comes via the Boston Globe. It is attributed to Finbarr O'Reilly of Reuters. Caption: "A nun was among throngs greeting Pope Benedict XVI as he arrived in Yaounde, Cameroon, yesterday. He'll also visit Angola."

The Tennessee Waltz

For this week's "YouTube clip for a peaceful weekend," here is "The Tennessee Waltz" as performed live by Norah Jones.

Peace:



Norah Jones flashbacks: "Come Away With Me" (Feb. '08) and "Don't Know Why" (Jan. '08).

My appreciation for "The Tennessee Waltz" stems largely from the final scene of the 1998 movie "Primary Colors."

Joseph & Child

For Catholics, today, March 19, is the Solemnity of St. Joseph.

Monsignor Hardiman, the pastor of St. Sebastian Church in the Woodside section of Queens, found this good image to illustrate the day:

This is "St. Joseph and the Child Jesus" by John Collier.

From Monsignor Hardiman:

John Collier is one of my favorite contemporary artists. Consider this wonderful painting of Joseph and the young Jesus. It can really help you, as it did and does me, to begin to get my head around the real people that they were. What elements do you see in the painting that draw your particular interest and contemplation?

Ambassador Rooney

Pittsburgh certainly had some luck o' the Irish yesterday:

Steelers owner Dan Rooney (pictured above) was given the official nod by President Obama to be the next U.S. ambassador to Ireland.

From Ed Bouchette's article in the Post-Gazette:

Dan Rooney will soon earn the official title, yet he's always been an Irish ambassador with his Steelers and throughout the NFL. He's long been known as the league's voice of reason and conscience and, when it appeared war would break out or did between the league's players and owners, a man of peace.

Ireland may be gaining an ambassador, but the Steelers and the NFL are losing football royalty, a Hall of Famer and son of the franchise's founder who put personal integrity above all else while operating his team and dealing with its people.

His absence will be felt in Pittsburgh and across the NFL, where labor war clouds again are gathering. His son, Art Rooney II, succeeded his father as Steelers president in 2002, and the public will discern few changes in the way the team is operated, partly because Art has run the daily operations of the team anyway. And Art's chief adviser, his father, will remain only a phone call away in Dublin.

The image above is from the P-G.

Prayer of an Irishman

Thanks to James Hoag, one of my maternal great-grandfathers, yours truly is 12.5 percent Irish.

It is therefore with the pride of an Irishman that I pray you have a very blessed St. Patrick's Day!

For the Old Irish Blessing, please see my St. Patrick's Day posts in 2007 and 2008.

If you desire to skip the green beer today, be sure to read Mike's Busted Halo piece called "Five Ways to Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day Without Getting a Hangover."

And ... a bit o' speculation ... could Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney be the next U.S. ambassador to Ireland?

Corbett for PA Guv 2010!

PA Attorney General Tom Corbett has gone one step closer to becoming a candidate for governor of the Keystone State in 2010.

Salena Zito has the scoop:

Republican state Attorney General Tom Corbett today filed paperwork to establish an exploratory committee to run for governor in 2010.

Corbett, 59, of Shaler is expected to hold an evening conference call with key Republicans and state committee members to discuss his plans.

Corbett decided to run after talking with people across the state, party leaders and his family, said spokesman John Brabender.

Tom has supported me. I certainly support him. Flashback: A chilly autumn morning in Burgettstown, 2006.

Hat-tip: Joe Murzyn

Stopping the Presses in Seattle

The bad news from Seattle:

Seattle Post-Intelligencer to publish last edition Tuesday

Comfort Zone

A wise observation by author/illustrator turned guerrilla artist Keri Smith at The Wish Jar:

"The Unthinkable"

Clay Shirky, an adjunct professor at NYU, has a frank and helpful post on the newspaper industry -- specifically how the "revolution" that is/was the Internet contributed to the industry's decline. As Sully puts it, Shirky's take is "a brutal obituary."

Anyone who cares about newspapers will want to read the entire post.

But, here's one important quote:

Print media does much of society’s heavy journalistic lifting, from flooding the zone — covering every angle of a huge story — to the daily grind of attending the City Council meeting, just in case. This coverage creates benefits even for people who aren’t newspaper readers, because the work of print journalists is used by everyone from politicians to District Attorneys to talk radio hosts to bloggers. The newspaper people often note that newspapers benefit society as a whole. This is true, but irrelevant to the problem at hand; “You’re gonna miss us when we’re gone!” has never been much of a business model. So who covers all that news if some significant fraction of the currently employed newspaper people lose their jobs?

Word of the Woman

Today is the Third Sunday of Lent. For many parishes, the Gospel at Mass was the story of Jesus expelling the money changers from the temple area.

However, in parishes like mine where a special prayer was later said over the R.C.I.A. catechumens, the Gospel at Mass shows us Jesus speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well.

From John Chapter 4:

Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there.

Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water.

Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."

His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.

The Samaritan woman said to him, "How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" —For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.—

Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

The woman said to him, "Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?"

Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water."

Jesus said to her, "Go call your husband and come back."

The woman answered and said to him, "I do not have a husband."

Jesus answered her, "You are right in saying, 'I do not have a husband.' For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true."

The woman said to him, "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem."

Jesus said to her, "Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth."

The woman said to him, "I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ; when he comes, he will tell us everything."

Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one speaking with you."

At that moment his disciples returned, and were amazed that he was talking with a woman, but still no one said, "What are you looking for?" or "Why are you talking with her?"

The woman left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people, "Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Christ?"

They went out of the town and came to him.

Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat."

But he said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."

So the disciples said to one another, "Could someone have brought him something to eat?"

Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, 'In four months the harvest will be here'? I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest. The reaper is already receiving payment and gathering crops for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together. For here the saying is verified that 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the work, and you are sharing the fruits of their work."

Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me everything I have done."

When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.

Many more began to believe in him because of his word, and they said to the woman, "We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world."

Deacon Greg and A Concord Pastor have posted their homilies for this Sunday.

Flashback: Third Sunday, Lent '08

The image above is from here.

Mayor Franco Harris?

I can't believe the news I miss living in New York. From Monday's P-G:

Franco Harris' son running for mayor of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh friends: Exactly when were you going to alert me to this?!

If his name reads "Franco Harris" on the ballot, Franco "Dok" Harris could be a serious threat to Mayor Opie there in the epicenter of Steeler Country. (I like that "Dok" intends to run as an Independent.)

An aside: I'm looking forward to my friend Kevin Acklin throwing his hat into the ring for mayor of the 'burgh, as well.

Service of Apology, Service of Prayer

Deacon Greg, Rocco, A Concord Pastor and Monsignor Hardiman all took note yesterday of a very good thing that will happen on Holy Tuesday evening in Pittsburgh.

From Ann Rodgers' report in the Post-Gazette:

Bishop David Zubik of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh will hold a prayer service April 7 to apologize to anyone who has ever been hurt by someone acting in the name of the Catholic Church.

"If you have been harmed by the church in any way, I invite you to come. There will be nothing expected of you but your willingness to pray with me. No one will bother you," Bishop Zubik wrote in his column in the Pittsburgh Catholic. The service will be held at 7 p.m. in St. Paul Cathedral on Tuesday of Holy Week.

Although most publicity about people hurt in the Catholic Church has centered on those who suffered sexual abuse, many other concerns also will be addressed in the prayer service. Bishop Zubik's column mentioned people who have been spoken to harshly by church leaders, who felt they were unjustly let go from a church position or felt picked on by a teacher in a religious education class.

He spoke of a man who approached him recently who was upset that the bishop had not responded to a letter he had written.

"I had no recollection of the matter nor any recollection that the letter ever arrived. But that really didn't matter as much as the fact that the writer was hurt. He felt ignored, even rejected," the bishop wrote.

"Unfortunately, I am sure there were times where my actions or words were the cause of hurt."

Bishop Zubik makes me very proud to be a native son of the Steel City diocese.

(For this reason, too.)

Red Roses Too

It's been far too long since the late great Eva Cassidy (1963 - 1996) made an appearance in the "YouTube clip for a peaceful weekend." Here she is with the Louis Armstrong-standard "What a Wonderful World."

Pace:



Flashback: "People Get Ready," Advent, 2007

No-Newspaper Cities?

The front page of today's NYT carries another disturbing story about the future of newspapers in the United States. Metropolitan areas once served by two major papers may soon have no broad-circulation print outlets at all.

The bad news:

... some economists and newspaper executives say it is only a matter of time — and probably not much time at that — before some major American city is left with no prominent local newspaper at all. ...

For more than two centuries, newspapers have been the indispensable source of public information and a check on the abuses of government and other powerful interests. And they still reach a vast and growing audience. Daily print circulation has dropped from a peak of 62 million two decades ago to around 49 million, and online readership has risen faster, to almost 75 million Americans and 3.7 billion page views in January, according to Nielsen Online.

But no one yet has unlocked the puzzle of supporting a large newsroom purely on digital revenue, a fact that may presage an era of news organizations that are smaller, weaker and less able to fulfill their traditional function as the nation’s watchdog.

“I can’t imagine what civil society would be like,” said Buzz Woolley, a wealthy San Diego businessman who has been a vocal critic of the paper there, The Union-Tribune, and the primary backer of an Internet news site, VoiceofSanDiego.org. “I don’t want to imagine it. A huge amount of information would just never get out.”

On this topic, a few days back, I mentioned my fears for the Observer-Reporter of Washington, PA. This article reminded me to also be concerned for the future of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (sample front page above).

Good Pick

The New York Times has selected Ross Douthat, a 29-year-old, pro-life Catholic, to be its next Op-Ed page columnist. He's taking the slot formerly held by Bill Kristol.

Douthat ("Dow-thut") is currently a blogger and senior editor at The Atlantic. He is co-author, with Reihan Salam, of the 2008 book "Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class And Save the American Dream."

It's a very good pick if you ask me.

I've quoted Douthat (pictured above) a few times in this space, most recently in regard to "The Flying Spaghetti Monster."

Wednesday Morning Inspiration

A little inspiration for this Wednesday morning in March:

From Freddie25 in Sweden: "32 songs in 8 minutes":



Hat-tip: Sully

Busted Halo: "Confession 101"

Catholics: Has it been a while since you last went to Confession (a.k.a. the Sacrament of Reconciliation)? Are you looking for a refresher course this Lent?

Non-Catholics: Have you ever wondered what Catholics do during Confession?

The good people at Busted Halo have some answers for you in this these two videos: