I Place My Trust In You

Oh Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you, knowing that you love me, care for me and will never abandon me.  Help me to know that my suffering and pain too will pass, as you guide me along the right path and that only goodness and kindness will follow me all the days of my life.

May the Lord Bless You in the New Year

World War I: The Christmas Truce of 1914

By Kennedy Hickman

Christmas Truce - Conflict: The 1914 Christmas Truce occurred during the first year of World War I (1914-1918).

Christmas Truce - Date: Occurring on December 24-25, 1914, Christmas Eve and Day, the Christmas Truce saw a temporary halt to the fighting on parts of the Western Front. In some areas, the truce lasted until New Year's Day.

The Christmas Truce - Peace on the Front: One of the mythic events of World War I, the 1914 Christmas Truce began on Christmas Eve along the British and German lines around Ypres, Belgium. While it took hold in some areas manned by the French and Belgians, it was not as widespread as these nations viewed the Germans as invaders. Along the 27 miles of front manned by the British Expeditionary Force, Christmas Eve 1914 began as a normal day with firing on both sides. While in some areas firing began to slacken through the afternoon, in others it continued at its regular pace.

This impulse to celebrate the holiday season amid the landscape of war has been traced to several theories. Among these was the fact that the war was only four months old and the level of animosity between the ranks was not as high as it would be later in the war. This was complimented by sense of shared discomfort as the early trenches lacked amenities and were prone to flooding. Also, the landscape, aside from the newly dug trenches, still appeared relatively normal, with fields and intact villages all of which contributed to introducing a degree of civilization to the proceedings.

Private Mullard of the London Rifle Brigade wrote home, "we heard a band in the German trenches, but our artillery spoilt the effect by dropping a couple of shells right in the centre of them." Despite this, Mullard was surprised at sunset to see, "trees stuck on top of the [German] trenches, lit up with candles, and all of the men sitting on top of the trenches. So of course we got out of ours and passed a few remarks, inviting each other to come over and have a drink and a smoke, but we did not like to trust each other at first (Weintraub, 76)."

The initial force behind the Christmas Truce came from the Germans. In most cases, this began with the singing of carols and the appearance of Christmas trees along the trenches. Curious, Allied troops, who had been inundated with propaganda depicting the Germans as barbarians, began to join in the singing which led to both sides reaching out to communicate. From these first hesitant contacts informal ceasefires were arranged between units. As the lines in many places were only 30-70 yards apart, some fraternization between individuals had taken place prior to Christmas, but never on a large scale.

For the most part, both sides returned to their trenches later on Christmas Eve. The following morning, Christmas was celebrated in full, with men visiting across the lines and gifts of food and tobacco being exchanged. In several places, games of soccer were organized, though these tended to be mass "kick abouts" rather than formal matches. Private Ernie Williams of the 6th Cheshires reported, "I should think there were about a couple of hundred taking part...There was no sort of ill-will between us (Weintraub, 81)." Amid the music and sports, both sides frequently joined together for large Christmas dinners.

While the lower ranks were celebrating in the trenches, the high commands were both livid and concerned. General Sir John French, commanding the BEF, issued stern orders against fraternizing with the enemy. For the Germans, whose army possessed a long history of intense discipline, the outbreak of popular will among their soldiery was cause for worry and most stories of the truce were suppressed back in Germany. Though a hard line was taken officially, many generals took a relaxed approach seeing the truce as an opportunity to improve and re-supply their trenches, as well as scout out the enemy's position.

The Christmas Truce - Back to Fighting: For the most part, the Christmas Truce only lasted for Christmas Eve and Day, though in some areas it was extended through Boxing Day and New Year's. As it ended, both sides decided on signals for the recommencement of hostilities. Reluctantly returning to war, the bonds forged at Christmas slowly eroded as units rotated out and the fighting became more ferocious. The truce had largely worked due to a mutual feeling that the war would be decided at another place and time, mostly likely by someone else. As the war went on, the events of Christmas 1914 became increasing surreal to those who had not been there.

SOURCE: The Christmas Truce

SEE ALSO: Snopes

Called to Be a Blessing

“As Christians and Jews, following the example of the faith of Abraham, we are called to be a blessing to the world. This is the common task awaiting us. It is therefore necessary for us, Christians and Jews, to first be a blessing to one another.”
- John Paul II on the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising

See A Blessing to One Another -  Pope John Paul II & the Jewish People

Passage from Blessed John Henry Newman's Apologia

As a convert to the Catholic faith, I understand the perfect peace and contentment and the coming into port after a rough sea which Newman describes here.  I am so grateful and, like Blessed Newman, I have never had one doubt.

"FROM the time that I became a Catholic, of course I have no further history of my religious opinions to narrate. In saying this, I do not mean to say that my mind has been idle, or that I have given up thinking on theological subjects; but that I have had no variations to record, and have had no anxiety of heart whatever. I have been in perfect peace and contentment; I never have had one doubt. I was not conscious to myself, on my conversion, of any change, intellectual or moral, wrought in my mind. I was not conscious of firmer faith in the fundamental truths of Revelation, or of more self-command; I had not more fervour; but it was like coming into port after a rough sea; and my happiness on that score remains to this day without interruption." 

-Source: Blessed John Henry Newman's Apologia, chapter 5

O God, who bestowed on the Priest Blessed John Henry Newman the grace to follow your kindly light and find peace in your Church; graciously grant that, through his intercession and example, we may be led out of shadows and images into the fullness of your truth. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, for ever and ever.

– Collect for the Feast of Bl. John Henry Newman

Amazing Grace - How Sweet The Sound

Franciscan All Saints Day - November 29

In addition to All Saints Day on November 1, the entire Franciscan Order celebrates a Franciscan All Saints Day. All the saints and blessed, in fact, all the members of the three orders of St. Francis who have attained their goal in heaven, whether known or unknown, are honored in a special manner on this day.

November 29 was selected for this feast day because on that day in 1223 Pope Honorius III gave his approval to the final rule which St. Francis gave to the Friars Minor, a rule which pointed out a new way to sanctity. By observing it faithfully, many have become saints; and by celebrating the feast of all Franciscan saints, we are inspired and encouraged to follow in their footsteps.

Source:  THE FRANCISCAN BOOK OF SAINTS, edited by Marion Habig, OFM, Copyright 1959,  Franciscan Herald Press

On The Cross of Tribulation

If you suffer with Him, you shall reign with Him,
 if you weep with Him, you shall rejoice with Him;
 if you die with Him on the cross of tribulation,
 you shall possess heavenly mansions in the splendour of the saints
 and, in the Book of Life, your name shall be called glorious among humankind.
 Because of this you shall share always and forever
  the glory of the kingdom of heaven in place of earthly and passing things,
 and everlasting treasures instead of those that perish, and you shall live forever.

(St Clare second letter to Agnes)

Singing Amazing Grace

December 18, 1923 - May 18, 2011

One did not forget singing Amazing Grace with Tom at Mass.
He always cried, and when we finished singing,
I loved both God and Tom much more
"than when we've first begun."

Ouida Tomlinson, SFO

 

--
Posted By Little Scribe to Our Lady's Little Scribe at 11/28/2011 10:01:00 PM

I'm In Love With Jesus

http://www.franciscanfriars.com/

Catholicism

Cano, My Foster is Ready for Adoption

Cano, My Foster is Ready for Adoption

To those who are grieving & have hearts full of sorrow

So many of my friends are grieving the loss of a loved one, and since Tom (my husband) passed away, I have looked for something I could read which might help explain some of my feelings. I highly recommend this book, Awakening from Grief, Finding Our Way Back to Joy, by John E. Welshons.

I could not help but include the first section on page 153 from this book. I include it for all the “non-believers.” We “believers” already know about pets. Some of us are grieving for human loved ones, but there are also some of us who are grieving for the loss of our dogs or perhaps are grieving for both the human and dog loved ones.

Purchase at amazon.com.

Excerpt from Awakening from Grief, Finding Our Way Back to Joy, by John E. Welshons. Pages 153 – 155.

CONSIDER GETTING A PET

If you don't already have a pet, consider bringing one into your life and your home. Dogs, cats, and other animals can be wonderful companions. They can help you to feel needed and loved. They can give you a sense of responsibility and a connection to another living being. The care, nurturing, and love they require can help you to focus on something outside your own sadness and confusion. And the love, companionship, and protection they provide in return can be extraordinarily rewarding. Tuning to the rhythms of another species, learning their needs and habits, and seeing their instincts manifest can add a wonderful depth and new dimension to your life. They cannot replace a loved one, but they can bring a very refreshing new quality to your daily experience.

RELAX AND TAKE YOUR TIME

Don't feel that there is any rush. Our society always wants us to "feel better fast.” If you want to work with grief in a way that will be truly enlightening, that will have a lasting effect, that will integrate into your experience in a meaningful way, it will take time.

In a very real sense, grief never ends. We merely learn how to incorporate it into the totality of our beings rather than push it away. When we can embrace all of the aspects of human life - the joys and the sorrows - we no longer fear that we will drown in sadness. But we must be willing to feel it. It's part of the curriculum we're taking. The unwillingness to feel is what drowns us.

So it may take weeks, months, or years. And fifty years from now we may still cry because the human side of us misses having a loved one physically present. But we are not our bodies, and our relationships don't exist in our bodies - they exist in our hearts, in our minds, in our souls. When we become aware of that reality, we begin to loosen the grip of grief.

The cruelest thing we can do to someone in grief is to suggest that they should be “getting over it" within some predetermined time span. A mother who has lost a child never gets over it. She will, hopefully, go on with life, love more deeply, feel grateful for the time she did have with that child, and become more consciously attuned to her other children, if she has others. But she will never “get over it.” The pain is the child's legacy to the parent. Hopefully; the parent can use the pain as a lever to pry open whatever doors in the heart have been closed.

Grief is a part of human life. We don't get over it. We can, however, use it as a tool to grow, to improve our relationships, to remind us to stay present in this moment, to experience the expansiveness and radiance of our beings - who and what we really are - and the truth that grief is only a portion of who we are. We can fully and consciously confront our grief and at the same time laugh, love, rejoice, and live our lives with energy, conviction, and enthusiasm. Grief is a problem in our society only because we are so afraid of it.

PRACTICE THE BREATH THAT HEALS

One of the most healing methods of working through grief is the practice of breathing into the heart space in the center of the chest. Take some time each and every day to do the following: Close your eyes and bring your awareness to the place in your chest where your heart resides. Breathe deeply in and out of that center, imagining that you have a large opening where your sternum (the solid bone in the center of the ribcage that protects the heart) is located. Take several deep, long, slow, relaxed breaths and imagine that you can feel the air gently moving through that opening like a warm reassuring breeze.

Then gently imagine a warm, light-filled, candlelit room in the center of your chest. All of your loved ones reside within that room. Imagine each of them in the form that is most dear to your heart, the one that makes you feel the most love. Take time to visualize each one, working primarily with the ones you miss the most. See and feel their presence there. Know that they are always with you. Know that you can always talk to them, ask their advice, laugh with them. This is not living in the past - it is the recognition that our love is always alive. It is most alive in this present moment.

Ask your loved ones for their guidance. Ask them to help you overcome your loneliness. And remember, your loved ones are always with you, eternally alive in the warm, soft womb of your heart. You are not alone.

* * *

Excerpt from Pages 196 - 200

Hurricanes, the most dangerous and destructive forces in nature, have at their cores a circle, perhaps twenty to thirty miles in diameter, of calm, sunlight, and serenity. This circle is known as the "eye" of the storm, a vast, tranquil, open space around which the cyclonic storm swirls.

In the “eye" there is no wind. No rain. No clouds. No destruction. The sun shines. There is peace. It's a fascinating phenomenon. In the center of the most violent, raging, destructive force in nature, there is quiet ... calmness ... serenity.

In the months and years following a loss, we feel as though we're caught in an emotional storm. We are consumed with a sense of swirling, unpredictable danger, a profoundly unbalanced agitation, an unrelenting anxiety. But we have forgotten that we also have a calm center. In this case, the “I” of the storm.

We have forgotten that at the core of our beings is a detached, dispassionate awareness that watches it all with equanimity. It is the part of us that never changes. It is the part of us that transcends death. It is the part of us we call the "soul.”

But, like many other things our modern, technological society has ignored, our spirits - our souls - have been neglected for centuries. We hardly even know we have them. We read about them in holy books, but we don t really know them. Our popular religious traditions have left us with few methods for consciously recognizing their presence within us. But there are little glimmers throughout our lives.

In chapter 17, we made reference to those moments in the middle of a terrible argument with a loved one when we hear a little voice inside saying, "Isn't this ridiculous?!" At those times we sometimes fight against our inclination to dissolve into laughter, though we may be suddenly impelled to hug, kiss, and forgive the offender. There's a part of us watching it all from another vantage point.

At times of extreme danger, we may also notice that there is a dispassionate awareness watching our fear, watching our minds freak out, giggling with recognition that our terror is almost laughable. Virtually all the people I've ever spoken to who have experienced a sudden, unforeseen "accident" or frightening turn of events have reported that they noticed a calm awareness from which they were watching it all without fear. It's as if at moments of sudden shock or great stress our minds burn out momentarily and allow our conscious¬ness to dissolve, however briefly, into the pure, undifferentiated, peaceful awareness of our souls.

Similarly people who have had "near death" experiences talk about witnessing their consciousness rising up out of their bodies and hov¬ering overhead as they watch and listen to events unfolding in the room below-the doctors and nurses scurrying to resuscitate them, the panic, the hopelessness, the resignation, sometimes even jokes that are told in the room. And then they return and report, to the doctors' and nurses' astonishment, that they were aware of everything that was said, and everything that happened while they were “dead.”

As these events unfold, we notice that if fear does arise, it often arises after the fact. At the height of danger, our consciousness stays clear and calm. We calmly watch our cars spinning out of control on ice. Only after they stop do we dissolve into terror as our minds "re¬play" the danger we just avoided. At a moment of danger, we may see our lives flash before our eyes in a millisecond. But while it is happening our minds are calm.

We touch this state of serenity during moments of profound joy or at moments of unaccustomed tranquility, like the moments we spoke about in chapter 12 when we are sitting by a river, or the ocean, or on a mountaintop. One friend of mine feels it when he is trout fishing, standing waist-deep in the center of the stream, aware only of the water moving against his legs, the breeze, the gentle swaying of the leaves in the trees, and the singing of the birds. Another feels it in his boat, out at sea, with no land in sight, no other boats in sight, just the swelling of the waves and the interplay of wind and sail. Another feels it when she is scuba diving, entering another world - a world of vast silence and radiant, pulsating, shimmering beauty.

Throughout our lives, that inner place has always been present, but it's been ignored. So when we touch it, it comes as a surprise. We don't recognize it. We think of it as an aberration.

That state of calm, dispassionate awareness is always available to us. And, with a little practice, at any moment, it is possible for us to tune to that inner place, to recognize it, to hear its wisdom.

It is the place meditation can take us. It is the place contempla¬tive prayer aligns us with. It is the place tai chi attunes us to. Each of these methods and many others seek to familiarize us with that which lies at the core of our beings, that which is eternal, unchanging, ever present; that which, in the end, is the only thing that can truly satisfy us, sustain us, nurture us, and fulfill us. It is the place we are really seeking when we "fall in love.” And it is the place we need to connect with to integrate all of life's inevitable losses into our beings.

Our society, in its zeal to" protect" us from suffering, has actually created a kind of emotional and spiritual paralysis. And that paralysis has inhibited our ability to see and perceive things as they are, because things as they are have seemed too frightening. Things, as they are, are only frightening when we have no awareness of a "higher" power, when we have no awareness of a transcendent reality that is timeless and cannot die, and no awareness of our connection to it.

Once we begin to gain that awareness, we can look directly at our lives without fear. We can look at the reality that everything in form is impermanent. Everything changes. Everything decays and dies.

The curse of being human is that our rational minds always seek to "understand,” to make rational sense of something that is, by its nature, completely beyond the mind's ability to grasp. But we keep trying. We keep attempting to understand how God or the Universe can, at times, seem so cold, so heartless, so cruel ... how life in form can seem so chaotic.

The blessing of loss is that it offers us situations in which the pain is so devastating, the sequence of events so confusing, we are "thrown" out of our minds. The hope is that we will come to understand that our minds cannot "think" us back to peace and contentment.

We can begin to "feel" our way through, to instinctively sense the other levels of awareness and existence within ourselves. And in that instinctive feeling, we can find the part of us that transcends death. When we find it, we recognize its oneness with the part of our loved ones that transcends death. It's the same thing.

What is found in our loved ones is found in ourselves. It's our connection to our hearts. It's our connection to each other. It's our connection to our Creator.

A sailor unexpectedly caught in a hurricane knows his only hope is to find the eye of the storm, sail to it, and remain inside it, moving within the storm, at its center, until it subsides. It may take days - ¬even weeks - of vigilant effort. But within the "eye,” while the raging storm swirls all around him, both he and his craft will be safe.

Like the "eye" of the hurricane, the “I” within each of us, within the often chaotic storm of human life, sits quietly and serenely at our core. And, confronted with the terrible devastation of loss, what choice have we but to sail into our “I”? To find our own soul? To connect with the highest and deepest spiritual awareness we possess?

We need only find ways to approach our "I,” to recognize it, and to learn how to connect with it. To "reside" in it at will. It is the transition from thinking to intuition. It is the journey from the mind to the heart. It is the unveiling of our soul. It is the rebirth that death and loss offer us.

May we all recognize the silver lining in each dark cloud ... the “I” of the storm.

(End of quotations from the book.)

* * *

In the Eye of the Storm

In the eye of the storm
where it’s safe and warm
I will fly to you
I'll find you
in the eye of the storm. . . .

My heart may be broken
My life may be stolen
but you can't take my Jesus from me.

In the eye of the storm
where it's safe and warm
I will fly to you
I'll find you
in the eye of the storm. . . .

You are my hiding place
You are my Savior
You are all that I need. . . .

(“Eye of the Storm,” Kitty Cleveland, from her album, “Be Not Afraid”)

Find more artists like Kitty Cleveland at Myspace Music

Eye of the Storm

Find more artists like Kitty Cleveland at Myspace Music

EWTN Journey Home - Flannery O'Connor & Walker Percy

There was a great program on EWTN Journey Home this last week. Click here for the link to the video. Dr. Benjamin Alexander, a former Episcopalian, is the guest. I enjoyed his take on things (which are similar to mine – he just says it better) as he journeyed into the Church. He is an English professor, teaching at Franciscan University, and most of the discussion here is about Flannery O’Connor and her writings as well as Walker Percy.

This topic of Flannery O'Connor brings to me the memory of my husband Tom and me going to a weekly discussion group at Trinity Episcopal Church in New Orleans on Flannery O’Connor. This was before our conversion to the Catholic faith. I was out of town one week, and Tom went by himself. This was back when he was in early stages of sleep apnea. They had an important guest speaker that night. He sat in very comfortable chair and commenced to fall asleep and to snore very loudly. He said he woke up with all these people standing around him and hollering at him. I was mortified and very embarrassed when we went back the next week.

My favorite story about O’Connor concerns her famouse defense of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist made during a dinner conversation with other writers and friends in the late 1940s or early 1950s. O'Connor reported the incident later to her friend Elizabeth Hester, in a letter dated December 16, 1955.

This is what O’Connor said:

“I was once, five or six years ago, taken by some friends to have dinner with Mary McCarthy and her husband, Mr. Broadwater. . . . She departed the Church at the age of 15 and is a Big Intellectual. We went at eight and at one, I hadn't opened my mouth once, there being nothing for me in such company to say. The people who took me were Robert Lowell and his now wife, Elizabeth Hardwick. Having me there was like having a dog present who had been trained to say a few words but overcome with inadequacy had forgotten them. Well, toward morning the conversation turned on the Eucharist, which I, being the Catholic, was obviously supposed to defend. Mrs. Broadwater said when she was a child and received the Host, she thought of it as the Holy Ghost, He being the "most portable" person of the Trinity; now she thought of it as a symbol and implied that it was a pretty good one. I then said, in a very shaky voice, 'Well, if it's a symbol, to hell with it.' That was all the defense I was capable of but I realize now that this is all I will ever be able to say about it, outside of a story, except that it is the center of existence for me; all the rest of life is expendable."

Prayer of St.Gertrude the Great

Prayer of St.Gertrude the Great

Our Lord dictated the following prayer to St. Gertrude the Great to release 1,000 Souls from Purgatory each time it is said.

"Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen."

Pastoral Care of Couples Who are Cohabitating

(The following is an excellent teaching on this subject by Most Rev. Michael J. Sheehan, Archbishop of Santa Fe)

April 3, 2011

Pastoral Care of Couples Who are Cohabitating

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We are all painfully aware that there are many Catholics today who are living in cohabitation. The Church must make it clear to the faithful that these unions are not in accord with the Gospel, and to help Catholics who find themselves in these situations to do whatever they must do to make their lives pleasing to God.

First of all, we ourselves must be firmly rooted in the Gospel teaching that, when it comes to sexual union, there are only two lifestyles acceptable to Jesus Christ for His disciples: a single life of chastity, or the union of man and woman in the Sacrament of Matrimony. There is no “third way” possible for a Christian. The Bible and the Church teaches that marriage is between one man and one woman and opposes same sex unions.

We have three groups of people who are living contrary to the Gospel teaching on marriage: those who cohabit; those who have a merely civil union with no previous marriage; and those who have a civil union who were married before. These people are objectively living in a state of mortal sin and may not receive Holy Communion. They are in great spiritual danger. At the best - and this is, sadly, often the case - they are ignorant of God’s plan for man and woman. At the worst, they are contemptuous of God’s commandments and His sacraments.

Of these three groups, the first two have no real excuse. They should marry in the Church or separate. Often their plea is that they “cannot afford a church wedding” i.e. the external trappings, or that “what difference does a piece of paper make?” - as if a sacramental covenant is nothing more than a piece of paper! Such statements show religious ignorance, or a lack of faith and awareness of the evil of sin.

The third group, those who were married before and married again outside the Church, can seek a marriage annulment and have their marriage blest in the Church. Please remember that divorce still is no reason to refrain from Holy Communion as long as they have not entered into another marriage or sinful relationship. Many Catholics are confused on this point.

Christ our Lord loves all these people and wishes to save them - not by ignoring their sin, or calling evil good, but by repentance and helping them to change their lives in accordance with His teaching. We, as His Church, must do the same. In accord with this, I would remind you of the following:

1. People in the above three situations cannot receive the Sacraments, with the important exception of those who agree to live chastely (“as brother and sister”) until their situation is regularized. Of course, those in danger of death are presumed to be repentant.

2. These people may not be commissioned as Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, not only because of scandal, but even more because one commits the sin of sacrilege by administering a Sacrament in the state of mortal sin.

3. Nor are such people to be admitted to the role of sponsor for Baptism or Confirmation, as is clearly stated on the Archdiocesan Affidavit for a Sponsor. It is critical for the sponsor to be a practicing Catholic - and can anyone be seriously called a practicing Catholic who is not able to receive the sacraments because they are living in sin?

4. When it comes to other parish ministries and organizations, I feel it best to leave these situations to the judgment of the pastor. Prudence is needed, avoiding all occasions of scandal. We must see their involvement in the parish as an opportunity to work urgently to bring such people to repentance and the regularization of their lifestyle.

5. Many of these sins are committed out of ignorance. I ask that our pastors preach on the gravity of sin and its evil consequences, the 6th and 9th Commandments of God, and the sacramental nature and meaning of Christian marriage. Our catechetical programs in our parishes - children, youth, and adult – must clearly and repeatedly teach these truths.

A Church wedding does not require some lavish spectacle and entertainment costing vast sums of money (Indeed, how often we have seen the most costly weddings end in divorce in but a few months or years!). While beauty and joy should surround a Christian wedding, we must remind everyone that it is a sacrament, not a show.

6. Those who are married outside the Church because of a previous union are urged to seek an annulment through our Marriage Tribunal. If it can be found that the first marriage lacked some essential quality for a valid marriage, the Tribunal can grant an annulment. Your pastor can help someone start a marriage case for this purpose. It is important for such couples to continue to pray and get to Mass even though they may not receive Communion, until their marriage can be blest in the Church.

Our popular American culture is often in conflict with the teachings of Jesus and His Church. I urge especially young people to not cohabitate which is sinful, but to marry in the Church and prepare well for it.

I congratulate and thank those thousands of Catholic married couples who role model the Sacrament of Marriage according to the teachings of Jesus and his Church.

Sincerely yours in the Risen Lord,

Most Rev. Michael J. Sheehan
Archbishop of Santa Fe

Source: Archdiocese of Santa Fe

GEORGE WEIGEL: Catholic social thought and the 2012 election

GEORGE WEIGEL: Catholic social thought and the 2012 election

The Easter Praise of Christ

From an Easter homily by Melito of Sardis, bishop
The Easter praise of Christ

We should understand, beloved, that the paschal mystery is at once old and new, transitory and eternal, corruptible and incorruptible, mortal and immortal. In terms of the Law it is old, in terms of the Word it is new. In its figure it is passing, in its grace it is eternal. It is corruptible in the sacrifice of the lamb, incorruptible in the eternal life of the Lord. It is mortal in his burial in the earth, immortal in his resurrection from the dead.

The Law indeed is old, but the Word is new. The type is transitory, but grace is eternal. The lamb was corruptible, but the Lord is incorruptible. He was slain as a lamb; he rose again as God. He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, yet he was not a sheep. He was silent as a lamb, yet he was not a lamb. The type has passed away; the reality has come. The lamb gives place to God, the sheep gives place to a man, and the man is Christ, who fills the whole of creation. The sacrifice of the lamb, the celebration of the Passover, and the prescriptions of the Law have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Under the old Law, and still more under the new dispensation, everything pointed toward him.

Both the Law and the Word came forth from Zion and Jerusalem, but now the Law has given place to the Word, the old to the new. The commandment has become grace, the type a reality. The lamb has become a Son, the sheep a man, and man, God.

The Lord, though he was God, became man. He suffered for the sake of those who suffer, he was bound for those in bonds, condemned for the guilty, buried for those who lie in the grave; but he rose from the dead, and cried aloud: Who will contend with me? Let him confront me. I have freed the condemned, brought the dead back to life, raised men from their graves. Who has anything to say against me? I, he said, am the Christ; I have destroyed death, triumphed over the enemy, trampled hell underfoot, bound the strong one, and taken men up to the heights of heaven: I am the Christ.

Come, then, all you nations of men, receive forgiveness for the sins that defile you. I am your forgiveness. I am the Passover that brings salvation. I am the lamb who was immolated for you. I am your ransom, your life, your resurrection, your light, I am your salvation and your king. I will bring you to the heights of heaven. With my own right hand I will raise you up, and I will show you the eternal Father.

Source: Liturgy of the Hours, Office of Reading, Monday in the Octave of Easter.
This writing comes from a Resurrection homily from one of the greatest 2nd century Church Fathers, Saint Melito of Sardis. Though Melito's writings were extremely popular, this wonderful Paschal homily was lost until the 20th century.

Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God's throne!
Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor,
radiant in the brightness of your King!
Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!
Darkness vanishes for ever!

Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory!
The risen Savior shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy,
echoing the mighty song of all God's people!

(from Easter Vigil Mass)