We Must Proclaim the Gospel with the Courage of Martyrs, Says Holy Father

Rome, Apr 8, 2008 / 10:46 am (CNA).- Yesterday afternoon, the Holy Father presided over the Mass for the 40th anniversary of the foundation of the Sant'Egidio Community, a lay apostolate founded in Rome. In his homily to the group, Benedict XVI encouraged them to have the courage and perseverance of martyrs while proclaiming the Gospel.

The Pope began his address by asking why martyrs give their lives for Christ, "In this place we ask ourselves why did these our martyr brothers and sisters not seek at all costs to save the irreplaceable benefit of life? Why did they continue to serve the Church despite threats and intimidation?"

He continued, pointing out that we have heard the testimony of martyrs from the beginning of the Church who “have offered their lives to Christ in martyrdom" and "washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

This quote from the Book of Revelation explains their reason for martyrdom. The Holy Father describes that the language used “contains a precise reference to the white flame of love which made Christ spill His blood for us. By virtue of that blood we have been purified. Sustained by that flame the martyrs also spilt their blood and were purified in love.”

Benedict XVI then called to mind a phrase Jesus used while on earth: "No-one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends," and he added: “All witnesses of the faith experience this 'greater love'", conforming themselves to Christ and "accepting the extreme sacrifice without placing limits on the gift of love and the service of faith.”

Though “violence, totalitarianism, persecution and mindless brutality appear to be stronger and to silence the voice of witnesses of faith,” through Christ, “we understand the meaning of martyrdom. ... The blood of martyrs is the seed of new Christians. In the defeat and humiliation of those who suffer because of the Gospel is a power which the world does not know. ... It is the power of love, unarmed and victorious.”

The Holy Father reminded the community that martyrdom is not a thing of the past: "This 21st century also began under the sign of martyrdom. When Christians truly are leaven, light and salt of the earth they too become, as Jesus did, objects of persecution" and "signs of contradiction. Fraternal coexistence, love, faith, and choices in favor of the smallest and the weakest ... sometimes provoke violent aversion. How useful it is, then, to look to the shining witness of those who have gone before under the sign of heroic faithfulness, even unto martyrdom."

At the end of his homily, Benedict XVI invited the members of the Sant'Egidio Community to imitate "the courage and perseverance" of martyrs "in serving the Gospel, especially among the poor. Be architects of peace and reconciliation between enemies and those who fight one another.”

The Pope encouraged the community "not to fear the difficulties and suffering this missionary activity brings, they are part of the 'logic' of courageous witness of Christian love."

• We Must Proclaim the Gospel with the Courage of Martyrs, Says Holy Father

Christ Has Not Abandoned the Faithful, Says Pope

Encourages an Encounter With the Risen Christ

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 6, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Even though the trials of life can make one feel abandoned by the Lord, an encounter with the Risen Christ can help recover the hope of faith.

The Pope said this today in a commentary on the Gospel account of the meeting of Jesus with two disciples on the road to Emmaus, which he gave before praying the Regina Caeli with several thousand people gathered in St. Peter's Square.

"The story is told of two disciples of Christ who, on the day after the Sabbath, that is, the third day after Jesus’ death, sad and dejected, leave Jerusalem and set out for nearby village called, precisely, Emmaus," began the Pontiff.

He continued: "Along the road, the risen Jesus comes and walks beside them but they do not recognize him. Seeing that they were disheartened, he explained, on the basis of the Scriptures, that the Messiah had to suffer and die to enter into his glory.

"Having entered into the house with them, he sat down at table with them, blessed the bread and broke it, and at that point they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight, leaving them full of wonder before the broken bread, new sign of his presence.

"And immediately the two returned to Jerusalem and told the other disciples what happened."

The Holy Father said that although the location of this event has never been identified with certainty, "in reality Emmaus represents every place: The road that leads there is the journey of every Christian, indeed, of every man. Along our roads the risen Jesus is our companion on the journey, to reignite in our hearts the warmth of faith and hope and the breaking of the bread of eternal life."

Benedict XVI said the experience of the disciples is similar to the experience of many believers today. He explained that in the conversation with the unknown traveler, the two disciples said: “We were hoping.”

"This past tense verb says everything," said the Pope. "We believed, we followed, we hoped, but now it is all over. Even Jesus of Nazareth, who had shown himself to be a powerful prophet in deeds and words, failed, and we are disappointed.

"This drama of the disciples of Emmaus is as a mirror of the situation of many Christians of our time. It seems that the hope of faith has failed.

"Faith itself enters into crisis because of negative experiences that make us feel like we are abandoned by the Lord. But this road to Emmaus on which we travel can become a way of purification and maturation of our believing in God."

The Holy Father continued: "Even today we can enter into conversation with Jesus listening to his word. Even today he breaks the bread for us and gives himself as our bread.

"And in this way the encounter with the risen Christ, which is possible even today, gives us a deeper and more authentic faith, tempered, so to speak, by the fire of the Easter event; a robust faith because it is nourished not by human ideas, but by the word of God and by his presence in the Eucharist."

Benedict XVI added that the Gospel account of the disciples on the road to Emmaus "contains the structure of the Mass: In the first part the hearing of the word through the sacred Scriptures; in the second the Eucharistic liturgy and communion with Christ present in the sacrament of his Body and his Blood."

"Nourished at this twofold table," he said, "the Church is unceasingly built up and renews itself day by day in faith, in hope and in charity."

• Christ Has Not Abandoned the Faithful, Says Pope

Amish Paradise

Priests Don’t Need Bishop’s Permission for Traditional Mass, Says Cardinal

By Ed West

Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos has reaffirmed that priests do not need their bishop's permission to use the extraordinary form of the Mass.

The cardinal, president of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, which coordinates care for estranged traditionalist groups, also said that because of the Pope's actions on the Latin Mass, "not a few have asked to return to full communion, and some already have returned".

In an interview in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, 78-year-old Cardinal Castrillon said that the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum grants any priest the right to celebrate the extraordinary form of the Mass, and that the faithful have the right to this form "when the conditions specified in the Motu Proprio exist". Pope Benedict's Motu Proprio of July last year liberalised the use of the Tridentine Mass, stating that priests who wished to celebrate the extraordinary form did not need their bishop's permission. In his letter the Pope said that the Mass from the Roman Missal in use since 1970 remains the ordinary form of the Mass, while celebration of the Tridentine Mass is the extraordinary form.

Some British bishops have asserted their right to be consulted about traditional Masses in their diocese. In November Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor issued a letter to the clergy of the diocese of Westminster, stating that priests still needed permission from their bishops.

The Colombian cardinal also said that the Motu Proprio was having positive results already. He said that the Oasis of Jesus the Priest monastery of 30 cloistered nuns in Spain "has already been recognised and regularised" by his office and "there are cases of American, German and French groups" which have begun the process.

The cardinal insisted that the only traditionalists excommunicated were the four bishops of the Society St Pius X ordained by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1988 without Vatican permission, including the controversial Richard Williamson.

The priests who have followed those bishops, he said, "are only suspended", and so the Masses they celebrate "are without a doubt valid, but not licit". The religious who have followed the schismatic bishops need to have their congregations or monasteries recognised by the Vatican, he said.

In addition, "there are individual priests and many lay people who contact us, write to us and call us for a reconciliation and, on the other side, there are many other faithful who demonstrate their gratitude to the Pope" for his July letter authorising widespread use of the liturgy according to the 1962 Roman Missal.

Cardinal Castrillon said that wider use of the pre-Second Vatican Council Mass "is not a matter of returning to the past, but is a matter of progress" because it gives Catholics the richness of two liturgical forms instead of one. He also said that he celebrated the ordinary form every day.

Asked whether he was worried that bringing back into the Church "men and women who do not recognise the Second Vatican Council" would alienate some of the faithful who see the Council's teaching as a compass for the Church, Cardinal Castrillon said he did not think the problem "is as serious as it could seem". The Eucharistic celebration is a sign and source of the unity of the Church, he said, and Pope Benedict's decision to keep alive the older form of the Mass is an effort to preserve a rich tradition while promoting unity.

John Medlin of the Latin Mass Society welcomed the comments. "When apparent change comes along the first reaction of many people is to be wary. It's ironic that those on the more liberal wing of the Church are now digging in their heels, when the Holy Father has asked them to widen their boundaries."

• Priests Don’t Need Bishop’s Permission for Traditional Mass, Says Cardinal
• Catholic Herald: Priests Don't Need Bishop's Permission for TLM

Pat Benatar - Shadows of the Night

Pat Benatar - We Belong

Pat Benatar - Invincible

Charlton Heston Dead at 84

LOS ANGELES - Charlton Heston, who won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing "Ben-Hur" and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the '50s and '60s, has died. He was 84.

The actor died Saturday night at his home in Beverly Hills with his wife Lydia at his side, family spokesman Bill Powers said.

Powers declined to comment on the cause of death or provide further details.

Heston revealed in 2002 that he had symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease, saying, "I must reconcile courage and surrender in equal measure."

With his large, muscular build, well-boned face and sonorous voice, Heston proved the ideal star during the period when Hollywood was filling movie screens with panoramas depicting the religious and historical past. "I have a face that belongs in another century," he often remarked.

The actor assumed the role of leader offscreen as well. He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild and chairman of the American Film Institute and marched in the civil rights movement of the 1950s. With age, he grew more conservative and campaigned for conservative candidates.

In June 1998, Heston was elected president of the National Rifle Association, for which he had posed for ads holding a rifle. He delivered a jab at then-President Clinton, saying, "America doesn't trust you with our 21-year-old daughters, and we sure, Lord, don't trust you with our guns."

Heston stepped down as NRA president in April 2003, telling members his five years in office were "quite a ride. ... I loved every minute of it."

Later that year, Heston was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. "The largeness of character that comes across the screen has also been seen throughout his life," President Bush said at the time.

He engaged in a lengthy feud with liberal Ed Asner during the latter's tenure as president of the Screen Actors Guild. His latter-day activism almost overshadowed his achievements as an actor, which were considerable.

Heston lent his strong presence to some of the most acclaimed and successful films of the midcentury. "Ben-Hur" won 11 Academy Awards, tying it for the record with the more recent "Titanic" (1997) and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003). Heston's other hits include: "The Ten Commandments," "El Cid," "55 Days at Peking," "Planet of the Apes" and "Earthquake."

He liked the cite the number of historical figures he had portrayed:

Andrew Jackson ("The President's Lady," "The Buccaneer"), Moses ("The Ten Commandments"), title role of "El Cid," John the Baptist ("The Greatest Story Ever Told"), Michelangelo ("The Agony and the Ecstasy"), General Gordon ("Khartoum"), Marc Antony ("Julius Caesar," "Antony and Cleopatra"), Cardinal Richelieu ("The Three Musketeers"), Henry VIII ("The Prince and the Pauper").

Heston made his movie debut in the 1940s in two independent films by a college classmate, David Bradley, who later became a noted film archivist. He had the title role in "Peer Gynt" in 1942 and was Marc Antony in Bradley's 1949 version of "Julius Caesar," for which Heston was paid $50 a week.

Film producer Hal B. Wallis ("Casablanca") spotted Heston in a 1950 television production of "Wuthering Heights" and offered him a contract. When his wife reminded him that they had decided to pursue theater and television, he replied, "Well, maybe just for one film to see what it's like."

Heston earned star billing from his first Hollywood movie, "Dark City," a 1950 film noir. Cecil B. DeMille next cast him as the circus manager in the all-star "The Greatest Show On Earth," named by the Motion Picture Academy as the best picture of 1952.

• Charlton Heston Dead at 84

Missa Cantata at Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen, UK.

Wow! Look what Mac made (very beautiful):

• Patience Rewarded

Go-Gos - Vacation

Divorce, Abortion an Offence to God, Pope Says

(AFP) Divorce and abortion are offences in the sight of God, Pope Benedict XVI charged Saturday, while calling on the Catholic Church to be merciful to those who had experienced such events.

"The ethical judgement of the Church on divorce and abortion is clear and well-known," he told participants in a Catholic congress on marriage and the family.

"They are serious offences... which violate human dignity, inflict deep injustice on human and social relations and offend God himself, guarantor of conjugal peace and origin of life," he said.

However he added that there were people who had committed such "errors" but "suffered from wounds to the soul" and "sought peace."

"The Church has the duty to be close to these people with love and delicacy," the pope added.

"Divorce and abortion are choices... which sometimes develop in difficult and dramatic circumstances... and are a source of profound suffering for those who take such decisions.

"They also affect innocent victims, the barely-conceived and unborn infant, the children caught up in divorces."

• Divorce, Abortion an Offence to God, Pope Says

Squirrel Nut Zippers - Hell

The Forum: Previews of the Papal trip: the Pope's Message to America

by Phil Lawler
special to CWNews.com

Apr. 4, 2008 (CWNews.com) - With a papal visit less than two weeks away, American readers can anticipate a spate of "analysis" stories, assessing the health of US Catholicism and predicting the content of the Pope's message to America. Be forewarned: most of this coverage will be grossly inaccurate.

Writing for National Review Online, George Weigel cites a tendentious Washington Post piece as the early favorite for what he calls the Father Richard McBrien Prize in Really Inept Vaticanology. Weigel makes a strong case; the Post piece is definitely a contender. But there will be others, equally wrongheaded, before Pope Benedict's visit is finished. The Boston Globe has not yet weighed in with its editorial opinion, and Father McBrien himself can never be counted out. This competition will be fierce.

The most popular theme for simplistic journalists is the contrast between the blithe spirit of American cafeteria Catholics and the inflexible dogma of the Roman Pontiff. (If you see the term "Panzerkardinal" in what purports to be a news story, you're probably reading another entry in Weigel's competition.) It's easy to see the papal visit as a confrontation: the Vatican enforcer coming to town to bring order to American chaos.

Against that background, it is refreshing to notice that at least some journalists are ready to portray the Pope's visit in very different terms. Writing for Time magazine, David Van Biema and Jeff Israely explain that Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) is not hostile to the American way of life, but actually quite sympathetic. Their preview story, in fact, is entitled "The American Pope."

The Time reports note that "Benedict has a soft spot for Americans and finds considerable value in his US church." More than that, they continue: "It's not a stretch to say the Pope sees in the US--or in some kind of idealized version of it--a civic model and even an inspiration to his native Europe..."

It's an interesting, provocative, and thoughtful piece. Not perfect by any means-- is one more reference to "God's Rottweiler" really necessary?-- but the Time essayists understand the significance of a Pontiff who can understands Tocqueville's enthusiasm for the American experiment.

From Italy, meanwhile, the noted Vaticanologist Sandro Magister agrees, in an analysis on his Chiesa site, that Pope Benedict sees America as potentially "a model for Catholic Europe."

America, Magister notes, "is at the vanguard of modernity, and at the same time is the most religious nation in the world." Pope Benedict is fascinated by a society that takes faith seriously, a society whose political leaders invoke religious visions without apology.

But beyond that, the Italian commentator says, the Pope appreciates the central importance of America's foundation "on the self-evident truth that the Creator has endowed each human being with certain inalienable rights." When he speaks at the UN on April 18, Magister confidently predicts, the Pope "will offer the world a primer on peace founded upon natural law, on the inviolable rights engraved in the conscience of each person." America, a nation firmly founded on the basis of natural law, "is a model to be imitated by all," he writes.

Yet the traditional American reliance in natural law, so abundantly clear in the Declaration of Independence, is no longer taken for granted in US public discourse. Indeed it was Senator Ted Kennedy-- arguably the most visible Catholic presence in American political life-- who expressed shock at the notion that a Supreme Court justice could believe in that concept.

So in speaking about natural law, Pope Benedict may be recalling Americans to their own best traditions. As the Time writers put it in the closing words of their preview: "In rummaging through our founding precepts for a path for his own purposes, he might find something important for us to remember too."

• The Forum: Previews of the Papal trip: the Pope's Message to America

Son Advertises For a Drinking Partner For His 88-year-old Father at £7 an Hour

From Mulier Fortis via Digital Hairshirt via The Daily Mail:

"When his father couldn't find anyone to enjoy a pint with, Jack Hammond's son decided to buy one for him.

A friend, that is, not a pint.

He has put a notice in the local post office advertising for someone to accompany his elderly father to the pub twice a week.

The successful applicant will get £7 an hour plus expenses and the promise of excellent conversation with 88-year-old Mr Hammond, a retired engineer."

• Bar Buddy Wanted...

Obama Mania: Is This 2008 ... or 1984?

By Gar Joseph

Philadelphia Daily News - U.S. SEN. Barack Obama's critics have called his presidential campaign a cult of personality.

His glassy-eyed supporters are enraptured. The media are docile. Hollywood stars make music videos about him.

"There is something just a wee bit creepy about the mass messianism," Joe Klein of Time magazine has observed.

But we ask you, does the campaign poster on this page remind you of a totalitarian cult?

Wait, don't answer that.

The Soviet-style heroic Obama, the use of a single word "Hope," do make the SEPTA bus shelter posters a bit reminiscent of George Orwell's "1984."

• Obama Mania: Is This 2008 ... or 1984?
  

Pope Thanks Papal Foundation For Helping Alleviate Suffering

Vatican City, Apr 4, 2008 / 10:51 am (CNA).- Every year, members of the U.S.-based Papal Foundation embark on a trip to Rome to meet with the Holy Father and present him with a donation. This morning, Benedict XVI received 150 members of the foundation in an audience and thanked them for their support.

The Pope expressed his gratitude to this institution, headed by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, for the "generous support the Papal Foundation offers through aid projects and scholarships which assist me in carrying out my Apostolic Ministry to the universal Church".

The aid that the foundation provides to the poor led the Pope to think of the story of the disciples at Emmaus and to emphasize that their encounter with the Risen Lord "turned their sorrow into joy, their disappointment into hope". "Their testimony of faith instills in us the firm conviction that Christ lives in our midst, bestowing the gifts that empower us to be messengers of hope in the world today".

"The very source of the Church's service of love, as she strives to alleviate the suffering of the poor and weak, can be found in her unwavering faith that the Lord has definitively conquered sin and death; and that in serving her brothers and sisters, she serves the Lord himself until he comes again in glory," the Pope added.

During the course of the audience, the members of the foundation presented the Holy Father with a check that comes from the interest generated with investments made by the foundation. The foundation members also gave Pope Benedict the first edition of the "Saint John's Bible", the hand-written and illuminated Bible commissioned by St. John's Benedictine Abbey in Minnesota (USA) from the artist Donald Jackson.

The Papal Foundation, which was created in 1990 to provide the Holy See with a stable source of income, has delivered over 41 million dollars to the Pope, which he uses to help those in need around the world.

• Pope Thanks Papal Foundation For Helping Alleviate Suffering

"May You Live in Interesting Times"

"Fr. B and I are on the same schedule as far as being assigned. This past Tuesday he opined, “You know, we are beginning the “last” of everything at our parishes. This will be our last summer; we have one last Christmas, Easter, and one last Holy Week at our current assignments. This time next year things are going to be interesting.”

And not just interesting because we may be moving. We stand in a period of time in the Church when change is coming to a head. It is as if we are crossing from one boat to another. For fifty years we have been straddling two boats and are preparing to finely stand on the boat to which we have been crossing. Although the Church in some fashion or another is always in a state of change, there is something significant coming to maturity now that will make the next ten years or so very interesting..."

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Vote

St. Monica's Kneeler: Best Underappreciated Catholic Blog

Swissmiss wrote: "I just checked my stats (5:30pm on Thursday) and I have a steller showing at 15 votes. Holy cats, Batman! I didn't know that many people even read my blog! Considering that, aside from my husband and about two other people, no friends and family know I blog, I can't rally any troops to vote for me, so I'm SHOCKED that I have 15 votes. Thank you to whomever has voted for me!

If you haven't voted, head to the Crescat and check out the nominees."

• A Catch-22?

Benedict XVI Inaugurates 1st Mercy Congress

Secularized World Seen as Needing This Devotion

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 2, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI inaugurated the 1st World Apostolic Congress on Mercy today on the third anniversary of Pope John Paul II's death.

The German Pope addressed the participants of the congress during his homily at a Mass celebrated for John Paul II today in St. Peter's Square. He recalled that the Polish Pontiff had considered the mercy of God as a privileged key for interpreting his pontificate.

John Paul II "wanted the message of the merciful love of God to reach all men and women and he exhorted the faithful to be its witnesses," Benedict XVI affirmed.

The first session of the mercy congress was held in the Basilica of St. John Lateran and included contributions from Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, archbishop of Vienna and promoter of the congress, and Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope's vicar for Rome.

Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop of Krakow and longtime secretary of John Paul II, also spoke.

The program of the mercy congress includes conferences and prayer, but also evangelization activities, for example, a mission to the streets of Rome that will be characterized by Eucharistic adoration in certain churches and priests available for the sacrament of confession.

New evangelization

One of the Spanish prelates participating in the congress, Bishop José Ignacio Munilla of Palencia told ZENIT that the congress, "faced with a secularization of man who does not understand his own existence [...] proclaims again: Open wide the gates of your hearts to Christ, because the greatest fruit that he brings us is the gift of his love, the gift of his mercy."

The bishop called John Paul II the "great father of this devotion to divine mercy," which spread with St. Faustina Kowlaska. "[John Paul II] wants to transmit to us that right now we need this devotion to divine mercy to bring forward what he called 'the new evangelization.'"

Bishop Munilla said this consists in "transmitting to the world with new ardor, with new methods, a fully current message, that is, that God loves us, that God is in love with man and looks for us with determination, and doesn't stop until he finds us, until he personally encounters us."

"We realize," he affirmed, "that divine mercy is the instrument to take this evangelization to all peoples."

Bishop Munilla said John Paul II's devotion to divine mercy was rooted in the great suffering of the 20th century: "[This devotion] has been providential for many peoples who have felt in a very particular way the claw of evil in their flesh."

Now, he continued, that Europe is free of dictatorial regimes, "continues being in need of mercy."

"Western secularization," the Spanish prelate affirmed, "right now needs meaning, light [...] and this devotion to divine mercy transmits a great message: Life has meaning because there is a heart that loves us in a total and unconditional way, the heart of Christ."

• Benedict XVI Inaugurates 1st Mercy Congress
  

Germs in Soil Find Antibiotics Tasty

By LAURAN NEERGAARD
AP Medical Writer

WASHINGTON -- Antibiotics for breakfast? The drugs are supposed to kill bacteria, not feed them. Yet Harvard researchers have discovered hundreds of germs in soil that literally gobble up antibiotics, able to thrive with the potent drugs as their sole source of nutrition.

These bacteria outwit antibiotics in a disturbingly novel way, and now the race is on to figure out just how they do it - in case more dangerous germs that sicken people could develop the same ability...

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Male U.S. Rock Fans Likely to Vote Republican: Survey

By Sue Zeidler

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - If you are male and a Led Zeppelin fan, chances are you may be leaning toward voting Republican in the U.S. presidential election, according to a survey of rock radio fans released on Wednesday.

The Jacobs Media's Media/Technology Web Poll IV of more than 27,000 respondents cited stronger than expected interest in the November 2008 election among fans of rock, classic rock, and alternative radio stations.

It also found that John McCain, the Republican candidate for U.S. president, was the top pick for the Oval Office for men and classic rock partisans -- those people who tune in to stations playing music from the "original classic rock era" of 1964 to 1975, comprised of bands like Led Zeppelin, The Who and Pink Floyd...

There were also a fair share of write-in votes. Mickey Mouse ranked as the top presidential choice of 11 respondents, and singer Ted Nugent was written in by three members of the Rock sample.

• Male U.S. Rock Fans Likely to Vote Republican: Survey

Faithful Offered Chance to Have Pope Pray for Their Intentions

Washington DC, Apr 2, 2008 / 04:54 pm (CNA).- With less than two weeks left to go before Pope Benedict arrives in the United States, the rector of the National Shrine, Msgr. Walter Rossi, is offering people the opportunity to participate in evening prayer with the Pope by sending him their prayer intentions.

During his visit to Washington D.C., Pope Benedict XVI will tour the Great Upper Church and celebrate a private Evening Prayer with the United States’ bishops on Wednesday, April 16, at 5:30 p.m. (EST).

The event is closed to the public, but Msgr. Rossi is offering people the chance to have their prayer intentions to be remembered at the Solemn Vespers by the Holy Father.

Anyone who wishes to have their prayer intentions included at the celebration of Vespers, can do so by emailing them to webdevelopment@bnsic.org no later than Friday, April 11, 2008.

As the visit of the Pope approaches, Msgr. Rossi asked that the faithful keep the priests and staff of the Shrine in their prayers as they finish their preparations for the Pontiff’s arrival.

The website for the National Shrine can be found at http://www.nationalshrine.com

• Faithful Offered Chance to Have Pope Pray for Their Intentions

I'm Starting to Think That...

virtually all memes originate from somewhere within Nigeria.

The first meme that I ever saw, however, was very cool:

There are things called memes

Pope, Vatican Recall Death of John Paul II

Vatican, Apr. 2, 2008 (CWNews.com) - More than 60,000 people attended a morning Mass in St. Peter's Square on April 2 marking the 3rd anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II (bio - news).

Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) recalled that his predecessor's "many human and supernatural qualities" commanded the world's attention, particularly at the time of his death. "He literally immersed himself in God, and during those last moments it seems as if everything else was foreign to him," he said.

The final suffering of Pope John Paul during Easter week provided the watching world with "a sign and testimony of Christ's resurrection," Pope Benedict said. He explained that the Polish Pontiff's final hope in the Resurrection "could not be expressed without his participation in the suffering and death of the divine Master and Redeemer."

Pope Benedict went on to say that throughout his pontificate, Pope John Paul II lived out the advice that he had given to the Catholic world on the day of his election in 1978: "Be not afraid." He observed that John Paul II said those words, and acted on them, "with unbending firmness-- at at first while carrying his bishop's staff with its cross and later, when his physical strength was waning, almost while supporting himself on it, until that final Good Friday in which he participated in the Way of the Cross from his private chapel, holding the cross in his arms." The Pope's final suffering, he said, "revealed to believers, and to the whole world, the secrete of an entire Christian life."

In his teaching, Pope Benedict continued, John Paul II responded to the horrors of the 20th century with a confidence that Divine Mercy could overcome every form of evil. He said that the Church today must carry on the witness of hope that John Paul II had offered, "continue in her evangelizing mission, faithfully and without compromise, tirelessly spreading Christ's merciful love."

The Pope ended his homily by thanking God "for having given the Church this faithful and courageous servant," and asking John Paul II "to continue to intercede from heaven" for the welfare of the Church and especially for his successor.

The Vatican commemoration of the late Pontiff continued in the evening with Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, the former personal secretary to John Paul II, joining with Cardinal Angelo Comastri, the archpriest of the Vatican basilica, in leading the recitation of the Rosary at the tomb of John Paul II. The Rosary was scheduled to conclude at 9:37, the time when the Pope died.

• Pope, Vatican Recall Death of John Paul II
  

"That Translation is Most Illogical, Captain"

WDTPRS