Author: Capital Catholic Happenings

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Living in the Now

A few days ago, I was out with a couple of friends.  We shared a pizza and the usual, “what’s happening in our lives.”  We found ourselves talking about the freedom that is found when we begin to practice living the presence of God – the kind of living that begs us to let go of the past and to hand over everything we fear about the future.  The kind of living that calls out to us and asks us to live in this very moment.  Ironically, or perhaps beautifully, it’s the kind of living that heals our past wounds and gives us the grace to overcome the fears we face.

When we practice living in the present moment something miraculous happens.  We begin to open ourselves to receiving the gift of Jesus Himself – fully present, active and alive in our hearts.  It’s easy in this world, especially as a young adult to become overwhelmed by what the future holds.  We are continuously faced with questions like:  Is this the right career for me?  Is God EVER going to send me a husband or wife?  Am I doing enough to care for and protect my family?  Will these wounds from my past ruin my current relationship?  Am I living God’s will for me?  These questions often burden and sometimes even paralyze us.  The questions in themselves are not bad – for God gave us the Holy Spirit to help us discern His will and dream (and dream big I might add).  However, sometimes the questions block our minds and hearts from hearing the answers we are seeking.  The good news – Jesus is fully present within us and waits for us with great joy and patience.  He invites us to live with Him in the now, to be present with Him at this very moment and receive gifts beyond imagination.  Sometimes He leaves us with answers we might not want, but we must trust in the fact that He always wants the best for us. Today let us ask for the grace to mindfully live with Jesus. Maybe we’ll be surprised at what He reveals to us!

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Welcome Pilgrims: November 17

Today, Pope Benedict XVI greeted pilgrims at the weekly audience. What a grand way to begin the Consistory pilgrimage! Read more about the audience. Following the audience, pilgrims left  St. Peter’s to travel to the Church of St. Peter in Chains. Here we remember that Peter was imprisoned in Jerusalem and the chains at the base of the altar are said to be the chains that imprisoned him. While at the church, the pilgrims will also see Michelangelo’s famous statue of Moses with “horns.” These horns were popular among artists in Medieval time as a symbol of holiness because in Hebrew, the word for “beams of light” and “horns” is similar. The exterior horns are a sign of the interior radiance of the Lord.

Read: Luke 19:11-18

Reflect: Fr. Justin Huber was the celebrant of the Pilgrmage Mass and asked pilgrims to conside what our checkbooks and our calendars say about the outward expression of our interior lives.

“…the Lord uses this parable to speak to us about the perennial truths of the spiritual life.  It is interesting to note that money is the tool that is able to store and transport material or worldly value. It acts as a neutral intermediary between good ands services, which can be converted into nearly anything. But, one could ask: could a carrier of material value be converted into something of spiritual value? Is there something that stands at this interface between the material and the spiritual?

 It has been said that if you want to know what a person truly values in life, then look at their calendar and their checkbook.  Time and money are the two resources that we use to acquire the things that we value.  In our Gospel today, Christ is inviting each of us to invest what we value most.  Beyond just time and money, he is asked each of us to offer over to him our entire life; this includes our gifts and our talents and all that we are.  For, it is none other than Christ who stands at the interface between the material and the spiritual.  Union with God is both the origin and the final goal of humanity and it is Christ who leads us back to the father.  It is in Christ’s will, in the offering of our lives over to his will, that we find the opportunities that will lead to our own growth and that of the Kingdom of God.  Anything less is not merely standing still, but it is moving backward.

 On Wednesday, October 20th, shortly before announcing the Consistory, which will create 24 new cardinals, Pope Benedict XVI remembered the life of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. She offered over her life, the life of a noblewoman, to the service of the poor.  As providence would have it, we celebrate her feast today, 779 years after this humble woman’s death.

 Saint Peter also offered over his life. The humble fisherman, who became the Prince of the Apostles, placed his entire life, the good and the bad, in Christ’s hands and it was transformed. The chains beneath this altar, which are said to have bound him as he lie in prison in Jerusalem, were miraculously unfastened by an Angel, as accounted in the Acts of the Apostles.  Today, we still venerate them as a sign of the transformative power of God.  The place of his burial has now been transformed into the largest Basilica on Earth and has become a place of spiritual pilgrimage, a place were we will go to pray on Saturday morning as Cardinal-designate  Wuerl will receive the red biretta and become Donald Cardinal Wuerl.

 Indeed, even Rome stands as a visible witness to the transformative power of God.  The art and architecture, which has transformed the city, dot the paths of the saints, who were transformed by God and who themselves transformed the Church.  As we follow these paths on our pilgrim journey, we offer our lives anew to the Lord, who alone has the power to bring extraordinary growth from the ordinary offering of our daily lives.”

Respond

Take a look at your checkbook and calendar for the past month…what is it saying?

Follow our photo diary

 The Pilgrimage Facebook page is also here:

 http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/adw.org

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Competing for the Faith

 On this glorious fall day, runners and walkers from all over the archdiocese are winding their way across the National Mall, through the streets of D.C. ,over the bridge and into Virginia as they compete in the Marine Corps Marathon and Marine Corps 10 K race.

ON A MISSION

Not only did they make the commitment more than six months ago to train for one of the two races, the 10K folks promised to raise $250.00 each and the marathoners $450.00 each to support vocations work in the archdiocese. Runners hosted benefit nights at Five Guys Burgers, bake sales at their places of work and parishes, and practiced the age-old monastic art of begging family, friends, co-workers and neighbors. More importantly, they committed some of their time to pray for vocations. They have prayed for our men at every stage of formation for priesthood. They have prayed for men considering priesthood to be open to God’s calling and to make the commitment to explore the possibility. I know when I trained for the 10 k last year, when the running got tough, I prayed a rosary–on-the–run for vocations and for many other intentions!

IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO PARTICIPATE

This year, I am on cheering duty, I will be out on the mall to give encouragement and offer a few prayers for our competitors. We can’t be more proud and more grateful for their support. Whether they have the race of their lives or a really tough run, they have succeeded in helping our Vocation Office continue to expand its work–so as St. Paul’s exhorts, “they have competed well for the faith!”  And you too can participate! Please take some time today to pray for our racers, to pray for vocations and to pray for our priests who serve our archdiocese so well.

THANKS TO  ALL OF OUR RUNNERS AND WALKERS

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Cardinal-designate Wuerl

In case you have not heard the news, I share with you the press release announcing the elevation of Archbishop Wuerl to the College of Cardinals.

 Pope Benedict XVI today named Washington’s Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl, 69, to the College of Cardinals.  As a Cardinal, Cardinal-designate Wuerl will serve as an advisor to the Pope and will be eligible to vote in a Papal election until his 80th birthday. A consistory to formally elevate the new Cardinals will be held at the Vatican on November 20. A Mass with the Pope will be held the following day.

Cardinal-designate Wuerl said, “This truly is an honor for the Archdiocese of Washington, the Church in the nation’s capital, and for all of the clergy, religious and parishioners of this local Church who every day live out their faith in commitment and deep love for Christ. I am humbled by our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI’s trust in me as shepherd of this flock and pledge to him my renewed fidelity, affection and loyalty.”

Cardinal-designate Wuerl will celebrate Mass today, October 20, 2010, 8:00 a.m. at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, 1725 Rhode Island Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. He will be available to speak with the media immediately following Mass.

 This evening, he will deliver the keynote address for the Center for Faith and Culture at the University of Saint Thomas in Houston, Texas at 7:30 p.m. The topic is Religious Faith’s Role in Building a Good and Just Society. (You can see this via live-stream at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/archbishopwuerl).

 Cardinal-designate Wuerl is the fifth Archbishop of Washington since the archdiocese was founded in 1939 to have received this honor. The others were Cardinals Patrick A. O’Boyle, William W. Baum, James A. Hickey and Theodore E. McCarrick.

            Cardinal-designate Wuerl became the leader of the Archdiocese of Washington on June 22, 2006 after 18 years as the Bishop of Pittsburgh. A leader in community, ecumenical and interfaith activities, he regularly works with civic and business leaders on educational and community-service initiatives. He is the author of several books and numerous articles on the Catholic faith and has headed numerous committees at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, including Education, Evangelization and Catechesis. He currently is the chair of the Committee on Doctrine and recently was named by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as the Vatican’s delegate for Anglican parishes in the United States who are seeking unification with the Roman Catholic Church.

            In April 2008, he hosted Pope Benedict XVI during the Holy Father’s visit to Washington, DC. In September 2010, he released a pastoral letter calling upon Catholics to renew their faith as part of a New Evangelization. Disciples of the Lord: Sharing the Vision is online at www.adw.org. Earlier this week, he announced the Archdiocese will open a new seminary in fall 2011 due to an increase in the number of seminarians in college and pre-theology studies.

            Wuerl is chancellor of The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, chairman of the board of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and past chairman of the National Catholic Educational Association and the National Catholic Bioethics Center. A native of Pittsburgh, he received graduate degrees from The Catholic University of America, Gregorian University in Rome, Italy and the University of St. Thomas in Rome, where he received a doctorate in theology in 1974. Ordained to the priesthood in 1966, he was ordained a bishop by Pope John Paul II in 1986 and will celebrate his 25th anniversary as a bishop in January 2011.

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People of the Word

Today, the church celebrates the feast of St. Luke, one of the four evangelists and author of the Gospel of Luke and Acts. There is this stereotype that Catholics do not know Scripture. It is true that many Catholics are not in the habit of praying with Scripture or involved in Scripture study groups. The false part of the stereotype is that Catholics do not emphasize Scripture.

Catholics are people of the Word. Catholics believe that Sculpture is at the heart of God’s revelation. In our celebration of the Eucharist, we proclaim that Jesus is present in the Word, in the Eucharist, in the person of the priest and in the community.  Scripture is a living word!

Scripture and the New Evanglization

As part of the New Evangelization, we want all Catholics to grow in their relationship with our Lord, to love the Lord more deeply and more fully. Like any relationship rooted in love, the better we know a person, the more we love a person and the more we love a person, the better we come to know that person.

Lectio Divina

To celebrate today’s feast, I am offering an adapted version of Lectio Divina. Lectio Divina is the ancient practice of praying with Scripture, traced back to Saint Benedict and the founding of Western monasticism. What I love about Lectio is that is really helps one discover in Scripture words, images and insights that can be overlooked because the stories have become so familiar to us or because at this moment, this word or this image has real meaning for the place in which we find ourselves. While Lectio Divina invites us to take up Scripture in a quiet contemplative exercise, for many of us, those moments are hard to find in the course of our day. I would hate for us to think we can’t do it because we do not have 20 or 30 minutes of quiet for prayer.

In one of my diaconate classes, a deacon candidate shared a very creative approach to Lectio on the run. He is a bus driver for the Montgomery County School System. He starts his day at daily Mass and listens to the Gospel. He listens for the word or image that seems to shout out to him or really captures his attention and then at each stop his bus makes he recalls that image or word and thinks a little more about it. So, his Lectio  unfolds in the course of his day.  However it makes sense in your life, do practice this ancient and yet ever new form of Catholic prayer.

Modified Lectio Divina

Read the passage through twice; slowly and deliberately, with a pause between the first reading and the second reading. What word or phrase catches your attention or is meaningful to you?

Reflect  for  1-2 minutes in silence on the reading. Identify the word or phrase that has settled in your mind.

Reflect  for  2-3 minutes on the meaning of the word or passage in your life today.

Request  a grace from the Lord that relates to your reflection. Ask the Lord to help you recognize the fruit of your reflection in action. 

Read  the passage a third time. Sit silently for 1-2 minutes.

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The Rosary-a tool for evangelization

The Rosary and other religious symbols worn as jewelry  or tattoos are getting a lot of attention these days. In a recent blog post in the Washington Post, the author opined that this  is part of a growing movement of separating the spiritual from the religious. Religious jewelry “caters to people who are expressing their personal spirituality rather than an affiliation with organized religion.”

Putting my jewelry to work

I am someone who owns a rosary bracelet, that though it can easily be mistaken for a silver beaded bracelet, is for me, my traveling rosary, always within easy reach if the opportunity to steal a few minutes of prayer presents itself.

For a recent talk that I was giving, I re-read Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter, The Most Holy Rosary. I had forgotten how beautiful it is. I recommend you celebrate today’s feast of the rosary by reading it!  The Pope speaks about how in the rosary we learn Christ through Mary. We don’t just learn about Christ, we learn Christ.  “The Rosary is also a path of proclamation and increasing knowledge, in which the mystery of Christ is presented again and again at different levels of the Christian experience. Its form is that of a prayerful and contemplative presentation, capable of forming Christians according to the heart of Christ. When the recitation of the Rosary combines all the elements needed for an effective meditation, especially in its communal celebration in parishes and shrines, it can present a significant catechetical opportunity …. In this way too Our Lady of the Rosary continues her work of proclaiming Christ.

This Saturday, October 10 at 2:30 p.m., the archdiocese hosts its annual pilgrimage to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. We make a pilgrimage to “Mary’s House” to ask her intercession on our behalf for a particular intention that is on the heart and in the mind of the church at this time.

Mother of the Church and Mother of Families

As part of our commitment to the New Evangelization, we will ask Mary, Mother of the Church to pray with us that our work will bear fruit in our parishes. As Mother of Families, we ask her to join with us in our pray for the people we love most who are inactive in the practice of their faith or alienated from the church. We will ask Mary, to intercede with her son, Jesus, to give us courage to speak about our faith and to be bold in inviting family, friends, co-workers and neighbors to take a second look at the church– to come home– and join their church family.

The right first step

Do you have someone in mind whom you would love to invite to join you at church or with whom you would like to have a serious conversation about their faith or their participation in the life of the church? Are you wondering how to begin a conversation? Do you need a little more courage to be bold? Why not make the commitment to join us for the rosary and for Mass? Make this your first step –to pray on behalf of the person– and to entrust the person to Mary’s care.

A tool for the Evangelizer

 Pope John Paul II writes “The history of the Rosary shows how this prayer was used in particular by the Dominicans at a difficult time for the Church due to the spread of heresy. Today we are facing new challenges. Why should we not once more have recourse to the Rosary, with the same faith as those who have gone before us? The Rosary retains all its power and continues to be a valuable pastoral resource for every good evangelizer.”

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Angels as Evangelizers

Today, we celebrate the feast of the Guardian Angels. It would be hard to improve on Msgr. Pope’s excellent blog last week. So, rather than do that, I’d like to propose that we can learn something about evangelization from the angels. After all, one of the primary missions of angels is to announce good news. Dr. Jem Sullivan in a recent talk at the John Paul II Cultural Center, suggested that angels show us how our lives can radiate the message and truth of the Gospel.

Pope Benedict also pointed to the enduring presence of angels in his address to public officials at Westminster Hall when he pointed to the painting on the ceiling of the hall and said “The angels looking down on us from the magnificent ceiling of this ancient hall remind us of the long tradition from which British Parliamentary democracy has evolved. They remind us that God is constantly watching over us to guide and protect us. And they summon us to acknowledge the vital contribution that religious belief has made and can continue to make to the life of the nation.”

It seems fitting today to thank God for the gift of our guardian angel and to thank our guardian angel for staying so close to God and to us.