Vivificat!

Don Bosco and the Gray Dog

2009-07-20T12:00:00.000-04:00

Folks, as long as we are on the subject of dogs, I believe you will find this story from St. John Bosco’s life very endearing:

Although Don Bosco had no lack of resourcefulness, he often received much-needed help from an unexpected source.

Don Bosco entitled the last chapter of his Memoirs "A Mysterious Dog: Grigio." There he relates how a strange gray dog protected him from time to time. The dog came to be known as Grigio, from the Italian word for ‘gray.’ All sorts of attempts have been made to account for this animal, which always seemed to be present whenever Don Bosco needed protection but was subsequently nowhere to be found.

Those who saw it described it as a German shepherd standing about three feet high with a ferocious appearance. The first time Don Bosco’s mother set eyes on it, she cried out in alarm.

In those days the Valdocco was more isolated than it is now, and it was necessary to traverse a wide stretch of rough waste ground dotted with trees and bushes to reach the seminary. Since he had been physically attacked many times, Don Bosco was obliged to go out accompanied. One evening, however, he was returning home alone, and as he was making his way across this open area he began to feel afraid. Suddenly, a large dog bounded to his side, terrifying him even more.

"Yet its attitude was not threatening," Don Bosco writes. "It was rather like a dog that had recognized its master. We quickly became friends, and it accompanied me as far as the Oratory. That was not the only time that I encountered it. On different occasions it kept me company, sometimes providentially.

"Towards the end of November, 1854, on a sleety night I was returning from the town. In order not to be alone I took the road leading from the Consolata down to the Cottolengo Institute. At one point I noticed that two men were walking a short distance in front of me, matching their pace with mine. I crossed over to the other side to avoid them but they did the same. I then tried to turn back but it was too late. They suddenly wheeled around and were on me in two steps. Without a word they threw some kind of coat over me. I struggled in vain to break loose. One of them then tried to gag me with a scarf. I wanted to shout but I hadn’t the strength.

"At that moment Grigio appeared, growling like a bear; he hurled himself at the first man with his paws at his throat while snarling at the other. They had to let go of me to deal with the dog.

" ‘Call off your dog!’ they shouted, almost paralyzed with fear.

" ‘I’m going to,’ I replied, ‘but next time leave strangers alone.’

" ‘Call him off quickly!’ they shouted.

"Grigio went on barking. The two thugs took off as fast as they could, and Grigio accompanied me to the Cottolengo where I stopped to recover for a moment. Then I returned to the seminary, this time well protected. Every evening when I went out alone I always noticed Grigio on one side of the road."

One evening, Grigio flatly refused to allow Don Bosco to leave the house by lying across the doorway and growling whenever he tried to pass. "If you won’t listen to me, listen to the dog; it has more sense than you," remarked his mother. A quarter of an hour later a neighbor ran in to say that he had heard of a plot to assault Don Bosco that night.

When attempts to harm him ceased, the dog disappeared and was not seen again, save once. In 1883, Don Bosco arrived late one night to the station at Bordighera accompanied by one of his priests. Finding no one to show him the way, he wandered through the dark, stormy night trying to find the Salesian house. Suddenly, he was welcomed by a bark, as Grigio appeared and led him to the house.

"All sorts of stories have been told about this dog," remarks Don Bosco, "but I never discovered who its master was. I only know that throughout the many dangers I encountered, this animal protected me providentially."

In fact, Don Bosco never tried to discover whose dog it was. "What does it matter? What counts is that it was my friend."

- Source: CatholicFounders.org

- Dog image courtesy of Dog Breeds Explained.com

Saint Rochus – Patron Saint of Dogs and Dog Owners

2009-07-20T00:00:00.000-04:00

Folks, I share with you this as a curiosity, but also apropos of my best (animal) friend’s departure:

Born: 1295

Died: 1327

Canonized:

Feast Day: August 16

Patron Saint of: dog lovers, dogs, knee problems, invalids, pestilence

Also known as Rock, Rocco, Rollox, Roque and Rochus.

Saint Roch was born the son of a wealthy French nobleman. As a child and a young man, he had many advantages and privileges. Yet, as he grew, he saw the needs of the homeless, the poor, and the sick.

At age 20, he gave his fortune to the poor and renounced his nobility. Saint Roch then went on a pilgrimage to Rome where he spent his time caring for victims of a plague, curing and healing by the sign of the cross. The sign of the cross had personal meaning since a birthmark on his chest was in the form of a cross.

While ministering to the needs of the sick, Saint Roch became infected himself. It was his nature not to burden others and he stayed in a hovel. While he lay dying, a dog from a nearby villa found Saint Roch and brought a fresh roll from his master's house each day. The dog's owner noticed this strange behavior and his curiosity led him to Rochus. Touched by the sick man and his condition, the dog's owner befriended him and Saint Roch recovered.

Back in France there was a civil war. Saint Roch left for home and the dog went with him. The turbulence of war led him to be accused to spying. Saint Roch refused to identify himself as royalty and was thrown in prison along with his dog. He spent time praying and helping fellow prisoners until he died five years later. At his death a document in his possession and the distinctive birthmark revealed his true identity.

After his death, numerous miracles, especially those related to the plague and infectious diseases, were attributed to Saint Roch. He was canonized 100 years after his death. Since then, intercessions on his behalf have helped paupers, princes, priests, and popes.

- Hat tip to Prayer for Our Pets Blog and SCBorromeo.org.

- Visit also the St. Roch’s page at Saints Preserved.

The “Courage” Apostolate

2009-07-18T16:37:00.001-04:00

Folks, in view of present trends and as an expansion of the previous post, I think it is pertinent to share with you a bit of information about the Courage Apostolate:

Persons with homosexual desires have always been with us; however, until recent times, there has been little, if any, formal outreach from the Church in the way of support groups or information for such persons.   Most were left to work out their path on their own. As a result, they found themselves listening to and accepting the secular society's perspective and opting to act on their same-sex desires.

His Eminence, the late Terence Cardinal Cooke of New York, was aware of, and troubled by this situation.   He knew that the individual dealing with same-sex attractions truly needed to experience the freedom of interior chastity and in that freedom find the steps necessary to living a fully Christian life in communion with God and others. He was concerned that many would not find this path and would be constantly trying to get their needs met in ways that ultimately do not satisfy the desires of the heart.

In response to this concern, he decided to form a spiritual support system which would assist men and women with same-sex attractions in living chaste lives in fellowship, truth and love.

Knowing of Fr. John Harvey's extensive ministry experience in this field, he invited him to come to his Archdiocese.

With the help of the Rev. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R., and others, Fr. Harvey began the Courage Apostolate with its first meeting meeting in September, 1980 at the Shrine of Mother Seton in South Ferry.

With the endorsement of the Holy See, Courage now has more than 110 Chapters and contact people world-wide, over 1500 persons participating in its ListServs, and hundreds of persons per week receiving assistance from the main office and website. It has become a mainstream Catholic Apostolate helping thousands of men and women find peace through fellowship, prayer, and the Sacraments.

The Courage Central Office operates through the prayerful and financial support of the Archdiocese of New York as well as contributions and volunteer work from Courage members and other individuals and organizations committed to advancing its efforts.

Individual chapters throughout the world are self-supporting and exist with the permission of their diocesan Bishop.

In helping individuals gain a greater understanding and appreciation of the Church's teachings, especially in the area of chastity, Courage extends the Church's invitation to a life of peace and grace. In chaste living, one finds the peace and grace to grow in Christian maturity.

The following five goals of Courage were created by the members themselves, when Courage was founded.   The goals are read at the start of each meeting and each member is called to practice them in daily life.

Live chaste lives in accordance with the Roman Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality.   (Chastity)

Dedicate ones life to Christ through service to others, spiritual reading, prayer, meditation, individual spiritual direction, frequent attendance at Mass, and the frequent reception of the sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist.   (Prayer and Dedication)

Foster a spirit of fellowship in which all may share thoughts and experiences, and so ensure that no one will have to face the problems of homosexuality alone.   (Fellowship)

Be mindful of the truth that chaste friendships are not only possible but necessary in a chaste Christian life and in doing so provide encouragement to one another in forming and sustaining them. (Support)

Live lives that may serve as good examples to others. (Good Example/Role Model)

- Click here to access a worldwide list of Courage chapters.

- Contact Courage’s Main Office here.

N.T. Wright’s View of Recent US Episcopal Church’s Body’s Endorsement of Gay Lifestyle

2009-07-18T10:46:00.001-04:00

Folks, this according to the Catholic News Agency:

London, England, Jul 17, 2009 / 02:48 am (CNA).- Prominent biblical scholar and Anglican Bishop N.T. Wright has said the Episcopal Church’s recent decision to allow homosexuals to be ordained as bishops will mark a “clear break” with the Anglican Communion and formalizes a “schism.” He also insisted that chastity is not “optional” for Christians.

On Tuesday the General Convention of the Episcopal Church (TEC) voted by wide margins to pass a resolution allowing homosexuals to enter “any ordained ministry” in the church.

Responding to the news was Anglican Bishop of Durham Nicholas Thomas Wright, a scholar of the New Testament who has authored both scholarly works on the historicity of the Resurrection and popular works for the lay reader.

Comparing international Anglicanism to a “slow-moving train crash,” he wrote in a Wednesday column for The Times that the Episcopal Church’s vote marks “a clear break” with the rest of the Anglican Communion.

Saying the Episcopal bishops “knew exactly what they were doing,” he characterized the move as a rejection of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s and other Anglicans’ moratorium on consecrating practicing homosexuals as bishops.

“They were formalizing the schism they initiated six years ago when they consecrated as bishop a divorced man in an active same-sex relationship, against the [Anglican] Primates’ unanimous statement that this would ‘tear the fabric of the Communion at its deepest level.’”

V. Gene Robinson was installed as Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire in 2004.

Using the words of the 2004 Anglican Windsor Report on Anglican controversies, he said the Episcopal Church has chosen to “walk apart.”

He then described TEC’s claims that they are willing to remain in the Anglican Communion as “cynical double-think.”

He noted that the controversy began even before the consecration of Bishop Robinson, naming a church court’s 1996 acquittal of a bishop who had ordained active homosexuals as a key moment.

“Many in TEC have long embraced a theology in which chastity, as universally understood by the wider Christian tradition, has been optional,” Bishop Wright wrote in The Times.

“Jewish, Christian and Muslim teachers have always insisted that lifelong man-plus-woman marriage is the proper context for sexual intercourse,” he explained. “This is not (as is frequently suggested) an arbitrary rule, dualistic in overtone and killjoy in intention. It is a deep structural reflection of the belief in a creator God who has entered into covenant both with his creation and with his people (who carry forward his purposes for that creation).”

Saying that ancient and modern paganism has always found this “ridiculous and incredible,” he said the biblical witness is consistent and “the uniform teaching of the whole Bible, of Jesus himself, and of the entire Christian tradition.”

TEC supporters’ appeal to justice, he said, is misguided. “Nobody has a right to be ordained: it is always a gift of sheer and unmerited grace.” Further, justice means not “treating people the same way” but “treating people appropriately” and making distinctions.

“Justice has never meant ‘the right to give active expression to any and every sexual desire’,” he added.
Noting that everyone has “deep-rooted inclinations and desires,” he said Christians should love what God has commended and desired, rather than ask God to command what they already love and desire.

Turning to divisions within TEC, he said that while breakaway traditionalist Episcopalians’ motives can be sympathetic, Anglicans should not forget the Episcopalian bishops who voted against the resolution and worshippers who share their beliefs.

TEC is now “distancing itself” from the fellowship of the Anglican Communion, Bishop Wright warned.

“Ways must be found for all in America who want to be loyal to it, and to scripture, tradition and Jesus, to have that loyalty recognized and affirmed at the highest level.”

Commentary. Folks, I’ve already said it in Spanish, but I think it worthwhile to repeat it in English. I haven’t seen any previous event since I started tracking developments in world Anglicanism and in the American Episcopal Church (TEC) that would have a worse impact on this movement that this recent decision by the TEC’s lay body to endorse the homosexual lifestyle in that body. The decision holds in contempt 2,000 years of Christian history and moral reflection, replacing it with a pagan construct dressed in Christian loincloths. This expression of contempt illustrates once again what happens when a church is allowed to be dominated by theological technocrats lacking any sense of communion not only with the past, but with everyone else in the present. The rift that this will create in the world Anglican communion and in TEC in the USA will not be healed any time soon.

To the words of the eminent bishop N.T. Wright I can only add this: TEC has been long along the way of becoming an irrelevant, marginal sect. TEC has lost over 50% of its faithful since 1966 precisely because if a Christian denomination embraces the ethos of the world with such enthusiasm, why be Christian in the first place? This decision, when formalized by TEC’s House of Bishops, will accelerate TEC’s descent into total irrelevance.

Of Hysterics and Hummingbirds

2009-07-17T09:55:00.002-04:00

Father Nicolas Schwizer

The world of the emotions is a world of interwovenness of the whole personality. According to Father Kentenich, the heart is the harmony between the sensitive appetite (feelings, passions, instincts) and the spiritual appetite (will)…..between the “animal” and the “angel” in us. It sets the personal equilibrium (balance). The objective of the emotions is love, surrendering to the other, the generous surrender to the human or divine “you.”

For a long time, our emotional life did not receive the place which belonged to it. It was believed that what was decisive was only the will and the intellect. It is true that these, according to the objective order, are superior and are called to enlighten and definitely rule our actions, but it is a great error to believe that they can do it without the integration of the emotional life. The fruits of that error have been and are the rationalist person and the self-willed person who deny or sacrifice the emotions.

Without the harmony of the heart and the emotions, the will can do very little. Neither is the intellect able to “objectively” know the truth. We can conclude that human conduct is largely defined and determined by the area of the emotions, by the heart.

Now, what does emotional immaturity consist of? Father Kentenich often gives various answers to this question. He mentions hysteria and the lack of firm attachments in addition to infantilism. Let us clarify somewhat two of these forms.

1. Hysteria. It is a level of immaturity, far more serious, more delicate. The hysterical person gravitates around the “I” which is possessed by the “I.” The hysterical person is so submerged in the search for self that it loses rationality. The person cannot be understood, is not crazy, but is a rare person, a neurotic.

There is something very typical of the hysterical person, and that is that it seeks attention, it always wants to be at the center by any means. To achieve this, it often invents “illnesses.”

Our “hysterics” are generally not serious. There may be hysterical persons among us who are hysterical about cleanliness… or about studying… or about order… or about punctuality… or about gaining weight… or about not growing old.

There is a type of sickly perfectionism behind it: we want things to be most perfect. Perfection is often the enemy of what is good.

2. Lack of firm attachments. This is another chapter of emotional immaturity. It is hard for the person of today to love, hard to attach himself / herself to others in a healthy way. So then, we have two extremes.

2.1 Unstable love. A person who does not have deep attachments is like a butterfly in his/her relationships: incapable of taking a stance…..incapable of penetrating…..incapable of establishing or becoming fixed (Hummingbird)… incapable of being faithful. This person tries a little bit of everything and allows itself to be guided by sensations; therefore, it is unstable in its emotions.

Fidelity is what is hard for the person of today…..committing forever…..surrendering for life. Nevertheless, the great human values are for life: love, family, marriage, religion, priesthood, sanctity. Especially love, be it between a man and a woman or between the soul and its God…..it is strong like death and until death. If it is not this way, it is not love. There are people who change it like changing one’s dress: throws away the used one and buys a new one. True love is everlasting and strong.

2.2 The other extreme is possessive love. It is like a climbing vine which does not let the “you” grow. It is not an attachment for freedom, for fullness. Instead it is an egotistical attachment, a love which suffocates. It can be a mother or a father or a possessive friend. It seems that these persons only want to receive, they have a terrible hunger for receiving. It is like a bottomless barrel. It is horrible for the children of possessive parents: they suffer with that problem throughout their entire lives.

In summary, emotional immaturity is placing the egotistical “I” on the first level and “you” on the second level. That all may adore “me” and that I may dominate the others!

Questions for reflection

1. Where is my emotional immaturity?
2. Am I a possessive person?
3. Would I be able to name one of my “hysterias?

False Positives for Trojan Virus at Vivificat

2009-07-17T08:54:00.003-04:00

Folks, I've received two reports from two different readers in a 3-month period regarding a Trojan horse detection in Vivificat. The first one, of course, threw me into damage-control mode. But after analyzing all aspects of my operation with Norton 360 and Norton Safe Web, I've found that this is a false positive given out by some overly-sensitive antivirus software. For what I've been able to determine, these software packages "believe" that my hit counter is a virus. Do not fear, it isn't.

The Norton Safe Web threat analysis results for Vivificat are online and may be accessed here.

No worries; be safe and happy surfing.

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

2009-07-16T17:00:00.002-04:00

Folks, better late than never. Today we remember Our Lady under the title of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. The feast is of particular importance to me because of the impact that Carmelite spirituality has had on me, and because I too have been vested with the Brown Scapular. The following information comes courtesy of EWTN:

This feast was instituted by the Carmelites between 1376 and 1386 under the title "Commemoratio B. Marif Virg. duplex" to celebrate the victory of their order over its enemies on obtaining the approbation of its name and constitution from Honorius III on 30 Jan., 1226 (see Colvenerius, "Kal. Mar.", 30 Jan. "Summa Aurea", III, 737). The feast was assigned to 16 July, because on that date in 1251, according to Carmelite traditions, the scapular was given by the Blessed Virgin to St. Simon Stock; it was first approved by Sixtus V in 1587. After Cardinal Bellarmine had examined the Carmelite traditions in 1609, it was declared the patronal feast of the order, and is now celebrated in the Carmelite calendar as a major double of the first class with a vigil and a privileged octave (like the octave of Epiphany, admitting only a double of the first class) under the title "Commemoratio solemnis B.V.M. de Monte Carmelo". By a privilege given by Clement X in 1672, some Carmelite monasteries keep the feast on the Sunday after 16 July, or on some other Sunday in July. In the seventeenth century the feast was adopted by several dioceses in the south of Italy, although its celebration, outside of Carmelite churches, was prohibited in 1628 by a decree contra abusus. On 21 Nov., 1674, however, it was first granted by Clement X to Spain and its colonies, in 1675 to Austria, in 1679 to Portugal and its colonies, and in 1725 to the Papal States of the Church, on 24 Sept., 1726, it was extended to the entire Latin Church by Benedict XIII. The lessons contain the legend of the scapular; the promise of the Sabbatine privilege was inserted into the lessons by Paul V about 1614. The Greeks of southern Italy and the Catholic Chaldeans have adopted this feast of the "Vestment of the Blessed Virgin Mary". The object of the feast is the special predilection of Mary for those who profess themselves her servants by wearing her scapular.

EWTN Document Library

Catholic Encyclopedia - Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
An article from the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913).

Fr. Christian P. Ceroke - The Scapular Devotion
The origen and history of the scapular and the Sabbatine Privilege by Fr. Christian P. Ceroke, O.Carm. Taken from 'Mariology,' by Fr. Juniper B. Carol, O.F.M.

NA - Rite of Blessing and Enrollment with the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
This is for anyone NOT previously enrolled with the Brown Scapular. Once a person has been enrolled, they are enrolled FOR LIFE. Whenever their scapular needs to be replaced, they NEVER need to be enrolled again NOR must their new scapular be blessed. It is blessed by the fact it is worn by the person already enrolled in the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Novena of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Feast Day: July 16th. Novena: July 7-15. O Beautiful Flower of Carmel, most fruitful vine, splendor of heaven, holy and singular, who brought forth the Son of God, still ever remaining a pure virgin, assist us in our necessity! O Star of the Sea, help and protect us! Show us that you are our Mother!

Catholic Encyclopedia - Carmelite Order
An article on the Carmelite Order from the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913).

Carmelites - Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm
This file provides the history, apostolate, spiritual life, formation, entrance requirements of this religious community.

Fr. William Most - The Brown Scapular
The background of the brown scapular is presented by Fr. William Most.

John of the Cross - Ascent of Mt. Carmel
This work deals mainly with the active purification of the soul by the 'night of the senses.' Published by ICS Publications, 2131 Lincoln Rd. NE, Washington, DC 20002.

Paul de la Croix - Carmelite Spirituality
Paul de la Croix's 1959 essay. From 'Some Schools of Catholic Spirituality', published by Desclee and edited by Jean Gautier.

Pope John Paul II - Message to the Carmelite Family
For the 750th anniversary of the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the Holy Father sent a Message to the Prior Generals of the two Carmelite Orders (ancient and reformed) in which he spoke of the important role of devotion to Mary in Carmelite spirituality.

Father Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D. - Brown Scapular: a Silent Devotion
For the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 16 July 2008, ZENIT presented an article written by Discalced Carmelite Father Kieran Kavanaugh, on the devotion of the brown Carmelite scapular. Father Kavanaugh is the English translator of the writings of both St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. He is a member of the Institute of Carmelite Studies and was the vice postulator for the canonization of St. Edith Stein.

Pending Health Reform Bill to Increase Number of Abortions Nationwide

2009-07-16T16:18:00.005-04:00

Folks, today I wrote a letter to my Congressman, John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, about the increase in the number of abortions that will result if the health care bill currently under consideration were to become law:

Dear Congressman Murtha:

On July 13 in a Senate committee hearing, Sen. Barbara Mikulski admitted under persistent questioning by Sen. Orrin Hatch that the new health-care bill includes abortion coverage. Planned Parenthood's Guttmacher Institute estimates government funding of abortion increases abortion by 20 to 35 percent.

Let's do some math: There were 1,206,200 abortions in 2006, according to National Right Life (the last annual results available). If the health-care package currently being pushed by Obama is passed, the result will be 240,000 to 420,000 more abortions in the first year alone.

Yet, when he talked to Pope Benedict XVI last July 10, President Obama explicitly stated his commitment to "reducing the numbers of abortions and to listen to the church's concern on moral issues."

There's something rotten here, Mr. Murtha. If you must vote in favor of this massive government intrusion into health care - a separate issue on which I also have HUGE reservations - please, ensure that the bill DOES NOT fund abortions.

Sir, you once told me you were prolife and against FOCA and I believed you. We're calling this bill as it stands "the silent FOCA." Please, do whatever you must to ensure that my tax dollars don't go to finance the deaths of millions of innocent human beings.

- For more information, go to InsideCatholic.com

- Click here to e-mail your opposition to abortion funding to Congressman Murtha if you live in his district, or find and write to your representative here, or here to contact your senator.

The unforgiving arithmetic of pandemic

2009-07-15T17:00:00.000-04:00

Author: Dr. Brian Kopp Source: L'Osservatore Romano

"The world situation, as the news in recent months amply demonstrates, continues to present serious problems and the "scandal' of glaring inequalities which have endured despite past efforts". These were the words of Pope Benedict XVI during the General Audience Catechesis outlining the fundamental messages of his recently released Encyclical Letter, Caritas in Veritate (see p. 11).

When viewing the current world situation from a Catholic perspective, the pursuit of social justice within all sectors is essential, as the Holy Father clearly expresses in his social Encyclical. This constitutes the task of securing both the physical and spiritual well-being of every human being.

For this to happen the support of the governmental, medical and philanthropic communities of first world nations is urgently needed. Thus a broader vision concerning the challenges facing the world's less developed areas is crucial. This view was also expressed at the recent G8 Summit.

In the spirit of this same kind of solidarity, Brian J. Kopp, DPM, spoke with David Fedson, MD, on 3 July about the current H1N1 swine flu pandemic and the prospects for equitable treatment alternatives in developing countries. Indeed, a testament to the importance of this particular issue was President Obama's participation from Italy via telephone link in the Influenza Preparedness Summit held at the National Institutes of Health on 9 July.

Dr. Fedson is a retired American physician living in France. He has long worked on the epidemiology of influenza and influenza vaccination, first as a Professor of Medicine at the University of Virginia and later as Director of Medical Affairs for Aventis Pasteur MSD. He has served on several American and World Health Organization (WHO) committees on influenza immunization, and was instrumental in establishing the Influenza Vaccine Supply (IVS) International Task Force and the Macroepidemiology of Influenza Vaccination (MIV) Study Group. He clearly knows the influenza vaccine industry from the inside. He also knows that the arithmetic for a pandemic is simple: you can only treat the victims of a pandemic if effective vaccines and medications are widely available. For 90% of the world's population, this won't be the case.

With the current swine H1N1 pandemic influenza virus, as with the H5N1 avian flu and 1918 pandemic viruses, deaths have been prominent among the 15- to 45-year old adults. These deaths have been associated with a severe immune reaction, often called a "cytokine storm." For more than five years, Fedson has been calling for urgent and sharply focused research to determine whether drugs that reduce inflammation or modify the host response the way that the body responds to infection or injury could be used to manage the pandemic. Focusing on inexpensive generic drugs that are readily available, even in developing countries, could address the inequity already being seen, and could save millions of lives in the current and in future pandemics.

Roche announced on 2 July that they would now sell their Tamiflu to third world nations at a reduced price. Is Tamiflu still a reliable treatment option?

Tamiflu resistant swine flu viruses have already been isolated in Denmark, Japan, and Hong Kong, and the virus that was isolated in Hong Kong came from a woman who had not taken Tamiflu. Knowing that seasonal H1N1 viruses are now almost completely resistant to Tamiflu, we should expect Tamiflu-resistant swine flu viruses to appear sooner or later. It's just a matter of time, and we're seeing it already. Yet if we're fortunate and this doesn't happen, we will still have problems. Current government stockpiles of Tamiflu in "have not' countries (countries that don't produce influenza vaccines) would be sufficient to treat only 1% of the people who live in these countries. Roche has said publicly that its capacity for producing courses of Tamiflu treatment is 400 million doses per year. That's it; they can't go beyond that.

Has vaccine production capacity improved in the last few years?

No, the situation has not changed a great deal. I keep going back to the arithmetic. Two years ago it was estimated that within 9 months of the emergence of the pandemic virus, all of the world's influenza vaccine companies could produce enough doses of a new pandemic vaccine to vaccinate with two doses approximately 750 million people. More recently, a report sponsored by the WHO estimated that 6 months after the emergence of a new pandemic virus, the companies could produce 860 million doses of vaccine. These numbers are similar to the number of people living in the nine countries that produce almost all of the world's seasonal influenza vaccines.

If you're talking only about the US and want to vaccinate everyone, you will need 300 million doses. If you need two doses per person, you'll need 600 million doses and you're not going to get 600 million doses right away unless you have an antigen sparing formulation. This requires adding an adjuvant, a chemical that boosts the immune response and allows companies to decrease the amount of virus in each dose. However, US regulatory authorities are concerned about the safety of adjuvanted vaccines. As long as the virus doesn't get more virulent and the case fatality rate among non vaccinated individuals remains very low, the social and political impact of the pandemic will be tolerable; although a huge number of infections will occur, 99.5% of those infected will survive. The choice between an adjuvanted or non adjuvanted vaccine will determine whether companies produce more or fewer doses of vaccine. Erring on the side of caution will mean that developing countries will have even less chance of obtaining supplies of pandemic vaccines.

Are there any plans to provide vaccines to developing countries?

Currently, there is no logistical plan for distributing supplies of pandemic vaccines to the "have not' countries that will not be able to produce them. These countries are home to approximately 88% of the world's population.

Whether the political leaders of the nine countries that produce almost all of the world's influenza vaccines will take an active role in the allocation of H1N1 vaccines supplies is an important question, at least in my view. Given the desire of political leaders never to make decisions unless they are absolutely unavoidable, they may view the H1N1 pandemic as being no more severe in its consequences for individuals than a seasonal H1N1 outbreak. Therefore, they may decide they don't need to take an active role in deciding where doses of vaccine will be distributed, at least after they have satisfied their domestic needs. Yet we must keep in mind that whatever WHO, companies and governments do for a mild H1N1 pandemic will establish the precedents for managing vaccine production, licensing and distribution for a more severe H5N1 pandemic. For me, this is the most fascinating aspect of what we are currently seeing. It is also the most unpredictable and consequently the most worrisome.

If there will be inadequate supplies of vaccines and Tamiflu, what other options are being pursued?

Since 2004 I have tried to persuade government agencies and foundations in the US and Europe as well as the WHO to convene one or more workshops that would bring together 25-30 scientists who work with animal models of influenza, sepsis and multi-organ failure. They would be asked to review the scientific rationale for using agents that modify the host response. The agents they should consider most strongly are those that are now produced as inexpensive generics and that are widely available in developing countries. Statins, fibrates and glitazones are, in my view, prime candidates. No one has been interested in this proposal.

The generic agents I talk about affect the host response, and this is something that, with the exception of the immune response, influenza virologists know little about. We must enlist the support of scientists in other fields sepsis, critical care, cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, metabolic disorders and mitochondrial function. They must tell influenza scientists what they know about the host response to infection, and how it might be useful to them in their research.

I'm worried that the H1N1 virus could get worse, that it could develop the virulence of the 1918 pandemic virus, or possibly combine with an H5N1 avian flu virus to give us a monster virus. Each of these developments is possible. Now if they're possible, we could spend perhaps 10 to 20 million dollars and get 90% of the answers we need to determine whether these generic agents could save lives. Is it worth organizing the research in such a way that we could quickly get the answers needed to manage a global pandemic? That's the big question. Why don't we do it?

Where, then, would efforts ideally be focused in the fight against this pandemic?

The focus of all of our efforts right now must be on ways to manage the pandemic throughout the world in ways that will save lives in this and any future pandemic. This will require a focus on the host response.

Several studies have suggested that prescriptions for statins are associated with a 50% reduction in pneumonia hospitalizations and deaths. If statins prove to be effective against pneumonia, they might be similarly effective against pandemic influenza. Experimental studies in mice show that gemfibrozil and pioglitazone dramatically reduce influenza-related mortality. A 2005 study of resveratrol showed a 54% decrease in mortality in a mouse model of influenza.

The practical implications of these findings for an influenza pandemic are enormous. For example, in 2008, 29 billion doses of statins were produced worldwide, 16 billion of them as generics. If only 5% of this output had been set aside, it would have been sufficient to provide five days of treatment for 160 million people. Since treatment would probably be necessary only for those patients at risk of serious complications, multi-organ failure and death, supplies sufficient to over 2-10% of an infected population would probably be sufficient (perhaps H5N1 excepted). Gemfibrozil and pioglitazone are also produced as generics, and many of the companies that produce them are located in developing countries. As generics, these agents would be far less expensive than vaccines and antiviral agents; according to 2008 prices, five days of treatment would cost less than $1.00. Thus, stockpiles would be affordable and distribution channels could be set up in advance of a pandemic.

We don't know how any of these drugs are handled in people who are already sick. That's key. However, we have a wonderful research opportunity right now to develop multi-center trials of single dose treatment in patients with severe H1N1 influenza. We could measure drug levels and cytokine changes following treatment at different times during the course of illness. It would not be difficult to recruit several hundred people for studies like this, but no one is organized to do them. We can't afford not to do this work.

The message that needs to go out to the world is that health officials everywhere have a responsibility to find ways to manage a pandemic in all countries. This means that they don't have to explain the molecular biology of everything that's going on. Instead, they must find agents that can be used to save lives. We have enough evidence from experimental work and enough suggestions from clinical observations to suggest that we could do this by modifying the host response using inexpensive generic agents that are already being produced in developing countries. Making effective therapies widely available is the key to a global response to a pandemic, whether it is caused by the current swine H1N1 virus, an H5N1 virus or something in between.

Sadly, the arithmetic for pandemic vaccines and antivirals is unforgiving. WHO is focused on vaccines and antivirals that will only be available to people who can afford them, and that's ten percent of the world's population. Consequently, it doesn't matter that arguments for their use are scientifically well grounded; in practical terms they are pointless, in the same way that it is pointless to tell a starving man he should eat if there's no food in the kitchen. For pandemic vaccines and antiviral agents, the kitchen is empty. We should stop talking about things that people in developing countries will never have, and start talking about things they've already got.

Judge Sotomayor: Roe v. Wade is “Settled Law.”

2009-07-14T16:09:00.004-04:00

Now I can’t support her.

Folks, first of all, I would like to welcome all new visitors and subscribers to Vivificat. I am humbled that you have chosen this modest publication worthy of your occasional attention, considering the huge amount of choices that you otherwise have. I will redouble my efforts to make Vivificat a sober, – but not humorless – informative, insightful, edifying, and prayerful Catholic publication. With your prayers and participation in the comments’ section, I am confident that it will be so.

Now, to the matter at hand: according to CNN, Supreme Court Justice nominee and fellow Puerto Rican, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, has made her views regarding abortion law clear today. She stated that Roe v. Wade is “settled law,” legalese for “it’s laser-embossed in titanium” (the cliché “chiseled in stone” no longer has the same sense of eternal permanence it once enjoyed).

As I’ve stated before, although personally proud as an American born in Puerto Rico for the distinction to be bestowed on Judge Sotomayor, I cannot support anyone who considers Roe v. Wade good law, constitutional, and humane.

The Right to Life is and must be the foundation of any good positive law. Despite her qualifications and my personal sympathy and the sense of ethnic “connection” she inspires in me, I cannot support anyone who would interpret and apply an unjust law, no matter how “settled” the legal elites consider this law to be, particularly when the result would be the loss of innocent human beings precisely at the stage in their development when they are most vulnerable.

The U.S. Senate will confirm Judge Sotomayor, of this I have no doubt. But it will be a sad day for America because for all her qualifications, achievements, and warmth, Judge Sotomayor’s empathy does not extend to unborn human beings, as long as she holds that somewhere in the Constitution there is to be found an implied, absolute, and sovereign right to abort a baby.

I hope and pray that once she sits on our highest bench, that the she becomes sensitive again to the sacramental grace she once knew and then do the right thing before God and for the good of our Nation.

An Interview with a Lay Catholic Contemplative

2009-07-12T00:00:00.000-04:00

Folks, I want to share with you an interview I conducted with a lay Catholic Contemplative Catholic person I know. The contemplative person asked me not to protect his/her anonymity for reasons that will be immediately stated. I hope you find the interview, if not edifying, at least informative.

Good morning! Please, state your name for the record.

You know, I would rather not.

Why not?

Well, because I don’t want to attract attention to myself at church or at my secular job and I want to avoid misunderstandings. My fellow parishioners, coworkers, and neighbors may not know how to react to a “mystic” in their midst. The increased attention may also tempt my vanity and Lord knows that I need to make a lot of progress cultivating the virtue of humility. So let’s leave my name out of it.

OK, I will respect that. So you are a “mystic”?

Well, I used that word because that’s both the theological technical word as well as the popular term to refer to my “thing”. But I also shy away from the word “mystic” because in our popular context it gives rise to misunderstandings. Like with the word “metaphysics,” the word “mystic” has been tied to New Age mumbo-jumbo and emptied of its rational contents. I would prefer “person of prayer” or “contemplative.” Then again, I would rather be called “a normal Christian” because this is the life we Christians are called to live, a life of prayer.

What do you mean by this connection between being a “normal Christian” and living a “life of prayer.”

I mean that all Christians are called to pray, and to pray with intensity, to engage with God in a constant conversation.

Isn’t that the exclusive job of “professional” contemplatives, such as cloistered men and women?

Without a doubt, at various times and places in the course of our Church’s history, there has been a de facto understanding that this is the case, that the contemplative life is meant solely for those who have been called and have been enabled by grace and circumstance to leave the secular world to dedicate themselves full-time to prayer. And yet, the first hermits, the Desert Fathers (and Mothers) were themselves lay people who fled the world at a time in which men in holy orders were accreting political power and wealth. These lay people, once they became organized, laid the foundation of monasticism. In fact, to this day, monasticism remains fundamentally a lay phenomenon, populated by men and women who are not in holy orders.

Isn’t that exactly why is important to leave the world, to free oneself from its entanglements?

Oh, absolutely, the vocation for total dedication to the Lord in prayer and solitude is indispensable to the life of the Church. These men and women sustain the Church with their prayers and together form the inner engine keeping the Church alive. What I am also trying to say is that lay people who live in the world and lead active lives within it, and whose religious vows are the ones pronounced upon marriage – I am married – are also called to pray and grow in familiarity with the Lord. Most people fail to link marriage vows with religious vows and yet that’s what marriage vows are, religious vows. So, there is a radical equality between the single religious man and woman living their religious vows in celibate chastity and the married couple that vows to live their lives in marital chastity, that is, to express their sexual love exclusively with each other while remaining “celibate” to everyone else. Both kinds of “vowed” religious life need prayer to sustain them. The nature of the marriage vows do not compel married Catholics to withdraw from the world, but they can choose to do so if they feel so called.

I am happy to hear that since my wife and I are considering long term plans to do embrace an eremitic lifestyle. But, must there be an opposition between the consecrated, single religious celibate life and the married life?

To consider both kinds of life as mutually exclusive is to miss the point. It’s not a matter of “either/or” but “both/and.” The Church needs both kinds of life and each actor needs to have a constant, ongoing dialogue with the Lord. Only then will we be able to actualize the Reign of God until He comes in glory. Only then can we be instrument in the sanctification of the world and of all truly human, ennobling activities.

Let me change the subject. How do you “commune” with God?

Very imperfectly because of my own limitations and faults. I remain very much “a work in progress.”

OK, granted, but what I mean is, how do you encounter Him in prayer? Is there any place, thing, or “technique” that you use to talk to God?

My principal point of encounter with God is in Jesus Christ His Son, uniquely, personally, and substantially in the Holy Eucharist. The encounter is a personal one, as personal one as this dialogue is between you and me.

Many Catholics and most Protestants will find this claim hard to accept.

The more “mission-oriented” among my Protestant brethren constantly ask me if I know or have received “Jesus Christ as my Personal Savior,” and when I reply that not only I have, but that I eat Him every Sunday and that His indwelling becomes substantially, objectively real in my heart, in my soul, and in my natural senses, that doesn’t compute to them. They certainly understand that Jesus is close to the believer, but not that intimately close, and in such blatantly personal, material terms. Catholics, on the other hand, take His presence so much for granted that they conceive the reception of the Eucharist as “a right,” and many get up and join the communion line without a second thought, without asking themselves if they are prepared to receive Him, without the proper dispositions and in this manner they fail to discern His Real Presence and all that it entails. In both cases, but for different reasons, Protestants and Catholics miss the very Real Presence of Jesus Christ among us.

So, it is not a matter of saying certain words or applying certain techniques.

Heavens, no! There’s no recitation of words, there’s no “technique” that can produce “contemplation.” Contemplation is a gift freely given by God. A person can’t presume to be “ready” for communion with God after saying a set number of prayers, rosaries, chaplets, novenas, or psalms; or after mastering certain psychosomatic techniques like quieting the breath and the mind. God is certainly not obligated to increase our consciousness of His indwelling merely because we think we are ready. What we can do is to be willing to engage Him in dialogue and to humiliate ourselves before Him, something that doesn’t come easy for most of us.

Then, there’s minimal discipline involved?

The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of order; an undisciplined prayer life, like a life of work and creativity, must include a healthy amount of discipline. The discipline start with a clear act of the commitment: one commits oneself to pray regularly. The best way to do this is to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. In this way one will be praying with the Church. Commit yourself to pray at least Morning or Evening Prayer every day. If you can commit to both it would be even better. Pretty soon and with His help the practice will grow in you. You’ll learn to desire it and will find out that your day would become incomplete without those set prayer times. Use them as your “jumping board” to a deeper prayer life with God in worship, adoration, and petition.

Isn’t that time consuming?

Not at all; a person can pray the Morning or Evening prayer properly and with devotion in 10 or 15 minutes. Some people would find even that amount as excessive. I pity them, particularly those who watch TV or are in the Internet for hours at an end but can’t spare 30 minutes to talk with their Father and Creator every day. Take it from me, if I can do it, anyone can. I am nothing special in this regard.

Here’s a big question: have you heard the voice of God?

I’ve found that my ability to discern the will of God and in this sense to hear “His voice” has increased since my prayer life took off. His voice comes clearly through His Word, and through particular people and events He sends my way. A person who hasn’t learned to hear God’s voice in this way is ill-prepared to hear his voice at what I consider the next level.

Which is?

It’s short of an audible allocution. It consists of a very, very quiet “whisper” in one’s soul, easily overwhelmed by stray thoughts and one’s inner conversation and stream of consciousness. The main difficulty at this stage of one’s prayer life is to learn to discern between one’s voice and the chaotic cacophony inside one’s mind and the whispered sound of God’s voice in one’s innermost recesses. Like Scripture says, one must die to oneself. This is the stage I find myself in.

Does this “stage” you speak of correspond to the “ways” or “states” that traditional mystical theology talks about?

You speak of the purgative, illuminative, and unitive ways. Look, I speak of my own state of soul with certain reticence and I am not going to dwell much on my own state except to say that these ways or states are not like the “staging” in say, a rocket launch. It’s incorrect to think that once a stage is spent it’s gone and one is done and fully on the next stage. The ways or states of the spiritual life often overlap with more or less strength, depending upon one’s inner dispositions and the measure of grace that God has granted to that particular soul. In my particular situation, I am between the purgative and illuminative way. The Lord may choose to concede me the grace to move forward fully to the next stages, or may make me dwell in this particular level for however long it pleases Him; there’s no guarantee that I will reach the final stage in this life. He has the final word on the issue.

Then, how is “progress” in the spiritual life to be measured?

The prayerful Christian is never the final arbiter of his or her “state”. Such a judgment belongs to one’s spiritual director. That’s why complete openness to one’s spiritual director is essential for growth in the spiritual life and that’s why is so important that one’s spiritual director should be a saintly priest. Receiving direction in the context of the Sacrament of Reconciliation is invaluable and greatly strengthens one’s soul. Blessed are those who have found a saintly Spiritual Father to direct them, for they shall talk to God.

How do you respond to those who say that the mystical life – or any belief in a personal God – is a lot of “mumbo jumbo” and a product of changing brain states?

Belief in a personal God, and even more so, in the one revealed in Jesus Christ, is the definite departure point for a true and meaningful Christian prayer life. Convinced atheists and agnostics will always find a “reason” to deny God and to reduce all knowledge we may obtain of persons to certain brain states, neurotransmitter flows, and neurons firing this way or that. Yet, when atheists talk about their own interpersonal relationships, they don’t talk about brain states and such, they talk about love and friendships like everyone else. Personal relationships are irreducible: they can’t be deconstructed without emptying them of meaning. That’s how I “know” I am talking to God and that God talks to me. I have an irreducible personal relationship with him. To dismiss Christian contemplation is but a subjective phenomenon is to close oneself to the experience. It would be an attempt to lie to oneself. It’s an absurd, an insult to one’s intelligence which also is a gift from the Lord.

Buddhism is a very popular substitute for Christianity nowadays. It has a robust moral core and a demanding contemplative discipline. It has proven attractive to many who look for a “spiritual” alternative to Christianity without the trappings of Christianity. Could you comment on that?

Yes, I can. But this will take some elaboration. The core claim of Christianity derives from the one in Judaism: that the source of creation is Personal: “I am that I am” the Lord told Moses. His very Name (“YHWH,” commonly pronounced “Yahweh”) points to this reality. The Bible designates Moses as the first receiver of this revelation. We may speculate that Moses, having received the traditional belief in One God from the people of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saw his understanding completed through his own contemplation of the mystery until God, in his utter freedom, revealed Himself to Moses in that Name. Moses’ contemplative journey sets an example for all of us: as all the external noise and internal cacophony quieted in Moses, he was able to hear but one voice, the One that then said “I AM.”

It is known that Buddhism denies the existence of any substantive personal core in human beings, or behind the cosmos. Their disciplines to quiet the senses and the mind conform to a relentless teaching insisting on the depersonalization of the adept’s consciousness and on its ability to become a detached observer of manifold perceptions and mental states, each one independently analyzed as to its origin, duration, and end, and labeled as such. Buddhist teachers also stress that the “Devas” (or “gods” in Hindu religion) are also subjected to this tight law of causality and the Buddhist adept is trained to observe their chatter and learn to dismiss it as part of the contingent nature of things. I posit that Buddhist contemplatives reject the existence of one personal God because they can’t tell His voice apart from their own voices; the voice of God that Moses heard would be for a Buddhist practitioner just another subjective mental state to be detached from in order to avoid suffering or dukkha.

So you are saying that, when confronted with the voice of God, Buddhist practitioners basically chose to deny the objective existence of the voice of God within and with it the relevance of a personal God.

Pretty much, yeah. They choose consciously and pretty much for the same reasons that a Western atheist denies the existence of God: any claim made in this respect is merely subjective, ultimately illusory, and the product of deluded mental states held by people attached to a wrong view of reality. This is also why so many Western agnostics and atheists embrace Buddhism because Buddhism allows them to be “spiritual” without turning to God. But, unlike Western skeptics, Buddhists don’t arrive to their convictions by mere theoretical formulations; they claim a direct insight into the nature of reality, one in which the willful denial of the existence, importance, relevance and dismissal of a personal God is central to their method. The differences between Buddhism and Christianity and between their schools of “contemplation” are as deep as they are fundamental: an honest Christian can’t be a Buddhist and an honest Buddhist can’t be a Christian. One affirms “I AM” while the other one affirms “everything is emptiness and emptiness is all.” God, being the gentleman that He is, bows before the insistent effort on the part of the Buddhist adept to dismiss Him from his inner sanctum once and for all, and so He leaves. In this tragic sense, the Buddhist contemplative experience as one without God corresponds to their claim. God remains quiet on their soul, but He never really leaves, thankfully. He awaits patiently the invitation to come back in and talk.

Wow. Well, we’re almost to the end. Any readings you want to suggest to Vivificat’s readers before we finish?

Yes, I think that reading various classical and modern authors on the issue of asceticism, prayer and contemplation is necessary to achieve a right balance and manage expectations. St. Francis de Sales’ Introduction to the Devout Life, is a good starting point for anyone willing to deepen their Catholic prayer life. The Three Ages of the Interior Life, by Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange offers an in-depth analysis on the interior life and valuable for his insistence that the contemplative life is a call open to every Christian and not only to vowed, cloistered monastics. Ralph Martin’s book, The Fulfillment of All Desire, has also been very helpful to me due to its simple language and its synthetic approach, as well as various works by the late American Trappist monk, Thomas Merton – his warts and all. There are many others I may suggest, but these will have to do for now.

This all sounds extraordinary.

And it shouldn’t be. An intimate dealing between one’s soul and God in Christ should be considered the norm and an everyday occurrence. What is really abnormal is that so many do not possess, wish, or can be bothered to even consider relating to the Lord in this way. They are the ones who are strange and abnormal.

Thank you for being with us.

Thank you for having me and thank you to your readers.

Kansas hermittess professes vows

2009-07-11T15:55:00.004-04:00

Folks,

This according to the Catholic News Agency:

Manhattan, Kans., Jul 11, 2009 / 01:50 pm (CNA).- For more than four years, Kathryn Bloomquist has prepared to formalize a life of solitude and prayer. Late last month, she made the final step and was consecrated as a hermitess before Bishop Paul Coakley and a few witnesses.

Now, as Sister Kathryn Ann of the Holy Angels, she will spend her days mostly in solitude, "lived to the praise of God and the salvation of the world," she explains.

It is a path she has walked for much of her life.

She moved to Kansas from Washington, D.C., with her husband, Len, in 1989 when he joined the faculty at Kansas State University. Eventually he became chairman of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work.

Even then, Sister Kathryn said, she chose a life of prayer and silence.

"He worked in the world, but he so believed in my calling. He protected me," she said of her husband.

"This life came about as we built this chapel. I was practically already a hermit. It just fit. It happened," she said.

Together, they constructed the native stone chapel, hidden even from their residence tucked away in the wooded hills near Manhattan.

She adopted the practice of a Benedictine oblate, focusing on the Rule of St. Benedict written 1,500 years ago. She prayed the Litany of the Hours and learned the Gregorian chants in Latin.

And then Len became ill. A rare cancer took his life just four months after they finished the exterior of the chapel.

She soon knew she wanted a more formal expression of her calling and began researching eremitic life.

She learned that particular calling began shortly after Constantine the Great legalized Christianity in the fourth century, predating even monastic life.

St. Benedict, one of the most well-known hermits, became so upset by the immorality of Roman society in about the year 500 that he left the city and took up residence in a cave. In time, however, he began attracting disciples, and he eventually founded a monastery and is known today as the Father of Western Monasticism.

Eremitic life continues today. Some hermits live alone, others are a part of religious communities.

Please, continue reading here.

Commentary. I think that Sr. Kathryn represents a movement that has been taking shape for quite a while now: as more men and women cast off their habits and abandon the desert to return to the world, others pickup that habit and leave the world to go into the desert. I wish Sr. Kathryn well in her new venture as a seeker of the face of God and as an intercessor before God of the needs of the Church.

Today we remember St. Benedict of Nursia

2009-07-11T00:00:00.000-04:00

Folks, today's the memorial feast of my father in the faith, St. Benedict of Nursia. As a lay Benedictine, I want to join all my Benedictine brothers and sisters worldwide in this great feast of our Holy Founder. According to American Catholic.Org's Saint of the Day:

It is unfortunate that no contemporary biography was written of a man who has exercised measureless influence on monasticism in the West. Benedict is well recognized in the later Dialogues of St. Gregory, but these are sketches to illustrate miraculous elements of his career.

Benedict was born of a distinguished family in central Italy, studied at Rome and early in life was drawn to the monastic life. At first he became a hermit, leaving a depressing world—pagan armies on the march, the Church torn by schism, people suffering from war, morality at a low ebb.

He soon realized that he could not live a hidden life in a small town any better than in a large city, so he withdrew to a cave high in the mountains for three years. Some monks chose him as their leader for a while, but found his strictness not to their taste. Still, the shift from hermit to community life had begun for him. He had an idea of gathering various families of monks into one “Grand Monastery” to give them the benefit of unity, fraternity, permanent worship in one house. Finally he began to build what was to become one of the most famous monasteries in the world—Monte Cassino, commanding three narrow valleys running toward the mountain.

The Rule that gradually developed prescribed a life of liturgical prayer, study, manual labor and living together in community under a common father (abbot). Benedictine asceticism is known for its moderation, and Benedictine charity has always shown concern for the people in the surrounding countryside. In the course of the Middle Ages, all monasticism in the West was gradually brought under the Rule of St. Benedict.

Today the Benedictine family is represented by two branches: the Benedictine Federation and the Cistercians.

Comment:

The Church has been blessed through Benedictine devotion to the liturgy, not only in its actual celebration with rich and proper ceremony in the great abbeys, but also through the scholarly studies of many of its members. Liturgy is sometimes confused with guitars or choirs, Latin or Bach. We should be grateful to those who both preserve and adapt the genuine tradition of worship in the Church.

Quote:

“Rightly, then, the liturgy is considered as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ. In the liturgy the sanctification of man is manifested by signs perceptible to the senses...; in the liturgy full public worship is performed by the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and his members.
“From this it follows that every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the priest and of his Body the Church, is a sacred action, surpassing all others” (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 7).

Our Phoenix Project: Long Term Vocational Plans Now in Discernment

2009-07-08T16:58:00.005-04:00

A new, eremitical shared vocation slowly grows from the ashes of an old one.

Folks, as many of you probably know – and as a handful of you know in detail – a vocation I once believed I had to serve the Lord as an ordained permanent deacon in His Church collapsed shortly before the start of the Lenten season this year for reasons I will keep to myself. Currently, there is no administrative process underway, not even a desire by competent authorities that I can tell, to readmit me to the diaconal formation program in my diocese, nor am I pursuing any active or passive effort whatsoever aimed at my readmission.

Therefore, I want to state publicly that this matter, as far I am concerned, is closed, and that although I will never say “never,” I hereby state that I have no intention and no burning desire left to pursue ordained diaconal ministry in the near to long-term future (5-10 years) in my diocese. I am also fully aware that the Sovereign Lord may call me home in that interval of time, at which point we will all be able to say then, “never.” With profound sadness, pain, and disappointment, I report that my diaconal vocation is as dead as Jesus’ friend Lazarus once was and only He who raised Lazarus from the dead may call my diaconal vocation from its tomb. Pending that miracle let the stone stand before the tomb.

I can almost hear more doors closing after the above statement, followed by more pain and disenchantment for all concerned. All I can say to that is “Amen,” so be it.

To those of you who defended me during my now stillborn diaconal process, I thank you for your efforts and support; to all those who actively opposed my candidacy for a variety of reasons – some more valid than others – I declare that you have won, and I hereby thank and/or forgive you as the case might be, even those of you whom I never got to meet personally, but felt qualified to judge. I know that all hearts will be laid open in The End, and all works tested for their integrity, yours as well as mine. For my part, I surrender myself to the Lord’s justice and call upon his mercy for my own sins during this now finished process. I ask forgiveness from all I caused pain and gave offense, and forgive everything to everyone in return, unconditionally.

My wife and I are moving on. We are done mourning this loss. We feel we are needed elsewhere in the vineyard and that we are called to do something else for the sake of His Kingdom. We need to prepare for it and we’ll be ready.

The Phoenix Rises

The Lord is calling both my wife and I for a particular service in His Church, we know that in our bones. Only now I can report that I see a faint outline of what the future may hold: The Lord might be calling us both, after we discharge our primary familial responsibilities and after we retire from our secular jobs, to become fulltime consecrated hermits in accordance to Canon 603 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, as follows:

§1 Besides institutes of consecrated life the Church recognizes the eremitic or anchoritic life by which the Christian faithful devote their life to the praise of God and salvation of the world through a stricter separation from the world, the silence of solitude and assiduous prayer and penance.

§2 A hermit is recognized in the law as one dedicated to God in a consecrated life if he or she publicly professes the three evangelical counsels" (i.e. chastity, religious poverty and obedience), "confirmed by a vow or other sacred bond, in the hands of the diocesan bishop and observes his or her own plan of life under his direction.

This is not an imminent development. I still hold two jobs, I am years away from retiring responsibly from at least one of them, I have one other son to push through college, and we’re, of course, very young grandparents of two handsome boys. Our children still need us near them. Our vocation now is to fulfill our duties to them and to our current employers.

Furthermore, my Personal Rule of Life – which I hope to share with you sometime soon – would need to grow to accommodate the demands of the new vocation, and finding a new residence further away from urban centers where we can practice “a stricter separation from the world” and listen to “the silence of solitude” will be necessary. Our health, particularly my wife’s health, will also be a factor and all throughout we’ll need to be financially responsible for this project and self-sufficient with God’s help and without depending on the diocese.

I also foresee a future trial period of increasing practice of prayer and solitude following our private promises to live as hermits, a period when the different parts of our new program of life will be tested, and our vocation to publicly live this life for the Church under the guidance of the diocesan bishop finally discerned. By then all the logistics will have to be in place.

Also very important, the new life should not close us off from the necessary contacts that God mandates between us and our children, albeit in a new situation still to be weighed and defined. The canonical intricacies of allowing a married couple to live the eremitical life as husband and wife, and not merely as “brother and sister” will also have to be explored, resolved, and stated. In the meantime, I’m thinking about resuming my graduate theological studies to better ready us for this new life as well as to prepare myself to make a sound proposal to the Church if and when the time comes.

Again I repeat this will be a long, exacting, and arduous process of spiritual growth and maturity in the Lord’s grace, of intensified love between my wife and me, and between us and our children. The seed has been planted and the rudimentary outlines of a future edifice even now roughly visible. This is just a beginning and if it’s not to be, I pray that the Lord also let me know as fast as He did when He stopped me from becoming a deacon.

We are both excited by what the Lord may bring about in our lives and we’ve begun praying more about it and also praying that if this is the Lord’s will, that He brings to us the people, means, and circumstances that will make it all happen. In Jesus’ Name we go forth, Amen.

Neda Soltani was a Christian - Apparently

2009-07-08T11:15:00.003-04:00

Folks, this from the blog of JihadWatch.Org:

This is the poor young woman who was shot dead by Iranian security forces, and whose bleeding face became an image of the brutality and humanity of the mullahs. Now it turns out the Neda Soltani was a Christian -- a telling indication that the analysts who dismissed the protesters as simply wanting more Sharia, or better Sharia, or Sharia with a different face, were wrong: it just wasn't that simple.

It is also telling that the cross around her neck was cropped out when this photo circulated around the world.

Jihad Watch reader Andrea informs me that while "many had mourned her thinking she was a Muslim. According to some German press reports, it turns out she instead was a Christian:"

http://www.pi-news.net/2009/06/neda-symbolfigur-der-revolution-war-christin/

Commentary. This changes the equation drastically. Her killing might have been not only an act of repression and intimidation, but also a hate crime. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Even with this photographic evidence, I will await for independent verification of Neda's religious affiliation to confirm my judgment.

Regardless of her religious affiliation, let's pray for Neda, her family, and the people of Iran. That may know peace, security, and freedom under a legitimate, plural government, free from hate, paranoia, and bigotry.

Additional notes:

A Twitterer with apparent in-country knowledge disputes Neda's Christian affiliation but I also must question the Twitterer's own identity and motives, as much as I question the picture.

Contrary to what the article states, the pictures posted at the BBC and NYT were not cropped.

Charity in Truth

2009-07-07T13:31:00.004-04:00

Folks, the latest encyclical letter from the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, has been published and may be accessed here. This is how it starts:

1. Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness by his earthly life and especially by his death and resurrection, is the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity. Love — caritas — is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace. It is a force that has its origin in God, Eternal Love and Absolute Truth. Each person finds his good by adherence to God's plan for him, in order to realize it fully: in this plan, he finds his truth, and through adherence to this truth he becomes free (cf. Jn 8:22). To defend the truth, to articulate it with humility and conviction, and to bear witness to it in life are therefore exacting and indispensable forms of charity. Charity, in fact, “rejoices in the truth” (1 Cor 13:6). All people feel the interior impulse to love authentically: love and truth never abandon them completely, because these are the vocation planted by God in the heart and mind of every human person. The search for love and truth is purified and liberated by Jesus Christ from the impoverishment that our humanity brings to it, and he reveals to us in all its fullness the initiative of love and the plan for true life that God has prepared for us. In Christ, charity in truth becomes the Face of his Person, a vocation for us to love our brothers and sisters in the truth of his plan. Indeed, he himself is the Truth (cf. Jn 14:6).

Please, continue reading here.

Good Bye, Best Friend

2009-07-05T14:35:00.005-04:00

Folks, this post is about one of my dogs, the one closest to me. Today, a few days after being diagnosed with lymphoma, we had to put her to sleep. She was under extreme duress and has taken a turn for the worst. She also suffered from congestive heart failure.

We rescued Katie Bug three years ago. She was seven and her then owner was unable to take care of her any longer. She came to us “fully formed” and she was perfect. We can’t recall any time in which we had to discipline her for any thing.

Katie Bug knew a few tricks: she would “talk” in a low growling “aroo” when you asked her to. She would “give you five” when you asked her to and would throw a bone or a ball just to entertain herself. She liked to cuddle and had a special corner in the backyard which she claimed as her own.

Her only enemy was the mailman. She sounded pretty menacing in her barks but was really a scaredy-cat, particularly toward men she didn't know, scurrying toward those corners of the living and dining rooms where she felt safe.

She also loved car rides and upon the sound of the keys she would line up before the door, the first one out. She did this on what was to be her last ride, resolutely, albeit painfully, walking toward her favorite human machine. She has been unable to jump into the car for a while now and we'd acquired a ramp for her that she climbed without hesitation again and again to fulfill her thrills.

Upon arrival to the animal hospital, she still had a little bit of her old curiosity. She moved breathlessly throughout the parking lot, looking and studying her surroundings and smelling the new things around her. The vet examined her right while in the lobby. His face shaded as he touched all the swollen limph nodes through her frame. We all knew what had to be done. I signed my consent, noticing that I distorted my last name as I handwrote it.

Her passing was peaceful. It was very much like a falling asleep. Her countenance was as relaxed as we remembered it when she napped before, when she was healthy. The belabored breathing stopped. Her head rested on her front paws, straight. Hers was an eerie beauty as she was released from her suffering and pain.

And we cried, and cried, and we haven't stopped yet. I am sure she would've comforted us as she had always done when we were depressed or upset, but this time she couldn't as the imperative of her rest asserted itself over that of our comfort.

Our Catholic faith speaks negatively about the survival after death of animals who, although they reflect God’s perfections and reflect His likeness, do not carry His image. Animals lack “spiritual souls,” and therefore, do not “go to heaven” or to any eternal reward. To put it bluntly and somewhat humorously, there’s no “doggie heaven,” unless it is also cat’s hell.

Nevertheless, if it is essential to our eternal felicity in God’s Presence that we see our faithful companion, I think we have plenty of theologumena to argue for it. In the New Heavens and the New Earth, happiness will be perfect, lacking nothing. Without our friends, heaven would have a defect. So, I am somewhat confident that as God makes all things anew, that I will see again Katie, my Katie, at a time and a place where there will be no more bitter tears, no more separations, and everything bent will be made aright. Until that glorious morn comes, I will miss my Katie endlessly.

Don’t be surprised if I don’t say much for the next couple of days.

Katie Bug, Beloved Pet: August 1 1999 – July 5, 2009. Missed by Theo, Mercie Therese, and Lily, her basset hound sister.

Happy Fourth Everyone!

2009-07-04T13:20:00.001-04:00

Folks, I am taking a break today for the holiday. Let’s all be thankful for the freedoms we enjoy and be ever more resolute to extend them to the poorest and most defenseless from among us. Let’s give a voice to those who have no voice, let freedom ring.

Today we celebrate skeptics!

2009-07-03T10:20:00.001-04:00

Today’s the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle

From Today’s Office of Readings

From a homily on the Gospels by Saint Gregory the Great, pope

My Lord and my God

Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. He was the only disciple absent; on his return he heard what had happened but refused to believe it. The Lord came a second time; he offered his side for the disbelieving disciple to touch, held out his hands, and showing the scars of his wounds, healed the wound of his disbelief.

Dearly beloved, what do you see in these events? Do you really believe that it was by chance that this chosen disciple was absent, then came and heard, heard and doubted, doubted and touched, touched and believed? It was not by chance but in God’s providence. In a marvellous way God’s mercy arranged that the disbelieving disciple, in touching the wounds of his master’s body, should heal our wounds of disbelief. The disbelief of Thomas has done more for our faith than the faith of the other disciples. As he touches Christ and is won over to belief, every doubt is cast aside and our faith is strengthened. So the disciple who doubted, then felt Christ’s wounds, becomes a witness to the reality of the resurrection.

Touching Christ, he cried out: My Lord and my God. Jesus said to him: Because you have seen me, Thomas, you have believed. Paul said: Faith is the guarantee of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. It is clear, then, that faith is the proof of what can not be seen. What is seen gives knowledge, not faith. When Thomas saw and touched, why was he told: You have believed because you have seen me? Because what he saw and what he believed were different things. God cannot be seen by mortal man. Thomas saw a human being, whom he acknowledged to be God, and said: My Lord and my God. Seeing, he believed; looking at one who was true man, he cried out that this was God, the God he could not see.

What follows is reason for great joy: Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. There is here a particular reference to ourselves; we hold in our hearts one we have not seen in the flesh. We are included in these words, but only if we follow up our faith with good works. The true believer practises what he believes. But of those who pay only lip service to faith, Paul has this to say: They profess to know God, but they deny him in their works. Therefore James says: Faith without works is dead.

- Source: Universalis.com

Fallen Priest Aims at Destroying the Knights of Columbus

2009-07-02T08:09:00.008-04:00

Geoff Farrow objects to the K of C's support for California's Proposition 8 and for Catholic Moral Teaching

Folks, this according to CNA:

Fresno, Calif., Jul 2, 2009 / 06:43 am (CNA).- Citing the organization’s support for traditional marriage, a suspended Catholic priest who has turned to homosexual activism has called for Catholic pastors to block Knights of Columbus groups from their parishes and to borrow against the order’s insurance policies to fund homosexual groups.

He said he advocated such action in part because the fraternal charitable organization helped support California’s Proposition 8, which restored legal marriage’s definition to being between a man and a woman.

Fr. Geoffrey Farrow, former pastor of the St. Paul Newman Center at California State University at Fresno, was removed as pastor in October 2008 for defying church teaching on homosexuality and for condemning Catholic support for Proposition 8, the California Catholic Daily reports.

Writing in a June 4 post on his personal blog, Fr. Farrow wrote:

“Many priests have e-mailed me and expressed their rage and anger over the hypocrisy of the Catholic hierarchy in supporting anti-marriage equality legislation… One of the organizations, which the bishops have effectively employed to do their dirty work, has been the Knights of Columbus.”

He discussed what priests can do to fight “the anti-gay agenda of the bishops and the K of C.”

“Borrow the full amount against your Knights of Columbus life insurance policy immediately,” he advised. “Take the check and invest the funds with an LGBT friendly fund. Do not pay back the loan.”

According to the Knights of Columbus’ web site, for more than 120 years the order has sold insurance to help protect families against “financial ruin.”

Patrick Korten, Knights of Columbus Vice-President of Communications, told CNA in a Wednesday e-mail that those who hold a “whole life policy” with the order may indeed borrow against it.

“As with any loan, one is charged interest on the amount borrowed. Taking a full loan against a policy and not paying it back simply diminishes its value to the policyholder and could cause the policy to lapse.

“That, in turn, defeats the very purpose of having the policy in the first place: protection against financial adversity,” he explained.

Fr. Farrow’s blog post also asked priests not to allow Knights of Columbus groups to publish announcements in parish bulletins and not to allow their events to be held on church property. Fr. Farrow suggested programs be created as a pretext to push out the order’s meetings.

Read the entire CNA report here.

Commentary. Today I will be uncharacteristically blunt compared to the usual fare I write here, and the equanimity I seek to cultivate even in the sight of great evil, but I believe it needs to be stated clearly that

Mr. Farrow has compromised his priesthood and jumped into an abyss. A man who once promised to be "alter Christus", Mr. Farrow has opted instead to distort the Gospel and ultimately, the very Image of God in man, sanctioning through his words and actions a lifestyle that is morally and physically destructive to individuals as well as society, as it has proven to be in the Church.

Mr. Farrow offers a prime example why we ought to pray for priests, particularly this year specially dedicated to them: because whenever a priest cracks and falls, he does so hard. In the process, a fallen priest often becomes a blind guide, confidently leading others into the pit (Matthew 15:14). Like the dragon who swept away a third of the stars (Revelation 12:4), Mr. Farrow did also wrench away from the love of Christ and the life of the Mystical Body of Christ his own little army of followers whose consciences he has so cheaply absolved, and continues to do so by means of his blog and other public activism.

Mr. Farrow's recent tirade against the Knights of Columbus reveals a sad man who has gone off the deep end. The detailed instructions he provides to bankrupt the Knights' life insurance system as well as the strategies he describes to marginalize, intimidate, and silence the Knights are troubling and deeply disturbing. They are the products of a sick mind.

I am not going to ask for quick canonical actions and penalties against Mr. Farrow. That's not my place. But prayer for his conversion, healing, and restoration are of the essence, and that does fall within my purview as a follower of Christ. So I hereby call upon all my readers to include the spiritual health of Mr. Farrow as a special intention during Mass and during the prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours. Additionally, let us pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet and the Prayer of St. Michael the Archangel to break the enemy's hold on this man, as well as this Litany in Reparation for Sins Against the Holy Eucharist (for private recitation only, please) for all those consecrations that Mr. Farrow has performed, and will be performing during his illicit celebrations of the Mass, as well as for the men and women who will be receiving the Holy Sacrament without the proper inner dispositions, thanks to Mr. Farrow's words and example. As always, let us pray for ourselves, sinners, and unworthy followers of Jesus Christ in His Church, fully understanding that the wounds of others are our own.

The time has come for intensified spiritual combat. Let us go forth in the joy and love of Jesus Christ, to serve Him and others.

Every Christian Is a Missionary

2009-07-02T06:00:00.000-04:00

Father Nicolas Schwizer

How many beautiful plans and brilliant projects have failed throughout history due to a lack of men, women, and shoulders! God needs men and women for the evangelization and transformation of the world. God needs convinced, committed instruments who are ready to give their all. Many Biblical texts speak to us of those whom God chose. The Jewish community is for God “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Among all the people on earth, it is the chosen and preferred people to fulfill His plans.

Gifts are tasks. Jesus summons his apostles and gives them their first mission. They must announce the Great News of the coming of the Kingdom, and they must do this not only through words, but also with signs and concrete actions. When God chooses, it is to give a mission: gifts are tasks; therefore, God sends the apostles and entrusts them with a task. Like the twelve, the entire Church is an apostolic and missionary Church. The Church does not live for itself. It is to be a light for the world; it is for serving all of humanity and for saving all peoples.

We are also all sent: every Christian is a missionary. That immense treasure which we have received – the light of Christ and his Gospel – is for communicating it to all men and women. As the Lord tells us, every Christian should become “salt of the earth,” “the light of the world,” and “the yeast of the dough.”

Let us not withdraw. Indeed, God did not create the Church to be a type of “select club” of privileged souls who are permitted access to certain reserved gifts. NO. From the beginning, God has loved all of mankind and has desired that all come to his Father Heart. For that reason, He created the Church at the service of all mankind, as instrument and messenger of the Good News of his love.

Without a doubt, we Christians are God’s favorites because we have been able to hear his Gospel first.

But, our privilege is of serving: to take to all men and women those gifts for which they are destined: so that the Gospel becomes the light of the world; and that it may penetrate not only human hearts, but also the life of society and its culture.

Thus the Gospel should ferment the whole world for Christ. It should conquer and heal with its light all that is darkness and sin in the world. Slowly, it should construct that great communion of love which God desires for all humanity: so that all men and women come to be his children and brothers and sisters in Christ.

At our baptism we receive a light. Therefore, the Church is not an island, a family closed within itself to enjoy the love which unites its members. We belong to her to take her light to all men and women, to brighten the way to Christ for everyone. We Christians cannot remain cloistered within our communities or movements. These should not only be our home and place of formation, but also our place for sending forth. These should be the place from which we embark toward all men and women, to illuminate with the light of the Gospel all problems…..the joys and hopes of their families…..of their neighborhoods, schools, factories or offices.

“No one enkindles a light – says the Gospel – to hide it under a basket, but to place it on the candlestick so that it may light up the entire house.” On the day of our baptism, we all received a light – symbol of the mission of the Church – which from that moment on became a personal mission for each one.

Questions for reflection

What have we done with that baptismal light?

1. Have we let it extinguish itself?

2. Have we kept it hidden in our private life?

3. Or have we raised it on the candlestick of our mission so that it may illuminate everyone?

Father Pavone: 'Abortion for Men'

2009-07-01T09:57:00.003-04:00

Author: Fr. Frank Pavone Source: Catholic Online

The fact that men do not get pregnant does not stop them from choosing abortion.

STATEN ISLAND, NY (Priests for Life) - One of the slogans used by extremists in the pro-abortion movement is, "If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament." The slogan, besides being simply ignorant, is an insult to the Church and to the integrity of pro-life people. Less crude expressions of the same sentiment take shape in arguments like, "The prohibition of abortion discriminates against women," and "Pro-life people are intent on depriving women of their rights." In fact, pro-abortion forces took this argument all the way to the Supreme Court, but lost in their attempt to claim that women as a class were discriminated against by pro-life efforts.

The fact is that we oppose abortion both for women and for men. The fact that men do not get pregnant does not stop them from choosing abortion. Indeed, anyone who has worked directly to stop abortions has seen many instances in which the "choice" in question was being made by the man, not by the woman. In the thousands of case testimonies I have in my office, time after time I read these or similar words: "My boyfriend wanted me to have the abortion; I was unsure," or "The baby's father said that unless I aborted the child, he would leave."

Of course. Abortion is not about women's rights. It is often about men wanting the right to be able to continue to have sexual relations without the "intrusive burden" of the child that can come about.

Morally speaking, the sin of abortion is committed when it is chosen, knowingly and willingly. Many factors mitigate the guilt, but the point here is that the choosing of abortion does not require that one be pregnant. Men choose abortion; men perform abortions. Men are therefore often guilty of the sin of abortion.

Being pro-life is in no way to single out women for blame. Being pro-life is about helping men and women alike to have the courage to do what is right, namely, to conceive children only within the bounds of valid marriage, and to protect all children who have been conceived under any circumstances.

Ministry to men is increasingly important, and Christians are responding more and more. We see movements like Promise Keepers, St. Joseph's Covenant Keepers, and the Catholic Men's Fellowship striving to meet the pastoral needs of men in our day. We also see the post-abortion movement increasingly extending its resources of counseling and healing to the men who have become entrapped in the lie that abortion is a solution to their problems.

It was the promoters of abortion who from the beginning framed abortion as simply a "woman's issue." No, abortion involves everyone. Once, at a Life Chain, I was asked by a passerby what right I had, as a man, to say anything about abortion. "I'm a human being," I replied, "and when my fellow human beings are being killed, I have a right to stand up and say no." "No," that is, whether it is addressed to a woman or to a man.

- Lea la versión en español aquí.

Today We Remember the Early Martyrs of Rome

2009-06-30T12:01:00.006-04:00

(Click on the picture to enlarge it)

James, John, Thomas, James, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon and Jude; Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, Cyprian, Lawrence, Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian; Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter, Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia, Anastasia. We remember these name and honor them every time the priest prays the Roman Canon, also known as the Eucharistic Prayer I.

Who were these people? They are the "top of the iceberg," so-to-speak, the few names handed down to us from the many Christians who were martyred in Rome during three centuries of persecution. We remember them particularly today. They gave their lives so that today we could believe freely.

This is a more comprehensive listing, spanning various centuries of martyrs connected to Rome - hat tip to OrthodoxEngland.org, hence the "Eastern-Orthodox-centric" streak of the commentary and its penchant to highlight martyrs of Greek origin. But this is the best list I've come across. Just keep in mind that despite the counterclaims, Orthodoxy is Catholic and Catholicism, as we have received it today, is Orthodox, critics notwithstanding:

Clement Nov 23 (In the East Jan 4, Apr 22, Sept 10 and Nov 25) + c 101. One of the Seventy Apostles, he was the third Pope of Rome. Consecrated by the Apostle Peter, he is mentioned in Philippians 4,3 and wrote a letter to the Church of Corinth which still exists. He is venerated as a martyr and he is remembered in Rome by the church of San Clemente, which may have been built on the site of his home.

Evaristus Oct 26 + c 105. The fourth Pope of Rome and a martyr.

Zachary May 26 + c 106. By tradition the second Bishop of Vienne in France, martyred under Trajan.

Ignatius of Antioch Oct 17 + c 107. Called 'the God-bearer'. Bishop of Antioch for forty years, he was taken to Rome by order of Trajan and was thrown to the wild beasts in the amphitheatre. On his way to Rome he wrote seven letters which survive. His relics are in St Peter's in Rome.

Rufus and Zosimus Dec 18 + c 107. Citizens of Philippi brought to Rome with St Ignatius of Antioch and thrown to the beasts in the Roman amphitheatre two days before the latter's martyrdom.

Zosimus June 19 + 110. A martyr in Spoleto in Umbria in Italy under Trajan.

Antiochus Dec 13 + c 110. A martyr on Sulci, a small island near Sardinia, under the Emperor Hadrian. The island is now also known as Isola di Sant'Antioco.

Publius Jan 21 + c 112. Tradition identifies this saint with Publius, 'chief man of the island of Malta', who befriended St Paul after his shipwreck (Acts 28,7). He became the first Bishop of Malta and later Bishop of Athens, being martyred under Trajan.

Alexander, Eventius and Theodulus May 3 + c 113. Three martyrs buried on the Via Nomentana in Rome.

Alexander I May 3 (In the East March 16) c 115. The fifth Pope of Rome from c 107 to c 115.

Latinus of Brescia March 24 + 115. Flavius Latinus succeeded St Viator as the third Bishop of Brescia in Italy (84-115). He suffered imprisonment and torture with other Christians.

Rome (Martyrs of) Apr 10 + c 115. A number of criminals baptised by Pope Alexander during his imprisonment. They were taken to Ostia near Rome and put on board a boat which was then scuttled.

Quirinus March 30 + c 117. The jailer of Pope Alexander I, by whom he was converted with his daughter St Balbina. Shortly afterwards he was martyred in Rome under Hadrian.

Sulpicius and Servilian Apr 20 + c 117. Martyrs in Rome who were beheaded under Trajan.

Maurus, Pantaleimon and Sergius July 27 + c 117? Three martyrs venerated in Bisceglia on the Adriatic in Italy. Maurus is said to have been born in Bethlehem, sent by the Apostle Peter to be the first Bishop of Bisceglia. They were martyred under Trajan,

Terentian Sept 1 + 118. Bishop of Todi in Umbria in Italy. He was racked, had his tongue cut out and finally was beheaded under Hadrian.

Eustace, Theopistes, Agapitus and Theopistus Sept 20 + 118. Eustace was an officer, Theopistes, his wife, and Agapitus and Theopistus, their two sons, were martyred in Rome under Hadrian. Eustace owed his conversion to a vision of a stag with a cross between its antlers, seen by him while hunting.

Secundus March 29 + 119. A noble from Asti in Piedmont in Italy and an officer in the imperial army. He was beheaded in Asti under Hadrian.

Serapia July 29 + 119. A slave of Syrian descent who was beheaded in Rome under Hadrian.

Zoticus, Irenaeus, Hyacinth, Amantius and Companions Feb 10 + 120. A group of ten soldiers martyred in Rome and buried on the Via Lavicana.

Marcian March 6 + 120. By tradition he was a disciple of St Barnabas and the first Bishop of Tortona in Piedmont in Italy, where he was martyred under Hadrian after an episcopate of forty-five years.

Theodora Apr 1 + c 120? The sister of St Hermes (Aug 28) whom she helped in prison and under torture. She was herself martyred some months later. Brother and sister were buried side by side.

Getulius, Caerealis, Amantius and Primitivus June 10 + c 120. By tradition Getulius was the husband of St Symphorosa. He, his brother Amantius, and the two officers sent to capture him and converted by him, were clubbed to death in Tivoli in Italy under Hadrian.

Hermes and Companions Aug 28 + c 120. Martyrs in Rome under the judge Aurelian.

Philetus, Lydia, Macedo, Theoprepius (Theoprepides), Amphilochius and Cronidas March 27 + c 121. Martyrs in Illyria under Hadrian. Philetus was a senator, Lydia his wife, Macedo and Theoprepius their sons, Amphilochius a captain, and Cronidas a notary.

Sixtus I (Xystus) Apr 3 + c 125. Pope of Rome from 117 to c 125, sometimes referred to as a martyr.

Marcian of Ravenna May 22 + c 127. Fourth Bishop of Ravenna in Italy, where he is known as San Mariano.

Calocerus Feb 11 + c 130. A disciple of St Apollinaris, whom he succeeded as Bishop of Ravenna in Italy.

Balbina March 31 + c 130. By tradition the daughter of Quirinus the martyr, she was baptised by Pope Alexander and lived as a virgin in Rome. She was buried on the Appian Way near her father. Later her relics were enshrined in the church dedicated to her on the Aventine.

Justa, Justina and Henedina May 14 + c 130. Saints venerated in Sardinia where they were martyred under Hadrian (117-138), either in Cagliari or else in Sassari.

Gabinus and Crispulus May 30 + c 130. The Protomartyrs of Sardinia. They suffered in Torres where they had preached the Gospel under Hadrian.

Crescentian May 31 + c 130. A martyr in Sassari in Sardinia, at the same time as Sts Gabinus and Crispulus under the Emperor Hadrian.

Auspicius July 8 + c 130. By tradition the fourth Bishop of Trier in Germany and successor of St Maternus (c 130).

Juvenal of Benevento May 7 + c 132. A saint of Narni in Italy. His shrine is in Benevento.

Martin of Vienne July 1 + c 132. Third Bishop of Vienne in France.

Telesphorus Jan 5 (In the East Feb 22) + c 136. A Greek who was Pope of Rome for ten years and was martyred under Hadrian.

Faith, Hope and Charity Aug 1 (In the East Sept 17) c 137. The three girls, aged respectively twelve, ten and nine years, daughters of St Sophia who were martyred in Rome under Hadrian.

Castritian Dec 1 + 137. The predecessor of St Calimerius as Bishop of Milan. He was bishop for forty-two years.

Oliva March 5 + 138. Martyred, perhaps in Brescia in the north of Italy, under the Emperor Hadrian.

Corebus Apr 18 c 117-138. A prefect of Messina in Sicily, converted to Christ by St Eleutherius and martyred under the Emperor Hadrian.

Eleutherius and Anthia Apr 18 + 117-138. Eleutherius, Bishop of Illyria, his mother Anthia and eleven others were martyred in Illyria under Hadrian.

Peregrinus May 16 + c 138 (?) Bishop of Terni in Umbria in Italy and founder of its Cathedral.

Hyginus Jan 11 + c 140. Pope of Rome from c 138 to 140, he may also have been a martyr.

Seven Brothers July 10 (In the East Jan 25) + c 150. Seven early martyrs in Rome who became brothers through sharing martyrdom. Their names are: Januarius, Felix and Philip, scourged to death; Sylvanus, thrown over a precipice; Alexander, Vitalis and Martial, beheaded. They suffered in Rome under Antoninus Pius.

Julian of Sora Jan 27 + c 150. Born in Dalmatia, he was arrested, tortured and beheaded in Sora in Campania in Italy under Antoninus Pius (138-161).

Mark and Timothy March 24 + c 150. Two martyrs in Rome.

Alexander July 10 + c 150. An early martyr in Rome.

Novatus June 20 + c 151. Son of Pudens, senator of Rome, and brother of Sts Praxedes and Pudentiana.

Pius I July 11 + c 155. Pope from c 142 to c 155. He may have been a brother of Hermas, the writer of the work called The Shepherd. If so, Pius, like his brother, was born a slave. He opposed the Gnostics, notably the Gnostic Marcion. He may have been martyred.

Simitrius and Companions May 26 + c 159. A group of twenty-three martyrs in Rome, arrested while praying in the church of St Praxedes and beheaded without trial.

Pastor July 26 + c 160. A priest in Rome and by tradition the brother of Pope Pius I.

Justin the Philosopher or Justin Martyr June 1 c 100-165. Born in Nablus in Palestine of pagan parents, when he was about thirty he was converted by reading the Scriptures and witnessing the heroism of the martyrs. His Apologies for the Christian Religion and Dialogue with the Jew Trypho are among the most edifying of second-century writings. He was beheaded in Rome with other Christians.

Ptolemy and Lucius Oct 19 + c 165. Martyrs in Rome under Antoninus Pius. Ptolemy was put to death for instructing a woman in the Orthodox Faith. One Lucius and an unnamed man protested against the injustice of the sentence and were also martyred. Their story was written down by St Justin Martyr, their contemporary.

Anicetus Apr 17 + 166. A Syrian by descent, he was Bishop of Rome from about 152 till 166. During this period St Polycarp of Smyrna visited Rome to settle with him the question of the date of Easter. Anicetus took a firm stand against the Gnostics and may have been martyred.

Daniel Jan 3 + 168. A deacon who helped St Prosdocimus, the first Bishop of Padua in Italy. He was martyred in 168.

Pontian Jan 19 + 169. A martyr in Spoleto in Italy under Marcus Aurelius.

Constantius and Companions Jan 29 + 170. Constantius, first Bishop of Perugia in Italy, was martyred with numerous members of his flock under Marcus Aurelius.

Severinus, Exuperius and Felician Nov 19 + 170. Martyrs in Vienne in France under Marcus Aurelius.

Sophia Sept 30 (In the East Sept 17) + c 173. The mother of the virgin-martyrs Faith, Hope and Charity who were martyred in Rome under Hadrian. Three days later, while praying at their tomb, Sophia also reposed, martyred in her soul.

Soter Apr 22 + c 174. Like most Orthodox in Rome at this time, he was a Greek. He became Pope and corresponded with the Church of Corinth and traditionally he is regarded as a martyr.

Concordius Jan 1 + 175. A subdeacon martyred in Spoleto in central Italy under Marcus Aurelius.

Probus Nov 10 + c 175. Born in Rome, he became the sixth Bishop of Ravenna in Italy. His relics are venerated in the Cathedral in Ravenna.

Photinus (or Pothinus), Sanctius (Sanctus), Vetius, Epagathus, Maturus, Ponticus, Biblis (Biblides), Attalus, Alexander, Blandina and Companions June 2 + 177. Martyrs in Lyons in France under Marcus Aurelius. The details of their martyrdom are given in a letter written by the Churches of Vienne and Lyons to those in Asia. The writer may have been St Irenaeus. The martyrs were attacked by a pagan mob and later tried and condemned for their faith. Photinus, their leader, bishop of the city, an old man aged ninety, reposed in his dungeon. The others were thrown to the wild beasts in the amphitheatre at the public games.

Paschasia Jan 9 + c 178 (?) A virgin martyr venerated from ancient times in Dijon in France.

Epipodius and Alexander Apr 22 + 178. Two young friends and citizens of Lyons in France, martyred under Marcus Aurelius. St Epipodius was beheaded. St Alexander is also commemorated on April 24.

Alexander and Companions Apr 24 + 178. A Greek by birth and the friend and companion of St Epipodius of Lyons in France. He was arrested and martyred with thirty-four others.

Marcellus Sept 4 + c 178. A priest in Lyons in France who escaped from prison but was arrested again. He was buried up to his waist on the banks of the Saône, where he survived for three days before he died.

Valerian Sept 15 + 178. A companion of St Photinus (Pothinus) of Lyons in France. He succeeded in escaping from prison and reappeared at Tournus near Autun, where he again preached to the people. He was captured a second time and beheaded.

Leucius of Brindisi Jan 11 + c 180. Venerated as the first Bishop of Brindisi in Italy where he had come as a missionary from Alexandria.

Hegesippus Apr 7 + c 180. A Jew born in Jerusalem, he spent twenty years of his life in Rome. He is considered to be the father of Church History but only a few chapters of his work remain.

Namphamon and Companions July 4 + c? 180. Of Carthaginian descent, he was martyred with several compatriots at Madaura in Numidia in North Africa and called 'the Archmartyr'.

Scillitan Martyrs July 17 + 180. Twelve martyrs, seven men and five women, who suffered at Scillium in North Africa under Septimius Severus. Their names are: Speratus, Narzales, Cythinus, Veturius, Felix, Acyllinus, Laetantius, Januaria, Generosa, Vestina, Donata and Secunda. The official Acts of these martyrs still exist.

Herculanus Sept 5 + ? c 180. A martyr in Porto near Rome, probably under Marcus Aurelius.

Antoninus Aug 22 + 186. A converted executioner in Rome.

Eleutherius May 26 + 189. A Greek who became a deacon in Rome and succeeded St Soterius as Pope in 175.

Apollonius the Apologist Apr 18 + c 190. A Roman senator, denounced as a Christian by one of his own slaves and condemned to be beheaded. His eloquent defence of Orthodoxy, delivered before the Senate at his trial is a priceless document of the Faith.

Dathus (Datus) July 3 + 190. Bishop of Ravenna in Italy. His election was due to the miraculous appearance of a dove hovering over his head.

Pantaenus July 7 + c 190. Born in Sicily, Pantaenus became the head of the Orthodox School in Alexandria.

Calimerius July 31 + c 190. A Greek who became Bishop of Milan in Italy. He is the Apostle of the Po Valley. He was martyred under Commodus by being thrown into a well. He is buried under the altar of his church in Milan.

Faustus Aug 7 + c 190. A soldier martyred in Milan in Italy under Commodus.

Julius Aug 19 + c 190. An early martyr in Rome.

Eusebius, Pontian, Vincent and Peregrinus Aug 25 + 192? Martyrs in Rome.

Dionysius May 8 + c 193. The successor of St Justus as Bishop of Vienne in the Dauphiné in France.

Victor I July 28 + 198. Born in North Africa, he was Pope of Rome for ten years (189-198).

Irenaeus of Lyons June 28 c 130-200. Born in Asia Minor, he was a disciple of St Polycarp, who was a disciple of the Apostle John the Divine. He went to France and became Bishop of Lyons (c 177), where he was later martyred. His writings against Gnosticism are a witness to Apostolic Tradition.

Symphorian Aug 22 + c 200. A member of a senatorial family in Autun in France, he was martyred under Marcus Aurelius for refusing to sacrifice to a pagan goddess.

Rufus of Avignon Nov 12 + c 200. Venerated as the first Bishop of Avignon in France.

Lucius Dec 3 ? + c 200. A noble in Britain. According to tradition, he asked that missionaries be sent to Britain and they founded the dioceses of London and Llandaff.

Liberius Dec 30 + c 200. Bishop of Ravenna in Italy, venerated as one of the founders of that diocese.

Elvan and Mydwyn Jan 1 2nd cent. By tradition they were two Britons sent to ask for missionaries for Britain.

Patiens Jan 8 2nd cent. Venerated as the fourth Bishop and patron-saint of Metz in France.

Paul, Gerontius, Januarius, Saturninus, Successus, Julius, Catus, Pia and Germana Jan 19 2nd cent. (?) Martyrs in Numidia in North Africa.

Modestus Feb 12 2nd century? Modestus was martyred in Carthage in North Africa and venerated as the patron-saint of Cartagena in Spain.

Eleuchadius Feb 14 2nd cent. A Greek, he was converted by St Apollinaris of Ravenna in Italy and succeeded St Adheritus as third Bishop of that city.

Faustinus and Jovita Feb 15 2nd cent. Two brothers, belonging to the nobility of Brescia in Italy, zealous preachers of Orthodoxy, they were beheaded in their native city under Hadrian.

Felix of Metz Feb 21 2nd cent. The third Bishop of Metz in France for over forty years.

Alexander and Theodore March 17 2nd century? Early martyrs in Rome.

Flavia Domitilla, Euphrosyna and Theodora May 12 2nd cent. Flavia Domitilla was a great-niece of the Emperors Domitian and Titus and St Flavius Clemens. She became Orthodox. On refusing to marry a pagan she was exiled from Rome and martyred with her foster sisters, Euphrosyna and Theodora, in Terracina in Italy.

Pudentiana (or Potentiana) May 19 2nd cent. A holy virgin in Rome, daughter of the senator St Pudens. By tradition she died at the age of sixteen.

Baudelius May 20 2nd (or 3rd) cent. Born in Orleans in France, he was married and worked zealously for Orthodoxy. He was martyred in Nîmes. Veneration for him spread throughout France and the north of Spain and some four hundred churches were dedicated to him.

Dyfan (Deruvianus, Damian) May 26 2nd cent. By tradition an early missionary in Britain. His church in Merthyr Dyfan shows the popular tradition that he ended his days as a martyr.

Fugatius and Damian May 26 ? 2nd cent. By tradition they were missionaries sent to Britain from Rome.

Cominus June 3 2nd century. A companion of St Photinus (Pothinus) and martyr in Lyons in France.

Gervase and Protase June 19 ? 2nd cent. In 386, during the episcopate of St Ambrose, the relics of Sts Gervase and Protase, the protomartyrs of the city, were discovered in Milan in Italy.

Praxedes July 21 2nd cent. The daughter of the Roman senator Pudens and sister of St Pudentiana. One of the ancient churches in Rome is dedicated to her.

Peregrinus July 28 2nd cent. (?) A priest near Lyons in France at the time of St Irenaeus and during the persecution under Severus. He lived as a hermit on an island in the River Saône.

Maximus of Padua Aug 2 2nd cent. Successor of St Prosdocimus as Bishop of Padua in Italy.

Florus, Laurus, Proculus and Maximus Aug 18 2nd cent. The former were twin brothers and stonemasons in Illyria. Proculus and Maximus were their employers. They handed over a temple on which they had been working to Christian worship and as a punishment were drowned in a well.

Flocellus Sept 17 2nd cent. A youth martyred in Autun in France under the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180). After being tortured, he was flung half-dead to the wild beasts in the amphitheatre.

Alexander Sept 21 2nd cent. A bishop in the neighbourhood of Rome. His miracles attracted the attention of the people and he was arrested and martyred on the Claudian Way, some twenty miles from Rome. His relics were enshrined in Rome.

Andochius, Thyrsus and Felix Sept 24 2nd cent. Andochius, a priest, and Thyrsus, a deacon in Smyrna, were sent to what is now France by St Polycarp. They settled in Autun where they converted their host, a rich merchant, by name Felix. All three were martyred and were venerated throughout Gaul.

Herculanus Sept 25 2nd cent. A soldier martyred in Rome.

Adhentus (Abderitus, Adery) Sept 27 + 2nd cent. A Greek by birth, he succeeded St Apollinaris as Bishop of Ravenna in Italy. His relics are enshrined in the basilica of Classe near Ravenna.

Paternus Sept 28 2nd cent. Born in Bilbao in Spain, he was one of the earliest Bishops of Auch in France.

Benignus Nov 1 2nd cent. A martyr venerated in Dijon in France from early times, over whose tomb the Cathedral of St Benignus was built.

Agrippinus (Arpinus) Nov 9 2nd or 3rd cent. Bishop of Naples in Italy, where he has been greatly venerated from time immemorial. His relics are enshrined under the altar of the Cathedral of Naples with Sts Eutychius and Acutius, companions of St Januarius.

Veneranda Nov 14 2nd cent. An early martyr in France.

Fidentius Nov 16 2nd cent. An early saint in Padua in Italy.

Cecilia Nov 22 2nd-3rd cent. One of the most famous virgin-martyrs of Rome. Having suffered for Christ, she was buried in the cemetery of St Callistus. Her relics are beneath the altar of the basilica of St Cecilia in Trastevere. She is the patron-saint of musicians.

PBS Religion and Ethics Weekly Broadcast on Thomas Merton

2009-06-29T18:55:00.001-04:00

Folks, PBS’ Religion and Ethics Weekly recently dedicated one of their shows to the late American Trappist monk Thomas Merton which I think you should all watch. You may click on the picture above to access the site or click here. As soon as PBS releases the video to YouTube, I will embed the video here. They also have other great content on Merton which you may access here:

As well as some other related materials:

Check it out! And let me know what you think, good, bad, or indifferent about Father M. Louis “Thomas” Merton, who I consider one of my spiritual preceptors, warts and all.

Whitewash in Progress on Neda's Murder by Iranian Authorities

2009-06-29T09:28:00.005-04:00

"Reelected" Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about to blame the West.

Folks, according to CNN:

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday called the death of Neda Agha-Soltan "suspicious" and urged the country's authorities to identify those responsible for it, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported Monday.

The 26-year-old's death has come to symbolize Iranian resistance to the government's official election results since it was captured on amateur video. Within hours of its being posted online June 20, she had become the iconic victim of the Iranian government crackdown.

But Iran has been pushing back against eyewitness reports that she was shot by pro-government Basij militiamen perched on a rooftop near a demonstration.

Ahmadinejad told the head of Iran's judiciary, Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudi, to probe the incident and make the results of his investigations public, Fars reported Monday, nine days after Agha-Soltan was killed. See gallery of Neda and the affect of her life »

"The massive propaganda of the foreign media, as well as other evidence, proves the interference of the enemies of the Iranian nation who want to take political advantage and darken the pure face of the Islamic republic," he said in a letter to Shahroudi, according to the news agency.

The letter comes a day after Iran's government-backed Press TV said Agha-Soltan did not die the way the opposition claims.

Commentary. Stung by the fallout on Neda's murder in and outside Iran, "reelected" Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is launching an all-out information campaign aimed at shifting the blame. Their foregone conclusion? Unspecified Western intelligence agencies are to blame, perhaps the CIA, most likely MI6.

Scapegoating is in full swing in Iran. In the meantime, Neda is dead and the authorities would not even allow their own people to mourn her according to their own religious rites - or rather, they will as soon as the regime blames her death on the West. Watch out for that too.

In the meantime, remember Neda.