Day: April 17, 2014

On
Chris Lee

Todo el tiempo le pertenece a Él

Esta columna es la comunicación del Obispo con los fieles de la Diócesis de Madison. Cualquier circulación más amplia va más allá de la intención del Obispo.

Queridos amigos:

Siempre es extraño preparar una columna sobre este tema para el Catholic Herald.

Mientras escribo, es lunes y acabamos de comenzar la Semana Santa. Cuando este número llegue a sus hogares, será probablemente Jueves Santo pero será la “edición de Pascua”. Acabamos de vivir el Domingo de Ramos, cuando hemos cantado con alegría “¡Hosanna!” y Jesús ha entrado triunfante en Jerusalén.

Entonces, ¿debería reflexionar sobre esos momentos de gloria mundana? ¿Debería alegrarme con todo el gusto de la Pascua, sabiendo que leerán esto con el brillo de esos días? ¿O debería considerar la oscuridad de la Pasión y la Muerte de Cristo, considerando que podrían leer esta columna el Jueves o el Viernes Santo?

Claro que no será el fin del mundo si escojo alguno de estos temas, y el tema tampoco es la tensión de tener que escribir esta columna.

Read More
On
Kevin Wondrash

Faith opportunities for women

Diocesan convention

BARABOO — Join Catholic women from the diocese to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Madison Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (MDCCW) and “Find Grace through Faith, Trust, & Patience” at the annual MDCCW convention.

The Sauk Vicariate will host this event, beginning the afternoon of Tuesday, May 20, and continuing the next day at the Clarion Hotel & Convention Center, 626 Hwy. 12, Baraboo.

Read More
On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

All time belongs to Him

This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear Friends,

It is always strange to prepare a column for this issue of the Catholic Herald.

As I write, it is Monday and we’ve just entered into Holy Week. When this issue arrives at your homes, it will most likely be Holy Thursday, and yet this will also serve as the “Easter issue.”

We’ve just experienced Palm Sunday, when we rejoiced and sang “Hosanna!” as Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem.

So should I reflect upon those moments of worldly glory? Should I rejoice with all the gusto of Easter, knowing that you may read this in the glow of those days? Or, should I consider the darkness of Christ’s passion and death, bearing in mind that you may read this column on Holy Thursday or Good Friday?

Of course it wouldn’t be the end of the world to do any of this, and the point is not really the tension of writing this column.

We live in a world of tension

I reflect upon it though, because it’s actually the tension in which we live day-in and day-out.

For us, Christ’s life, His passion, His death, and His raising to new life all are present at once.

 

Read More
On
Sr. Margie Lavonis

Living the paschal mystery with hope

Cutting Edge by Sr. Margie Lavonis

Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Christ and is the most important feast of the Church.

At Easter we renew our faith and welcome new members into the Church.

It is the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil) that is the high point of the Church year.

Paschal mystery

Easter is the fulfillment of the paschal mystery — the suffering, death, and rising of Jesus. This mystery is not a one-time historical event. As members of the body of Christ, we live this mystery throughout our lives.

We entered the paschal mystery at baptism. We were baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus. This means that we share in Christ’s suffering, death, and rising throughout our lives.

The paschal mystery assures us that the “pain and dying” we experience in our daily lives ultimately leads to resurrection.

It is our Christian belief that God can and does bring good out of evil and suffering.

Jesus’ life is the greatest example of this. God did not leave Jesus in his pain. God raised him from the dead. Death had no power over him.

Read More
On
Fr. Robert Barron

The ‘zealot’ versus the real Jesus

When I saw that Reza Aslan’s portrait of Jesus, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, had risen to number one on the New York Times bestseller list, I must confess, I was both disappointed and puzzled.

For the reductionistic and debunking approach that Aslan employs has been tried by dozens of commentators for at least the past 300 years, and the debunkers have been themselves debunked over and over again by serious scholars of the historical Jesus.

Aslan’s portrayal of the ‘zealot’

The Jesus that Aslan wants to present is the “zealot,” the Jewish insurrectionist intent upon challenging the Temple establishment in Jerusalem and the Roman military power that dominated Israel.

His principle justification for this reading is that religiously motivated revolutionaries were indeed thick on the ground in the Palestine of Jesus’ time; that Jesus claimed to be ushering in a new Kingdom of God; and that he ended up dying the death typically meted out to rabble-rousers who posed a threat to Roman authority.

 

Read More
On
Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Can we watch an hour? Help preserve the holy places

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

It always makes me sad to read the Scripture passages telling how the apostles fell asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane just before Jesus’ arrest — not only once, but three times!

Jesus says to them, “Could you not watch one hour with me” (Mt. 26:40)? It doesn’t seem like much to ask of his disciples — who had traveled with him and were the primary teachers of his message — to stay awake by his side. However, the apostles were human. Jesus recognized their humanity when he added, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Unfortunately many of us aren’t always being vigilant about what is happening around us, especially when it comes to things that are impacting our faith and our Church.

Read More