BELOIT — Will you be tired after the hustle and bustle of the holiday season? Need some time to refocus?
Our Lady of the Assumption (OLA) Parish will be celebrating Lessons and Carols on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, beginning at 7 p.m. in the church, 2222 Shopiere Rd.
The 25-voice OLA Parish choir, under the direction of Randy Gracyalny, will be joined by instrumentalists from the parish and area to provide an uplifting prayer and musical experience.
One of my favorite books is Blessed Are You: Mother Teresa and the Beatitudes, by Eileen Egan and Kathleen Egan, OSB (1992). When Pope Francis announced that Blessed Teresa would be canonized in 2016, I took the book out again.
Each chapter of the book offers a short meditation on one of the Beatitudes, Blessed Teresa’s own reflections on that Beatitude, and how she and her order – the Missionaries of Charity — lived that Beatitude.
 |
|
| 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,
This past Sunday — Gaudete or “Rejoice” Sunday — provided plenty of reason for rejoicing.
In addition to our celebration of the rapidly approaching Feast of Christmas (which celebrates not only the Incarnation of the Lord, but also our hope in the Second Coming) we marked, in a particular way, the beginning of the Year of Mercy in the Diocese of Madison.
On this past Sunday we opened the Holy Doors, which are present at the two sites of the Cathedral Parish (St. Patrick Church and Holy Redeemer Church) and at the Schoenstatt Founder Shrine.
As I mentioned in my letter for the opening of the Year of Mercy, these doors should be a place of pilgrimage for us and they bear with them a plenary indulgence granted by Pope Francis.
It should be noted, however, that the indulgence does not simply come upon passing through the doors. There is spiritual conversion that is to be done. You need to grow in freedom from the attachment to sin.
A primary symbol of this Year of Mercy is the entrance through the Holy Doors. So, I encourage you to take the time and consider making several pilgrimages through one of the Holy Doors of Mercy.
In the second reading of this past Sunday (Phil 4:4-7) we have that wonderful admonition from the Lord. “Rejoice in the Lord always! Rejoice!”
Now, if you look around the world with all the violence, and at the collapse of the culture in our own country, and at the war against the Natural Law, against the law of human reason, which is being waged, there’s reason not to rejoice.
But St. Paul says to rejoice anyway — “Rejoice in the Lord always!” Nothing is so big that it can conquer the joy of Christ. Nothing.
This Year of Mercy could also be called the “Big Picture Year,” where we keep the big picture in mind — Jesus Christ is still risen from the dead!
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Jesus Christ invites all to know the peace He offers, the only true and everlasting source of joy and hope.
“Open the gates of justice; we shall enter and give thanks to the Lord.”
With those words by Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison and a knock, one of three Doors of Mercy were opened in the Diocese of Madison at St. Patrick Church in Madison, part of Cathedral Parish of St. Raphael.
MADISON — With a trumpet solo as pure and melodic as it is glorious, the Madison Diocesan Choir will herald the birth of Christ in a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, featuring brass quintet and timpani, this Sunday, Dec. 20, at the Bishop O’Connor Catholic Pastoral Center.
Dr. Patrick Gorman, Diocesan Choir director for nearly 25 years, has had harp, strings, and woodwinds accompany the choir with organist Glenn Schuster for the Advent service, a longstanding tradition of the choir.
 |
|
In John 3:16 it says, “For God so loved the world that God gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but have might have eternal life.”
Gilbert Keith Chesterton wrote, “Out of love for us, the mighty hands that created the sun, moon, and stars became so tiny that they could not reach up to touch the noses of the oxen who tried to warm him with their hayed breath.”
Deeply moved by the infant Jesus, St. Thérèse of Lisieux asked, “Why should we fear God who became a tiny baby?”
 |
|
Sometimes people will point out: “We euthanize our pets when they suffer, and they are clearly creatures of God, so why can’t we euthanize a sick and suffering person who wants it? It seems like we treat our dogs and cats better than we treat our suffering family members.”
The way we treat animals, however, should not be the measure of how we treat fellow human beings. We keep animals as pets, but we don’t do the same with humans. We use animals to make clothing and food, but we don’t do the same with humans.
For all our similarities to the rest of the animal kingdom, we are aware of a fundamental difference in kind between ourselves and our furry friends. We are not meant to die just as animals do, or be euthanized as they are. The death of a human is a more complex event that has other important realities associated with it.
 |
|
Just recently on the website maintained by the episcopal conference of Germany, there appeared an editorial concerning Pope Francis’ apostolic visit to Africa.
As many have pointed out, the piece was breathtaking in its arrogance and cultural condescension. The author’s take on the surprisingly rapid pace of Christianity’s growth on the “dark continent” (his words)? Well, the level of education in Africa is so low that the people accept easy answers to complex questions.
His assessment of the explosion in vocations across Africa? Well, the poor things don’t have many other avenues of social advancement; so they naturally gravitate toward the priesthood.
BARABOO — From Friday, Dec. 18, through Saturday afternoon, Dec. 19, the Servants of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Vigil for Life will be hosting the eighth annual Respect Life Retreat.
This special Advent retreat will be held once again in the beautiful retreat center of Durward‘s Glen W11876 McLeisch Rd., Baraboo.
