Category: Bishop Morlino’s Columns

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Meditate on Mary during month of May and special Fatima year

Dear Friends,

This month of May is, as always, a month for honoring and devoting ourselves to Mary, the Mother of God.

And in a particular way, as was marked by Pope Francis last week during his Apostolic visit to Portugal, we commemorate 100 years since the Blessed Virgin appeared several times to the three “shepherd children.” The two of those children who died in their youth are now Saint Jacinta and Saint Francisco Marto, having been canonized by Pope Francis on Saturday, and the third, Servant of God Sr. Maria Lucia, who only passed from this life in 2005, has her cause for canonization underway.

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino

Holy Week is gift from Holy Spirit for our salvation

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 hard for me to believe that this coming Sunday is Palm Sunday, and yet, here we are!

I bring this up because I want to remind you that the most important liturgies of the Church, culminating in the great Easter Vigil, begin this coming Sunday. It is the most important time in the Church year, and I encourage you to be actively engaged in it.

Holy Week begins

We begin, of course, with Palm Sunday (or Passion Sunday), which is the official start of Holy Week. And Holy Week builds from there.

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Solemnity of the Annunciation and Laetare Sunday

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,

Last weekend the anticipation of Easter joy certainly mingled with, and almost seemed to overcome, the more somber spirit of Lenten penance as we celebrated both the Solemnity of the Annunciation of Our Blessed Mother and Laetare Sunday, which captures in advance the joy of Easter and reminds us indeed of the destiny of Lent.

The Annunciation celebrates Jesus taking flesh in the womb of His mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the moment of His conception, free from Original Sin.

Mary, as she carried Jesus about in her physical body, became the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle of God the Most High.

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Seeing and beholding the glory of Christ

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,

How good it is for us to be here!

I’m hopeful that this sentiment was experienced at your own parishes this past Transfiguration Sunday.

I said it wholeheartedly as I offered the Mass and indeed, we should pray for the faith to proclaim, each and every blessed day, and especially when we stand at the foot of the altar, awaiting the Risen Lord, “How good it is for us to be here!”

What the Transfiguration is all about

The opening prayer of this past Sunday’s Mass tells us what the Transfiguration is all about. It says:

“O God, who have commanded us to listen to your beloved Son, be pleased, we pray, to nourish us inwardly by your word, that, with spiritual sight made pure, we may rejoice to behold your glory.”

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Lent is a time to remember that God and Heaven should be our top priorities

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,

The readings for the first Sunday of Lent give all of us a general principle for evaluating our own lives and determining areas for growth during the holy Lenten season.

The First Reading reminds us of Satan’s successful deception of Adam and Eve, convincing them that pride, that is, disobedience of God, will enable them to be like God.

In fact, Adam and Eve are left in the Garden for the first time experiencing shame as they learn the hard way that the wages of sin never amounts to being like God, but rather the wages of sin is death.

God and Heaven are top priority

The Second Reading makes clear that disobedience and death really are the very same choice.

Disobedience and that assertion that “I know better than God!” leads me to place God and Heaven at a lower priority in my own life. Once this happens, it becomes progressively easier to make my goal something less-than-God, something less-than-Heaven.

But God and Heaven alone are the fullness of life, and ultimately to choose what is less-than-God or -Heaven as my top priority is to choose death.

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Lent is a time to remember that God and Heaven should be our top priorities

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,

The readings for the first Sunday of Lent give all of us a general principle for evaluating our own lives and determining areas for growth during the holy Lenten season.

The First Reading reminds us of Satan’s successful deception of Adam and Eve, convincing them that pride, that is, disobedience of God, will enable them to be like God.

In fact, Adam and Eve are left in the Garden for the first time experiencing shame as they learn the hard way that the wages of sin never amounts to being like God, but rather the wages of sin is death.

God and Heaven are top priority

The Second Reading makes clear that disobedience and death really are the very same choice.

Disobedience and that assertion that “I know better than God!” leads me to place God and Heaven at a lower priority in my own life. Once this happens, it becomes progressively easier to make my goal something less-than-God, something less-than-Heaven.

But God and Heaven alone are the fullness of life, and ultimately to choose what is less-than-God or -Heaven as my top priority is to choose death.

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Renewing our invitation to conversion

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,

I’m not certain how it accomplishes this each year, but Lent seems always to surprise me.

I just looked at the calendar and saw that Ash Wednesday is only two weeks away! It seems as though we’ve just finished marking the season of Christmas — with all of the joy and exuberance that that brings.

On the other hand, there’s a part of me that has the sense that we just completed a Lent not so long ago.

And yet, I can recall some of the resolutions that came from my prayer, fasting, and almsgiving last Lent, and I cannot say that I’ve perfected them — or rather that they’ve been made perfect in me — over the past year.

And so it is, this cycle of conversion and reversion continues, and thanks be to God, it comes each year.

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Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Make this Christmas a ‘silent night’

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,

The Book of Wisdom, Chapter 18, verse 14 says, “For while gentle silence enveloped all things, and night in its swift course was now half gone, Your all powerful word leapt from heaven, from the royal throne.”

It is a beautiful prophecy of the night of our Lord’s Birth. That’s why it’s the introit from the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas and it is a biblical reference, along with others, which give context to the beautiful Christmas hymn, “Silent Night.” Silence is part of the essential clothing, if you will, of Christmas.

The power of silence

Robert Cardinal Sarah, the Prefect for Divine Worship, has written a beautiful new book about the power of silence. Unfortunately, it is only available in French for now.

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