Trust is the pivotal spiritual stance we must embrace before the Lord if we seek to grow in holiness.
Tag: holiness
The importance of Catholic schools
As we again […]
Saint of light, saint of darkness
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Like so many others around the world, I was overjoyed to hear of the recent decision of the Vatican to canonize Mother Teresa, a woman generally recognized, during her lifetime, to be a “living saint.”
Mother Teresa first came to my attention through Malcolm Muggeridge’s film and attendant book, Something Beautiful for God. Of course. Muggeridge showed Mother’s work with the dying and the poorest of the poor on the streets of Kolkata, but what moved me the most were the images of the saint’s smile amidst so much squalor and suffering. She was a very bright light shining in exceptionally thick darkness.
Demonstrating love
Mother’s life reveals so many aspects and profiles of holiness, but I would like to focus on three of them.
Answering our call to holiness
Dear Friends,
As I write this column, we are in the midst of two days of the Church year, which call us both to hope and rejoicing, and also to deep prayer and reflection upon the core reality of Christianity.
The Solemnity of All Saints and the Commemoration of All Souls are, for the Church, where the rubber meets the road.
It is the time when we, who make up the Church Militant — the Church still fighting and struggling in this life — recall the whole Church Triumphant and Church Suffering.
Abbot Marcel Rooney to lead retreats at Durward’s Glen
BARABOO — Two different retreat weekends are planned for Durward’s Glen Retreat and Conference Center in Baraboo featuring Abbot Marcel Rooney, who has extensive knowledge of sacred liturgy, music, and art.
The theme for his talks will be “Making Holy Mass a Dynamic Force in Our Christian Lives.” During three talks at the two retreats, Abbot Rooney will focus on the components of the liturgy of the Mass and its relationship to our spiritual life and growth.
Are you a sheep or a goat?
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| 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 weekend we marked the great Solemnity of Christ the King. The imagery of the Christ as king is used in many passages of Scripture and in the Gospels.
He’s likened to a king who threw a banquet. He’s likened to a king who sent his armies out to fight. He’s likened to a king who is putting his economic life in order and who was very severe to make sure his finances were well handled. Kings are pictured doing a lot of things in Scripture, and so many of those images refer to the Messiah, to Jesus.
Christ the King as the Judge
On this Feast of Christ the King in 2014, Christ the King has been presented as the Judge. He is separating the sheep from the goats. And, in doing that, He is showing us what it means for Him, for His Father, to be “all in all,” as it says at the end of the second reading (1 Cor 15:28).
God will be all in all. What does that mean? It means God will be everything for everyone. And that’s how we are judged, basically.
Did I live as though God was everything for me? Or, did I live as though God just took up some small corner of my life? Did I live as though He was everything? Or did I live as though He were only a marginal character in my life?
Catholic women plan meetings
Jefferson Vicariate
JEFFERSON — St. Lawrence Parish, W4875 Hwy. 18, will host the Jefferson Vicariate meeting on Thursday, Oct. 17.
Registration starts at 4:45 p.m., with the Rosary at 5:10 p.m. and Mass at 5:30 p.m. Msgr. Duane Moellenberndt of Sun Prairie, Fr. Tom Coyle of Jefferson, and attending priests will concelebrate the Mass.
Dinner is at 6:30 p.m. Madison Diocesan Council of Catholic Women President Coreen Marklein will speak followed by the program with Father Coyle focusing on the theme, “Uniting Women of Faith.”
Let the splendor of holiness shine out
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| 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 have in my hands a vocation pamphlet from 1965, and on the cover we have Bishop O’Connor ordaining a priest, and the overall title of the pamphlet is, “The Hands of Christ.” The truth on the cover of the pamphlet is stated simply this way: “Christ works today through His bishops, whose hands are those of the priests’.”
Thank you so much, dear brother priests, for coming out in such good numbers, so that we can celebrate and manifest the bond of the priesthood. God knows we don’t all have to be alike, but we all have to be bonded together by the mystery of the Holy Spirit’s seal on our soul, forging us together in an alliance that — as long as we’re open to grace — no human reality can obstruct.
Alliance between bishop and priests
So, the alliance of the priest with his bishop is like the alliance of the bishop with his own hands, as that pamphlet from 1965 says it so well, and it hasn’t changed. That’s the way it was, that’s the way it is, that’s the way it’s been since the time of Jesus. So, dear priests, thank you so very much for doing your best to be the hands of the bishop. Thank you so very much for doing your very best to allow the Holy Spirit to forge among all of us that unbreakable alliance which has as its root none other than that priestly seal of the Holy Spirit upon our souls. So, I’d invite all of us to offer our expression of gratitude to our priests.
Prayers encouraged for Schoenstatt Sister of Mary declared ‘Venerable’
On May 10, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI promulgated the decree of heroic virtues of Sr. Emilie Engel, a Schoenstatt Sister of Mary from Germany.
Bringing back Communion rails is not the answer
To the editor:
This is in regard to the recent article (January 24) by Deacon Greg Kandra on bringing back Communion rails in church. You’ve got to be kidding! Do you really think that will fix the problem mentioned and make all people more holy? I don’t think so.
Holiness begins with learning of one’s religion and what is in our hearts. It should begin with teaching children about the Church, the sacraments, and how to be respectful to others.