Tag: hope

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.

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Finding hope and light in the darkness

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,

“Night is coming, when no one can work,” we heard in the Gospel reading of this past Sunday (Jn 9:4).

Jesus told his disciples: do the works of God while it is still day, “night is coming when no one can work.”

No one can work and, I might add, no-thing can work. And I would suggest that night has come.

Even as we’ve just marked the Sunday that we call “Rejoice Sunday,” we acknowledge that we have to rejoice in the truth. God gives us the grace to rejoice in the truth. And the truth is that the night has come and so no one and nothing can work — but the splendid Light of the Resurrection will make that night as bright as day!

The story of the man born blind, which we encountered in the Gospel reading, is in many ways an allegory for our very own culture and our very own society. It is a culture and a society of death. A culture upon which night has descended, so nothing works.

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On
Lindsay Becher, For the Catholic Herald

Engaging in work on the new and the old evangelization

This is the first in a series of articles to be published on the topic of engaging in the work of evangelization — old and new — and how to live out the Year of Faith by engaging in this most important task. Keep reading in the weeks to come!

We are three months in. This Year of Faith was called for with the hope of transforming our world and the lives of those living in it. What has happened?

  • A synod of bishops and lay leaders in the Church met in Rome for a month to talk about the New Evangelization last October
  • A few hundred people in the Diocese of Madison came out to hear Tom Peterson, founder of Catholics Come Home, speak in Madison this past November.
  • A couple parishes in the area have invited back those who had fallen away from the practice of their faith.
  • Catholic churches were packed on Christmas and were less than half full the following Sunday.
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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Caring for the body — and the soul

Dear Friends,

I don’t know if it’s been your experience, but, of late, I’ve noticed a marked increase in the number of people who are very obvious for their display of unhappiness. I’ve been taken aback on a number of occasions by total strangers who, by way of their rude behavior, and shortness with others, indicate a real lack of joy in their lives.

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Let the beauty of the Cross shine through

Dear Friends,
As you read this week’s column you may be either in the heart of Christ’s Passion or the Joy of His Resurrection. Thus, I’d like to reflect upon the paradox that is the beauty of the Cross, and the paradox that is our own tendency to turn against God’s plan for us, despite the fact that His plan is for our happiness and eternal life.

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On
Sr. Constance Carolyn Veit, L.S.P.

Consecrated women bring the love and mercy of God

Each February, the Church celebrates two events of special significance to Little Sisters of the Poor.

On February 5, the Church celebrates the World Day of Consecrated Life, a day important to all men and women religious. On February 11, the World Day of the Sick is observed.

Each of these special days offers an opportunity for us to affirm our vocation as consecrated women devoted to the Church’s mission of compassion through the ministry of healthcare.

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On
Fr. Paul Ugo Arinze

Ten new seminarians point to Church’s hopeful future

As the fall season rolls in and many students are headed back to school, the seminarians for the diocese are all heading back to school to continue with their seminary formation after a much deserved summer break.

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Starting this fall, we will have seminarians in seminaries in Detroit, Mich.; Denver, Colo.; Washington, D.C.; Winona and St. Paul, Minn.; Seward,

Neb.; South Orange, N.J.; and Rome, Italy. Their years of seminary formation range from freshmen in college to the final year of theology.

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On
Steve Karlen

Treat miscarried babies with the dignity they deserve

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As soon as I heard my wife burst out the bathroom door that sunny spring day, I knew she was pregnant. I hadn’t yet opened my eyes but I didn’t need to. Her footsteps told me everything.

My wife didn’t have any particular reason to believe she was pregnant. But after a couple years of praying for a second child, I’d grown accustomed to Laura taking random pregnancy tests — hoping against hope that somehow that second pink line would appear. This time it did.

Joyful days

The days ahead were as joyful as any we’d experienced in our life together. We beamed when friends who knew of our struggle with secondary infertility congratulated us and we devoured all the fetal development materials we could find, eager to mark every last milestone in our baby’s nascent life.

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