Almighty and Eternal God, the feast of Your blessed apostle Bartholomew fills us with reverent and holy joy. Grant that Your Church may love the truths that he believed and preach the doctrines that he taught.
The parish’s fiscal 2010 financial report came in at break even. No red. Just a beautiful shade of black! It is no easy task to balance income and expenses, especially with today’s economy. But thanks to the faithful’s generosity and careful overview all is good. Thanks be to God!
THE FRIENDS OF JESUS: A NEW BOOK FOR CHILDREN BY THE POPE
VATICAN CITY, 22 JUL 2010 (VIS) – “The Friends of Jesus” is the title of a new book for children by Benedict XVI in which he recounts the story of the twelve Apostles and St. Paul.
The book, forty-eight pages long and illustrated by the Italian artist Franco Vignazia, has been published by the publishing house San Giuliano Milanese. It brings together a number of passages from the Pope’s catecheses in his Wednesday general audiences, according to the “Osservatore Romano” newspaper.
The prologue is by the Spanish priest Fr. Julian Carron, president of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation.
“Once upon a time there was a small group of men who, one day two thousand years ago, met a young man who walked the roads of Galilee. Each had his own job and family but, in an instant, their lives changed. They were called Andrew and John, Peter, Matthew, Thomas, etc. They were twelve and we know them today as the ‘Apostles’. … In Jerusalem at that time everyone knew that they were Jesus’ ‘friends’. … Later they were joined by St. Paul … who from being a persecutor of Christians became the greatest witness to Jesus”, writes Fr. Carron.
Fr. Carron likewise explains that in this work Benedict XVI “takes us by the hand and accompanies us as we discover who Jesus’ first companions were, how they met Him and were conquered by Him to the point that they never abandoned Him”.
VIAGGIO APOSTOLICO DI SUA SANTITÀ BENEDETTO XVI IN PORTOGALLO NEL 10° ANNIVERSARIO DELLA BEATIFICAZIONE DI GIACINTA E FRANCESCO, PASTORELLI DI FÁTIMA
Martedì, 11 maggio 2010
08.50 Partenza in aereo dall’Aeroporto Internazionale Leonardo da Vinci di Fiumicino (Roma) per Lisboa.
11.00 Arrivo all’Aeroporto Internazionale Portela di Lisboa.
ACCOGLIENZA UFFICIALE all’Aeroporto Internazionale Portela di Lisboa. Discorso del Santo Padre.
12.45 CERIMONIA DI BENVENUTO al Mosteiro dos Jeróminos di Lisboa.
Breve visita al Mosteiro dos Jeróminos di Lisboa.
13.30 VISITA DI CORTESIA AL PRESIDENTE DELLA REPUBBLICA nel Palácio de Belém di Lisboa.
18.15 SANTA MESSA nel Terreiro do Paço di Lisboa. Omelia del Santo Padre. Messaggio commemorativo del Santo Padre per il 50° anniversario della fondazione del Santuario del Cristo Rei in Almada.
Mercoledì, 12 maggio 2010
07.30 Santa Messa in privato nella Cappella della Nunziatura Apostolica di Lisboa.
10.00 INCONTRO CON IL MONDO DELLA CULTURA nel Centro Culturale di Belém di Lisboa. Discorso del Santo Padre.
12.00 INCONTRO CON IL PRIMO MINISTRO nella Nunziatura Apostolica di Lisboa.
15.45 Congedo dalla Nunziatura Apostolica di Lisboa.
16.40 Partenza in elicottero dall’Aeroporto Internazionale Portela di Lisboa per Fátima.
17.10 Arrivo all’Eliporto allestito nel grande parcheggio del nuovo stadio municipale di Fátima
17.30 VISITA ALLA CAPPELLINA DELLE APPARIZIONI nella Spianata del Santuario di Fátima. Preghiera del Santo Padre.
18.00 CELEBRAZIONE DEI VESPRI CON SACERDOTI, RELIGIOSI, SEMINARISTI E DIACONI nella Chiesa della SS.ma Trindade di Fátima. Discorso del Santo Padre.
21.30 BENEDIZIONE DELLE FIACCOLE sulla Spianata del Santuario di Fátima. Discorso del Santo Padre.
RECITA DEL SANTO ROSARIO nella Cappellina delle Apparizioni sulla Spianata del Santuario di Fátima.
Giovedì, 13 maggio 2010
10.00 SANTA MESSA sulla Spianata del Santuario di Fátima. Omelia del Santo Padre. Saluti del Santo Padre.
13.00 Pranzo con i Vescovi del Portogallo e con il Seguito Papale nel Grande Refettorio della Casa Nossa Senhora do Carmo di Fátima.
17.00 INCONTRO CON LE ORGANIZZAZIONI DELLA PASTORALE SOCIALE nella Chiesa della SS.ma Trindade di Fátima. Discorso del Santo Padre.
18.45 INCONTRO CON I VESCOVI DEL PORTOGALLO nel Salone delle Conferenze della Casa Nossa Senhora do Carmo di Fátima. Discorso del Santo Padre.
Venerdì, 14 maggio 2010
08.00 Congedo dalla Casa Nossa Senhora do Carmo di Fátima.
08.40 Partenza in elicottero dall’Eliporto di Fátima per Porto.
09.30 Arrivo all’Eliporto della Caserma di Serra do Pilar di Gaia
10.15 SANTA MESSA nel Grande Piazzale di Av. dos Aliados di Porto. Omelia del Santo Padre.
13.30 CERIMONIA DI CONGEDO all’Aeroporto Internazionale di Porto. Discorso del Santo Padre.
14.00 Partenza in aereo dall’Aeroporto Internazionale di Porto per Roma.
18.00 Arrivo all’Aeroporto di Ciampino (Roma).
I found a 1910 Liberty Head Five Cent coin in my pocket. (Now worth about $3.)
Pope Benedict XVI celebrates Mass ad orientem this morning with the members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace.
A Holy Week Letter to All Priests from the Congregation for the Clergy
Dear Brothers in the Priesthood,
In these paschal days we will live the Mystery of our Redemption, and we will carry out actions and speak words that are truly found at the heart of our priestly existence. On Good Friday we will live that humble and prophetic action of prostration, just as we did on the day of our Ordination; in this way during the Sacred Triduum we will have the opportunity to welcome the gifts renewed by grace, begging the Divine Providence to be able to offer plentiful fruit for ourselves and for the Salvation of the world.
As the formula for the anointing with Chrism reminds us, we are clothed with the very power of Christ, with that potestas with which the Father consecrated His only Son in the Holy Spirit, and which has been given to us precisely to sanctify His People and to offer the Eucharistic Sacrifice.
Any contrary use of the sacramental power received in Sacred Order is illegitimate and dangerous, both for our salvation and for the good of the Church herself. As if calling to mind the absolute disproportion between the greatness of the Mystery and the smallness of the man, it is not by chance that the rite recalls: “Know what you are doing”.
Although we will never be able to fully appreciate the great Mystery which has been placed in our hands, we are nevertheless called to a continuous striving after moral perfection, so as to live “the Mystery which is placed in our hands” to be “imitators of Christ”.
This is the extraordinary and undimmed daily newness of the Priesthood: the Mystery is placed in our hands! The Lord of time and history, he who made all that exists, from whom we come and to whom we return, the Author of life, makes some of his poor creatures participants in his own saving power, entrusting himself, like a defenceless sacrificial lamb, completely into their hands.
May this entrustment never become a betrayal! May he keep awake the consciousness of the embrace of the predilection, of which we are the objects, and may he also lead us, especially in the time of testing, to repeat our total “yes”: a “yes” conscious of its own limits, but not held back by them; a “yes” free from all inferiority complexes; a “yes” conscious of history, but never intimidated in the face of it; “yes” which, beginning from that spoken by the Blessed Virgin Mary in the house of Nazareth has travelled down the centuries to become actual in the Saints and in the Today of our Christian existence.
A Priest aware of what he does, conforming his life to Christ, overcomes the world! This is the victory which is the real “proof” of the Resurrection of Christ.
+ Mauro Piacenza
Titular Archbishop of Vittoriana
Secretary
VATICAN CITY, MARCH 21, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican made its foray into the social networking platform Twitter this weekend by launching a feed in six languages.
Twitter is a free, micro-blogging service that allows users to send or receive brief messages — or “tweets” — through a computer or smartphone.
The English channel is named news_va_en. The other languages are Italian (news_va_it), Spanish (news_va_es), French (news_va_fr), German (news_va_de) and Portuguese (news_va_pt).
Through these Twitter channels, Vatican Radio and the other media sources of the Holy See will diffuse information about the publication of news and multimedia content of special interest for the life of the Church.
The Vatican also launched a new Web page (www.resources.va) on which it will offer multimedia information on current topics.
The launch of the two new Internet resources coincided with Benedict XVI’s Letter to the Catholics of Ireland Regarding the Clerical Sexual Abuse Crisis.
For more than a year the Vatican has also had its own Youtube channel (www.youtube.com/vatican) in 4 languages.
This is what the parishioners of Saint Charles Borromeo parish in Peoria, AZ are hearing today.
A large number of parishioners came together this morning to ready a room fit for the Eucharistic Lord. The room was cleaned, painted and simply appointed. The new Perpetual Adoration Chapel will be inaugurated on Holy Thursday, April 1, 2010 after the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper. The faithful will accompany the Blessed Sacrament in procession from the Church to It’s new altar.
Prayer for the Spread of Perpetual Adoration
Heavenly Father, increase our faith in the Real Presence of Your Son Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. We are obliged to adore Him, to give Him thanks and to make reparation for sins. We need your peace in our hearts and among nations. We need conversion from our sins and the mercy of Your forgiveness. May we obtain this through prayer and our union with the Eucharistic Lord.
Please send down the Holy Spirit upon all peoples to give them the love, courage, strength and willingness to respond to the invitation to Eucharistic Adoration.
We beseech You to spread Perpetual Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament in parishes around the world. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen
Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament Help us to spread the glory of Your Son through Perpetual Adoration.
A man shouts as Pope Benedict XVI leads a weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican March 17, 2010.
Man screams abuse at Pope Benedict XVI
THE Pope was verbally abused as he gave his weekly address in St Peter’s Square yesterday.
A man, apparently in his early 50s, shouted “bulls***, bulls***” while stretching an accusatory arm towards Benedict XVI, after approaching the barrier in front of the Pope’s podium.
Vatican police forcibly removed the man, still shouting, from the square.
The Pope went on to announce that he would “soon” send a pastoral letter to Irish Catholics over the paedophile priest scandal that has rocked Ireland.
The address was the first of the year to be held in St Peter’s Square, which was bathed in early spring sunshine.
Security for the 82-year-old Pope was tightened after a woman knocked him to the ground at midnight mass on Christmas Eve.
However, Vatican authorities said it would be impossible to entirely protect the Pope without putting a wall between him and the masses who come to see him.
“I beg you, look for the words `social justice’ or `economic justice’ on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes. ” — Fox News pundit Glenn Beck
