Catching up on the news

Great news: Fr. Michael Sinnott was freed by his kidnappers – thanks be to God!  Three Moro Islamic Liberation Front members have been charged with his kidnapping. 

Sad news: Fr. Sysoyev, a Russian Orthodox priest, was murdered in his church in Moscow. Fr. Sysoyev was well-known for his work with Muslims for which he had received death threats.

Worrisome news: the hearing for Rifqa Bary, who converted from to Christianity from Islam, has apparently been postponed until Dec. 22.  What is worrisome is the secrecy and that she is basically under house arrest. More at AtlasShrugs.

Good news from the Catholic Bishops’ conference: the bishops approved the English translation of the Roman Missal and  overwhelmingly voted against Bishop Trautman’s attempt at further delay.

Sweet news: during a break at the bishops’ conference, Cardinal Regali gave final closure to the World Series by presenting a case of Tastykakes to Archbishop Dolan. The Tastykakes were undoubtedly fresher than this news round-up.

Discernment

A regional seminarian’s statement of doing some discernment away from seminary got me thinking about the discernment process. This is a fairly quick collection of thoughts about vocations discernment, all in the rather obvious or “well, duh” category.

The process takes into account human factors and discernment by a spiritual director and/or vocations director who is rooted in orthodoxy.  Human factors include physical or psychological status and also previous commitments.  The odds of a parent of five school-aged children being admitted to a cloistered order are probably non-existent.   A spiritual and/or vocations director, someone who knows what the vocation calls for,  is essential.  The director ot only has the experience to weigh the candidates qualities against the challenges of the vocation, but a director rooted in orthodoxy has a spiritual authority, in which one trusts the Holy Spirit is speaking through the director’s decisions.  It’s a good idea for the rest of us to keep both candidates and directors in prayer.

Everyone has, if they dig deep enough, an idea of what they see themselves doing and that also becomes a factor. I remember a story of a young woman who was torn by her love of languages and desire to travel on one hand and her wanting to enter religious life.  She opted for religious life.  As it turned out, her assignments in her order gave her all the traveling she could have asked for and more. Some get a vocation exactly opposite of what they’d envisioned.  Maria von Trapp is an example. If you’ve read the book on which the play and movie were based on, you know that the choice between religious life and marriage was not simply a dramatic device. In real life, she went to the sisters, waited while they prayed about it, and entered into marriage solely out of obedience to their discernment.

In the movie of The Sound of Music, the character Maria says that “when a door closes, God opens a window,” which is an adage well worth remembering whenever someone in the discernment process, or in any situation, gets an unexpected and/or unwelcome decision.  Another example to remember is that Mother Angelica and her nuns tried several business ventures (selling fish bait, peanuts, publishing booklets) before EWTN launched. Mother Angelica said that all those detours taught lessons they needed once in the broadcast business. 

Finally, there is the selection from the autobiography of St. Therese of Liseux, excerpted on her feast day, October 1.  She describes a restlessness as she weighed various vocations. Then she saw the answer:  ”my call is love.”

See No Evil

Mark Shea’s See No Evil is a common sense response, echoing what has occurred to many, but not the media,  to the Ft. Hood rampage.

All Saints Day

Today, All Saints, is a big day in the Church calendar. I wanted to write a post, but came up with nothing yesterday.  Then in the true spirit of “When all else fails, read the instructions,” I turned to the Catechism (CCC).

Paragraphs  946 to 962 focus on the Communion of Saints. In particular, 948 states, “The term ‘communion of saints’ has two closely linked meanings: communion ‘in holy things (sancta)’ and ‘among holy persons (sancti).’”  The examples include communion in faith and sacraments, communion in charity (if one suffers, all suffer; if one is honored, all rejoice); and the intercession of and communion with the saints.

Pope Benedict XVI quotes Hans Urs von Balthasar “that the saints constitute the most important message of the Gospel, its actualization in daily life, and therefore represent for us a real means of access to Jesus.”  (from the November, 2008 column, Me? A Saint?, of The Pope’s Corner, a regular feature of the Madonna House newsletter)

This “access to Jesus” is what the saints have already learned. In today’s Office of Readings, St. Bernard says, “Calling the saints to mind inspires … a longing to enjoy their company … to share in the citizenship of heaven … let us at length spur ourselves on. We must rise again with Christ, we must seek the world which is above and set our mind on the things of heaven … When we commemorate the saints we are inflamed with another yearning: that Christ our life may also appear to us as he appeared to them and that we may one day share in his glory.”

So exactly how does one do that?  Today’s Gospel gives us a clue in the Beatitudes:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”

To return to Pope Benedict XVI’s catechesis: “May this also happen for us. Let us therefore permit ourselves to be attracted by the supernatural fascination of holiness. May Mary, Queen of all saints, Mother and Refuge of sinners, obtain this grace for us!”

Prayers of the Faithful

During the Prayers of the Faithful at Mass, we pray intercessory prayers for general situations: the Pope’s intentions and for the local bishop, for the protection of life from conception to natural death, for those in difficult times such as seeking employement or dealing with illness.

On an everyday basis, we ask for intercessory prayer for specific intentions: please pray for my dad just learned that he’s being laid off, my niece Sally went into premature labor, my neighbor’s five year old has cancer. (all hypothetical for this post)

There are two situations I intend to pray for until resolution and invite others to join in that prayer.

The first is Fr. Michael Sinnott.  Since my Oct. 11 post, I’ve looked for updates but have found only that he had been sighted soon after his abduction by Islamic whatever you want to call people who go around kidnapping people.  Being kidnapped would be an ordeal for anyone, but Fr. Sinnott is 79 with a serious heart condition.  Today there is a report that he was alive holding an October 22 newspaper while relaying his kidnappers’ demand for a ransom. 

The second is Rifqa Bary, a 17 year old convert to Christianity from Islam, who ran to Florida from her home in Ohio, saying her father had threatened to kill her.  She came to the attention of the Florida authorities. The FL judge said he wouldn’t return Rifqa to Ohio until he saw the family’s immigration papers and threatened contempt of court if her parents didn’t provide them. The parents apparently had nothing to present and kept stalling. The father’s attorney offered a “deal” and that the parents would leave Rifqa alone when returned to Ohio in exchange with the contempt charge being dropped.  When Rifqu was back in Ohio, the parents fired their attorney and reneged on their part of the “deal.”

At this point, Rifqa’s contact (phone, Internet) with the outside world is limited and monitored. She doesn’t even attend school, completing “virtual” coursework while confined to the house.  That in itself is wrong on so many levels.

November 16 is the date of Rifqa’s dependency hearing and also a rally for her.

August 10, 2010 is apparently Rifqa’s 18th birthday when all this will be a moot point.  That is, assuming she gets past the threatened honor killing and/or return to Sri Lanka.

My immediate prayer concern is for her as she is cooped up in a house with no outside contact for nearly three weeks (she was returned a few days ago), that the Lord provide whatever her needs are.

Bagels 1, Tastykakes 1

This is as close as I’ll get to keeping track of this year’s Series.  I never did figure out how to hook up the converter box so I’ve been without television since June – and haven’t missed it. Until now, that is.  There’s something to hearing a game live, so I’ll have to figure out which radio station carries the Yankee games.

Bagels after first game

Zenit’s story  Bagels and Tastykakes Are on the Line describes the “friendly wager” between Archbishop Dolan and Cardinal Rigali. Regardless of the outcome of the Series, both cities have winners in their bishops. (h/t to Cleansing Fire)

Spiritual Stockpot

While thinking about some posts that will be very belated by the time I write them, it occurred to me necessary to make a disclaimer.  My experience at Madonna House and the writings of Catherine de Hueck Doherty have greatly influenced me and I’m likely to refer to those writings to make a point.  My views are my own, however, and don’t necessarily reflect the Madonna House apostolate.  Various experiences and writings have contributed to my spiritual growth and like the vegetables and herbs tossed into a stockpot, have simmered into a voice, faithful to Church teaching yet not exactly the same as the various ingredients that went into producing it.

Secular Translation

 

At first, I was concerned about perpetuating an inaccurate stereotype, but then realized this doesn’t do so.  I couldn’t resist the humor.

From lolcats.

Archbishop Burke Named to the Congregation of Bishops

From Saint Louis Catholic is a piece on Archbishop Burke’s appointment to the Congregation of Bishops, which recommends bishop appointments to the pope.  Very good news for the Church as a whole and Rochester in particular.