There have been a number of issues in the news over the past few weeks. Here are a few news items and commentaries related to some of them:
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Christian Science Monitor: Pollution threatens South America's Lake Titicaca (30 MAR 12)
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NCRegister: Simcha Fisher: Pro-Life Work At Home (30 MAR 12)
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OSV Daily Take: Cardinal Dolan in the 'No Spin Zone' (29 MAR 12)
Catholic News Agency: Cardinal Dolan says HHS mandate fight 'tough' but winnable (30 MAR 12)
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“I wonder if we fully appreciate just how important the Catholic Church is in our world today.
“The Church’s mission is not sectarian. It’s not about promoting Catholicism or even about making more and better Catholics.
“Our mission is to save souls and to lift up the hearts of our neighbors to see that their lives have a transcendent meaning. Our mission is to inspire our brothers and sisters to build a world that is worthy of the great dignity of being a human person created in the image of God.”
In a recent commentary, Archbishop José H. Gomez, Archbishop of Los Angeles, offered some thoughts on the Church and Holy Week.
To access his complete reflection, please visit:
“When you look at the inner workings of electrical things, you see wires. Until the current passes through them, there will be no light. That wire is you and me. The current is God. We have the power to let the current pass through us, use us, to produce the light of the world, Jesus, in us. Or we can refuse to be used and allow darkness to spread.” – Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa)
As we enter Holy Week, the week that (as EWTN called it a couple of years ago) changed the world, we lift up to the Lord and ask an outpouring of Holy Week blessings on our relatives, friends, work and other ministry associates, and the people who live in our communities. May each of these persons, no matter where they are in their walk with the Lord, feel His presence in a special way this week, and may they turn ever more surely towards Him (whether they realize they are doing so or not).
Thank you, Lord, for this and all of Your many blessings – whether we are aware of them or not. Thank you in a special way for the many, many blessings of this Holy Week.
As our Palm Sunday celebration continues, I offer Chanticleer singing “Hosanna to the Son of David”:
Thank you, Father Austin Fleming, for the tip.
In a recent entry in his blog (The Gospel in the Digital Age), Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, post a video explanation of Holy Week that he had prepared for AOL.
To access Cardinal Dolan’s post, please visit:
The Gospel in the Digital Age: Holy Week Message (30 MAR 12)
Today the Church celebrates Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord. The assigned readings are Mark 11:1-10, Isaiah 50:4-7, Philippians 2:6-11, and Mark 14:1-15:47. The Responsorial Psalm is Psalm 22 (Psalm 22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24).
For one version of the Responsorial Psalm set to music, please visit:
YouTube: Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 22 "My God, my God, why have You abandoned me?"
The Gospel reading for the procession with the palms is as follows:
When Jesus and his disciples drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately on entering it, you will find a colt tethered on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone should say to you, 'Why are you doing this?' reply, 'The Master has need of it and will send it back here at once.'"
So they went off and found a colt tethered at a gate outside on the street, and they untied it. Some of the bystanders said to them, "What are you doing, untying the colt?" They answered them just as Jesus had told them to, and they permitted them to do it.
So they brought the colt to Jesus and put their cloaks over it. And he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. Those preceding him as well as those following kept crying out: "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come! Hosanna in the highest!"
Reflections on this day and on these readings:
Oblates of St. Francis de Sales: Sundays Salesian: Palm Sunday: Passion of the Lord (April 1, 2012)
Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D.: Passion Sunday - Palm Sunday
The Deacon's Bench: Homily for April 1, 2012: Palm Sunday (31 MAR 12)
Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio: Palm Sunday - Victory of Humility
Catholic Online: The Happy Priest: Palm Sunday and the Humility of Jesus (31 MAR12)
Dr. Scott Hahn: Darkness at Noon (April 1st 2012 - Passion Sunday)
The Word Encountered: Dying (Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion B)
Thank you, Lord, for leading us to our observance of Palm Sunday and all that it signifies.
“When I came into communion with the Church five years ago, wise Catholics warned me that the road might get rocky in the years ahead. They reminded me that my conversion did not end, but only began, that night at Easter Vigil. They counseled me to prepare to be tested over and over again as I lived my life as a Catholic.”
During the various Easter Vigil services on Holy Saturday, thousands of people will be received into the Church here in the United States and throughout the world.
In a recent commentary, Jennifer Fulwiler reflected on challenges that are faced by converts to Catholicism after their initiation into the Church and by “reverts” who are coming back to the Church. These challenges include spiritual attacks that will occur, the tendency to think of Catholics as perfect, not developing a relationship with Jesus, not seeking answers to tough questions, and not becoming active in a parish.
To access Ms. Fulwiler’s complete post, please visit:
NCRegister: Jennifer Fulwiler: Top 5 Pitfalls for New Converts (30 MAR 12)
“This messianic people [the Church], then, though it does not in fact embrace all mankind and often seems to be a tiny flock, is yet the enduring source of unity, hope and salvation for the whole human race. It is established by Christ as a communion of life, of love and of truth; it is also used by him as an instrument for the redemption of all, and is sent out into the whole world as the light of the world and the salt of the earth.” - From the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium), one of the documents of the Second Vatican Council
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