| | | OFFLINE | | Post: 26.750
Post: 9.235 | Registrato il: 28/08/2005
Registrato il: 20/01/2009 | Administratore | Utente Master | |
|
ALWAYS AND EVER OUR MOST BELOVED BENEDICTUS XVI
See preceding page for earlier posts today, 5/26/13.
May 26, 2013, Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY
From left: Icon by Andrei Rublev, 1411; The Trinity at the Nativity, Lippi, 1480; a Crucifix from Altoetting; a painting from St Petersburg, 1433; The Trinity with Mary and Joseph, Dutch painting, 1726; and the Orthodox icon Paternitas.
NB: In the Orthodox tradition, the Trinity is most commonly represented by the scene known as Abraham and the three Angels who visited him, in which the Angels represent the three Persons of the Trinity. A popular representation in medieval imagery shows God the Father at the head of the Cross, and the Holy Spirit as a dove above the head of the crucified Christ, or alternatively, at the deposition from the Cross.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/052613.cfm
Today's saint:
Center photo is the saint's 'founder' statue in St. Peter's Basilica; next to it, a Tiepolo painting from 1740.
SAN FILIPPO NERI (Italy, 1515-1575), Priest, Mystic, 'Apostle of Rome', Founder of the Congregation of the Oratory
He was born to a well-to-do family in Florence and sent as a teenager to live with an unmarried uncle near Montecassino whose business he was expected to inherit. But he decided to give up worldly advantages and went to Rome to study philosophy and theology, spending the next 17 years in prayer and a voluntary apostolate of helping the poor. During this time, he spent his nights in the catacomb of St. Sebastian, where in 1544, he is believed to have experienced a mystical ecstasy that inflamed his heart to the point of breaking two of his ribs. Meanwhile, he had gathered around him other laymen interested in prayer and serving the poor, pilgrims to Rome, and the convalescent. They also met every night for prayers, discussions and listening to music based on scenes of sacred history that were set to music. Among his disciples were Giovanni da Palestrina and Tomas Luis de Victoria who composed music that came to be known as oratorios, and from which the meeting halls came to be called oratories. In 1551, he finally was ordained a priest, and soon became known as an outstanding confessor as well as, even in his lifetime, 'the apostle of Rome'. In 1556, he founded the Congregation of the Oratory where priests engaged in apostolate for the poor and the sick could live in a community without professing monastic vows. Besides their daily Oratory gatherings, members also preached at a different church every night. They were accused of heresy by some because at their meetings, laymen spoke on religious subjects, and because the music they introduced was considered secular. Nonetheless, Philip - who was known for his good humor, ready laughter and easy communication with everyone, as much as for his holiness - was sought out for spiritual counsel by many prominent figures of his day and became one of the most influential figures of the Counter Reformation. The more ample version of the Roman chasuble that he and St. Ignatius are shown wearing in many paintings has been called the 'Philippine' chasuble. He founded the Chiesa Nuova in Rome, where his remains are venerated. He was beatified in 1615 and canonized in 1622 as the single Italian along with four great Spanish saints of the Counter-Reformation: Ignacio de Loyola, Francisco Javier (Francis Xavier), Teresa de Jesus of Avila, and Juan de la Cruz - the first two, founding fathers of the Jesuit order, the other two, Carmelite reformers who were also among the great writers of Spain's Golden Age and later named Doctors of the Church.
WITH THE HOLY FATHER TODAY
Pope Francis made his first pastoral visit to a Roman parish, that dedicated to Saints Elizabeth and Zachary,
parents of John the Baptist, where he heard the confessions of seven persons, celebrated Mass and gave first
Communion to 16 children.
Later at the Vatican, he led Sunday Angelus prayers at noon, speaking about the Feast of the Holy Trinity
before the prayers, and afterwards, recalling the beatification yesterday in Sicily of Father Giuseppe
Puglisi, a parish priest murdered by the Mafia in 1993. He also greeted a group of Chinese Catholics
on the occasion of the Feast of Our Lady of Sheshan (Mary Help of Christians) earlier this week.
One year ago...
Benedict XVI met with Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education (Seminaries and Higher Institutes of Learning), and then he was at St. Peter's Square for a special audience with members of the Italian movement Rinnovamento dello Spirito (Renewal of the Spirit) on their 40th anniversary. (I will post the account of that event today. Trinity Sunday last year came one week later than today, and Benedict XVI observed it in Milan where he offered the concluding Mass for the 8th World Encounter of Families. I will re-post that event on June 3, its actual anniversary.)...
Pope Benedict commends
Italian lay ecclesial movement
on its 40th anniversary
May 26, 2012
Some 30,000 people attended Holy Mass in Saint Peter’s Square Saturday morning to commemorate forty years since the founding of the movement Rinnovamento Nello Spirito (Renewal in the Spirit) in Italy.
Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa and president of the Italian bishops' conference(CEI), the main celebrant.
The celebration was immediately followed by a special audience with Pope Benedict XVI, who addressed the members of the movement:
I welcome you with great joy on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the birth of the movement Rinnovamento nello Spirito Santo in Italy as an expression of that vast movement of charismatic renewal throughout the Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council...
In this pilgrimage of yours, which gives you the opportunity to linger in prayer at the tomb of St. Peter, you will be able to reinvigorate your faith, grow in Christian witness and fearlessly face, led by the Holy Spirit, the demanding tasks of the new evangelization.
I am glad to meet you on the eve of Pentecost, a fundamental feast for the Church that is also very significant to your movement. I call on you to always welcome the love of God which is communicated to us through the gift of the Holy Spirit, the principal unifier of the Church.
In these four decades, you have striven to offer your specific contribution to spreading the Kingdom of God and to the edification of the Christian community, thus nourishing communion with the Successor of Peter, with your Pastors, and with the whole Church.
In various ways, you have affirmed the primacy of God, to whom we always render our supreme adoration. And you have sought to propose this experience to the new generations, showing them the joy of new life in the Spirit, through your wide-reaching work of formation and multiple activities linked to the new evangelization and the missio ad gentes.
Your Apostolate work has thus contributed to the growth of spiritual life in Italy's social and ecclesial fabric, through ways of conversion that have led many persons to be made whole again in the profundity of God's love, and many families to overcome difficulties.
Nor has your movement lacked for young men who have generously responded to the vocation of special consecration to God in the priesthood or in consecrated life. For all this, I give thanks to you and to the Lord.
Dear friends, continue to bear witness to the joy of faith in Christ, the beauty of being disciples of Christ, the power of love that his Gospel has liberated in history, as well as the incomparable grace that every believer can experience in the Church, through the sanctifying practice of the Sacraments and the humble and disinterested exercise of your charisms which, as St. Paul says, must always be used for the common good.
Cultivate elevated and generous desires in your soul. Take as your own the thoughts, sentiments and actions of Jesus. Yes, the Lord calls on each of you to be a tireless collaborator in his plan of salvation, which changes hearts. And he needs you in order to make your families, your communities, and your cities, places of hope and love.
In the present society, we live in a situation that is in many ways precarious, characterized by uncertainty and fragmentary choices. Often there are no valid points of reference to inspire one's own existence.
Therefore it becomes even more important to build the edifice of life and all social relationships on the stable rock of God's Word, allowing yourselves to be guided by the Magisterium of the Church. One increasingly understands the decisive value of Jesus's statement when he said: “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock" (Mt 7,24-25).
The Lord is with us - he acts through the power of his Spirit. He invites us to grow in trust and abandonment to his will, in our fidelity to our calling, and in the commitment to become 'adult' in faith, in hope and in charity.
Adult, according to the Gospel, is not he who is subject to no one and needs no one. Adult - meaning mature and responsible - can only describe he who makes himself small, humble and a servant before God, who does not simply follow the winds of time.
Therefore it is necessary to form consciences in the light of God's Word, and thus give them firmness and true maturity. The Word of God inspires and gives meaning to every ecclesial and human project, even when it concerns the edification of the earthly city (cfr Ps 127,1). The spirit of institutions must be reanimated and history must be made fruitful with seeds of new life.
Today, believers are called on to a convinced, sincere and credible testimony of faith, closely linked to a commitment to charity. Indeed, it is through charity that even persons who are remote or indifferent to the message of the Gospel are able to get close to the truth and convert themselves to the merciful love of the heavenly Father.
In this regard, I express my satisfaction for what you are doing to spread a 'culture of Pentecost' in social circles, proposing spiritual animation with initiatives in favor of those who suffer poor living conditions and marginalization.
I am thinking especially of your work to achieve spiritual and material renewal for detainees and ex-detainees. Of the Pole of Excellence for Human Promotion and Solidarity named after Mario and Luigi Sturzo in Caltagirone. And of your International Center for the Family in Nazareth, whose first stone I had the joy of blessing in 2009. Continue with your commitment in behalf of the family, the irreplaceable place to educate children in love and self-sacrifice.
Dear friends of the Rinnovamento nello Spirito Santo! Do not tire of turning to heaven: the world needs prayer. It can do with men and women who feel the attraction of Heaven in their lives, who make of the praise of God a new lifestyle. And be joyous Christians!
I entrust you all to the Most Blessed Mary, who was in the Cenacle at the Pentecost. Be constant like her in prayer. Proceed along your journey quided by the light of the Holy Spirit, living and proclaiming the message of Christ.
I send you forth with my Apostolic Blessing, that I impart affectionately to you, and to all your members and your families. Thank you.
 [Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 27/05/2013 00:59] |