Thursday, December 9, Second Week of Advent
ST. JUAN DIEGO CUAUHTLATOHUAC (Mexico, 1474-1548)
Modern scholars question whether this saint ever existed, pointing to lack of documentation about him at the time of the Marian apparitions and miracle (1531) that made him a decisive figure for the mass Christianization of Mexico immediately following the apparitions (in 1532-1538, at the height of the Protestant Reformation in Europe). mainly, they claim that the bishop at the time of the apparitions never mentioned it in his writings. However, there is the fact (scientifically unexplained) of Juan's tilma (cloak) on which the image of the Virgin was imprinted, and that photographic enlargements of the Virgin's eyes from the image on the cloak show a reflection of Juan Diego. The story is that the Virgin appeared to the elderly native Indian peasant, a devout widower, and told him to ask the bishop to build a church on the spot. In order to convince the skeptical bishop, the Virgin told Juan to gather roses from the spot (it was December) and bring them to the bishop. He wrapped the miraculous flowers in his cloak, and when he opened it in front of the bishop, there was the image of the Virgin on the tilma [the object now venerated in the Basilica of our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City). Before Juan Diego was canonized in 2002, the first native American to earn this distinction, the Vatican named a 30-man commission of scholars to research and establish the authenticity of his life and the events related to the apparitions. The Basilica of Guadalupe is now the world's most visited religious shrine.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/120910.shtml
No OR today because yesterday was a religious holiday.
No events announced for the Holy Father today.
At a news conference this morning, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
presented its new Museo Missionario di Propaganda Fide, located in the Congregation's headquarters
in front of the Spanish Steps in Rome.
- I've belatedly posted in the CHURCH&VATICAN thread the big news yesterday that the Vatican has confirmed the first Marian apparition in the United States which took place in 1859 in Wisconsin.
- The new online newspaper Bussola reports today on a French newspaper in Lyons, 20 Minutes, which turned down a four-page ad that the Archdiocese of Lyons wished to purchase for yesterday, Dec. 8 - in which the Archbishop of Lyons, sought to provide ample information about the feast for the faithful of his diocese. Originally, they had told him to make clear that the ad was intended for Catholics only, and after he made the change, they then asked that he omit the 'Hail Mary' prayer in the ad. He refused - and the newspaper refused to run the ad.
- An interesting health alert is not what the title makes it sound like
news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20101208/hl_ac/7363294_the_pope_condoms_and_hpv_what_pope_benedict_may_...
It actually says condoms do not work at all unless they are of quality latex, and that studies show abstinence is an effective anti-AIDS strategy especially among young people. The point of the article however is that condoms do not protect at all against the human papilloma virus (HPV) which leads to cervical cancer, is prevalent in women who have multiple sexual partners, and is easily spread to other females by an infected male...
It's a positive fallout if all the controversy so far leads to better public education about the condom and its limitations.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 09/12/2011 15:09]