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Monday, March 18, Fifth Week in Lent
Extreme right: 15th century painting of St. Jerome appearing to St. Cyril.
ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM (315-386), Bishop, Confessor, Doctor of the Church
St. Cyril was born in Caesarea and is among the remarkable group of great 4th century Church Fathers and eventual Doctors of the Church
who were his contemporaries (Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Athanasiua, Basil, Gregory Nazianzus, John Chrysostom, Ephraem of Syria,
Hilary of Poitiers). He was ordained deacon by Macarius, and consecrated as a bishop by Maximus, both of whom would become saints. Cyril
lived during the high tide of the Arian heresy, and his determined stand against this heresy earned him exile three times, so that half his life
as bishop was spent in exile. With St. Gregory of Nyssa, he attended the second Council of Constantinople, which adopted a modified version
of the Nicene Creed. Although his orthodoxy was apparently doubted by Jerome and Athanasius, the Council at Constantinople hailed him as
a champion of the faith against Arianism. [In fact, his specific Church title is 'Doctor of Faith and against Heresy'.] Before he became a
bishop in 350, he was assigned to prepare catechumens for Baptism. The Catecheses that he wrote for them survive to this day, and was for
a long time, a primary reference on the liturgy and doctrine of the 4th century. Benedict XVI dedicated his catechesis of June 7, 2007
to St. Cyril
www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20070627...
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/031813.cfm
AT THE VATICAN TODAY
Pope Francis met this morning at the Domus Sanctae Marthae
- Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, provisionally reconfirmed earlier in his position
along with other Curial heads, until the Holy Father decides otherwise.
- H.E. Madame Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, President of the Republic of Argentina. This was described
a private meeting without any formal discussions, and it included lunch together.
In the afternoon, he met with
- Mons. Marcello Semeraro, Bishop of Albano (the diocese to which Castel Gandolfo belongs)
- Fr. Adolfo Nicolas Pachon, S.J., Superior-General of the Jesuit order.
The Vatican also released the image of the coat of arms decided upon by Pope Francis - it is his old episcopal
seal, surmounted by a triple-lined miter and the keys of Peter.
It also includes his episcopal motto "Miserando atque eligendo" (generally translated as 'lowly but chosen' - literally, "Looking on him with mercy, he chose him"), a line from St. Bede the Venerable, commenting on how Jesus had chosen the tax collector Matthew to be one of his Apostles. The central symbol is the Jesuit seal of a flaming sun with the Greek monogram IHS of Jesus in the center. The star, according to heraldic tradition, represents Mary; and the grapelike bunch on the left represents spikenard, the flowering branch often held by St. Joseph in his images. (To someone who grew up with a brother who attended Jesuit school for ten years, it is a very Jesuit seal representing the letters JMJ - for Jesus, Mary, Joseph, that Jesuit schoolchildren usually write at the top of every page, alternating with AMDG - 'ad majorem Dei gloriam' (for the greater glory of God'.)
One year ago today
with our blessed and beloved Benedict...
At Sunday Angelus, the Holy Father reflected that in Lent, we continue our journey through the desert of silence and temptation with Christ, facing the prospect of the Cross at the end, the Cross as the summit of love. After the prayers, he thanked those who had sent him good wishes and prayers for his name day the next day, the feast of St. Joseph, and requested prayers for his trip to Mexico and Cuba which was to begin on Friday.
The Vatican Press Office released the communique regarding the visit of European Council inspectors last week to examine Vatican compliance with international standards against money-laundering and funding of terrorism.
And the Holy Father sent a telegram of condolence at the death of Pope Shenouda III, 88, Patriarch of Alexandria of the Orthodox Copts, who succumbed to cancer. He recalled Pope Shenouda's commitment to Christian Unity, signing a Joint Declaration of Faith in the Incarnation of the Son of God on a visit to Paul VI in Rome in 1973, and then meeting in Cairo with Pope John Paul II during the Great Jubilee of the Incarnation, on February 24, 2000.
ANGELUS TODAY
The penitential path to Easter
March 18, 2012
How many ways can you frame the Pope at his study window? The statues atop Bernini's colonnade provide the photographers down on the Piazza many ways to 'frame the Pope', as these three pictures show...
Here is a translation of the Holy Father's reflection for today's Angelus:
Dear brothers and sisters:
In our itinerary towards Easter, we have arrived at the fourth Sunday of Lent. It is a journey with Jesus through the 'desert', that is, a time for us to listen better to the voice of God and also to unmask the temptations that speak within us.
On the horizon of this desert is the Cross. Jesus knows that it is the culmination of his mission: indeed, thee Cross of Christ is the summit of love which gives us salvation. He says so himself in today's Gospel: "Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life" (Jn 3,14-15).
The reference is to the episode during the exodus from Egypt, when the Jews were attacked by poisonous serpents and many died. Then
God commanded Moses to make a serpent of bronze and to hoist it on a staff: if someone was bitten by a serpent, he would be healed by looking at the bronze serpent (cfr Nm 21,4-9).
Jesus too would be raised on the Cross, so that whoever would be in danger of death because of sin, would be saved by turning with faith to him, who died for us. "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him" (Jn 3,17).
St. Augustine comments: "The doctor, for as much as it depends on him, comes to heal the sick. One who does not abide by the doctor's prescription ruins himself. The Savior came to the world: If you do not care to be saved by him, you will be judging yourself" (On the Gospel of John, 12,12L PL35, 1190).
Therefore, just as God's merciful love is infinite, for he gave his only Son as a ransom for us, our responsibility must also be great. Each one must indeed recognize that he is sick in order to be healed. each one must confess his own sins, so that God's forgiveness, already given on the Cross, can have an effect on one's heart and one's life.
St. Augustine also writes: "God condemns your sins; and if you too condemn them, then you unite yourself to God... When what you have done starts to be displeasing to you, then your good works can begin, in order to condemn your bad deeds. Good works begin with an acknowledgment of bad deeds" (ibid., 13: PL 35, 1191).
Sometimes man likes shadows more than light, because he is attached to his sins. But it is only by opening oneself to the light, only by sincerely confessing one's sins to God, that one finds true peace and true joy.
It is important therefore to regularly frequent the Sacrament of Penitence, especially during Lent, in order to receive the Lord's forgiveness and intensify our journey of conversion.
Dear friends, tomorrow we shall celebrate the solemn feast of St. Joseph. I thank from my heart all those who will remember me in their prayers on my name day. But I especially ask you to pray for my apostolic visit to Mexico and Cuba, which I will undertake starting next Friday.
Let us entrust it to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, so loved and venerated in these two countries that I am preparing to visit.
After the prayers, he said:
Yesterday, in Marseilles, the VI World Forum on Water was concluded, and next Thursday, the world will mark the World Day of Water, which this year, focuses on the fundamental link between this precious and limited resource with food security.
I hope that these initiatives will contribute to guarantee equitable, sure and adequate access to water for all, thus promoting the rights to life and to nutrition of every human being, and a responsible and mutually supportive use of the goods of the earth for the benefit of present and future generations.
He had a special message for Spanish-speaking pilgrims:
I greet all Spanish-speaking pilgrims, particularly the the group from the Pontificio Colegio Mexicano in Rome, and the faithful who have come to Rome from Tarragona, Ferrol and Madrid.
I call on you all to turn your eyes to Jesus Christ, raised as a standard for the world, who is the reason for the salvation of the human species.
At the same time, I ask your prayers for my coming apostolic trip to Mexico and Cuba, where I have the good fortune of going w9ithin a few days in order to confirm the Christians of those beloved nations and of all Latin America in their faith.
I ask everyone to accompany me with spiritual nearness so that this pastoral visit may reap abundant fruits of Christian life and ecclesial renewal, thus contributing to authentic progress in those countries.
I entrust this pilgrimage to the most blessed Virgin Mary, which in those blessed lands, is known intimately as Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of Charity.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 19/03/2013 02:28] |