Feb

6

Pope’s Letter to Romans on Education

February 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Here is a translation of a Jan. 21 letter on education that Benedict XVI wrote and will present at a Feb. 23 audience with teachers, students and others who directly participate in education.Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope’s vicar for the Diocese of Rome, sent an invitation to citizens and the faithful of Rome for the […]

Feb

6

Pope Encourages Peace-Seekers From Mideast

February 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Benedict XVI encouraged leaders from Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan in their efforts to promote peace in the Middle East.The Pope greeted a delegation of parliamentarians from the three countries today at the general audience. The group included 12 officials from each country.
The Holy Father told them, “I offer my prayerful good wishes for their efforts […]

Feb

6

Let us Pray

February 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment

“O my God, we are heartfully sorry for having offended thee, and we detest all our sins because of Thy just punishment, but most of all because we have offended Thee our God, Who is all good and deserving of all our love. We firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no […]

Feb

6

Quotes for Lent

February 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment

“Are you capable of risking your life for someone? Do it for Christ.”
Pope John Paul II
“We all suffer for each other, and gain by each other’s suffering; for man never stands alone here, though he will stand alone hereafter; but here is he is a social being, and goes forward to his long home as […]

Feb

6

Appeal for an End to Violence in Chad

February 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment

  At the end of today’s general audience, held in the Paul VI Hall, the Pope made an appeal for an end to violence in Chad.
  “In these days”, he said, “I feel particularly close to the dear people of Chad, tormented by painful civil conflicts which have caused numerous victims and the flight of […]

Feb

6

Telling the Pope He Is Dust: Cardinal Shares Experience

February 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Benedict XVI Receives Ashes to Begin Lent
By Marta LagoThe cardinal who administered ashes to Benedict XVI today says the exhortations that accompany the rite are not easy to say to a Pope.
Cardinal Jozef Tomko, cardinal-priest of the Basilica of Santa Sabina where the Bishop of Rome celebrated this evening’s Ash Wednesday Mass, has been the […]

Feb

6

Lent, a Great Spiritual Retreat Lasting Forty Days

February 6, 2008 | 1 Comment

  In this morning’s general audience, held in the Paul VI Hall, the Pope dedicated his catechesis to the subject of Lent, which begins today with the rite of the imposition of the ashes and which, he observed, “is like a great spiritual retreat lasting 40 days”.
  “Today, as every year, we recommence the Lenten […]

Feb

6

Greetings from the National Shine of St. Maximilian Kolbe

February 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Letter from Fr. Stephen
“Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.”  With these words, the priest places ashes on our forehead and thus begins another Lenten Season.  These words really do sum up the Lenten Season.  It is a time for us to honestly look at our lives and admit that we are […]

Feb

6

Future Cardinal Zen Benefited From Almsgiving

February 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Hong Kong Prelate Urges Faithful to Give to Poor
Cardinal Joseph Zen’s pastoral letter for Lent uniquely echoes Benedict XVI’s call for Lenten almsgiving: He recounts how an almsgiver saved his own family from hunger.
The bishop of Hong Kong’s Feb. 1 letter details an experience young Joseph Zen had as a child.
“It was when Shanghai had […]

Feb

6

For Vocations, Life, Lent

February 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered Sunday before reciting the midday Angelus with several thousand people gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
Today I would like to entrust various intentions to your prayers. Firstly, recalling that yesterday, the liturgical feast of the Presentation of the Lord, we celebrated […]

Feb

6

Saint Paul Miki and Companions

February 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment

These twenty-six martyrs are sometimes called the martyrs of Nagasaki and the martyrs of Japan. St. Francis Xavier brought the Good News of Christianity to Japan in 1549. Many received the Word and were baptized by St. Francis himself. Although Francis moved on and eventually died near the shores of China, the faith had grown […]

Feb

6

Why Ash Wesnesday?

February 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Traditionally, the Church has observed the seven weeks before Easter as Lent, a time of penance and spiritual self-examination.
Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent, derives its name from the ancient practice of marking the foreheads of worshipers with ashes from the unused palm branches of the previous year. Ashes historically have had a […]

Feb

6

The Open Side

February 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Wherefore This Open Heart?
What are these wounds?
Zechariah 13: 6
At the request of the Jews, some soldiers climbed the hill of Calvary to break the legs of the three men hanging on the crosses.
Having broken the legs of the two thieves, they came to Jesus and found that He was already dead. They were thinking of […]

Feb

6

Jesuit Cardinal to Preach Benedict XVI’s Retreat

February 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Benedict XVI and the Roman Curia will spend more than five days in silence, meditating on themes related to Christ the high priest, in a retreat preached by Jesuit Cardinal Albert Vanhoye.
The Pope will begin his annual spiritual exercises on Feb. 10, the First Sunday of Lent.
This year’s exercises are dedicated to a theme taken […]

Feb

6

Canada’s Human Rights Beef With Catholics

February 6, 2008 | 1 Comment

Magazine Investigated for Offending Homosexuals
By Pete Vere
Catholic Insight, a Canadian magazine known for its fidelity to Church teachings, has been targeted by the Canadian Human Rights Commission for publishing articles deemed offensive to homosexuals.
The commission has been investigating the Toronto-based publication since homosexual activist Rob Wells, a member of the Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered Pride […]