PathToHoliness

I know I’ve introduced you to my daughter Chelsea in the past.

She has her own blog, Reflections of a Parayltic, which I highly recommend you check out.

I’ve set her up as a contributor to Path To Holiness since she has more time to post than I do lately. I think you’ll really like her writing and style.

You won’t find a more active and committed supporter of life.

Three cheers for the Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold the partial birth abortion ban. This is a barbaric procedure which destroys the dignity of human life and our children, our women, deserve better.

Daily prayer for the Supreme Court: “May the Guardian Angels of the U.S. Supreme Court Justices guide them today.”

Here is an inspiring story for us all. 76 year old engineering professor at Virginia Tech, Liviu Librescu, made the ultimate sacrifice to save his student’s lives Monday. When the gunman was charging for his classroom, Librescu barricaded the door with his body, allowing his students to escape through the windows. Soon after the last student got out the gunman was able to force his way in and shot Librescu to death.

Liviu Librescu is no stranger to tragedy. He survived the holocaust as a child and later the persecution of Romania’s communist regime. This is truly inspiring and brings home Jesus’ call to all of us to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters (Jn.15:13).

God bless this Jewish brother of ours.

Also, we would do well to pray for the soul of the young man who carried out this heinous shooting. Today one media outlet released a video he had sent them prior to the shooting and it is clear he was a very disturbed individual.

Yesterday’s shootings cause us to pause and think about the fragile gift of life.

We first pray for the victims of that horrible day, including the shooter. It’s a tragedy to see so many lives lost so suddenly. It is hard to make sense out of something so senseless, but we have faith that God is in charge and He will make all things work out for good.

Trust fully in God and have a greater desire each day never to run away from him
~St. Josemaria Escriva

We also thank God for our own lives (yes, it’s ok to do that in these situations) and the lives of our family and friends. Events such as this remind us of our own mortality and where this life is leading us.

We heard in the Gospel on Sunday, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” (Jn. 20:29) Indeed, we look at the things that are not seen for those things are eternal (2 Corinth 4:18). And we have faith that the sufferings of the present time are nothing compared to the glory that will be revealed to us (Rom. 8:18).

At least once daily, cast your mind ahead to the moment of death so that you can consider the events of each day in this light. I can assure you that you will have a good experience of the peace this consideration brings.
~St. Josemaria Escriva

May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

If you haven’t subscribed to Sirius Satellite Radio yet, here’s another reason to consider it.

It’s the Sirius Catholic Channel which you’ll find at channel 159. Here’s what it says about it:

Talk about it on The Catholic Channel! Combining a modern talk format and open dialogue, The Catholic Channel focuses on Catholicism in the 21st Century, especially as it is lived in today’s world. The Catholic Channel addresses issues in the news and on the mind of the listeners – everything from what’s happening in the Church today, to the headline stories of current events and politics, to the latest in the world of entertainment, the arts and sports, including play-by-play coverage of Notre Dame football and basketball. Bringing a Catholic perspective to the world around us – that’s The Catholic Channel.

Find the schedule here.

I subscribe to Our Sunday Visitor which has an interesting article in the latest edition titled, “Cardinals embracing new media to spread Gospel” “Podcasts, satellite radio among the latest venues where Church leaders share their message” You can find it online here although you need to register to see it.

In it the article talks about how the internet is being used by cardinals and bishops as a way to reach people in a very personal way through mechanisms like this one (blogs, podcasts, etc.). This makes perfect sense to me as we’ve seen the way people consume information change so rapidly in recent years. This first iPod was only introduced in 2001!

Of course they mention Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Boston. You can find him online here. And don’t forget his podcast, the CardinalCast.

The article also mentions the fact that the New York diocese is working with Sirius Satellite Radio on a Catholic channel of programming.

There’s an interesting story on Opus Dei done by Voice of America. It’s video with several streaming or download options. You can find it on this page.

It’s 4 minutes long and is just one of many, many stories being done in advance of the movie release of The DaVinci Code. I haven’t read the book and have no desire to see the movie. But you can’t seem to escape media coverage of both. If you believe the news reports, people are taking a fictional book and believing what’s written in it as fact. That’s hard to believe.

That would be like watching a tv sitcom and believing that the characters are “real life.” Do people actually buy into that? I don’t and frankly don’t waste too much time anymore with tv or novels. I have read a lot of fiction in my day and have never believed the stories portrayed reality. I’m much more apt to believe that the reporters doing all this coverage just want to do a story that casts doubt on Christianity, especially the Catholic Church. I think that the rise in forms of personal social communication like blogging is, in part, because people are fed up with reporters deciding what the news is and using their medium to push their personal viewpoints.

So let’s see what happens when the movie comes out.

I subscribe to a blog on advertising called Adjab. It’s all about new advertising that they find interesting. A recent post was titled, “The Pope as ad man.” Chris, the writer, has an interesting take on how important it is to companies to have the Pope wear, use or exhibit their product. It’s called product placement in the advertising world.

The post includes a link to a Wall Street Journal article on the subject. Chris also points to a story about Polish television banning erotic and violent advertising when he visits. Too bad the Pope can’t be everywhere at once, eh?

It’s a beautiful Palm Sunday here in mid Missouri. Holy Week has started and we’re getting close to the anniversary of the greatest event in the history of the world. That’s how the priest on my retreat describes Easter. Having the God made man, Jesus, die for our sins and then rise from the dead so that we might have eternal life has got to be the biggest event in history. No other event has such long lasting effects. Nothing is longer than eternity.

Here’s a link to the Vatican’s Holy Week 2006 web page. It says today is the 21st World Youth Day. Pope Benedict has a message for our youth.

My dear young friends!

(Full Text of Message)

I pray that you may have a very blessed Holy Week.

It’s a very prolife kind of weekend, especially in Washington, DC. My 23 year old daughter is there for the first time. She’s wanted to go for a long time. A group of her college friends from Ave Maria University made the trip from Naples yesterday morning. If you see a group on tv in red sweatshirts it might be them.

There will be a vigil Mass again this year at the Basilica of of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. This picture is from last year’s Mass and can be found on the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website. The Mass will be this evening at 8pm est. with Cardinal William Keeler celebrating and giving the homily. You can see a pdf file of some of the activies taking place this weekend here.

EWTN will be featuring live coverage beginning tomorrow.

Here’s the prayer for the helpless unborn from EWTN:

Heavenly Father, in Your love for us, protect against the wickedness of the devil, those helpless little ones to whom You have given the gift of life.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, Your Son, Our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever. Amen.

I’m not posting often here but I will continue to do so. It’s a challenge when I’ve got so many other blogs to maintain, a business to run and a family of almost adult girls. Almost adult means they depend on us financially still even though 2 are in college and 1 is a junior in high school.

Here in Jefferson City, MO our retired Bishop Michael McAuliffe passed away this week and the services are taking place this weekend. My Knights of Columbus council which was recently formed at the Cathedral of St. Joseph has now changed its name to the Bishop McAuliffe Council. You can read a story about our former Bishop on St. Louis Today.com.

It’s nice to see the Bishops affirm celibacy for the priesthood. See the story in the Washington Post.

The Synod is over and I’m sure we’ll see and hear more news from it as time goes on.

The Prelate of Opus Dei, Bishop Javier Echevarría, has written a new book titled, “Eucharist and Christian Life.” So far it’s only available in spanish but there are some excerpts on the Opus Dei website like this one:

“Behold our God”

“The Word was made flesh”, writes St. John (Jn. 1: 14), thus summarising the plan of salvation that the Father had fixed by means of his Word. The nearness of God does not only mean that he moves and governs everything. It is not an Alliance limited only to a legal pact of which are conserved some paper documents as testimony. It rather brings with it a personal closeness that has made itself sensible and tangible. The Son of God has assumed our nature and thenceforth in the words of Tertulian, “the flesh is the hinge of salvation”.

The book is being published by Rialp Publishing in Madrid.

There’s an excellent article written by Rev. Michael Giesler, Wespine Study Center, St. Louis, MO in the July/August issue of Crisis magazine on mortification, “The Body’s Forgotten ally: A Brief Defense of Corporal Mortification.” So good in fact that a writer in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch mentioned it in another article he’s written about Opus Dei. I guess he’s doing a series.

I find it interesting that so many people still try to find something sensational and lurid about Opus Dei. That’s why it’s nice to see a reporter come out with an article like this one in the London Times Online, “A wholesome reality shines beyond the dark conspiracy.”

It’s written by a woman who makes some very good points. It appears that the reality of Opus Dei is much more “normal” than some people would like us to believe. I say, “duh.” Read the founder’s writings to find out why.