Seasons of Grace

It seems there’s a little communications FAIL over at the Vatican.

According to a Catholic News Agency report on February 8, a “Vatican insider” confided that the Pope does not own a private jet—that in fact, the Vatican had neither the space nor the money to maintain one.  Instead, he travels via commercial airlines—departing from Rome on Alitalia, and returning on a commercial airline based in the country he visited.

Father Gonzalo Meza, a Mexican priest and journalist, confirmed that report recently, while discussing Pope Benedict XVI’s planned trip to Mexico on March 23-25.  Nearly 100 people, mostly journalists, will accompany the Pope aboard his flights.  Security during his visit will be provided by the host country.

But now here’s the thing:   Father Meza explained that during a long overseas flight, Pope Benedict

“…takes the opportunity to get ahead on his intellectual work or to pray. He likes to write, and he writes all of his homilies and speeches by hand, and then his translator transcribes and corrects them. He almost never uses a computer.”

Say what?!

Don’t you remember this photo?

On June 29, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI hit a button on his iPad and launched the new Vatican website, news.va.  He tweeted the announcement to his 31,000 followers from around the world, saying:

“Dear Friends, I just launched News.va Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI.”

For that, he was applauded around the world.  But just for a minute, I can’t help imagining some human resources director from my distant past, asking him the question which young ladies were routinely asked in the 1960s:

So, Your Holiness, I’ve no doubt you’re well qualified for the job. But can you type?

[JUST KIDDING!]

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Storms. Rain. Convulsive children.

St. Scholastica can help!  She is the patron saint of all of these things—as well as the patron of nuns.

The twin sister of St. Benedict, St. Scholastica was born around 480 and died on February 10, 547.  Even as small children, Benedict and Scholastica were devout.  When Benedict established his monastery for religious men at Monte Cassino, Scholastica founded a convent for women just five miles away, in Plombariola.

Pope St. Gregory the Great tells the story of St. Scholastica in his Dialogues, Book II.  According to Pope Gregory, both Benedict’s monastery and Scholastica’s convent had very strict rules which proscribed each from visiting the other’s monastery home.  Once each year, the two would meet at a house near Monte Cassino monastery, where they would spend hours conversing about spiritual matters.

Answered Prayer: A Torrential Downpour

Pope Gregory tells a humorous story about the last day that the two saints spent together on earth.  According to the story, as was their custom, Benedict and Scholastica met at the private home and spent the day in “mutual comfort of heavenly talk.”  After dinner, as the day drew to a close, Benedict prepared to leave; but Scholastica, sensing that this was the last time they would be together, begged Benedict to stay longer so that they could continue their conversation through the evening.  Benedict’s rule required that he not spend the night away from his own monastery at Monte Cassino, so he firmly refused.

But Scholastica, usually mild mannered, would not accept her brother’s harsh answer.  She threw her head down on the table and cried, praying that God would intercede for her.  As she spoke, a sudden storm arose; the rain and hail fell in such a torrential downpour that Benedict and his followers were unable to leave.

“May Almighty God forgive you, sister, for what you have done!” said Benedict.

But Scholastica replied calmly, “I asked a favor of you, and you refused it. I asked it of God, and He has granted it. So go off now, if you can, and return to your monastery.”

Benedict did not leave but spent the evening with Scholastica, engaged in earnest conversation.

Scholastica died just three days later.  Benedict, back at the monastery, had a vision in which he saw the soul of his sister leaving her body, ascending to heaven in the form of a shining white dove.

Prayer

O God, to show us where innocence leads, you made the soul of your virgin Saint Scholastica soar to heaven like a dove in flight.

Grant through her merits and her prayers that we may so live in innocence as to attain

buy cheap generic cialis

to joys everlasting.

This we ask through our Lord.  Amen.

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As far as I know, Greg Hengler of Townhall was the first to shine the media spotlight on this poignant scene:  a YouTube video of Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, head bowed in prayer, standing as more than 100 Protestant pastors “laid hands on” him and prayed for him.

The moment occurred yesterday morning during a campaign stop at a small chapel in McKinney, Texas, where Santorum spoke candidly about his faith and his family.  He spoke about his personal faith journey and how it affects his campaign, and he described himself as a man of faith and a man of reason.

“I’m willing to be very public about the role of faith in our society,” said Santorum.  “It’s not because I want to be the pastor of the United States.  That doesn’t mean I won’t stand and fight…for the moral foundation.”

Santorum, the most socially conservative of the candidates currently vying for the Republican nomination, has stood in opposition to same-sex marriage, adoption by same-sex couples, and abortion.  “I know life begins at conception,” the candidate explains.  “There’s no difference between that child in the womb and any one of us but time.”

Santorum also spoke about his marriage, how he began attending Bible studies and how he and his wife Karen had grown in their faith.  That faith helped them through personal struggles including the death of their son Gabriel, born prematurely in 1996.  “He was born alive, way too small to survive. We had a couple of hours with him.”  But Santorum described Gabriel’s time on earth as “a life only to know love and then to be with Our Father.”

Daughter Isabella, or Bella, was also born with a life-threatening problem—in her case, a genetic disorder.  The family brought Bella home from the hospital on hospice care, and then began celebrating her birthday every week.  They hoped, Santorum said, that they would have as many weeks to live with and love Bella as they had had years with the other children.  Speaking of his sweet daughter, Santorum said, “Bella can’t do much in the eyes of the world, but she can love.  These children have a lot to teach us,

yet we live in a world that wants to put them in the shadows.”

The pastors and supporters gathered around the candidate.  Those closest to Santorum laid their hands on his shoulders and back; others bowed their heads in prayer.  One pastor offered a prayer:  “We pray You direct Rick’s steps as he runs for president.  As Rick travels Texas and the country…we pray blessings on him…and goodness.”

Amen.

 

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This is short and to the point:  The Archdiocese of St. Louis’s new reminder of that fundamental right guaranteed by

the Constitution of the United States, the freedom of conscience.

 

 

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Well, this was a first for me:  Today Facebook deleted a post I’d written, telling me that I’d offended community standards, and warning me that I should delete any other offensive content on my wall, or risk being permanently removed from Facebook.

It’s been a few weeks since the post in question, so I am no longer able to go back and retrieve the conversation—but this is exactly what I said in my “hateful, offensive” post:

Just poppin’ in here a little late– but I want to understand what I’m reading. Diane, did you just say that you are Catholic, but that you believe the child of a rapist should be murdered? I’m having a bit of trouble squaring that with what I know about our laws. If I rob a bank, steal a car, even commit murder, can you kill my child? That’s abhorrent to even consider.

The way I see it, I was respectful, low-key, willing to engage on the issues.  I did not call her names.  I did not come out swinging.  I gave her an opportunity to clarify, in case I had misunderstood.  I feel a bit like the honest, hardworking kid who’s been accused of cheating on a test; if there is anything disrespectful or untoward about my post, could you please explain it to me so that I won’t say anything so horrendous again?

I remember the conversation stream into which I brazenly interjected my insolent pro-life message.  There were a bunch of folks shooting their mouths off on medical and political issues, hurling specious accusations against people of faith.  They were an “Occupy Humanity” gang, flying their flag of abortion rights and taking no prisoners.  It just didn’t seem right that their slanderous accusations should go unchallenged.

By the way, a quick check of just a few friends’ walls turned up the following posts which Facebook has NOT deleted:

• f**kin love this
• Being an a**hole is all part of my manly existence.
• Even “LMFAO.”

The Facebook administrators warn me that people who use Facebook can and do report content that they find questionable or offensive.  Their policy protects Facebook users from abuse in nine different areas including:

• Threats
• Promoting self-harm
• Bullying and harrassment
• Hate speech
• Graphic violence
• Sex & nudity
• Theft, vandalism or fraud
• Identity and privacy
• Phishing or spam

Hmmph.  Looking over this list, I guess I committed hate speech when I (sans obscenities) dared to question the opinion of the woman named Diane.

One of the really great things about Facebook and other social media is that it permits an exchange of ideas across the political spectrum.  If I, in placing value on all human life even in cases of rape or incest, am guilty of hate speech, then perhaps we should hang this whole “social networking” thing up and go home.

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I am reminded of another story which you may have read over the weekend, involving Bishop Philip Boyce, bishop of the Raphoe diocese in northwestern Ireland.  Bishop Boyce has been accused of a “hate crime” by outspoken humanist John Colgan, who complains that the bishop’s remarks in a homily delivered at Our Lady of Knock shrine “are an incitement to hatred of dissidents, outsiders, secularists, within the meaning of the (Incitement to Hatred) Act, who are perfectly good citizens within the meaning of the civil law.”

According to Colgan, the bishop’s sermon implied that non-believers will “end their lives in emptiness”—and that this constitutes abuse of atheists, humanists and skeptics.  The bishop, says Colgan, was “picking on” unbelievers.

The case against Bishop Boyce, which appears frivolous on its face, is nonetheless being taken seriously by Irish officials.  The office of the Garda (Police) Commissioner

has referred the complaint to the Director of Public Prosecutions.  Should the case proceed through the courts, an offense against the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act of 1989 carries a penalty of up to two years in prison.

Bishop Boyce’s sermon, titled “To Trust in God,” can be viewed in its entirety at the Irish Bishops’ website.

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