Rising from the Dead vs. Resurrection

This article entitled "Rising from the Dead vs. Resurrection" was written by Msgr. James McNamara and appeared in the April 27th edition of The Long Island Catholic. 

It is very timely for the Easter Season and touches on a number of topics we spoke about at the end of the 2nd Trimester - in particular the difference between Lazarus being raised from the dead and Jesus' Resurrection.

Rising from the Dead vs. Resurrection

Catholic Saint Selection: It's Complicated

In preparation for the Beatification of John Paul II on May 1st, Kim Lawton of Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly has written an article entitled "Catholic Saint Selection: It's Complicated" that summarizes the very selective canonization process used by our Church.  A link to the article is below - I promise it is short.

Catholic Saint Selection: It's Complicated






Here is a short PBS video that goes with the article

The Story of Jesus via Twitter

I was prepared not to like this. But I found it to be very cool. See what you think.

Easter Sunday: It’s not about the bunnies

Two good articles by James Martin, SJ about why Easter has resisted the commercialism that has affected Christmas.

Easter Sunday: It’s not about the bunnies

Happy Crossmas! Why Easter stubbornly resists the commercialism that swallowed Christmas.

60 Minutes - Easter Sunday

On Easter Sunday, 60 Minutes featured a segment on Mt. Athos, a beautiful mountain in Greece that is home to nothing but a number of Orthodox monasteries. The monks of Mt. Athos seek to live life just like the earliest monks and desert fathers. They do not concern themselves with the outside world, all they do is pray without ceasing in hopes of getting closer to God.

Part 1




Part 2

Feast Day of St. Mark the Evangelists - April 25

Most of what we know about Mark comes directly from the New Testament. He is usually identified with the Mark of Acts 12:12. (When Peter escaped from prison, he went to the home of Mark’s mother.)

Paul and Barnabas took him along on the first missionary journey, but for some reason Mark returned alone to Jerusalem. It is evident, from Paul’s refusal to let Mark accompany him on the second journey despite Barnabas’s insistence, that Mark had displeased Paul. Later, Paul asks Mark to visit him in prison so we may assume the trouble did not last long.

The oldest and the shortest of the four Gospels, the Gospel of Mark emphasizes Jesus’ rejection by humanity while being God’s triumphant envoy. Probably written for Gentile converts in Rome—after the death of Peter and Paul sometime between A.D. 60 and 70—Mark’s Gospel is the gradual manifestation of a “scandal”: a crucified Messiah.

Evidently a friend of Mark (Peter called him “my son”), Peter is only one of the Gospel sources, others being the Church in Jerusalem (Jewish roots) and the Church at Antioch (largely Gentile).

Like one other Gospel writer, Luke, Mark was not one of the 12 apostles. We cannot be certain whether he knew Jesus personally. Some scholars feel that the evangelist is speaking of himself when describing the arrest of Jesus in Gethsemane: “Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked” (Mark 14:51-52).

Others hold Mark to be the first bishop of Alexandria, Egypt. Venice, famous for the Piazza San Marco, claims Mark as its patron saint; the large basilica there is believed to contain his remains.A winged lion is Mark’s symbol. The lion derives from Mark’s description of John the Baptist as a “voice of one crying out in the desert” (Mark 1:3), which artists compared to a roaring lion. The wings come from the application of Ezekiel’s vision of four winged creatures (Ezekiel, chapter one) to the evangelists.

above text taken from ucatholic.com

Hallelujah - Christ is Risen Today (actually yesterday)

A mixture of traditional and modern Easter songs and videos

A really nice picture montage to Handel's Hallelujah 

A really nice picture montage to Matt Maher's Christ Has Risen

Pope Benedict's Easter Vigil Homily

Here is an excerpt from Pope Benedict's Easter Vigil Homily delievered on April 23 at St. Peter's Basilica. "thanks to the resurrection of the Lord ... life remains good, ... hence we can and must place ourselves on the side of reason, freedom and love – on the side of God who loves us so much that he suffered for us, that from his death there might emerge a new, definitive and healed life".

Here is a link to the full text of Pope Benedict's Homily.

Good Friday Meaning and Pratices

Meaning
Good Friday is the Friday within Holy Week, and is traditionally a time of fasting and penance, commemorating the anniversary of Christ’s crucifixion and death. For Christians, Good Friday commemorates not just a historical event, but the sacrificial death of Christ, which with the resurrection, comprises the heart of the Christian faith. The Catholic Catechism states this succinctly:

Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ who offered himself on the cross as a living victim, holy and pleasing to God, and whose blood has become the instrument of atonement for the sins of all men (CCC 1992).

This is based on the words of St. Paul: “[Believers] are justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as an expiation, through faith, by his blood… (Romans 3:24-25, NAB).

Pratices

The customs and prayers associated with Good Friday typically focus on the theme of Christ’s sacrificial death for our sins.

Good Friday is the second day of the Paschal Triduum. The major Good Friday worship services begin in the afternoon at 3:00 (the time Jesus likely died). Various traditions and customs are associated with the celebration of Good Friday.

The singing (or preaching) of the Passion of St. John’s gospel consists of reading or singing parts of John’s gospel.  The Veneration of the Cross is also common. This is when Christians approach a wooden cross and venerate it, often by kneeling before it, or kissing part of it.

In addition to these traditions, Holy Communion with the reserved host is practiced. In the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, no Masses are said on Good Friday, therefore the reserved host from the Holy Thursday Mass is used.

Many Churches also offer the Stations of the Cross, also called the “Way of the Cross,” on Good Friday. This is a devotion in which fourteen events surrounding the death of Jesus are commemorated. Most Catholic Churches have fourteen images of Jesus’ final days displayed throughout the parish, for use in public Stations of the Cross services.

above text adapted from ucatholic.com

Indifference to God brings indifference to evil, says Pope

On Wednesday, April 20th, in his last Papal Audience before Easter, Pope Benedict reflected upon Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane when the apostles slept and how it relates to us sometimes allowing ourselves to become indifferent to God. 

Below are two excerpts from Pope Benedict's address and a link to an article summarizing it.

“It’s our very sleepiness to the presence of God that renders us insensitive to evil: we don’t hear God because we don’t want to be disturbed, and so we remain indifferent to evil."

"Stay awake and keep vigil ... is a permanent message for all time because the disciples’ sleepiness is not a problem of that one moment, but rather of the whole of history, ‘the sleepiness’ is ours, of those of us who do not want to see the full force of evil and do not want to enter into his Passion.”

Link to Summary   

Another Great Student Made Video

This video was created by students at Chaminade for the "Goodness Reigns Contest."  Click on the link below to watch the video and vote for it in the contest. (As of 2:45pm on 4/20 it is in the lead)

Video Link

Entry in i-confess.com Contest from a Fellow Student

Here is an entry for the i-confess.com video contest (see previous post) from Chaminade.  This video was made by a sophomore History of Salvation II student.

A Palm Sunday Meditation: Take Up My Cross?

Rev. James Martin, SJ writes a great reflection for Palm Sunday and Holy Week.  He touches upon many of the topics we studied at the end of the trimester: crosses, suffering, resurrection, etc.   Here is an excerpt:

"God's gift of resurrection is usually a complete surprise, just like it was for the Apostles. And just as the Apostles discovered on Easter Sunday, the resurrection does not come when you expect it. It sometimes takes a long time to come at all. 

And when it does come, it's often not what you would expect it to look like.

Most of all, it's often hard to describe, because it's personal -- it's your resurrection."

Click Here for Full Text

Saints, Celebrities and Superheroes

As you guys prepare for the trimester exam, you are probably asking yourself "why do we have to study all these Saints?" Well, Fr Dwight Longenecker writes a great article entitled Saints, Celebrities and Superheroes that answers that exact question.

Here is an excerpt:

"But celebrities are shallow and superheroes are not real. Meanwhile, within the economy of salvation the good God gives us exactly what we do need: ordinary people who really have become perfect. Ordinary people who really have assumed otherworldly powers. Ordinary people who have become extraordinary people. They have become super powers in the universe by God's grace." 

Click Here for Whole Article

i-confess.com

On Monday, April 18, all Catholic churches in the Archdiocese of New York, the Diocese of Brooklyn, and Diocese of Rockville Centre, will be observing Reconciliation Monday. The Sacrament of Reconciliation – or, if you prefer, Confession or Penance – will be available from 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. You can stop in any church, and find a priest waiting and eager to celebrate the sacrament with you.

The three downstate New York dioceses are also sponsoring a video contest to promote Reconciliation Monday. The contest's website is i-confess.com.

Below are some really good examples of videos (they are all one minute).

Click here for the link to the playlist of all videos in the contest.







We will be covering Confession in class next semeester.

Nice Blessed Chaminade Video

Below is the Blessed Chaminade video that aired as part of morning annoucments last week. Enjoy.

In honor of Blessed William Joseph Chaminade

On April 8th, we will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of Blessed William Joseph Chaminade.  Blessed Chaminade once said that "we are called to be a people of saints," in his honor lets us pray today for the members of the Marianist family who are currently under consideration for canonization.

Blessed

·         Father William Joseph Chaminade (founder, 1761–1850)

·         Brother Carlos Erana (Civil War martyr in Ciudad Real, 1884-1936)

·         Brother Jesus Hita (Civil War martyr in Ciudad Real, 1900-1936)

·         Brother Fidel Fuidio (Civil War martyr in Ciudad Real, 1880-1936)

·         Father Jakob Gapp (World War II martyr in Berlin, 1897-1943)

·         Father Miguel Leibar (Civil War martyr in Madrid, 1885-1936)

·         Brother Florencio Arnaiz (Civil War martyr in Madrid, 1909-1936)

·         Brother Joaquin Ochoa (Civil War martyr in Madrid, 1910-1936)

·         Brother Sabino Ayastuy (Civil War martyr in Madrid, 1911-1936)

Venerable

·         Mother Adèle de Batz de Trenquelléon (founder, 1789-1828)

·         Mademoiselle Marie Thérèse de Lamourous (founder and layperson, 1754-1836)

·         Faustino Pérez-Manglano (consecrated Marianist sodalist, 1946-1963)

Servants of God

·         Father Domingo Lazaro (1877-1935)

·         Father Vicente Lopez de Uralde (1894-1990)

Feast Day of St. John Baptist de la Salle - Patron Saint of Teachers

John Baptist de la Salle was born at Rheims, France on April 30th. He was the eldest of ten children in a noble family. He studied in Paris and was ordained in 1678. He was known for his work with the poor. He died at St. Yon, Rouen, on April 7th. He was canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1900.

John was very involved in education. He founded the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (approved in 1725) and established teacher colleges (Rheims in 1687, Paris in 1699, and Saint-Denis in 1709). He was one of the first to emphasize classroom teaching over individual instruction. He also began teaching in the vernacular instead of in Latin. His schools were formed all over France and Italy. In 1705, he established a reform school for boys at Dijon (considered by some to be the first Catholic School).

John was named patron of teachers by Pope Pius XII in 1950. His feast day is April 7th.

Biography taking from ucatholic.com



The Soon to Be Blessed John Paul II

Earlier this trimester we talked about the papacy and influence of Pope John Paul II.  In preparation for his Beatification on May 1, 2011, Christopher Stefanick the director of Youth, Young Adult and Campus Ministry for the Archdiocese of Denver has written an excellent article entitled "What Made John Paul II Truly Great." 

Below is an excerpt from the article and below that is a link to the full text (I promise it’s not that long).

Pope John Paul II’s influence, position, and impact on the course of history made him a very, very “big deal.” But his superhuman love for each individual he encountered is what made him truly “great.” And it’s that holy love of God beating in the heart of a man that is about to get him beatified. It’s not his power, social impact, or his charisma as a leader.

Full Text of "What Made John Paul II Truly Great

The Kingdom of God

In class, we are talking about how Jesus’ teachings challenged the Jewish understanding of the Kingdom of God.  He does this specially in the Sermon on the Mount and Parables.  Below are links to those Bible passages.

Sermon on the Mount (part 1)

Sermon on the Mount (part 2)

Sermon on the Mount (part 3)

Parable of the Prodigal Son

Parable of Rich Man and Lazarus

Parable of the Good Samaritan

Good Quotes on Prayer

Prayer as a Personal Relationship

"This mystery (The Creed, Mass, and God) then, requires that the faithful believe in it, that they celebrate it, and that they live from it in a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God. This relationship is prayer. -- CCC, 2558

The Heart of Prayer

The heart is the dwelling-place where I am, where I live; according to the Biblical expression, the heart is the place "to which I withdraw." The heart is our hidden center, beyond the grasp of our reason and of others; only the Spirit of God can fathom the human heart and know it fully. The heart is the place of decision, deeper than our psychic drives. It is the place of truth, where we choose life or death. It is the place of encounter, because as image of God we live in relation: it is the place of covenant. – CCC, 2563

Vocal Prayer

“Vocal Pray seeks molds our interior state with our outward words.” – Fr. Boylan

Meditation

"We shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavoring to know God; for, beholding His greatness, we realize our own littleness; His purity shows us our foulness; and by meditating upon His humility we find how very far we are from being humble." - St Teresa of Avila

Contemplation

“To find one’s self by losing one’s self that is contemplation” - Thomas Merton