Feast of the Holy Family

Today is the Feast of the Holy Family. Pope Paul VI said:

Nazareth is a kind of school where we may begin to discover what Christ's life was like and even to understand his Gospel. ... First we learn from its silence. ... The silence of Nazareth should teach us how to meditate in peace and quiet, to reflect on the deeply spiritual, and to be open to the voice of God's inner wisdom ... Second, we learn about family life. May Nazareth serve as a model of what the family should be. ...  

Finally, in Nazareth, the home of the craftsman's son, we learn about work and the discipline it entails. I would especially like to recognize its value -- demanding yet redeeming -- and to give it proper respect.

We should all strive to bring the warmth and love of the Holy Family into the actions of our everyday lives.

Ending the Year of Faith

Today's Feast of Christ the King ends the Year of Faith proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI. The closing Mass in St Peter’s Square included exposition, for public veneration, of the bones of St. Peter. Eight bone fragments were in an open bronze reliquary displayed to the side of the altar.

In 1971, Paul VI was given an urn containing the relics, which were kept inside the private papal chapel inside the Apostolic Palace and exhibited for the pope's private veneration each June 29, for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. Sunday marked the first time they were shown in public.

During the ceremony, the Pope – the 265th successor of Peter – held the closed reliquary for several minutes in silent prayer while choirs sang the Nicene Creed in Latin. The bones, which were discovered during excavations of the necropolis under St Peter’s Basilica had never been displayed in public.

“When Jesus is at the centre, light shines even the darkest moments of our lives; he gives us hope,” Pope Francis said in his homily.

At St. Columbkille, to mark the end of the Year of Faith we are renewing our Baptismal Promises.

Renewal of Baptismal Promises: (replaces Creed)

Priest:

Brothers and sisters,
through the Paschal Mystery
we have been buried with Christ in Baptism,
so that we may walk with him in newness of life.
And so, as the Year of Faith comes to an end,
let us renew the promises of Holy Baptism,
by which we once renounced Satan and his works
and promised to serve God in the holy Catholic Church.

(Congregation should be standing.)

And so I ask you:

Priest:  Do you renounce sin,
          so as to live in the freedom of the children of God?
ALL:  I do.

Priest: Do you renounce the lure of evil,
          so that sin may have no mastery over you?
ALL:  I do.

Priest:  Do you renounce Satan,
          the author and prince of sin?
ALL:  I do.

Priest: Do you believe in God,
          the Father almighty,
          Creator of heaven and earth?
ALL:  I do.

Priest: Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
          who was born of the Virgin Mary,
          suffered death and was buried,
          rose again from the dead
          and is seated at the right hand of the Father?
ALL:  I do.

Priest: Do you believe in the Holy Spirit,
          the holy Catholic Church,
          the forgiveness of sins,
          the resurrection of the body
          and life everlasting?
ALL:  I do.

Priest: And may almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
          who has given us new birth by water and the Holy Spirit
          and bestowed on us forgiveness of our sins,
          keep us by his grace,
          in Christ Jesus our Lord,
          for eternal life.

ALL:  AMEN.

The Holy Family

Today is the Feast of the Holy Family. Pope Paul VI said:

Nazareth is a kind of school where we may begin to discover what Christ's life was like and even to understand his Gospel. ... First we learn from its silence. ... The silence of Nazareth should teach us how to meditate in peace and quiet, to reflect on the deeply spiritual, and to be open to the voice of God's inner wisdom ... Second, we learn about family life. May Nazareth serve as a model of what the family should be. ...  

Finally, in Nazareth, the home of the craftsman's son, we learn about work and the discipline it entails. i would especially like to recognize its value -- demanding yet redeeming -- and to give it proper respect.

During the construction, Fr Damian has been reminded of when he helped his father, a bricklayer, in his work. One of his tasks was to carry the bricks to the workers.

He recalled how he often had a difficult time keeping up with the men who could lay bricks so quickly and how he used to mix the mud for them.

As you have learned values from your family, what might Jesus have learned from His?

The Pope Started It

Fifty years ago today Pope John XXIII

 convened the Second Vatican Council.

This morning Pope Benedict XVI inaugurated the Year of Faith as an invitation for for all of us to deepen our faith over the next year. Of the 70 living Bishops who were part of the Council, 15 were able to come to Rome and participate in the procession.

After Mass, Pope Benedict re-enacted the way Pope Paul VI concluded the Second Vatican Council by issuing a series of "Messages to the People of God." These include messages for rulers, for men of thought and science, for artists, for women, for the poor, sick and suffering, for workers and for youth. Archbishop Rino Fisichella said this ceremony was done to "indicate that the teachings of the Council retain all their validity and deserve to be better known and studied."

 

In preparation for the Year of Faith, students at St. Columbkille Catholic School have been gathering prayer intentions. Each week after the all school Masses they have been praying for the intentions received.

This morning Fr. Vogel spoke to all of the students as he led a rosary as the school prayed together for all of the intentions.

 

 

 

 

We pray that you will find the

Year of Faith a time of

 renewal and strengthening

of your faith.

Why Today?

On this date in 1968 , the Feast of St. James, Pope Paul VI released the encyclical Humanae Vitae.

Often (though not always) the release date of a Church document is significant. For example the Catholic Catechism was released on the anniversary of the start of Vatican II and the Year of Faith will begin in October and marks the 50th anniversary of the start of Vatican II.

So why might the feast day of St. James be a significant time to release a document on Human Life? This is the document that says marital love, as God intended it, is inconsistent with the use of contraceptives.

The encyclical begins with:

The transmission of human life is a most serious role in which married people collaborate freely and responsibly with God the Creator. It has always been a source of great joy to them, even though it sometimes entails many difficulties and hardships.

The fulfillment of this duty has always posed problems to the conscience of married people, but the recent course of human society and the concomitant changes have provoked new questions. The Church cannot ignore these questions, for they concern matters intimately connected with the life and happiness of human beings.

In today's Gospel Jesus says

whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."

The first reading is about death to one's self and sacrifice so that life will prevail. And the responsaral is about sowing seed (ahem) in tears (or reluctance, perhaps) and reaping in joy. (See the readings here)

Or perhaps Pope Paul VI remembered James' famous line from his letter that "faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." (James 2:17) In other words, our faith is expressed in our bodies.

 NFP Awareness Week: The US Bishops' Site

A Video of Archbishop Lucas on Humanae Vitae

A flyer from the Omaha Archdiocese