News
Prayer For Unity and Healing
Lord our God, we come to you this day with broken hearts and broken spirits.
We are in need of your healing.
A healing that recognizes our own sinfulness.
A healing that proceeds from inexhaustible love.
A healing that summons us to recognize everyone in our society as brother and sister
A healing that leads us from division to unity, from animosity to love.
The motto of our nation is "from many, one".
Let this motto be our pathway forward as a nation in these coming days, so that the spirit of Washington, Lincoln and King might reanimate our nation with the greatness of which we are capable.
And let us entrust these petitions to our God in union with the Blessed Mother, the ultimate example of discipleship rooted in love:
Hail Mary ...
Msgr. Jeremiah O'Sullivan Funeral Mass
“Well done, good and faithful servant”
Beautiful service on a beautiful day for such a beautiful man. God Bless You, Monsignor O’Sullivan. ♥️🙏🏻
SOCIAL DIALOGUE FOR A NEW CULTURE
199. Some people attempt to flee from reality, taking refuge in their own little world; others react to it with destructive violence. Yet “between selfish indifference and violent protest there is always another possible option: that of dialogue. Dialogue between generations; dialogue among our people, for we are that people; readiness to give and receive, while remaining open to the truth. A country flourishes when constructive dialogue occurs between its many rich cultural components: popular culture, university culture, youth culture, artistic culture, technological culture, economic culture, family culture and media culture”.[196]
200. Dialogue is often confused with something quite different: the feverish exchange of opinions on social networks, frequently based on media information that is not always reliable. These exchanges are merely parallel monologues. They may attract some attention by their sharp and aggressive tone. But monologues engage no one, and their content is frequently self-serving and contradictory.
Excerpt: FRATELLI TUTTI
Pope Francis Encyclical
On Fraternity and Social Friendship
*Part of a sequential daily series to read and reflect on this new encyclical.
📷Notre Dame University
Prayer/Walk for Unity
Friday, Jan 15, 2021
Color blind no more
Today in Guatemala, a major religious procession honors an image of Christ on the cross carved from dark wood and renowned throughout the region as the “Black Christ of Esquipulas.” The statue was commissioned by Spanish colonial leaders looking to convert the indigenous people who worshipped a dark-skinned deity. Today the image affirms the fact that in Latin America there has been a certain “fluidity between races through inter-marriage and more blending of cultures and religions when compared to the experience of Native Americans and African Americans,” as El Paso Bishop Mark J. Seitz wrote in a remarkable pastoral letter on the history of racism, Night Will Be No More. Today would be a good day to dip into this document for insights into the history and persistence of racism,
regionwide. May the Black Christ be a symbol of hope!
TODAY'S READINGS: Hebrews 4:1-5, 11 Mark 2:1-12.
“They were all astounded and glorified God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this.’ ”
#takefiveforfaith
Gospel Mark 2:1-12
When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days,
it became known that he was at home.
Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them,
not even around the door,
and he preached the word to them.
They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.
Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd,
they opened up the roof above him.
After they had broken through,
they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him,
“Child, your sins are forgiven.”
Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves,
“Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming.
Who but God alone can forgive sins?”
Jesus immediately knew in his mind what
they were thinking to themselves,
so he said, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say to the paralytic,
‘Your sins are forgiven,’
or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk’?
But that you may know
that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth”
–he said to the paralytic,
“I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.”
He rose, picked up his mat at once,
and went away in the sight of everyone.
They were all astounded
and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”
#dailyingodsword
🎨 James Tissot
DIALOGUE AND FRIENDSHIP IN SOCIETY
198. Approaching, speaking, listening, looking at, coming to know and understand one another, and to find common ground: all these things are summed up in the one word “dialogue”. If we want to encounter and help one another, we have to dialogue. There is no need for me to stress the benefits of dialogue. I have only to think of what our world would be like without the patient dialogue of the many generous persons who keep families and communities together. Unlike disagreement and conflict, persistent and courageous dialogue does not make headlines, but quietly helps the world to live much better than we imagine.
Excerpt: FRATELLI TUTTI
Pope Francis Encyclical
On Fraternity and Social Friendship
*Part of a sequential daily series to read and reflect on this new encyclical.
Reading I
Hebrews 3:7-14
The Holy Spirit says:
Oh, that today you would hear his voice,
“Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion
in the day of testing in the desert,
where your ancestors tested and tried me
and saw my works for forty years.
Because of this I was provoked with that generation
and I said, ‘They have always been of erring heart,
and they do not know my ways.’
As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter into my rest.’”
Take care, brothers and sisters,
that none of you may have an evil and unfaithful heart,
so as to forsake the living God.
Encourage yourselves daily while it is still “today,”
so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin.
We have become partners of Christ
if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end.
#dailyingodsword
Even through Joseph’s fears, God’s will, his history and his plan were at work. Joseph, then, teaches us that faith in God includes believing that he can work even through our fears, our frailties and our weaknesses. He also teaches us that amid the tempests of life, we must never be afraid to let the Lord steer our course. At times, we want to be in complete control, yet God always sees the bigger picture.
-Patris Corde
With a Father’s Heart
Pope Francis
Catholic mom Diana Vallette shares what she has learned from raising an atypical child: “I’m learning (slowly and badly) that an adversity-free life isn’t part of God’s plan for any of us. I know my plan for my children will never be as beautiful or complete as God’s plan for them. I’m so grateful the Lord is patient with me when he nudges me to pivot and instead I throw a hissy fit. When we pivot, struggle or suffer, we are softened, and as a result we are better suited to love the people around us.”
Read full article at link via @oursundayvisitor
