The original and current vision of the Apostleship of Prayer is focused on the value of helping with the salvation of souls by offering one's day (prayers, works, joys and sufferings) as an unending prayer....
In general, Jamaicans just love music! Literally, the colorful array of races that make up the Jamaican society epitomizes its motto "Out of many, one people" and equally, its musical culture is influenced by many genres and musical cultures. As such, Jamaicans have developed a very sophisticated taste for music which permeates every aspect of its culture....
March is here, and this month, portending so much for our Church, providentially culminates with Easter Sunday. A little while ago, we lived 18 momentous days in February which began on 11.02 with Pope Benedict's announcement that he would be stepping down....
Today is the feast day of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. Now I have only read one book on Blessed Kateri, so I am by no means an expert on the Lily of the Mohawks. I know that she underwent much suffering and discrimination to become a Christian, and that she was also known for her chaste life. She is perhaps most renowned for being a Native of North America....
Frank Capra's beloved classic It's a Wonderful Life explores a number of themes, but perhaps the final word was left to the angel Clarence, who leaves his copy of Tom Sawyer to the redeemed protagonist George Bailey with these words inscribed: "Remember George, no man is a failure who has friends."...
The Barque of Peter: Wednesday morning about 10:30, the popemobile entered St. Peter's Square. It wove back and forth along the narrow lanes kept clear so that the Holy Father could greet as many as possible. From where I sat in front of the Basilica's façade, it looked like a little white boat, the Pope its captain standing at the wheel, the popemobile sailing through a sea of cheering, waving, clapping, loving pilgrims....
I don't get up at 5:30 am very often. It takes something special to get me out of bed that early in the morning. But on the morning of Wednesday, February 27, I was up and out of bed and out the door before 6:10 because something very special indeed was happening that morning. Pope Benedict XVI was to give his final public audience before retiring from his duties as Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. It was an historic day, and a rare opportunity. I wasn't about to miss it....
Overnight the skies wept copious tears, but after daybreak of this Second Sunday of Lent, the rain stopped, and the day proved variable, undecided: cloud cover alternated with sunny patches, moments of welcome warming us between unfriendly blasts of biting wind. The Roman weather; utterly unable to make up its mind, seemed accurately to reflect the mixed feelings in the crowd of more than 100,000 who witnessed the 15 minutes of Pope Benedict XVI's last public Sunday Angelus....
I am the Jesuit superior of a community with an average age of just over 82 years. In three years in the role I have seen a wide range of attitudes toward peoples' approach to the end of their life and the diminishment of their mind or body. Some accept the situation with serenity and are grateful for more time to pray and read....
With full freedom, I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005. With these sober and canonical words did Pope Benedict XVI resign as Pope on 12 February 2013. Only days ago, I commented to a friend that the Church will be seeking a new Pope in the next 5 years or so. I never thought that I would have to wait only 5 days. There's something moving and stirring about the Pope's resignation....
