Special First Friday Reflection

I still haven't fully processed that the Chair of St. Peter is vacant. I do however take solace in Pope Benedict's address at his final Wednesday audience:

Dear friends! God guides His Church, he sustains her always, and especially in difficult times. Let us never lose this vision of faith, which is the only true vision of the Church and the world. In our heart, in the heart of each of you, may there always be the joyous certainty that the Lord is near us, he does not abandon us, he is near us and surrounds us with his love.

I came across this video reflection that helped me; perhaps it will help you as well:

Does Prayer Work: A Proper Disposition

By Frater Bovious

(CARROLLTON – Cradle of Civilization) On my way home from work, listening to the radio, a lady called in with a question about prayer. She had read a book that appears to have made her feel that if she was “praying properly” she would have some tangible evidence that her prayers were heard. Yet, she had been praying fervently and receiving no feedback – and so was left with faith alone that her prayers were heard.

She didn’t say “just faith” but my sense was, while she was willing to just go on faith, she really wanted some kind of verification. This appears to have been triggered by the fact she had several losses in her life, various in-laws and such, and was trying to “cover her kids with prayer”, but nevertheless had some anxiety concerning the safety of her children.

This triggered a line of thought for me – the following is not a response to her and her situation, though it may be related. The line of thought concerns the proper disposition to prayer.

TO READ THE REST, please check out Frater Bovious' blog The Spiritual Advocate.

Sede Vacante

The Vatican website now reflects the state of the Church - the seat is vacant.

Let us pray for the Church, the members of the College of Cardinals and the Bishop Emeritus of Rome, Benedict.

Here is a video of Benedict's departure:

The Pope App

As we count the hours to the end of Pope Benedict's pontificate and await the beginning of the Conclave, we might want an easy way to keep up with all things from the Vatican. The Pope App is the perfect way to accomplish this.

After initially opening the app to the title page, the screen opens to an image which lets you know when you can follow the pope live. For example in this image taken a few minutes ago, we can see it will be 3 hours until the pope can be seen live.

The Pope App is organized into 9 different screens. These include the ability to view LIVE feeds, check a calendar of upcoming EVENTS, read messages From the Pope, see NEWS, view IMAGES, archived VIDEOS, and WEBCAMS from the Vatican. The app even includes a page dedicated to all things VATICANO.

The LIVE feed not only shows the events that are upcoming, but also allow you to set reminder alarms to check in. This will come in handy once the Conclave begins.

The NEWS feed captures articles on the pope and his messages. They come from a variety of sources including Vatican Radio and L'Osservatore Romano.

The Vaticano page links to several media outlets from the Vatican including the Pope's twitter feed that will continue to be active assuming the new pope chooses to tweet.

The Pope App is powered by the official Vatican Media and is currently only available in iOS format (Apple products). The app is FREE.

Pope Benedict's Last Audience

Here is a video presentation of Pope Benedict's last General Audience:

Here is the complete text of his audience:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I offer a warm and affectionate greeting to the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors who have joined me for this, my last General Audience. Like Saint Paul, whose words we heard earlier, my heart is filled with thanksgiving to God who ever watches over his Church and her growth in faith and love, and I embrace all of you with joy and gratitude.

During this Year of Faith, we have been called to renew our joyful trust in the Lord’s presence in our lives and in the life of the Church. I am personally grateful for his unfailing love and guidance in the eight years since I accepted his call to serve as the Successor of Peter. I am also deeply grateful for the understanding, support and prayers of so many of you, not only here in Rome, but also throughout the world.

The decision I have made, after much prayer, is the fruit of a serene trust in God’s will and a deep love of Christ’s Church. I will continue to accompany the Church with my prayers, and I ask each of you to pray for me and for the new Pope. In union with Mary and all the saints, let us entrust ourselves in faith and hope to God, who continues to watch over our lives and to guide the journey of the Church and our world along the paths of history. 

I commend all of you, with great affection, to his loving care, asking him to strengthen you in the hope which opens our hearts to the fullness of life that he alone can give. To you and your families, I impart my blessing. Thank you!

I am not going to lie; I teared up. Let us pray for Pope Benedict, the College of Cardinals and Holy Mother Church.

Year of Faith & The Catechism

Universal Catechism
When Pope Benedict announced that the Church would be celebrating a Year of Faith, he suggested we read the documents of the Second Vatican Council and that we read the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC). This makes sense because this year is the 50th anniversary of Vatican II and it is also the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of the Catechism.

Norm for Teaching the Faith
The CCC is only the second universal catechism handed down by the Church. The Catechism of Trent is the other and was written in 1566 primarily written for priests. The CCC is one of the fruits of Vatican II and is intended as resource for ALL members of the Church. Blessed John Paul II called the CCC "a sure norm for teaching the faith" and he asserted that it would help "serve the renewal" of the Church.

Four Pillars of Faith
The CCC is organized into four pillars of the faith: Profession of Faith (The Creed), Celebration of the Christian Mystery (The Sacraments & Liturgy), Life in Christ (Commandments and Beatitudes) and the Universal Call to Prayer (Our Father). The CCC is written like an encyclopedia and organized by paragraph numbers. In the back of the "big green" version are a number of cross reference tools for scripture, papal documents and documents of the councils. It is written in easy to understand prose and calls upon the writings of the Church fathers, the saints and the Magisterium.

This weekend the men of Joe Catholic will be breaking open the CCC and reviewing how to implement it into our daily lives. Please enjoy this video from Father John Riccardo of Our Lady of Good Counsel. The first 5 minutes are dedicated to talking about the CCC and the Year of Faith.

Additional Resources on CCC:

• Joe Catholic Toolbox - introduction to CCC and links to free copies of CCC and documents about the CCC; includes video from the New Evangelizers
• Read the Catechism in a Year
• USCCB's Online CCC as eBook 
• Catholic Cross Reference - online tool that allows you to cross reference the CCC with scripture, papal documents and the documents of Vatican II

Call No Man Father?

St. Josemaria Escriva celebrating Mass.

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus admonishes his followers not to call any man on Earth father (Matt 23:9). How can this be?

Catholic Answers poses the question this way:

Many Protestants claim that when Catholics address priests as "father," they are engaging in an unbiblical practice that Jesus forbade: "Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven" (Matt. 23:9).

In his tract 10 Reasons Why I Am Not a Roman Catholic, Fundamentalist anti-Catholic writer Donald Maconaghie quotes this passage as support for his charge that "the papacy is a hoax."

Bill Jackson, another Fundamentalist who runs a full-time anti-Catholic organization, says in his book Christian’s Guide To Roman Catholicism that a "study of Matthew 23:9 reveals that Jesus was talking about being called father as a title of religious superiority . . . [which is] the basis for the [Catholic] hierarchy" (53).
How should Catholics respond to such objections?

 Catholic Answers addresses this common question in this answer.

Here's Tim Staples answer: