Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, for Kindle

Here is Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, formatted for the Kindle.

Evangelii Gaudium for Kindle

My apologies: The footnotes have not been nicely formatted, and have the same font as the main text.

Jesus is carried through the streets of Chicago

Today is the feast of the Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. This beautiful feast commemorates the Real Presence of the Lord Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, and has been celebrated since the 13th century to honor Jesus and the truth of the Eucharist taught by the Apostles since the first century of Christianity.

In my parish, St. Mary of the Angels in Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood, we hold a Eucharistic procession after Mass. It's simple but beautiful, today no less than ever.

Altar boys in scarlet cassocks, with incense and bells, lead the way down the middle of the street. Little girls in white dresses strew rose petals behind them. Priests and the deacon take turns carrying a 'monstrance' -a transparent vessel for viewing a consecrated Host- containing the Lord Jesus through the streets of the neighborhood. Four men carry a golden canopy on poles to shelter the monstrance from the sun. Following them are hundreds of faithful singing hymns praising our Lord and King. It's quite a spectacle.

We circle the block, stopping once on each side at temporary altars decorated with flowers and an image of Our Lord or His Blessed Mother. There a priest or deacon reads from the Holy Scriptures something about the great gift of the Eucharist which Jesus has given us. He then offers a few of his own thoughts, and we pray together. Then we continue to the next altar.

Along the way I pick up a rose petal to keep pressed in my missal. I've kept a few from previous years. They've lost their scent, but not their meaning.

Down in adoration falling,
Lo, the sacred Host we hail;
Lo, o'er ancient forms departing
Newer rites of grace prevail;Faith for all defects supplying
Where the feeble senses fail.

Fr. Ferrer carries the monstrance, while Deacon Tyluki walks nearby.

Adoro te devote, latens Deitas, Quæ sub his figuris vere latitas; Tibi se cor meum totum subjicit, Quia te contemplans totum deficit.

I devoutly adore you, O hidden Deity, Truly hidden beneath these appearances. My whole heart submits to you, And in contemplating you, It surrenders itself completely.

It looks like a monstrance containing bread, but it's not. It's a monstrance containing the Lord Jesus Christ.

Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur, Sed auditu solo tuto creditur. Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius; Nil hoc verbo veritátis verius.

Sight, touch, taste are all deceived In their judgment of you, But hearing suffices firmly to believe. I believe all that the Son of God has spoken; There is nothing truer than this word of truth.

Deacon Tyluki takes his turn carrying the Lord Jesus.

Jesu, quem velatum nunc aspicio, Oro, fiat illud quod tam sitio: Ut te revelata cernens facie, Visu sim beátus tuæ gloriæ. Amen.

Jesu, whom now veiled, I by faith descry, What my soul doth thirst for, do not, Lord, deny, That thy face unveiled, I at last may see, With the blissful vision blest, my God, of Thee. Amen.

Altar servers and an usher carrying a ceremonial 'mace' lead the way around the corner.

To the everlasting Father,
And the Son Who reigns on high
With the Holy Ghost proceeding
Forth from Each eternally,
Be salvation, honor, blessing,
Might and endless majesty.
Amen.

When we've completed our circuit around the block, we leave the blinding June sunlight of Hermitage Avenue and, singing, proceed up the steps into the entrance of the church. At first the church seems almost too dark to make our way ...but our senses do not always detect what is really present! In the church we have only a few more moments of prayer with Jesus present before us.

Holy feast of Corpus Christ, remain in our memory! Lord Jesus, may we never be separated from You! Live in our hearts forever!

May the Heart of Jesus in the most Blessed Sacrament be praised, adored, and loved with grateful affection at every moment in all the tabernacles of the world, now and until the end of time. Amen.

If we know how to pray...

"Prayer is what ultimately reveals who we are in relation to God and other people. If we can pray, then we can talk to others; if we know how to pray, then we also know how to relate to others." -Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

Riccardo Muti sides with Pope on sacred music

Muti sides with pope against Church 'sing-songs' - ANSA English

"It is possible to modernize holy music," he once said at a concert at the Sistine Chapel. "But this cannot happen outside the great traditional path of the past, of Gregorian chants and sacred polyphonic choral music.

"The pope is right when he says it is necessary to bring our great musical heritage back into churches," said Muti, a former director of Milan's La Scala who is now in charge of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

"When I go to church and I hear four strums of a guitar or choruses of senseless, insipid words, I think it's an insult... I can't work out how come once upon a time there were Mozart and Bach and now we have little sing-songs. This is a lack of respect for people's intelligence."

The Elephant in the Sacristy: homosexuality and the sex abuse scandal

Catholic League: For Religious and Civil Rights

As the priestly sex abuse scandal runs its course, we don't appear yet to have reached the point where the bishops openly and honestly deal with homosexuality as an important factor.

Ignatius of Antioch, on the authority of the Roman See

"You [the See of Rome] have envied no one, but others have you taught. I desire only that what you have enjoined in your instructions may remain in force" (Epistle to the Romans 3:1 [A.D. 110])

-St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch

Cyprian of Carthage, on the primacy of Peter

"The Lord says to Peter: ‘I say to you,’ he says, ‘that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.’ . . . On him [Peter] he builds the Church, and to him he gives the command to feed the sheep [John 21:17], and although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single chair [cathedra], and he established by his own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity. Indeed, the others were that also which Peter was [i.e., apostles], but a primacy is given to Peter, whereby it is made clear that there is but one Church and one chair. So too, all [the apostles] are shepherds, and the flock is shown to be one, fed by all the apostles in single-minded accord. If someone does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he [should] desert the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he still be confident that he is in the Church?" (The Unity of the Catholic Church 4; 1st edition [A.D. 251]).

-Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage (d. 258)

St. Gregory Nazianzen, on the primacy of Rome

"Regarding the faith which they uphold, the ancient Rome has kept a straight course from of old, and still does so, uniting the whole West by sound teaching, as is just, since she presides over all and guards the universal divine harmony." (Carmen de Vita Sua, 382 A.D.)

-St. Gregory Nazianzen, Archbishop of Constantinople (c. 329-389)

St. John Chrysostom, on the primacy of Peter

"He [Peter] was the chosen one of the Apostles, the mouth of the Apostles, the leader of the band...Jesus put into his hands the chief authority among the brethren...For he who then did not dare to question Jesus, but committed the office to another, was even entrusted with the chief authority over the brethren, and not only does not commit to another what relates to himself, but himself now puts a question to his Master concerning another. John is silent, but Peter speaks...for Peter greatly loved John...When therefore Christ had foretold great things to him, and committed the world to him, and spoke beforehand of his martyrdom, and testified that his love was greater than all the others..." (Hom. 88 on St. John).

-St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, c. 349–407.

John Paul II beatified!

-Still inspiring millions

Talmudic Laws for Children

This is too funny not to share. I wish I could give credit to the author, but do not know its source. Can anyone identify the author?

Talmudic Laws for Children

Laws of Forbidden Places:

Of the beasts of the field, and of the fishes of the sea, and of all foods that are acceptable in my sight you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the hoofed animals, broiled or ground into burgers, you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the cloven-hoofed animal, plain or with cheese, you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the cereal grains, of the corn and of the wheat and of the oats, and of all the cereals that are of bright color and unknown provenance you may eat, but not in the living room. Of quiescently frozen dessert and of all frozen after-meal treats you may eat, but absolutely not in the living room. Of the juices and other beverages, yes, even of those in sippycups, you may drink, but not in the living room, neither may you carry such therein. Indeed, when you reach the place where the living room carpet begins, of any food or beverage there you may not eat, neither may you drink. But if you are sick, and are lying down and watching something, then may you eat in the living room.

Laws When at Table:

And if you are seated in your high chair, or in a chair such as a greater person might use, keep your legs and feet below you as they were. Neither raise up your knees, nor place your feet upon the table, for that is an abomination to me. Yes, even when you have an interesting bandage to show, your feet upon the table are an abomination, and worthy of rebuke. Drink your milk as it is given you, neither use on it any utensils, nor fork, nor knife, nor spoon, for that is not what they are for; if you will dip your blocks in the milk, and lick it off, you will be sent away. When you have drunk, let the empty cup then remain upon the table, and do not bite it upon its edge and by your teeth hold it to your face in order to make noises in it sounding like a duck: for you will be sent away. When you chew your food, keep your mouth closed until you have swallowed, and do not open it to show your brother or your sister what is within; I say to you, do not so, even if your brother or your sister has done the same to you. Eat your food only; do not eat that which is not food; neither seize the table between your jaws, nor use the raiment of the table to wipe your lips. I say again to you, do not touch it, but leave it as it is. And though your stick of carrot does indeed resemble a marker, draw not with it upon the table, even in pretend, for we do not do that, that is why. And though the pieces of broccoli are very like small trees, do not stand them upright to make a forest, because we do not do that, that is why. Sit just as I have told you, and do not lean to one side or the other, nor slide down until you are nearly slid away. Heed me; for if you sit like that, your hair will go into the syrup.

And now behold, even as I have said, it has come to pass.

Laws Pertaining to Dessert:

For we judge between the plate that is unclean and the plate that is clean, saying first, if the plate is clean, then you shall have dessert. But of the unclean plate, the laws are these: If you have eaten most of your meat, and two bites of your peas with each bite consisting of not less than three peas each, or in total six peas, eaten where I can see, and you have also eaten enough of your potatoes to fill two forks, both forkfuls eaten where I can see, then you shall have dessert. But if you eat a lesser number of peas, and yet you eat the potatoes, still you shall not have dessert; and if you eat the peas, yet leave the potatoes uneaten, you shall not have dessert, no, not even a small portion thereof. And if you try to deceive by moving the potatoes or peas around with a fork, that it may appear you have eaten what you have not, you will fall into iniquity. And I will know, and you shall have no dessert.

On Screaming:

Do not scream; for it is as if you scream all the time. If you are given a plate on which two foods you do not wish to touch each other are touching each other, your voice rises up even to the ceiling, while you point to the offence with the finger of your right hand; but I say to you, scream not, only remonstrate gently with the server, that the server may correct the fault. Likewise if you receive a portion of fish from which every piece of herbal seasoning has not been scraped off, and the herbal seasoning is loathsome to you and steeped in vileness, again I say, refrain from screaming. Though the vileness overwhelm you, and cause you a faint unto death, make not that sound from within your throat, neither cover your face, nor press your fingers to your nose. For I have made the fish as it should be; behold, I eat it myself, yet do not die.

Concerning Face and Hands:

Cast your countenance upward to the light, and lift your eyes to the hills, that I may more easily wash you off. For stains are upon you; even to the very back of your head, there is rice thereon. And in the breast pocket of your garment, and upon the tie of your shoe, rice and other fragments are distributed in a manner wonderful to see. Only hold yourself still; hold still, I say. Give each finger in its turn for my examination thereof, and also each thumb. Lo, how iniquitous they appear. What I do is as it must be; and you shall not go hence until I have done.

Various Other Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances:

Bite not, lest you be cast into quiet time. Neither drink of your own bath water, nor of the bath water of any kind; nor rub your feet on bread, even if it be in the package; nor rub yourself against cars, nor against any building; nor eat sand. Leave the cat alone, for what has the cat done, that you should so afflict it with tape? And hum not the humming in your nose as I read, nor stand between the light and the book. Indeed, you will drive me to madness. Nor forget what I said about the tape.

Willows Academy Chamber Choir brightens Advent

Baghdad cathedral: priests were killed during Mass, confession; 3-year-old murdered

Baghdad cathedral: priests were killed during Mass, confession; 3-year-old murdered -CatholicCulture.org

"the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church"
-Tertullian, Apologeticus, Chapter 50

"Follow me ...today!"

"You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Matthew 5:4-8

The Lord calls people to follow him without distinction of state, race or condition... Be perfect... he says, and grants us the means and the appropriate graces that will make perfection possible. This is not just advice from the master, but an imperative command...

In the doctrine of Christ there is no invitation to mediocrity, but a clear call to heroism, to love and cheerful sacrifice...

Our Lord is not happy with a lukewarm life and a half-hearted dedication.

"Every branch that does not bear fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit." (John 15:2)

The plot of earth where Our Lord has planted us is the particular family of which we are part, and not any other... The rich mould we are rooted in is our work, which we must love so that it will sanctify not only us, but also our colleagues, our classmates, our neighbors... It is there, in that environment, in the midst of the world where the Lord says we can and must live all the Christian virtues, developing them with all the demands they make on us and not allowing them to be stunted or to whither. God calls people to holiness in every circumstance: in war and in peace, in sickness and in health, when we think we have triumphed and when we face unexpected defeat, when we have plenty of time and when time is a premium... Our Lord wants us to be saints at all times. Those who do not rely on grace, and habitually see things with a completely human outlook, are saying constantly: 'this now is not the right time for sanctity..., later... perhaps...'

Let us not think that in another place, in another situation we would be ready to follow Our Lord more closely and carry out a more fruitful apostolate... The fruits of sanctity Our Lord expects are those produced in and from the environment in which we find ourselves, here and now: tiredness, sickness, family, the job, one's colleagues, one's fellow students.

"Leave behind false idealisms, fantasies, and what I usually call mystical wishful thinking. If only I hadn't married... If only I hadn't this profession... If only I were healthier... If only I were young... If only I were old...! Instead, turn seriously to the most material and immediate reality, which is where Our Lord is..." (Conversations with Monsignor Escrivá, 116)

This is the environment in which our love of God should grow and develop, using precisely those opportunities we find at hand. Let us not allow them to slip away, for it is in them that Jesus is waiting for us.

-Excerpts from today's meditation, In Conversation with God, Vol. 3, p. 598-600, Francis Fernandez

OK... now this is beautiful!

Catholics Come Home Chicago | Video: Movie

A joyful witness: Nuns tell Oprah about the joy of religious life

Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist

What Catholic Women Want for Valentine's Day

What Catholic Women Want for Valentine's Day -EWTN.com

Good insights on the "genius of woman", love, and the importance of Valentine's Day.

Coming to prime time: the "Sister Mary Oprah Show"?

EWTN.com - Dominican Sisters To Appear on Oprah

Ann Arbor, Mich., Feb 8, 2010 (CNA).- The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist have made waves across the nation for their rapid growth and their devout orthodoxy. Now, they are once again in the national spotlight, being featured on the popular Oprah Winfrey Show.

"They phoned us and asked if they could do a program on us with Oprah. That's all we know!" Sister Joseph Andrew Bogdanowicz, OP, vocations director for the community, told CNA in an email.

The show featuring the sisters will air on Tuesday, February 9, 2010. The same day happens to be the congregation’s 13th anniversary. The coincidence is "amazing, as they did not know this when they chose the date -- but God did!" exclaimed the vocations director.

When asked why they chose to accept the invitation and appear on the show, "Oprah is powerful -- we entrust this endeavor to Mother Mary for the greater glory of her Son! It's truly been a lot of fun as 'the world' does not begin to understand our life," the Dominican said. "Hopefully, this will inspire more people to love God and serve Him in the manner He invites each of us -- and get the Gospel on the airwaves!!"

The Dominican Sisters of Mary were founded in 1997 by four Dominican sisters responding to John Paul II’s call for a new evangelization. In the 13 years of their existence, they have grown to almost 100 members. Their newly constructed motherhouse is already filled to capacity.

Currently, the average age of the sisters is 26 and the average age of their postulants is 21.

"Young people, inspired by John Paul the Great and Pope Benedict XVI, are generous and desirous of living sacrificial, authentic lives as God asks of them," Sr. Joseph Andrew said.

"We agreed (to be on the show) because it will further understanding of Religious Life," she added. "The Catholic Church is alive, well, and thriving as is authentic religious life," she added.

The secular West longs for an authentic Christianity

Cardinal Schönborn at Catholic University of America: Christianity Offers Dual Citizenship -EWTN.com: "the secular West longs for an authentic Christianity..."

Cardinal Schönborn at Catholic University of America: Christianity Offers Dual Citizenship

By Kirsten Evans

WASHINGTON, D.C., FEB. 4, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Ice and snow did not keep them away. Amidst the flurry of a winter snowstorm, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, archbishop of Vienna, addressed an auditorium over-flowing with students, faculty, clergy and lay faithful at the Catholic University of America (CUA).

The lecture, a joint venture of CUA's School of Theology and Religious Studies, School of Philosophy, and School of Canon Law, was open to the public. And the public came. Attendance was so strong that some students complained of having to turn back, because there was no standing room left in the hall.

Cardinal Schönborn, a Dominican religious, was ordained a priest in 1970. Before being named archbishop of Vienna in 1995, he was a professor of dogmatic theology at Fribourg, Switzerland. He was later elevated to cardinal in 1998. The cardinal addressed Wednesday's audience on the question "Christianity: Alien Presence or Foundation of the West?"

Fascinating alternative

Cardinal Schönborn began his address by delineating three legacies that he believes fundamental to the inheritance of Christian culture to the West: a sense of moral integrity, by which Christians are often recognized not only by what they do, but also by what they do not do; the concept of humanity as a united, universal family; and the idea that freedom makes man most like God, and is man's greatest possession.

The cardinal went on to ask, "Is it true that modern man wins his freedom through a bitter struggle against the Church? Is it true that the Enlightenment brought human freedom and dignity to humanity, not Christianity?" This, he claims, is the great hypothesis of modern history. But he is not convinced.

Cardinal Schönborn suggested that much of the early Church was born and emerged from a pluralistic Greco-Roman world 2,000 years ago, Christianity today offers a fascinating alternative to the modern secular world.

"Christianity's position in modern Europe is paradoxical," the cardinal proposed. "It is both a foreign body and a root for Europe. Although it is seen as a foreign entity, it still evokes a feeling of home and nostalgia for many in Europe.

"Europe has an increasingly number of people who, after having lived a fully secular lifestyle, find there way to a conscious Christian faith. And they have a way of describing their discovery of Christianity as a 'way home,' or a 'finding home.'"

Of heaven and earth

Alluding to St. Augustine, Cardinal Schönborn went on to explain, "Here in lays the distinctive and unmistakable strength of Christianity: her dual citizenship. At once earthly and heavenly, it invites one to a loyal participation in society, taking on responsibility for the city of man without wanting to overthrow it in order to create some utopian society. This engagement with the temporal is founded on the fact of a peril-less citizenship in the city of God."

Cardinal Schönborn made clear that the Christian's claim to belong not only to an earthly citizenship, but to a heavenly one, is what makes Christianity hated by totalitarian systems, most especially notable in the 20th century. "The Christian is free," he says. "Free with respect to the state, because he is never only a citizen of the state. Never before has this Christian freedom been more clearly expressed than during the time of fascism, communism, and Nazism during the last century, when authentic Christian witness resulted in millions and millions of martyrs."

The cardinal believes that this foundation of freedom is precisely what Christianity has to offer modern Europe. "It is freedom from the demands of the mainstream, from political correctness, or simply from the pressure of the latest fashions. Christian freedom," Cardinal Schönborn described.

Radical freedom

As testimony to the power of Christian freedom, Cardinal Schönborn recalled the great spiritual movements that became cultural movements in Western history. "This year marks exactly 1,100 years since the monastic reform of Cluny," he remembered. "This monastic reform brought Europe over 4,000 monasteries in a period of 200 years. A fantastic network all over Europe, with an enormous economic, social, artistic and spiritual energy."

The cardinal explained that when Cluny began to decline another great spiritual renewal was sparked with Bernard of Clairvaux, then again with the Cistercians, and history repeated itself again with the mendicant orders of Francis and Dominic. Each of these spiritual renewals made enormous contributions to the cultural and civil societies of their time.

"Has enough consideration been given to the freedom made possible by these renewal movements and how much Europe has been influenced by these movements?" he questioned. "From its inception, Christianity allowed people to step outside of their temporal and political order. The idea that man must obey God before he need obey man brought an enormous element of freedom into society," he continued.

The cardinal argued that throughout the centuries the freedom to radically follow Christ set free enormous creative energy throughout the Western world, and is "one of the permanent sources of European vitality."

Cardinal Schönborn also expressed his joy over the resurgence of spiritual movements in today's Church. "Why should history not repeat itself today?" he asked. "Why should we not have the kind of surprise, undreamt-of surprise, ahead of us that Francis of Assisi brought to Europe 800 years ago?" He described the lay movements in the Church as "a very vital sign" and claimed they point to the same creative Spirit that once brought to life the Christian spiritual and cultural renewals of previous centuries. The cardinal mentioned in particular Opus Dei, the Neo-Catechumenal Way, and Communion and Liberation.

Call to purification

But the cardinal did not fail to point out that the modern relationship between secularism and Christianity serves a needed purpose for the purification and maturation of Christianity: "Christianity also needs the critical voice of secular Europe, asking hard questions, sometimes nasty questions, questions we should not try to escape or avoid.

"It does Christianity good to listen to the questions of secular society and be challenged to answer them. It wakes the Christians up and challenges them. It questions Christianity's credibility. And Christianity needs to be questioned.

"It is good for us to be held accountable."

He explained that the critical questioning of the secular world presses Christianity to become what it is called to be, and helps to purify what is incoherent between its words and deeds. "And why?" he asked. "Because deep down, the secular West longs for an authentic Christianity, and hopes for a Christianity that is credible through its life."

Cardinal Schönborn ended the evening with a call to faith. "Christian freedom has an inexhaustible source. 'Remember, I am with you until the end of time.' This saying of Jesus Christ is Christianity's most powerful resource!" he exclaimed. "This alone explains the inexhaustible power of regeneration in Christianity, which again and again experiences its resurrection, in the power of the One who rose again."

Patriarch of Moscow affirms common ground with Pope

Russian Patriarch sees close accord with Catholics on public issues -Catholic Culture

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow has drawn the attention of Russian Orthodox bishops to the need for partnership with the Catholic Church in defending traditional Christian moral principles.
"We have similar positions on many problems facing Christians in the modern world," the Patriarch told a February 2 meeting of the Russian hierarchy. "They include aggressive secularization, globalization, and the erosion of the traditional moral principles."

In contrast, Patriarch Kirill noted, many Protestant groups have moved steadily away from Christian traditions.

The Spirit blows where it wills.