Benedict has them Guessing

From Reuters:

 

But the private Pope, according to several well-placed Vatican prelates who spoke on the condition of anonymity, is another matter.

"The style inside the Vatican now is totally different," said a monsignor. "He is keeping a lot of us guessing."

John Paul would invite visitors to his private mass early every morning and engage them afterwards at breakfast on a host of issues facing the Church and the world.

Before his health declined, John Paul's dinners were legendary for their cultural exchange and lively intellectual banter.

Benedict, by contrast, has precious few visitors to his private apartments apart from his close staff. So, hints of what is on his mind or of impending decisions rarely trickle out.

As private and reserved as he was before his election, he spends much of his private time in the evening reading, and occasionally relaxes by playing the piano.
 

New Bishop for Sioux City

I think this is the first "ordinary" appointed by Pope Benedict in the
United States.

From Vatican Information Service:

Msgr. Ralph Walker Nickless, vicar general and pastor of the parish of
Our Lady of Fatima in the archdiocese of Denver, U.S.A., as bishop of
Sioux City (area 37,587, population 468,549, Catholics 94,186, priests
150, permanent deacons 36, religious 86), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was
born in Denver in 1947 and ordained a priest in 1973.

P.R.A.Y. The Sunday Gospel

Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Matthew 25:14-30

P. Prepare
A Man Going on a Journey
1. This parable follows the parable of the ten virgins from last Sunday’s Gospel.
2. It is both a parable of discipleship (how we are serving in God’s Kingdom) and of future judgment (how we will be judged when Our Lord returns).
3. In this parable of the kingdom all are not equal, rather each servant is entrusted with talents commensurate with their ability…literally their power (dynamis)
4. A “talent” was the largest denomination in Greek currency, roughly equivalent to 10,000 denarii. In another parable we are told that one denarius is one day’s wage. We might equate a talent with a million dollars in our economy. The point here being that even one “talent” was equivalent to a persons lifetime of earning. What should not be lost on the modern reader is that “talent” was money, not aptitude.
5. Each servant is entrusted with this enormous gift, i.e. each Christian believer has been given everything they need in life freely from Our Lord whose salvation is a gift to us.
6. The master leaves no instruction on what to do with the money that he leaves to his servants before going on his journey. In the end the accounting will relate to how the master is thought of and how this propels the good servants to use their talents versus the wicked one.
7. “Immediately” the good servants put the money they have received to use and make more, the bad servant buries it in the ground (might this be an indication of believing in death more than life—already a sign of living not with belief in the resurrection and return of Jesus but rather fearing that he will not return and death is the true end?) St. John Chrysostom interpreted this behavior as “selfishness” an unwillingness to help others.
8. It was considered “safe” to bury money in the ground to protect it from thieves, but this behavior is condemned by Jesus. His followers are to let their light shine before all. Belonging to the Kingdom is all about risk because it is belief in the power of the cross not fear of those who can take one’s life but rather fear of him who after our life has been taken can cast us into Gehenna.
10. In the parable the master returns “After a long time”…a theme that at least in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus return, his second coming doesn’t happen when his disciples expect (in Matthew 24 an immediate return is forecast, in 25 a later than expected return is forecast—we know neither the day nor the hour).
11. The confession of the servant acknowledges that what they made of their talents (life?) was made possible first of all because of the gift of the talent in the first place from the Lord. His response “Well done, my good and faithful servant” echoes what every disciple desires and echoes the sentiments of those who felt “joy” at the funerals of both Pope John Paul II and Blessed Mother Teresa who stand as modern examples of the good servants in this parable. Notice the response of the Lord to the second servant entrusted with less talents at the beginning of the parable is the same.
12. One might take the “wicked, lazy servant” as those who believe that God is so all powerful that they literally do not matter. Yet the point of the Gospel is that while God is all powerful he has humbled himself and given us a mission. Our prayers, good works all empowered by Him do matter and we can not stand back asking God why he delays in returning when he has empowered us to do His will on this earth. What are we doing with the power that God has entrusted us? Do we pray like everything depends upon our prayers? Do we work and speak out like everything depends upon our efforts and voice? Or do we wait for those good and faithful servants to do this for us?
13. The wicked servant seems to think that his action was “good” even though it leads to his condemnation. This parable attacks humility when it is used as a pretense for not acting and as a way of using God as a foil for our own inactivity.
14. The wicked servant is cast out into the darkness. Might there be a psychological interpretation for the fruit of a life lived not for others but for self? One does not feel that they have used their lives wisely.
R. Read
Read Matthew 25:14-30 slowly. What strikes you as you read the selection? You might want to read it again before you go to Mass on Sunday.
A. Attend
Listen to all of the readings at Mass. How do the First Reading and Responsorial Psalm add to what the Gospel says? What speaks to you as you hear the Gospel proclaimed? What in the homily touches you or adds to what you were already thinking?
Y. Yield
How can you take the gift of your Baptism and use it daily to add to the Kingdom of God? Where can you bring healing to others? Who needs your prayers? Who needs the money that God has entrusted to you? How can you take what you have been given and have more to give Our Lord when he returns?

The Jewish Pope

Pope John Paul was Half Jewish...

 

From the Manchester Metro News:

 

A Manchester historian has claimed that Pope John Paul II was Jewish.

Yaakov Wise says his study into the the maternal ancestry of Karol Josez Wojtyla (John Paul II's real name) has revealed startling conclusions.

Mr Wise, a researcher in orthodox Jewish history and philosophy, said the late Pope's mother, grandmother and great-grandmother were all probably Jewish and came from a small town not far from Krakow.
 

St. Felix of Nicosia

From Father Benedict Groeschel:

Why pick this humble soul, who had been beatified over a century ago, for sudden notoriety and papal recognition? The answer is that he was profoundly devoted to the Blessed Sacrament, as were the other four people who were canonized with him at the end of the year of the Eucharist. I suspect there are other reasons as well. We live in a time that considers itself quite sophisticated. Everyone has an opinion, and all sorts of people have opinions that fall far outside the view of generally accepted Catholicism, or even of orthodox Catholic faith. One of those awaiting beatification at this time is Cardinal Newman, perhaps the greatest literary genius of the nineteenth century. A number of other extremely intelligent and intellectual people are in line as well. Why choose the humble Felix, whose vocation was that of an efficient beggar and friend of the sick, the poor, and the humble souls of his fairly humble city?

I think the answer is God’s Providence. God is telling us something. He is reminding us that the meek are blessed, that they shall inherit the earth, and that the poor in spirit enter the kingdom of heaven. Most of us have never even met a peasant brother or, in fact, any peasant. A peasant makes his living directly from the soil or the sea. No one today is identified as a peasant, although thousands of migrant workers might very well receive this noble classification. And yet, about ninety-eight percent of the people who read this message are descendents of European peasants. They were a great army of people who put the Catholic Church on the map during the immigration.

My Irish great-grandmother, Susie Murphy, who was only one generation from being a peasant herself, used to say, “Put a beggar on horseback, and he’ll ride himself to hell.” Catholicism in America is a rather dismal scene now with the collapse of most religious orders, apostasy among a great many Catholic colleges and universities, scandals in the priesthood and lack of faith and acceptance of some of the principal moral and dogmatic teachings of the Church. If we ask where we are headed, we may come to the conclusion that my great-grandmother was right in her homespun assessment of human nature.

The canonization of Saint Felix of Nicosia isn’t going to make a great splash. It wasn’t carried in any of the major newspapers. Unfortunately, little is probably known among the poor immigrants in the United States who would rejoice and be glad if they knew of this man and realized that “one of their own” received the Church’s highest honors. Just as Pope Pius XI used the beatification of Saint Conrad of Parzham to remind the Germans during Hitler’s time that they were not the master race, so this canonization may remind us all that it is the poor in spirit and the humble who enter the kingdom of heaven. If we want to get there ourselves, we had better — one way or another — get in line.

Ancient Christian Church Found in Israel

Dates back to the third century, at the Biblical site of Armageddon! Here is a picture of the inscription found:

From Yahoo News:

MEGIDDO PRISON, Israel - Israeli prisoner Ramil Razilo was removing rubble from the planned site of a new prison ward when his shovel uncovered the edge of an elaborate mosaic, unveiling what Israeli archaeologists said Sunday may be the Holy Land's oldest church.

The discovery of the church in the northern Israeli town of Megiddo, near the biblical Armageddon, was hailed by experts as an important discovery that could reveal details about the development of the early church in the region. Archaeologists said the church dated from the third century, decades before Constantine legalized Christianity across the Byzantine Empire.

Tornado Hits Parts of Indiana and Kentucky

Wind roared here last night too, although we are a long, long ways from Evansville (about six hours by car). Our power was out for eleven hours.

I'm always amazed when locals talk about how safe it is here compared to Florida, Louisana or California, USA Today recently rated our area as one of the ten most dangerous (largely because one of the deadliest tornados ever touched down between here and South Bend and destroyed several towns that no longer exist.

From the New York Times:

At least 22 people were reported killed and more than 200 were injured today when a tornado hit parts of Indiana and Kentucky in the dead of night.

The tornado formed along a line of severe thunderstorms after midnight and roared east of Evansville through Henderson County, Ky., touching down around 2 a.m., the authorities said.