While my heart sings for joy because I know he must be with Lord in heaven, it’s also so sad knowing the Church Miltant no longer has one of it’s greatest contemplative teachers in its temporal midst. Fr. Thomas Dubay died, September 26, 2010. Fr. Dubay led me to St. Teresa of Avila. His work on “Fire Within” and all the programs he gave us on EWTN were instrumental in my spiritual growth. In those early days, he was like having a distant spiritual director who guided me, as well as the rest of us, toward a deeper relationship with Christ.
He told me once, “Kris, the best theology books are the lives of the saints; you study them and you won’t be led astray.” Fr. Thomas Dubay, in a very real way, helped inspire the work of this blog and it’s mission.
I’m leaving now to light a candle for Fr. Dubay at our church…it doesn’t seem like much given the fact he was such an important part of my spiritual growth, but then again I think it would make him happy knowing I was offering that “prayer” from the depths of my heart. I can’t wait to meet him in person one day. Fr. Thomas Dubay, pray for us.
One of the great modern day conversion stories…the Hahn’s, Scott and Kimberly! They have had a profound affect on the McGregor hearts and continue to point the discerning hearts of so many more brothers and sisters towards the depths of Truth. Don’t forget…conversion is a verb, not a noun. It’s an action that continues every moment of every day as we journey home. Join the wonderful Marcus Grodi, with a story that never grows old…
Wow…as a parent there could be nothing more difficult then the death of your child, but then imagine being there for their beatification in Rome! That has been the experience of Ruggero and Maria Teresa Badano.
The life and witness of Blessed Chiara Luce Badano is one not just for youth, but for us all!!!!
Maria Grazia Magrini, vice-postulator of Chiara Badano’s cause for canonization, told ZENIT: “She put Jesus in the first place. She called him ‘my spouse.'”
As a young girl, she liked to sing, dance, play tennis and skate. She loved the mountains and the sea. “She also tried to go to Mass every day,” said Magrini.
One day, at age 17, while playing tennis the adolescent felt an acute pain. Her mother recalled: “She returned home and was very pale. She went upstairs.”
The mother asked her: “Why did you come back, Chiara?” The youth explained, “Because during the match I felt such an sharp pain in my back that I dropped the racquet.”
The pain worsened. Doctors soon discovered bone cancer. As the disease progressed, Badano faced repeated hospitalizations and increasing pain. She often repeated, “For you, Jesus. If you wish it, so do I!”
Her mother still remembers when she came home after the first session of chemotherapy. She did not want to talk. Maria Teresa recalled: “I looked at her and I saw the expression on her face, all the struggle she was combating within herself to say her ‘yes’ to Jesus.” After 25 minutes, she said to her mother “now you can talk.”
Going to meet Jesus
Chiara underwent surgery, which was unsuccessful; from that moment she lost the use of her legs.
According to her vice postulator, this young athlete, notwithstanding the very painful moment, exclaimed: “If I had to choose between walking or going to paradise, I wouldn’t hesitate, I’d choose paradise.”
At that time her friendship with Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare movement, who decided to call the youth Chiara “Luce” Badano, became very close.
She spent several months in agony, preparing for her encounter with Jesus. “The most beautiful moments were during the last summer,” said her friend, Chicca. “She was motionless in her bed,” she recalled.
Magrini highlighted Chiara’s attitude: “She didn’t cry, didn’t lament, she looked at the image of Jesus.”
Chicca recalled how Chiara wished to prepare her own funeral: the songs of the Mass, the dress and hairdo: Everything was for her a celebration. The friend recalled, “She told me she wanted to be buried in a white dress, as a bride that goes to meet Jesus.”
Chiara made one last exhortation to her mother: “When you dress me, you must repeat three times: Now Chiara is seeing Jesus.” Chiara also asked that the cornea of her eyes be donated to two youths.
She died on Oct. 7, 1990. Her last words to her mother were: “Be happy because I’m happy.” – Zenit
Discerning Hearts shares a newly released video by Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis, in which he explains how new definitions of marriage could seriously harm society. This issue is a difficult subject to articulate compassionately to family, friends and others who misunderstand the Church’s important pastoral teaching on marriage. Archbishop Nienstedt offers a helpful instruction concerning the traditional view of marriage in relation to same-sex “marriage” initiatives. He speaks about current efforts in Minnesota, but what he has to say can be used as a general instruction for all.
In addition to his defense of marriage as a matter of both faith and basic human reason, the Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis carefully articulates the Church’s position of compassion toward individuals forced to bring up children alone, as well as those who experience same-sex attractions.
“The Church’s teaching on marriage,” he affirms, “is not a condemnation of homosexual persons as human beings. It is simply a reflection, not only of the Scriptures, but of the unique, procreative nature of the male-female bond.”
A shining example of how reason and science can lead to faith. Dr. Kevin Vost is a cradle Catholic, who fell into aethism at the age of 17. He would stay there for over 2 decades, until gradually through reasoned enlightenment (showered with God’s grace) the fallacy in aethistic philosophy was revealed and the glory of real Truth became known. Wonderful read…the journey really can be made from the head to the heart, just ask Dr. Kevin Vost!
OK, everyone lets put the Little Flower to work (it brings her great joy, don’tcha know)! Today begins the novena to St. Therese of Lisieux. Her feast day is Oct. 1. She’s only merely huge… why she’s only slightly enormous…barely gigantic in all the little ways…she’s Our Little Flower. A Doctor of the Church, who’s little way leads to the greatest love.
George Weigel give us “The End and The Beginning: Pope John Paul II – The Victory of of Freedom, The Last Years, The Legacy”. What a tremendous blessing to reflect once again on the life of a modern day saint…our very own late great Holy Father, John Paul II. George Weigel doesn’t disappoint. The first part of the book reads like a spy novel…even more compelling because it’s true. The second part, covers the last 6 years of the Pope John Paul’s life, the jubilee and so much more. The last part sets the stage for a legacy which will be reflected and pondered on for generations, if not centuries. It’s as much our story as Church as it is the life of Pope John Paul II. Don’t miss this one…it is essential reading!!!
The most dangerous thing about Conn and David Iggulden’s book is that you’ll be inspired to heroism. From George Washington to Edith Cavell, from The Women of the SOE to Flight 93, the Dangerous Book of Heroes inspires young and old…it’s what good story telling is all about. Some stories may be a little more than some very young listeners can take in, but don’t let that stop you from diving in yourself….the very best stories are the one’s we grow into. Conn Iggulden and his brother David have given us all a gift.
As reported by the Catholic Herald UK Pope Benedict XVI today beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman in a historic Mass at Cofton Park, Birmingham – the first beatification ever to take place on British soil.
In his homily, the Pope placed Cardinal Newman in a tradition of English martyrs and saintly scholars, and praised the “warmth and humanity” of his priestly ministry.
He also noted that it was the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, and paid tribute to English men and women who resisted the “evil ideology” of Nazism.
He said: “For me as one who lived and suffered through the dark days of the Nazi regime in Germany, it is deeply moving to be here with you on this occasion, and to recall how many of your fellow citizens sacrificed their lives, courageously resisting the forces of that evil ideology.
“My thoughts go in particular to nearby Coventry, which suffered such heavy bombardment and massive loss of life in November 1940,” the Pope said.
He explained Newman was the latest in a “long line” of saintly British scholars, including St Bede, St Hilda, St Aelred, and Blessed Duns Scotus. It was a tradition, he said, “of gentle scholarship, deep human wisdom and profound love for the Lord”.
He pointed to Newman’s “devoted care for the people of Birmingham … visiting the sick and the poor, comforting the bereaved, caring for those in prison”.
“No wonder,” he said, “that on his death so many thousands of people lined the local streets as his body was taken to its place of burial not half a mile from here”.
The Pope said that given his holiness it was fitting he should take his place beside England’s martyrs, “whose courageous witness has sustained and inspired the Catholic community here for centuries”.
Pope Benedict said his vision of education had “done so much to shape the ethos that is the driving force behind Catholic schools and colleges today”.
He quoted Cardinal Newman’s appeal for a well-instructed laity as a goal for all teachers of religion. He said: “ ‘I want a laity not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it.’ ”
The Pope added: “I pray that, through his intercession and example, all who are engaged in the task of teaching and catechesis will be inspired to greater effort by the vision he so clearly sets before us.”
He also spoke about Newman’s holiness, saying it was a “profound desire of the human heart to enter into intimate communion with the Heart of God”.
The Pope spoke in front of tens of thousands of pilgrims, some of whom had slept overnight at Cofton Park in sleeping bags. Others had set off from parishes as early as 2am in special pilgrim buses. Fr Tim Finigan, parish priest at Blackfen, Kent, tweeted: “Apologies to the neighbours for waking them up last night singing ‘God bless our Pope’ as the coach left for Birmingham. Won’t happen again.”
According to Simon Caldwell, the Catholic Herald’s news editor, rain poured down all morning until just before the Pope’s helicopter landed nearby, when the sun finally came out.
Deacon Jack Sullivan, who was healed of a severe spinal disorder after praying for Newman’s intercession, proclaimed the Gospel during the Mass. It was his inexplicable healing that led to Newman being made a Blessed.
A choir of 1,200 sung a new setting of the Mass by composer James MacMillan. The prayers of the faithful were made in German, Welsh, French, Vietnamese and Punjabi.” – Catholic Herald UK
I love the movies as much as a good book; unfortunately there are fewer “good” movies than there are “good” books. So it was great to talk the history of film and what makes for a good movie, as well as, what are some of the best of the old and new in cinema today with Gary Giddins. This interview was a blast for me. If you love the movies, or even if you don’t but you want to have a fun and enjoyable movie going experience, home alone or in the theater, check out “Warning Shadows”
For more on “Warning Shadows: Home Alone with Classic Cinema”
While my heart sings for joy because I know he must be with Lord in heaven, it’s also so sad knowing the Church Miltant no longer has one of it’s greatest contemplative teachers in its temporal midst. Fr. Thomas Dubay died, September 26, 2010. Fr. Dubay led me to St. Teresa of Avila. His work on “Fire Within” and all the programs he gave us on EWTN were instrumental in my spiritual growth. In those early days, he was like having a distant spiritual director who guided me, as well as the rest of us, toward a deeper relationship with Christ.
Novena to St. Therese.
