PART 1: THE CORE OF THE CHRISTIAN VISION
 
The beginning of this new year is a good time to look once more at the 1995 encyclical from Pope John Paul II, The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae). The Vatican Press says that “the primary intention of the papal document is to proclaim the good news of the value and dignity of each human life, of its grandeur and worth, also in its temporal phase. The cause of life is in fact at the same time the cause of the Gospel and the cause of the human race, the cause entrusted to the church.”
 
The core of the Christian message is both a vision of God and a vision of humanity (a theology and an anthropology, to use the language of Pope John Paul II). God choose to become precisely human. At every Mass we say: “By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity.” The calling of every human being is to become divine, and that is why we cherish every person’s life, from the homeless woman on the street to the rich and famous. (Vat II, Dignitatis humanae 1)
 
“The Good News of God’s love for humanity, the Good News of the dignity of each human person, and the Good News of life itself are all a single and indivisible Gospel.” (Ev. Vit. 2) One thing cannot be separated from the others. This is why we preach the whole Gospel of Life, not just bits and pieces, not just one “issue”, not some isolated political agenda, but a deeply holy respect for human life from conception, through early childhood, youth, adulthood, old age and forward until natural death.

 
PART 2: THE HUMAN BEING IS MADE FOR ETERNITY
 
St. John wrote, “Beloved, we are God’s children even now. But more than this - what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like God, for we shall see God as he is.” (1 Jn 3:2) Pope John Paul II calls this verse the core foundation of his encyclical “The Gospel of Life”. The Pope wrote, “The human being is called to a fullness of life which far exceeds the dimensions of this earthly existence, because it consists in sharing the very life of God.” (Evang. vit. 2)
 
The Pope calls our life on earth our “temporal phase”. It’s just a phase we’re going through! As we look at big questions of life and death, of grave moral decisions and world changing policies, we must always remember that we are literally “bigger than life”. This does not mean that life on earth is unimportant. Quite the contrary. It means that our life here on earth is not fully ours! Catholic moral teaching has never recognized or accepted the idea of total private ownership, especially not of human life. Pope John Paul II wrote, “After all, life on earth is not an ultimate reality but a penultimate reality. Life on earth is a sacred reality which is entrusted to us, to be preserved with a sense of responsibility.” (ibid.)
 
The Gospel of life is the joy of the Gospel, and that joy comes from the realization that we are made for eternity. The perspective of eternity influences everything we do on earth.
 
 
PART 3: AND NOW THE BAD NEWS
 
Pope John Paul’s encyclical on the Gospel of Life is, all in all, an optimistic document. But it is also his duty to point out some problems. The Pope points out that, ever since the days of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel, the human race has faced great challenges to building a culture of life. For many centuries, the “traditional” list of great threats to human life included:
 

• poverty
• hunger
• epidemics and endemic diseases
• violence and war
• economic injustice

 
Pope John Paul calls these problems “the ancient scourges”. When we as Catholics seek to counter a culture of death to build up a culture of life, we must start here, with the ancient scourges. Being pro-life means, first of all¸ that one seeks to reduce the pain of poverty, hunger, endemic diseases, violence, war and economic injustice.
 
On top of these ancient scourges, which still assail us, the contemporary world presents us with new threats, especially abortion, euthanasia, and the refusal of some countries to give up the death penalty. These new threats arise partly because of new technology, but what sets them apart is the desire of some people to make them sound like virtues. For example, says the Pope, some political leaders defend the death penalty as a good thing, even though the Church teaches that it is evil.
 
In Genesis 4:10, God said to Cain, after he had killed Abel, “Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the earth”. From this verse we get the traditional phrase, “the blood curdling sins” or “the sins which make blood cry out from the earth”. In the middle ages, the scholastic theologians like St. Thomas Aquinas listed these sins as: 1) the rich abusing the poor, 2) the parents abusing their children, 3) citizens abusing the earth, and 4) politicians abusing their power. Pope Paul II suggests that to this list we should add all those sins against life.
 
But now comes the good news of the Gospel!

PART 4: THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL OF LIFE
 
Last week we looked at “the bad news” and it can sometimes feel overwhelming. But good will triumph over evil! The Gospel of Life will prevail. The Gospel of Life is more than a theological reflection, more than a set of moral commandments, more than the promise of a better future. The Gospel of Life is the proclamation of the person of Jesus Christ! In Christ Jesus, the Gospel of Life is fully given, and this message is written into the being of every human being.
 
In Chapter 2 of Evangelium Vitae, Pope John Paul II outlines this proclamation in eight statements:
 
1) Life is always good.
2) Jesus brings life’s meaning to fulfillment.
3) God’s glory shines in the face of every human being.
4) The gift of human life is the gift of eternal life.
5) We owe reverence and love to every human life.
6) We are responsible for all human life across space and time.
7) Each human life bears dignity: the unborn child, the poor, the suffering, the old – everyone.
8) The Gospel of Life is brought to fulfillment on the Cross, which moves us from the law of Mt. Sinai to life in the Holy Spirit.
 
Over the next several weeks, we will look at each of these statements.
 
 
PART 5: LIFE IS GOOD
“And God saw that it was good …” (Genesis 1:18) After God made life, He declared it to be good. This is one of our most basic convictions: life is good!
 
Pope John Paul II writes: “Why is life good? … Because God’s glory shines in the face of the human being.” (par. 34) The Pope – like all of Catholic tradition – takes an evolutionary view of life. All other life, and indeed, the existence of all non-living things, tends towards and leads up to human life. And human life tends towards union with God. The reason all the universe exists is so humanity can be together with God forever in heaven.
 
Is this arrogant of us to say? No. Heaven is the reason for earth. The Pope writes: “The life which the Son of God came to give human beings cannot be reduced to mere existence in time.” (par. 37) The dignity and goodness of human life is linked both to its beginning (we come from God) and to its destiny (we go to God). This was summed up by St. Irenaeus many centuries ago:
 
“The glory of God is the human being fully alive, and the life of the human being consists in the vision of God.”
 
 
PART 6: THE GLORY OF GOD IS HUMANITY FULLY ALIVE, AND THE LIFE OF HUMANITY COMES FROM THE VISION OF GOD
 
“The glory of God is the human being fully alive, and the life of the human being consists in the vision of God.” This motto of St. Irenaeus (from the text Adversus haereses IV,2) forms an outline of the Catholic Church’s teaching about human life. All life is sacred, but human life is a different category. When it comes to plants and animals, even bacteria and viruses, we have the right to weigh up and balance the intrinsic holiness of that created being and the needs of others. In short: we are allowed to eat things and we are allowed to fight disease by killing germs. Yes, the germs are holy, but their holiness is limited and relative.
 
Why, asks Pope John Paul II. Because on this earth only humanity was created in the likeness and image of God. The cow eats grass and commits no sin. The lion eats the cow and commits no sin. But humanity was given a free will and the ability to tell right from wrong. “The ability to attain truth and freedom are human prerogatives inasmuch as humanity is created in the image if the Creator, God, who is true and just.” (par. 34) The Pope points to Gaudium et Spes from the Second Vatican Council: “What is humanity? Some people set it up as the absolute measure of all things. Others debase humanity to the point of despair. The Church, inspired by divine revelation, takes a middle path.” (GS 12) Humanity is like a “summit and center” of the earthly things, but only because God is the real center. We are made in the image of God, but we messed up that image through sin.

 
PART 7: REVERENCE, LOVE AND RESPONSIBILITY FOR HUMAN LIFE ACROSS SPACE AND TIME
 
“Life is changed, not ended”, says one of the prayers of the funeral Mass. Pope John Paul II reminds us, that one big motivation for respecting all human life is that every human being is made to live forever. Not just a long, long time, but forever – beyond space and time. “The life which the Son of God came to give to human beings cannot be reduced to mere existence in time” (par. 37).
 
The dignity of the human person comes both from our past and from our future. In the words of the Church Fathers: at the beginning of time, God breathed us out, and now he breathes us back in, and our life on this earth takes place at the turning of God’s breath.
 
“Here the Christian truth about life becomes most sublime. The dignity of this life is linked to its beginning – to the fact that it comes from God – and to its final end – to its destiny of fellowship with God in knowledge and love of him. This is the complete understanding of Irenæus’ famous phrase, The glory of God is the living human being, and the life of the human being consists in the vision of God.” (par. 38)
 
 
PART 8: THE DIGNITY OF EVERY HUMAN LIFE
 
“For your own lifeblood, too, I will demand an accounting, and from every human in regard to other people I will demand an accounting for every human life.” (Genesis 9:5) Should we have the freedom to do whatever we want with our life, no matter what it is? The Scriptures make it clear that human freedom finds its reality within the will of God. True freedom means becoming the person God created us to be. The dignity of human life comes from the will of god.
 
“But God does not exercise His power in some arbitrary or threatening way”, writes Pope John Paul II, “but rather as part of His care and loving concern for His creation. It is true that human life is in the hands of God – but it is equally true that those divine hands are the loving hands of a mother who accepts, nurtures and takes care of her child.” (Gospel of Life, par. 40) – And yes, Pope John Paul II, like Scripture itself, calls God Mother as well as Father. See Psalm 131, Isaiah 49 or Hosea 11.
 
How do we “give an account” to God for other people’s lives? Pope John Paul II says that it starts with reverence of and respect for other people. “Thus the deepest element of God’s commandment to protect human life is the requirement to show reverence and love for every single person” – no exceptions! (par. 41)
 
 
PART 9: THE CROSS MOVES US FROM SINAI TO THE UPPER ROOM
 
Life bears its own truth. Truth is not some “social convention” made up by a particular culture. Truth is objective, in the sense that it comes from outside the human will. It comes from the will of God. Yes, each individual and each historical culture experiences truth in a specific way and gives that objective truth a subjective description, but the underlying truth remains objective.
 
It follows, therefore, that when we stray too far from actual truth, we mess things up. We mess up not only our own lives but the lives of other people and the health of the created universe – something we see in the destruction of the environment through human sin. This is expressed in Biblical language in the Book of Deuteronomy:
 
“See, I have today set before you life and death, good, good and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I am giving you today, loving the LORD, your God, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and ordinances, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.” (Deut. 30:15-16)
 
The Land of Canaan is a symbol for all of the created universe. “What is at stake is not only the Land of Canaan and the prosperity of the People of Israel at one moment in history, but also the world of today and of the future, and the existence of all humanity.” (Gospel of Life, par. 48)
 
So we are called to move from Mount Sinai to the Promised Land, and from there to the Hill of Calvary, and from there to the Empty Tomb, and from there to the Upper Room where the Holy Spirit fills us. “These are symbols of the great cosmic struggle between good and evil, life and death. Today the most dramatic conflict is between the culture of death and the culture of life. But the glory of the Cross overcomes the darkness and leads to resurrection.” (par. 50)

 
PART 10: THAT YOUR JOY MAY BE COMPLETE
 
The last several months, we have been looking at Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Evangelium Vitae, The Gospel of Life, published March 25, 1995. As I wrote these snippets, I tried to concentrate, not on specific “issues” but on the broad and timeless principles offered by the saintly Pope in this prophetic teaching of his. Pope John Paul II sums up his own work this way:
 
“We are writing you this that our joy may be complete.” (1 John 1:4) The revelation of the Gospel of Life is given to us as a good to be shared with all people. Our own joy would not be complete if we failed to share this Gospel with others but kept it only for ourselves. (par. 101)
 
The Pope continues: “The Gospel of Life is for the whole of human society. To be actively pro-life is to contribute to the renewal of society through the promotion of the common good. But it is impossible to further the common good without acknowledging and defending human life in all its forms. … Only respect for life can be the foundation and guarantee of the most precious goods of society, such as democracy and peace.” (par. 101)
 
“There can be no true democracy without a recognition of every human person’s dignity and without respect for human rights. Nor can there be true peace unless life is defended and promoted. … The People of Life rejoices in being able to share its commitment and its joy with so many others.” (par. 101)
 

This commentary on Evangelium Vitae (1995) was written by Fr. Bob Showers OFM Conv.
January 2022

The following is a rewrite of an opinion piece written by Friar Bob Showers OFM Conv. for the other Conventual Franciscan friars of Our Lady of Consolation Province, originally pubished May 2018. Friar Bob offers the piece again here because he believes it is still relevant.


In the spring of 2018, Friar Wilfrid Logsdon handed me an article from the May 14, 2018 issue of America magazine, suggesting that it was one of the more important articles he’s read this year so far. I must agree, and would suggest the article to others:

Aaron Pidel SJ, “Revisiting the Dictatorship of Relativism: Did Benedict XVI predict the rise of Trump and fake news?”, America Magazine, May 14, 2018, pp. 26f.

Link to online version: https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/04/16/did-benedict-xvi-predict-rise-trump-and-fake-news

The common wisdom among Catholic commentators is that the young Joseph Ratzinger was a progressive theologian who took a hard right turn after the student riots of 1968, becoming the exemplar of authoritarian rigidity. Pidel suggests that this picture is inadequate. “Ratzinger was ‘woke’ not by the student riots of 1968 but by the Nazi riots of 1933.”

A consistent criterion for judging a theological statement can be found in Ratzinger’s writings from “Salvation Outside the Church” (1965) through “Truth and Tolerance” (2003), namely:

would a Catholic, whose faith is built on such and such a principle, be less or more able to withstand the temptation of fascist populism?
 
Pidel claims that, for Joseph Ratzinger, the magical thinking of fascist populism is the greatest temptation of the postmodern world, whether the anti-truth siren is named Nicolás Maduro or Donald Trump, Viktor Orbán or the supposedly Catholic “Radio Maria”, the absolute dictatorship of the unbridled right to buy guns or the absolute dictatorship of the unbridled right to free abortion. All of these extreme positions, whether on the right or on the left, are built on Michel Foucault’s interpretation of the Nietzschean doctrine of a human will without foundation. Foucault taught that the difference between the true and the fake rests entirely on social convention, so that the very claim that there is an objective truth is merely an attempt by the powerful to keep their power. “All distinctions are acts of violence.”

 
This thinking became anchored in U.S. law in the 1992 Supreme Court case “Planned Parenthood vs. Casey”. The court ruled that requiring spousal notification prior to an abortion posed an undue burden on the woman’s freedom. How? The court wrote, “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe”. Denial of the existence of objective truth thus became part of American law. This principle has been cited in other court cases and other pieces of legislation since.
 
Pope Benedict argued that we can come back from the abyss of relativism’s dictatorship, just as we did in 1945. We must simply embrace freedom’s need for truth. We can return to what Ratzinger calls “reality-based thinking”. “Freedom is linked to a yardstick, the yardstick of reality. Freedom to destroy oneself or to destroy another is not freedom but a diabolical parody. Human freedom is a shared freedom, freedom in a coexistence of other freedoms, which are mutually limiting and mutually supportive. Freedom must be measured according to what I am, what we are, otherwise it abolishes itself.” (p. 30)

The Jesuit professor Aaron Pidel goes through many of Jos. Ratzinger’s writings as well as a good series of American political essays of the last three years. To Pidel’s selection, I would also add one of my favorite Ratzinger books:
 
Jürgen Habermas & Joseph Ratzinger. The Dialectics of Secularization. On Reason and Religion. English version: Ignatius Press 2006.

Here is a quote:
 
“This is why it is important for every society to overcome any suspicion that is cast on the law and its regulations, for it is only in this way that arbitrariness can be excluded and freedom can be experienced as a freedom shared in common with others. Freedom without law is anarchy and, hence, the destruction of freedom.”
 
Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal. The Dialectics of Secularization (Kindle Locations 372-374). Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.

OCTOBER IS THE MONTH OF THE ROSARY - OCTOBER IS RESPECT LIFE MONTH

Our liturgies and celebrations will have a double focus in October: the rosary and building up a culture of life. Here are some of the ways we will mark the month:


A PUBLIC ROSARY AT 4:00 P.M. FROM OCTOBER 1ST THROUGH 31ST

Every day at 4:00 p.m. you are invited to gather at the Knights of Columbus Memorial Cross near the entrance of St. Anthony's to pray the rosary together. We hope to pray outdoors every day for a month rain or shine.


GIVE A ROSARY / TAKE A ROSARY

At both St. Paul's and St. Anthony's there will be a small display near the entrance with a basket of rosaries. If you need one for yourself or for anyone else, just take one! If you have a rosary to donate, just put it in the basket! Thank you.


CATECHESIS IS IN FULL SWING

There are classes and meetings for grade school children and pre-schoolers, for high school youth and college students and for young adults; the faith sharing groups are meeting again; and the group for those looking at the Catholic Church (RCIA) has started.


INTERACTIVE BULLETIN BOARD AT ST. ANTHONY'S

The Human Life and Dignity Ministry has set up a special "interactive bulletin board" in honor of Respect Life October. What does "interactive" mean?

It means you are invited to add things to the bulletin board all month. We ask parishioners to contribute items for display that illustrate how you are thankful for the gift of life in all its forms, especially human life:

• Sonogram photo of new family member
• A birth or baptism or first communion of wedding announcement
• Picture of aging grandparents
• Signs of new life around us: flowers and seeds and more
• Prayer requests
• Anything highlighting how precious life is
  

MEMORIAL CROSSES BY THE HIGHWAY

At both campuses we will set up small white crosses near the highways in memory of children lost to abortion this year. This action is in cooperation with Indiana Right to Life.


A SPEAKER ON THE WEEKEND OF OCTOBER 9-10

At all three Masses at St. Anthony's on the weekend of October 9th and 10th, Ann Freeman from the Women's Care Center of Northeastern Indiana will speak to us about how we can contribute to a culture of life.

May Day - the International Day of the Worker - was inspired by an event in Chicago in 1886.

The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor obtained a city permit to hold a rally in Haymarket Square (today a trendy Chicago restaurant) on May the 1st. Late in the evening, someone in the rally threw dynamite. Police began firing wildly into the dispersing crowd. Soon seven policemen and four union members were dead.

Eight workers were arrested, most of them Catholic. One was a lay minister at his parish. The trials were held in August. One was released, one got 15 years in jail, two received life sentences (one of whom was murdered in prison), four were hanged in November.

A few years later, several European governments designated May 1 as Labor Day to honor the Haymarket Workers. For the same reason, Pope Pius IX declared May 1 to be the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, partly to honor the memory of the Catholic workers who were executed in Chicago.

And what was the issue that had brought the workers to the Haymarket Rally? Shorter working hours.

 
They wanted to limit the work week to 60 hours. This was hardly the first time that working people asked for better working conditions, and not the first time that Catholics were at the forefront of the movement. After all, the Irish, Italian, Polish and other ethnic Catholic immigrants and second generation Americans made up a large portion of the working class.

I recommend the new book Freedom from the Market by Mike Konczal (The New Press, 2021).

Read the full blog here: LINK

An essay by Friar Bob Showers OFM Conv.


All over the world, people are looking forward to the new vaccines against covid-19. Seven different international groups are working on the vaccines. Some Catholics have raised questions about the morality of these vaccines because the companies involved are known to use fetal tissue from aborted fetuses in their research and development.
 
A group of bishops has recently issued a statement. It is a long, technical and complex statement (about a complex subject), but to cut to the chase: when the vaccines are released, it will be morally acceptable for Catholics to receive them.
 
Furthermore, the Catholic Health Association (CHA), in collaboration with bioethicists from many countries, looked at the Pontifical Academy of Life’s 2017 guidelines on vaccine development. They analyzed the seven companies involved in “Project Warp Speed” in light of the Vatican guidelines. They concluded that “there is nothing morally prohibitive” about the new covid-19 vaccines.

More details: The U.S. Bishops’ Conference (USCCB) asked two committees to investigate: the Committee on Doctrine (chaired by our own Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend) and the Committee on Pro-Life Activities (chaired by Archbp. Joseph Naumann of Kansas City). They recently sent a long memo to the other bishops. The memo was released to the Catholic News Agency but not is yet published.
 
Both Pfizer and Moderna use fetal tissue from aborted babies in the course of their drug business. As such, these companies are not free of corporate sin. The same is true of three other drug companies working on a vaccine, including AstraZeneca. These corporations make profits from the use of this tissue, which indirectly pays for the infrastructure supporting their vaccine research. Furthermore, it cannot be ruled out that some fetal tissue was involved in the development of generic materials that later found their way into the vaccine research. Finally, these companies make and sell abortion drugs, which is quite profitable.
 
This is a problem with all vaccines. The fetal tissue in question was used to develop the measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, polio and other common vaccines years ago. The drug companies in question built their fortune on these drugs. The CHA points out that these vaccines did not have to be developed using aborted fetuses, but it saved time and money and maximized profits.

  
The Vatican, the USCCB and the CHA all agree: the use of fetal tissue and the profit from abortion drugs is so remote to the current research that it is acceptable to use the new vaccines. Catholics must, however, continue to encourage the drug companies to stop using fetal tissue in any form.
 
Two companies involved in Operation Warp Speed have already done do. The French based company Sanofi Pasteur, whose motto is “empowering life”, has adapted the Pontifical Academy of Life’s guidelines and is no longer involved in abortion in any manner. The American company Inovio Pharmaceuticals also foregoes the use of stem cells and other cell lines taken from fetuses.
 
Here are some resources for further reading:

Catholic News Service: summary of the Rhoades-Naumann memo
CHA statement about COVID-19 vaccines
CHA Letter to the FDA about ethical vaccine research
Pontifical Academy for Life: Note on Italian Vaccines
Pontifical Academy for Life: The Human Community in a time of pandemic
 

On the day after Thanksgiving - November 28, 2020 - about 50 parishioners from St. Anthony of Padua Parish and from St. Paul's Chapel observed a day of prayer and fasting as a sacrificial intercession for medical workers in this difficuly time.

Andrea Martin, a parishioner who works as a nurse, writes:

"On behalf of all the healthcare workers at Promedica Coldwater Regional Hospital and elsewhere, thank you!"

Wayne Hellmann OFM Conv. is the minister provincial of the Province of Our Lady of Consolation of the Order if Friars Minor Conventual, with its headquarters in Southern Indiana. Our friars here in Angola belong to this province. Friar Wayne sent the following letter to friends of the Order:

Dearest Friends of the Friars:
 
In the most unusual way, probably for the first time in our Catholic history, we celebrate the holiest and most ancient days of our Easter Triduum by abstaining from gathering together as the People of God. Yet, this is the central feast of our faith: He is risen! Current global circumstances dampen the Alleluia of our Easter cry.
 
I personally remember with fondness and joy the several times I was privileged to participate in a celebration of the Easter Triduum in Rome, even the Easter Vigil Liturgy in St. Peter’s. And then came the excitement of Easter morning: thousands of pilgrims in St. Peter’s square for the Easter Urbi et Orbi Blessing. It was a wonderful witness of love for our rich tradition and love for festive celebration!

This Easter, however, both the spaces at St. Peter’s, inside and out, will be empty, shrouded in eerie silence. Heartbreaking!

Amidst steady rain, Pope Francis delivered his “Urbi et orbi” blessing to an empty St. Peter's Square during the coronavirus pandemic.


I mention St. Peter’s as a symbol for what is now the case in nearly every Catholic/Christian community on the globe. Yet, if we pause and think a little deeper, this situation for many of our fellow Catholic brothers and sisters is not new.

I think of Catholics in Japan who persevered and lived their Catholic faith for nearly 200 years without the Eucharist and without any public celebration. Or, in more contemporary realities, I think of Catholics in Amazonia who are deprived not only of celebrations of the Liturgy but also more and more deprived of their homeland and natural environment.
 
This impoverished reality includes so many others: for example, those who are aged and sick, but also Catholics of the Eastern Churches in Syria and the Middle East who continue to suffer incredible devastation. The list goes on.

Maybe this year we are called to be in solidarity with them. The majority of Catholics across the globe, even without a pandemic, are deprived of regular access to Easter liturgy. Are they thereby less Catholic?
 

Remnants of an Armenian Catholic church in Syria, 2018. Millions of Christians in the world are denied access to the Mass all year round.


The reality is that our liturgies and celebrations are vitally helpful for nourishing and sharing our faith, but we know God’s grace is not limited to sacraments. St. Peter’s is empty but nevertheless, even alone in the square, our principal pastor, Pope Francis, is there. He encourages us. He calls us to actualize the reality of our “domestic churches” within our homes. We can still open our hearts to enter into deeper communion within the whole Body of Christ.

During the Triduum this year, he encourages us that carrying " ... His cross means finding the courage to embrace all the hardships of the present time.” This accomplishes ultimately what our liturgical celebrations intend, namely, to open our hearts and “make room for the creativity that only the Spirit is capable of inspiring.” By that Spirit, “we uncover our common belonging, … our belonging as brothers and sisters."
 
Precisely therein is new life of fullness, joy of Easter sending us together on the way to Emmaus. I find solace in the pope’s example and in his words, especially for this Easter. For the first time in my memory, I am to be deprived of full assembly for the Easter Triduum. In case you may have missed Pope Francis’ prayer and encouragement, I have attached links to both. You may find them helpful. I did.

Prayerfully,

friar Wayne

"In every age, Christians have suffered for their faith, from the Roman Coliseum to the recent beheadings perpetrated by ISIS. Brave women and men, embracing the cross of Jesus, have gone to their deaths rather than deny their faith, and the blood of these martyrs serves as the 'seed of Christians', enlivening faith in others. Today, the witness of martyrs continues in an especially intense way in the Middle East, where priests are murdered for offering Mass and families are driven from their homes for displaying a cross.

"With this Marian Prayer Program, we honor the martyrs over the centuries as we call particular attention to the suffering of today's Christians ... Featuring the newly commissioned icon of Our Lady Help of Persecuted Christians, the prayer program is the latest in a series of efforts undertaken by the Knights of Columbus to aid those who suffer for their faith. ..."

- from the introduction to the the prayer booklet used that evening

Since Women's Care Center of Northeast Indiana in Auburn is presently expecting a little over 200 babies, the clothing needs for the children is on going. These pjs are especially significant, because, as one of the center's moms put it, "pajamas are usually the last thing I'd spend money on." The Crib Club at WCC-Auburn makes that very doable for clients using coupons they earn when attending parenting classes at the center.