The Times

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Praised be Jesus Christ!

This is a prayer of praise and at the same time a plea for the grace to persevere in faith.

The need for grace is certainly felt in the times in which we're living.  In the last week, there have been some very eye-opening events.  In particular, the riot in Rome hit home.  Not literally, thank God!  But it was close. Close enough to make the reality of worldwide desperation and crisis become a little more real.

I went to the roof-top patio of the seminary on last Saturday to do some reading.  It was a cool day.  Very windy.  The sun shone brightly and the skies were very clear.  It seemed like a beautiful, calm day in Rome.  Except for two columns of black smoke rising from the roman skyline, less than a 40 minute walk away.  I had heard there was some sort of riot going on.

Credit: www.martinfrost.ws

The smoke was indeed from cars that had been set a blaze by rioters.

There are many things to say about the riots and what they demonstrate about economic crisis, corruption, and the violent level of desperation many people have reached.

But more generally, it seems that, worldwide, people have misplaced their hope and lost the value of human dignity.

Yesterday, Saturday (22 Oct), Rome celebrated the memorial of Blessed Pope John Paul II.  In his early life, he experienced life under desperate circumstances.  He lived through communistic Poland during the Nazi occupation.  He saw people invest their hope in a leader who had lost respect for human dignity.  He himself had to work in a chemical factory to avoid being deported to Germany.  Yet, through all this evil, he persevered in his vocation to the priesthood, even studying philosophy and theology during his work hours at the factory.

As we all know, he spent his life as a living witness to true hope and tirelessly worked to defend human dignity.  In these times, we should turn to this so well-known Blessed of the Church for his intercession for the current needs of the world.

Credit: repubblica.it

Last Sunday (16 Oct), Kevin and I were two of the fortunate 60 seminarians from the NAC that got to attend a Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI at St. Peter's basilica.  This Mass marked the close of multi-day international gathering hosted by the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization.  It was a beautiful Mass and it was so awesome to be so close to the Holy Father.  In the pictures, the seminarians in the top-right are the guys from the NAC.  Though he's not pictured, that is the row where Kevin was sitting.  I was behind the location from which the picture was taken.

During his homily, the Pope Benedict XVI said that he would be announcing a Year of Faith that will start Oct. 11, 2012 and concluding on Nov. 24, 2013.

This is very exciting news!  The need for a new evangelization that JP II and Benedict XVI have been speaking about is now taking shape in a concrete way.  Let us pray for a true renewal in the faith that our hope may be founded on the Truth, who is God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, such that a true understanding of and respect for human dignity, which is found in our filial relationship to God, may be lived by all nations.

I leave you with some of the pope's words from his apostolic letter announcing the Year of Faith:


"We cannot accept that salt should become tasteless or the light be kept hidden (cf. Mt 5:13-16). [...] We must rediscover a taste for feeding ourselves on the word of God, faithfully handed down by the Church, and on the bread of life, offered as sustenance for his disciples (cf. Jn 6:51). Indeed, the teaching of Jesus still resounds in our day with the same power: “Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life” (Jn 6:27)."