It’s official.

I think it does not bode well for supporters of Medjugorje that it is being investigated now. Usually the Church waits until an apparition event has completed before moving to make any statement in favor or opposition. This is simply because if the Church approves the apparition and later statements by the visionaries conflict with Catholic teaching, then the Church would have to revise its statement (and would have egg on its face). The fact that they are moving before the apparitions have ended suggests that they have already heard enough to make a definitive judgement, and that the judgement is not going to be supportive of the apparitions.

But time will tell, and I hope and pray that all Catholics – both those supportive and opposed to Medjugorje – will submit to the authority of the Church in this matter.

When they finally announce the actual release date for the Pope’s 2nd book in the Jesus of Nazareth series, which is coming “soon,” I think I should get one of those countdown clocks for my blog to mark the days, hours and minutes until it is available. That’s how excited I am about it.

This is sooo exciting: the Pope will soon be releasing an apostolic exhortation on the Bible, which will include the input of the Bishop’s Synod on the Bible held in October 2008. I’m holding out hope that he will declare next year the “Year of the Bible”.

Details from Rome Reports:

H/t: Michael Barber over at The Sacred Page.

Tito Edwards over at American Catholic is reporting that the American branch of the Traditional Anglican Communion – known as the Anglican Church in America – is formally requesting reception into the Catholic Church. Woo hoo!

It was the Traditional Anglican Communion that instigated Pope Benedict’s decision to set up a process by which entire parishes, dioceses and communions of the Anglican tradition could be received into the Catholic Church. The American branch of this Communion numbers 99 parishes throughout the United States.

Welcome home!

I thought this was a beautiful story: Alvaro Siviero, a professional pianist from Brazil, has become friends with Pope Benedict based on their shared love of music. Here is a brief video which tells this touching story:

It seems that every Catholic blog and news outlet is reporting that Pope Benedict recently encouraged priests to be involved with online media in order to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I’ve seen headlines to the effect “Pope to priests: get a blog!” and “Pope urges priests to go online”. It is true that the Pope made such remarks, but I think we would do well to also see in what context the Pope made this recommendation (emphasis added):

The Pope added, however, that “priests present in the world of digital communications should be less notable for their media savvy than for their priestly heart, their closeness to Christ.”

“Thanks to the new communications media,” he said, “the Lord can walk the streets of our cities and, stopping before the threshold of our homes and our hearts.”

“With the Gospels in our hands and in our hearts,” the Pontiff noted, “we must reaffirm the need to continue preparing ways that lead to the Word of God, while being at the same time constantly attentive to those who continue to seek.”

“Indeed,” he added, “we should encourage their seeking as a first step of evangelization.”

The Holy Father affirmed that “no door can or should be closed to those who, in the name of the risen Christ, are committed to drawing near to others.”

He pointed out that “the ultimate fruitfulness” of ministry “comes from Christ himself, encountered and listened to in prayer; proclaimed in preaching and lived witness; and known, loved and celebrated in the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist and Reconciliation.“

The online world is a wonderful way for priests and all Catholics to preach the good news. But we must always remember that it is but the first step in evangelization. No one can become Catholic or follow the Catholic Faith entirely online: he must directly interact with priests and other Catholics in order to grow in his faith and live it in the way Jesus commanded.

It is vitally important that priests are involved in online work, but I’d rather have a technologically-clueless holy priest than a web-saavy but spiritually immature priest any day. Let us pray that our priests are first holy and only then adept in the online world.

In the technology world, everyone has been looking forward to Apple’s Tablet device. That wait will soon be over.

In the movie world, everyone has been wondering who will play Bilbo in The Hobbit. Perhaps now we know.

In the Catholic book world, everyone can’t wait for my the Pope’s book about Jesus. Looks like it will soon be released. (You’ll have to wait until September for mine).

Recently, Pope Benedict in his World Day of Peace message stated the following: “Technologically advanced societies must be prepared to encourage more sober lifestyles, while reducing their energy consumption and improving its efficiency” (emphasis added). Instead of actually contemplating the Pope’s words, many Americans immediately tried to push the Pope into our political categories, with the following results:

- Those who are politically conservative either ignored the Pope’s words completely or wrote it off as an European eccentricity of Pope Benedict, despite the fact that Pope Benedict has clearly shown he is not beholden to any European “conventional wisdom”.

- Those who are politically liberal hailed this prophetic statement of the Pope as a defense of any and every government response intended to protect the environment.

However, both responses are faulty, as it tries to put the Pope into categories which he resolutely refuses to fall into. B16′s advice is not primarily political, but instead spiritual, as he understands that every political problem has underlying spiritual roots. The pope desires true solutions; in other words, he desires to see everyone strive to live as saints. Living a “more sober lifestyle” is another way of saying that our modern consumerist lifestyle, which is lived equally by both conservatives or liberals, is antithetical to Gospel living.

What people often don’t realize is that striving to live as a saint will actually make you more environmentally-friendly as well. Just look at the three traditional practices of piety and their impact on the environment:

Prayer: Do you pray more than you watch TV every day? How about more than you play video games or mindlessly surf the Internet? Those other activities all require electrical power, whereas prayer’s power source is the Holy Spirit, which is an infinite, renewable source of (spiritual) energy. And you don’t even need electrical lights when you pray – candles are much more conducive to a contemplative mood.

Fasting: We Americans are anything but sober when it comes to eating. To put it simply, we are McFlabby. And all that food – most of it processed and shipped in from far-off lands – not only harms our waistline, but its production doesn’t do the planet much good either. Adding regular fasting to our spiritual lives will do wonders for our spiritual life, but it will also help the environment.

Almsgiving: How many of us have perfectly good clothes in our closets and dressers we never wear? Why not give them away to those less fortunate? Or how about not buying any new clothes this year and making do with the ones we have? Either way we reduce consumption. We could also look to cut deeper: by giving away more money to help the poor, we have less to spend (frivolously) on ourselves which will help our souls and our planet.

Our primary concern in life should be to be holy, but it is nice to know that by doing so, we also become better stewards of creation.

It should not be surprising that Pope Benedict appreciates the value of the Christmas Tree, which originated in the land of his birth, Germany. He even sees an evangelistic value to this venerable tradition:

The Christmas tree — with its journey from a dark forest to the brilliance of decorative lights — represents every Christian, called to share the message that the Light of the world has become man.

This was a comparison made by Benedict XVI today when he addressed a delegation from Belgium, which provided the Christmas tree for St. Peter’s Square this year.

“In the forest,” the Holy Father said, “the trees are close together and each one of them contributes to making the forest a shadowy, sometimes dark, place.”

“But here,” he continued, “chosen from among this multitude, the majestic tree that you offered us is today lit up and covered with brilliant decorations that are like so many marvelous fruits.”

“Leaving aside its dark garments for a brilliant explosion, it has been transfigured, becoming a beacon of light that is not its own, but rather gives testimony to the true Light that comes to this world,” the Pope suggested.

Our own family Christmas Tree always has a lot of red apple ornaments on it. This particular ornament also has Germanic origins: during the Christmas season, many German towns would hold a play which would tell the story of Christmas and start “In the Beginning”, with the Fall of Adam. A tree would be centrally located on the stage, and of course it would have apples on it, which Adam and Eve would unwisely eat every time. Over time people began to have trees in their own homes and it would inevitably include some tempting-looking apples.

Thus, the Christmas Tree points us both to the Tree that led to Death as well as the Tree that leads to Life.

A lot of reminders today about the close connection between being a follower of Christ and helping the poor.

First, today’s saint is St. Elizabeth of Hungary, who gave up her wealthy lifestyle to help the poor.

Second, today’s Gospel reading is about rich Zacchaeus who gave up at least half of his possessions as his way of following Christ. And what was Christ’s response? “Today salvation has come to this house” (Luke 19:9).

Finally, the pope recently stated,

“Opulence and waste are no longer acceptable when the tragedy of hunger is assuming ever greater proportions“

Or, in other words:

“Living like a typical American is no longer acceptable when the tragedy of hunger is assuming ever greater proportions“

Hopefully, American Catholics will not respond to the pope’s words like some of Christ’s disciples did: “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” (John 6:60).

I think Archbishop Chaput best summed up our obligation to the poor when he bluntly stated, “We’ll go to hell if we don’t care for the poor.”

St. Elizabeth of Hungary, pray for us!
St. Zacchaeus, pray for us!

One thing I don’t think the average Catholic (or non-Catholic) realizes is how steeped in the Bible are the teachings of Pope Benedict. I have been reading his works for over 15 years now, and one thing you recognize quickly is how biblical his theology is. Furthermore, his pontificate has been marked with numerous calls for laity and clergy to become more intimate with the Word of God. In fact, it has been his teachings that inspired me to write Who Do You Say That I Am?

Recently, Pope Benedict renewed this call when he asked all the faithful for a more prayerful and attentive reading of the Gospels, which are the heart of the Bible. The best way to do this is through Lectio Divina, in which we mediate slowly and carefully on the text in silence. The heart of Lectio Divina is letting the Holy Spirit guide you, as the Pope says, “A purely theoretical, profane reading is not enough in order to reach the heart of sacred Scripture. One must read it in the spirit in which it was written and created.” I encourage everyone to spend at least some time every day – even five minutes – practicing this ancient form of biblical reading.

If you are more interested in the Pope’s biblical theology, be sure to read Scott Hahn’s book Covenant and Communion: The Biblical Theology of Pope Benedict XVI. I haven’t read it yet, but I have heard great things about it and I hope to read it soon (if anyone is feeling generous, it’s on my Amazon wish list, and I wouldn’t turn it down as a gift. ).

CNS is reporting that Pope Benedict will next year visit the Shroud of Turin, which is believed by many to be the burial cloth of Christ. The Shroud has a connection with today’s saint, the Apostle Jude Thaddeus. This is from the book The Shroud of Turin: A Case for Authenticity:

The history of the Shroud can be traced with assurance to the mid-fourteenth century. Prior to that period, little is known with absolute certainty concerning its whereabouts. A third century Syrian text mentions a cloth that is associated with the miraculous cure of King Abgar V, ruler of Edessa (13-59 A.D.), now called Urfa, in southeastern Turkey. This story was translated almost verbatim by Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, in his Ecclesiastical History in 325 A.D.1 According to the story, Abgar suffered from an ailment, perhaps leprosy. Having heard about the healing powers of Jesus, he sent a certain Ananias around the year 31-32 A.D. with a letter to Jesus requesting that He come and heal him. Jesus replied that He was unable to go, but promised to send one of His disciples. It was not until after His death and Resurrection that one of the seventy-two disciples, Thaddeus, brought a cloth to Abgar bearing an image of the face of Jesus. Upon seeing this cloth, Abgar was cured, and the Christian Faith was established in the city. (Actually, the first Christian king of Edessa was Abgar VIII, who ruled from 177-212.) Although the Syrian text mentions a cloth, for reasons unknown, Eusebius makes no reference to it; rather, he states that Abgar saw a vision when he looked at Thaddeus. “Immediately on his entrance there appeared to Abgar a great vision on the face of the Apostle Thaddeus. When Abgar saw this, he did reverence to Thaddeus, and wonder seized all who stood about, for they themselves did not see the vision, which appeared to Abgar alone.”

While the Syrian account refers to Thaddeus as one of the seventy-two disciples of the Lord (cf. Luke 10:1), he soon came to be associated with Jude Thaddeus, the apostle who was a cousin of Jesus (cf. Matt. 13:55; Mark 6:3). One of the earliest Byzantine icons to depict Thaddeus holding the Image of Edessa, as the cloth was referred to there, was painted in 550 A.D. and is located at St. Catherine Monastery on Mount Sinai. In the Western tradition, St. Jude is often represented holding an image of the face of Jesus over his heart. It has been suggested by the British historian Ian Wilson that the Image of Edessa was actually the Shroud folded in such a way that only the face was visible. Early replicas of the Image were portrayed as an elongated trellis frame with a circle in the middle that depicted the face. A sixth-century text called The Acts of Thaddeus refers to such an image as a tetradiplon, a Greek word which literally means “doubled in four” or, put another way, folded in eight layers. Interestingly, this Greek word is not used for any other object.

So Dan Brown would like to meet the pope. I imagine the conversation would be more awkward than an episode of The Office. Perhaps it would go something like this:

Dan Brown: It sure is an honor for you to meet me, Mr. Pope.

Pope Benedict: I am always happy to meet one of God’s precious children.

DB: You know, of course, that the whole Da Vinci Code business wasn’t personal. I mean, it was just a novel, after all…even though everything in it was true.

PB: What was that?

DB: Oh, nothing important. Also, those Opus Dei guys aren’t still sore, are they? It was all in fun, you know.

PB: I am sure that they are praying for you and only wish you the best.

DB: That sure is sporting of them. I hear that you wrote a book or two as well, including one about Jesus. Is that true?

PB: Yes, Jesus of Nazareth was about the historical reality that is the God-man. It explains that all the evidence clearly points to the historical reliability of the Gospels, and that we can trust their accuracy. We have been made for God and every person can find complete fulfillment by giving their lives to Jesus Christ.

DB: (silence)

DB: So, did you read my latest book yet? It’s another best-seller.

PB: I have not had time to read it. I hope and pray that it lifts people’s hearts and minds to contemplation of divine realities.

DB: That’s not exactly what I intended, but it sure is a page-turner! Well, it has been great chatting with you, your popiness.

PB: May God bless you and bring you closer to Him, my son.

When writing Who Do You Say That I Am? Encountering Christ in the Gospel of Matthew, I was consciously not trying to write anything “new”; instead, I firmly believe that any interpretation of Scripture must be grounded in our Tradition and consistent with the teachings of the Church. After all, the same Spirit that inspired the Bible also has guided the Church through the centuries.

Pope Benedict made exactly this point recently to the Pontifical Biblical Institute:

When the history of the pontificate of Benedict XVI is written, I think one word will be used over and over: bold. This pope has been astonishingly bold in his outreach to disaffected Christians, especially those who are more traditionally-minded.

• He liberalized the use of the Latin Mass, against the wishes of many within the Church who thought that was a return to “pre-Conciliar” days.
• He lifted the excommunication of the leaders of the traditional Society of St. Pius X, even though in some ways these men didn’t seem to deserve such action.
• He has now created a canonical structure to receive Anglicans en masse into the Church, although many will say that this goes against “ecumenical progress”.
• Not content to just lift the excommunication of their leaders, he has begun discussions with the Society of St. Pius X with the purpose of their eventual reunion with the Church (possibly in the same format as the Anglicans – a “personal Ordinariate”).

There is no question that Pope Benedict desires greatly to bring as many souls back into the fold as possible, and he has taken decisive action to achieve that desire.

Pray for our Pope that he might continue to be given the strength to boldly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.