Pope Francis to cardinals: 'I hope God forgives you' :: EWTN News

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Roberto Stuckert Filho

Pope Francis to cardinals: 'I hope God forgives you' :: EWTN News

http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/Vatican.php?id=7236

http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/Vatican.php?id=7236

From New Year's to Lenten Resolutions

Good-bye Shire Breakfast,
hello, fasting...(no one could
eat this much in one sitting
anyway, right?)

A couple days before New Year's, my husband and I went out for a "Shire Breakfast." Denny's was featuring a menu with dishes spun off the "Hobbit," the newly-released movie based on J.R.R. Tolkien's classic tale. Saturday breakfast Bartholomew-style means heading out into pre-daylight. After 23 years of marriage, my husband has converted me. It's either roll out of bed around 5:30 AM and venture forth into that bleary-eyed world, or lose that breakfast connection with him.

I've been walking about 2 1/2 miles to and from Mass 
in all weather thanks to a New Year's Resolution.

On this particular day, we hid in a corner booth. The waitress chatted with us about "Shire" selections and our favorite Tolkien scenes from his novel, as she plied us with coffee. Continuing the epic flare of our conversation as we tucked away pumpkin pancakes and "Shire sausage," we discussed New Year's Resolutions. At one point, my husband said, "There's no reason why you can't go to daily Mass."

With his work downtown and needing to catch an early train, my husband hasn't chosen this option, but he challenged me.

"But every time I try to do that, I get sick," I protested. After about one week adding Mass to an already tight schedule, I usually find myself battling sore throats, sinus infections, etc.

I walk past this historic house connected 
with author Ernest Hemingway after Mass
on my way to town. A cheerful sight 
each morning!

"Well," he countered. "Maybe it's time you tried again."

After breakfast we headed to Home Depot, a peaceful destination at that hour and season. We rambled along together, until Ed got caught in the mousetrap aisle. An amazing end-of-season sale drew me to houseplants.

One tropical plant as tall as my waist beckoned. The price was ridiculously low. Amidst our winter's deep freeze, wouldn't some jungle-like foliage be welcome? Also, it would nicely remind me of my new connections in India (Pray the News in 2013).

The plant needed a larger pot, threatening to make the whole project too expensive. I lined up several plants in the aisle. Several pots. Crossed my arms. Frowned. A middle-aged woman in the orange Home Depot apron popped around the corner. "Can I help?"

I've been taking good care of my new
umbrella plant.

She joined my search, shuffling pots, checking price tags, climbing on all fours into the back of deep shelving units. She finally found a great deal.


"I'll pot your plant for you," she offered.

"Free?"

"Absolutely."

Thus began a lengthy process of emptying three new bags of soil into the pot, loosening my plant's root ball, and positioning it absolutely straight and centered, a task she approached like an interior decorator hanging wallpaper. 

There are master chefs and master painters. I was watching a master planter. She poured in several $6-7 bags of soil and tapped the pot gently onto the floor to disperse it gently around the rootball. She repeated the process once, twice, then again. She opened a $6 bag of sphagnum moss. I wondered how Home Depot was making money on this deal. 

"You're potting this for free, right?"

"Oh, yes."

I'm doing well with all my houseplants this winter.
For someone who loves gardening, I have a bad track
record with keeping indoor plants alive. Maybe 2013
will change all that. :)

The result? You judge, but we think our new "umbrella plant" looks great!

Over these past weeks, I've often thought about that Home Depot lady. She was professional but warm. She cheerfully crawled around the floor and dug in dirt to make customers happy. She treated that plant like her own. I hope I treat others with such care and dignity. I wouldn't have gotten the plant without her help, and it has become a nice reminder of a number of things: the impact of treating people well, the gift of cross-continental friendship and -- a reminder of a significant morning.

You see, that Shire Breakfast started me off in a new direction. The New Year's Resolution conversation was a watershed, launching me off like Tolkien's Frodo on a quest -- walking to and attending daily Mass each morning. How have I been doing?

Through January, I attended Mass every Sunday and weekday, taking off Saturdays to recover. Hurray! Now this brisk early-morning walk to Mass is so embedded in my daily schedule, I feel off keel on Saturdays when I miss the opportunity. 

But I can't get cocky.  February hit and I felt my energy dip, as I rolled out of bed just 20 minutes before departure. A few days ago, I started feeling under the weather, fighting off chills just in time for Lent. But I'm determined. I was healthy for six weeks of daily Mass attendance, and feeling great as I shuffled through snow to make that 6:15 AM appointment with God. I'm recognizing people in the pews and giving my own version of the papal wave as we all wish each other peace. 

My mom prayed this novena
when deciding whether or not
to marry my father -- a widow
15 years her senior with four
children, aged 9 and under.
She prayed it again to plead
heaven's aid in conceiving my
older brother.

Keeping in the flow of the liturgical year is so beautiful...noting daily saints and reflecting on the readings being offered in every Catholic church world-wide. But most importantly, receiving the daily Eucharist changes the whole focus of the day. As soon as I post this blog, I'm going to go get more Vitamin C! No, I can't let illness deter me...

As for Lenten Resolutions besides daily Mass? I may be choosing too many! I've added prayers to my routine over the past month, becoming better friends with Sts. Raphael and Jude, and the Blessed Mother (through her 54-day Rosary Novena). I'd like to continue with the prayers (posted below), keep up a daily rosary, go off desserts, and give up clutter in my house. And one more. As I go about my days, may I lavish others with the consideration and joy of a "master planter." 

Prayer to St. Raphael -- Patron of Travelers and Bearers of the Good News

St. Raphael, archangel, you protected young Tobiah as he journeyed to a distant land. Protect all travelers and most especially those who go about near and far preaching the Gospel. Guide and inspire modern apostles who use the communications media to bring the Good News of Christ to many souls. 

You also brought healing and joy to all you met. Help those who bring the Word of God to souls, that they may be as instruments in God's hands to draw many to lives of Christian holiness.

We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen.

© Daughters of St. Paul

Prayer to St. Jude

Most holy apostle, St. Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the Church honors and invokes you universally as the patron of hope. Pray for me when I feel helpless and alone. Please make use of that particular privelege given to you, to bring hope and comfort and help where they are needed most. Come to my assistance in this great need that I may receive the consolation and help of heaven in my tribulations and sufferings, particularly (here make your request). I promise, blessed St. Jude, to be ever mindful of this great favor, to always honor you as my special and powerful patron, and to gratefully encourage devotion to you. Amen.

From National Shrine of St. Jude/Claretian Missionaries

Pray the News in 2013

Illustration by Erin Bartholomew
My family is "praying the news" more often now that we have a friend in India. My daughter drew an "Indian Nativity," and we reached out to an Indian priest at our parish, who invited us to help him edit a newsletter to raise funds for schools he founded to serve "untouchables" in India. (See St. Patrick's Academy website here.)

As we leap into 2013, let's make a new resolution to pray the news. For some, checking daily news is as natural as morning coffee. But many become distracted by family needs and life's busyness, and lag in keeping up with local, national and international events. To impact our world in profound and practical ways, we must reach beyond the borders of our homes and communities. 

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta invited people to start within their own circles in serving the lonely and vulnerable. Sometimes we miss poverty right within our families because it comes in such everyday guise. Offering a healing touch and attentiveness to that teen in our life who is shut behind a closed bedroom door, can free them to sanely ponder life's big questions. Honoring our mother and father, especially as they advance in age and frailty, deepens us. Welcoming each little one into our midst with patience stretches us to the point of heroism. Each daily, practical act to make someone feel loved and cared for answers Mother Teresa's call to serve the mission field right in front of our noses. 

My daughter's drawing helped spread
the joy of Christmas through a newsletter 
written by an Indian priest at our parish. We never 
know what little niche we can help fill. 
We only have to show concern and ask.

But in the course of our day, we should expand our reach, exploring regional and international news. We need this context to live informed lives. Praying the news can happen in one session as we read it, or throughout the day, as we go about our tasks. We can pray for those suffering intolerance in some distant land, and pray for areas wracked by disaster, war, famine, or unrest. We can target specific nations, towns and individuals by name, and pray for world leaders, asking that they be guided by God's wisdom. 

Perhaps if we get so specific, if we yearn for peace in foreign lands, it will help feed our desire for peace within our own homes and neighborhoods. And of course, as we fuel peace in our homes, that spirit will permeate our neighborhoods and the world. In 2013, let's become active, prayerful agents of peace.

Through the years, I've prayed and sent funds for tsunami, earthquake or war victims, and the sense of connection with others in distant areas has been strong...but temporal. I pray for a time, and then the need slips into obscurity as news coverage fades. But it's different this year. A missionary priest from India befriended me about four months ago, and now that whole nation has come alive for me. As I daily pray for my new friend's needs as he serves five rural outposts around Andhrah Pradesh, I've become more sensitive to the needs of India as a whole. 

When India's  Godavari River overflowed this year,
my friend Father Varghese Kalapurakudiyil
carried people to safety, fed the hungry and housed
150 homeless at his little church. He and his people 
have inspired my family and friends, opening our eyes to a
whole world of perseverance, courage, and faith in a distant land.
Photo courtesy of Fr. Varghese Kalapurakudiyil.

I keep a binder of photos that my new friend Father Varghese emails me, and bought a map of India to study. I dip into The Times of India,  the BBC online, and other websites for news. So, when my friend mentioned flooding in his area, I turned to the internet to see pictures of the worst flooding to hit Andhrah Pradesh in 20 years. That news never seemed to make the U.S. media outlets. I needed to turn to online articles and video news reports from Indian broadcasters, to learn more about the Godavari waters that ebbed and flowed from September through November. As many as 95,000 residents were displaced and housed in refugee tents, in a Biblical-scale event impacting a vast swath of the eastern Indian coast. 

Just weeks after flood waters dried, another event rocked that nation, that actually did hit news outlets like The New York Times, and sparked debates about the treatment of women in this second most-populated nation in the world. Protests erupted across India after a 23-year-old paramedical student was brutally gang-raped then thrown off a bus in Delhi. The young woman struggled for her life for nearly two weeks, before suffering massive organ shut-down and succumbing to infection from her injuries yesterday. 

Now, don't we have enough problems without joining in so actively in the pain of a distant land? No, we should stay concerned! Our destinies in this age of mobility and connectivity are entwined. Over the weekend, articles ran in The New York Times, The Times of India and other news outlets about a sickening hate crime committed when a 31-year-old woman in Queens, New York pushed a 46-year-old Hindu from India to his death under a subway train. Arrested on 2nd-degree murder charges, she admitted to "beating" on Muslims and Hindus ever since the September 11th attacks on the Twin Towers. We can't ignore such simmering bigotry in our midst. Will we, too, join the ranks of haters, or work toward the eradication of terrorism in all its forms -- even the impulse toward racism and violence that lurks within our own breast?

Staying informed about global issues can help us relate to that co-worker or neighbor from another nation. Keeping our eyes open and our minds active in pondering solutions to problems -- both local and global --  puts us in a state of being informed and, perhaps, able to make a difference. Sometimes violent plots are foiled by people having their eyes and ears open. Other times, real, substantive help occurs after certain connections are made. We hear about a specific need overseas. We happen to know someone who is an expert in that field and give them an alert. Next thing we know, certain solutions are being offered. Such global concern has led to wells being dug for needy communities, war orphans being adopted, and medical professionals forming teams to offer services to remote villages. I was exhilarated when my friends and local contacts mobilized for my priest friend in Andhrah Pradesh, sending him funds to buy a cow for a needy elderly couple, and blankets for the elderly in his struggling villages.

So, in 2013, let's take good care of our own. Let's serve well those suffering within our reach, and in our own families, neighborhoods and nation. But then let's expand our horizons, open our minds, and ponder and pray over needs beyond our borders. Who knows? Our one small voice united to another's could spark a trend. Let's make 2013 notable for how well we respond to God's call to be peacemakers. Let's not limit ourselves to what our puny imaginations can comprehend, but let God call us forth into His vision of peace for humanity.

May our voices bless

The Ghent Altarpiece, Singing Angels,
Jan Van Eyck, 15th-Century Dutch.

One Advent/Christmas reflection on Silence, one on Voices:

To reach my popular post "Keep Silence This Advent," click here.

And here is my new reflection, which will post this weekend in the SQPN-affiliated Catholic Vitamins podcast V-- For Voices. My Missionary Moment for that podcast features my father reading his morning offering, and reflecting on its meaning, plus my daughter singing Et in Terra Pax:

Voices
By Marianna Bartholomew

Voices -- can babble, argue, demand and demean. Or they can gently, sweetly calm...speak words of peace and love, and unity.

Voices can be heard too seldom, in the life of a man or woman alone, in a new city, estranged from all that is familiar. Voices can be rare in the life of the elderly, beyond demands to take medicine, or to move here or there, or to head to bed or awaken.

Voices can rattle the nerves of a young mother, when it’s dinnertime and the toddlers are hungry and the husband reaches home on a late train from work. Voices can shake the confidence of young and old, when they are teasing, sarcastic, tempting or over-demanding.

But at their best, voices bless. Voices reach through history, through the ages, forming our foundations, our heritage. Voices repeat and resound in oral traditions that shape, guide and celebrate. Voices through radio, television or internet can be powerful agents for good or evil. Voices through history, can be great educators. Voices should be heeded.

The voices of wise men and women of faith resonate through the ages and are available to us today, if only sought.

Listen to the voice of a saintly Catholic from more than 1200 years ago:

Christ the True Vine Greek Icon, 16th C.

Rod of the Root of Jesse

Rod of the Root of Jesse,

Thou, Blossom of Mary born,

From that thick shady mountain,

Cam’st glorious forth this morn:

Of her, the Ever-Virgin,

Incarnate wast Thou made,

The immaterial Essence,

The God by all obeyed!

In Balaam’s ancient vision

The Eastern seers were skilled;

They traced the constellations,

And joy their spirits filled:

For Thou, bright Star of Jacob,

Ascending in Thy might,

Summoned these first Gentiles here

To worship in Thy light.

As on a fleece descending

The gentle dews distil,

As rain o’erflows the cistern

The Virgin didst Thou fill.

Tarshish and Ethiopia,

The Isles and Araby,

And Media, leagued with Sheba,

Fall down and worship Thee.

By St. Cosmas (d. 760)

Translated by J.M. Neale

So, we have the wisdom of the saints, and we have the wisdom of our elders. Do we take time to sit and listen? Here is wisdom from my father, a 94-year-old man, rich in experience, who learned what faith is from loving parents. He speaks especially of his father. Born into poverty by the stockyards of Chicago, his passion for learning and solid footing in faith uplifted him to become a mechanical engineer and patriarch of a large and growing family. He shares here his morning prayer, offered to the Lord day in, day out, for decades beyond counting:

Morning Offering
Thank you, Almighty Father, for this moment 
and for another beautiful day to do your work: 
to love and to prove myself worthy 
of the eternal reward prepared for me in heaven. 

I will greet the new day with a song and a smile.
I know You are with me and I dedicate this day to You. 
Let my love for you, my wife, my family and all mankind 
shine in my every good work every day of my life. 

I will live life to the hilt, seize every opportunity, 
smile at all adversity, and revel in the joy and wonder 
of a full and productive life 
in this wonderful world of your creation.  

-- By Joseph F. Robin, Sr.

MB: So, did you always feel this way?
JR: Yes, I think so...most of the time. But if somebody asked me to put it down into words I might not have said everything there. But the gist of the thing is that you're telling God that you will be what He wants you to be...and He wants me to say that freely and openly and grab everything he has to offer.
MB: Did you learn that from your Dad?
JR: I think my father did live that way...he was a very, very fine man. And I think he did his job just about like nobody else I ever knew.
MB: Did he put all his heart into it?
JR: Absolutely.

Finally, we have the voices of youth. Do we listen? Do we encourage our youth to express what is most excellent within them? What frightens or confuses them? Do we placate our youth with movies and good times, new clothes and new cars, but not care for their spirit? Here is the voice of one young person who has lived and loved for 18 years….in whom the faith of her parents and grandparents has taken root and flowered. Her faith spills into song and wishes peace upon the earth, in the traditional Latin piece, Et in Terra Pax:

(Erin Bartholomew sings) Et in terra pax, hominibus, bonae voluntatis, Et in terra pax, hominibus, pax, et in terra pax, hominibus…

God’s blessings upon you, these final days of Advent. Wishing you a blessed Christmas filled with only fine and loving voices and a New Year brightened by the Lord’s sweet voice daily guiding and cheering you.

Christmas crafts can heal

Origami crane my daughter crafted with paper she
decorated with markers. A cheap option for the expensive
paper you find in stores.

We have to think of the children. No matter if economic woes, natural disasters, and the madness of the Sandy Hook tragedy is finding us crawling, rather than leaping toward Christmas. We have to carve out time to engage the young in something that will turn their minds to something seasonal and beautiful. Crafting can turn our minds from tragedy -- and toward how we might be a gift to others. And handcrafted items can not only be more thoughtful and healing for those both making and receiving them, these items ease the burden on families, costing just pennies to make. 

Making something beautiful out of nearly nothing can be a virtue. My Grandma stowed old buttons, wrapping paper, fabric remnants, etc, and turned out gifts of necklaces, gift tags and cheerful bedroom slippers. Depression and World War II generations knew not to throw useful scraps away they could use later. Austerity mixed with creativity can yield great results.

1)   Clothespin crucifix. Fine crucifixes are expensive, but children can create a nice crucifix for their or a loved one's room by gluing the wood parts of hinged clothespins to cardboard. For more color, decorate pins with crayons and markers.
2)   Paper Chain garlands. Contact paper or gift wrapper strips make great paper chains, but kids could even use crayons, markers or paint to color newspaper strips to get the same effect. Hang garlands around thresholds or on the tree.

My daughter taught me to fold these 

cranes, which make great 

ornaments strung on thread. 

Challenging but fun.

      3)   Jesse Tree ornaments. See post below and find a link here for designs that could be drawn on a paper circle or felt to make colorful ornaments.

      4)   Origami ornaments. Even adults and older teens love this one. My daughter makes her own origami paper by using watercolors or markers to decorate white paper with Asian-inspired designs. Origami designs can be found at the library or online.   

   5)   Wallpaper crafts. Ask for castoff sample books at wallpaper stores for an endless supply of high-quality craft paper. Make outfits for hand-drawn paper dolls, glue to cardboard to make picture frames, cover cans for pencil holders, and make book and binder covers.

Wallpaper-covered binder.

   6)   Pressed flowers. Ten days of pressing between paper layers yields spectacular patterns from common flowers and foliage. Even early December in my Chicago-area climate, I was still finding usable leaves and ferns to press. Use boards and layers of cardboard and paper. Screws tighten the layers through the week. Or, sandwich flowers between paper layers and tuck them in a telephone book or dictionary. Use plenty of weight. Use flower pressings for simple gift tags and cards. Glue on flowers, then add a layer of glue or “Mod Podge” on top to seal the design.

Gift tags out of hand-pressed foliage,
even in December.

Pressed flower card.

Handmade gifts are often best! Leave a comment with your own crafting ideas for Christmas.

Jesse Trees Help Define Advent

Making these Jesse Tree Ornaments with friends set me up
for decades of future Advent seasons.
Photo by Marianna Bartholomew

At an Opus Dei woman’s night of reflection at a parish west of Chicago, the priest took a good, long time counseling each penitent. The line stretched along the back of the church and out into the narthex. One woman toward the end was around 30 years old and tall, with abundant, curly dark hair. Her face was calm, but something about the way she stood had me whispering to her, asking if everything was ok. That’s how I found out she had just had back surgery and been released from the hospital. Her first time out, she had headed to Confession.

My husband and dog Maestro by the Jesse Tree.
The ornament top right symbolizes Creation.

Honestly? At the time, all I could think was that my first destination after being cooped up from surgery probably would not be a Confessional line.

The woman admitted she was in pain, and finally went to lie down on a long bench against the wall. I called her over when her time for Confession came.

Several days later, a friend from a town nearly half an hour away told me about a new lady from church who was moving with her husband from an apartment into a little home. The woman had several children, and was in back pain from a recent surgery. My friend and the lady were going to start a special Jesse Tree project. I had heard of Jesse Trees, but wondered why these two were thinking of Christmas, months out of season.

I asked if I could crash their plans and arrived at the first gathering with my three children in tow. Sure enough, our hostess was the lady I had met in the Confession line. Again she was smiling – and in back pain. Our little ones rambled around the basement playing with a dollhouse and Legos while the three moms cut out pink and purple circles – the colors of Advent. We used fabric paints to depict scenes and write verses from Scripture:  For the First Friday of Advent we illustrated Isaac and the Ram, Genesis 22: 1-14. For the second Tuesday, we drew tablets with Roman Numerals for Moses and the Law, Exodus 20:1-17. I loved creating a little felt mission church for the story of Nehemiah the Builder and had to laugh when my camel resembled a dinosaur for the story of Abraham.

It was a new experience, making these Jesse Tree ornaments, which numbered 29: 28 days for Advent, and one for Christmas Day. We averaged just several ornaments each meeting, so this project gave our children many play dates rotating through three homes. Our sessions stretched through the Summer and into the Fall. Our hostess made her set as a gift -- I believe, for a couple of newlyweds. Out of simple felt and fabric paint, an amazing heirloom-type gift.

Jesse Tree patterns are easily found for free online and anyone can have fun with this project. Our ornaments are about the diameter of a bagel, but I’ve seen some as small as a quarter. People make them out of every material imaginable: wood, cardboard, construction paper and felt, using markers, crayons or paint. The ornaments hang on Christmas trees, over mantelpieces, on yarn strung around doorways, or from branches stuck into a vase. 

And the point of the Jesse Tree? Isaaiah chapter 11, versus 1-2 says:

"But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse,

and from his roots a bud shall blossom.

The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him:
a spirit of wisdom and of understanding,

A spirit of counsel and of strength,

a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD."

That image, of the ancestral tree of Jesus that shows his noble birth, has been shown in stained glass windows and in paintings, since ancient times.

In the 1100s, a monk named Hervaeus wrote, "The patriarch Jesse belonged to the royal family, that is why the root of Jesse signifies the lineage of kings. As to the rod, it symbolises Mary as the flower symbolises Jesus Christ.”

Lighting a candle after dinner, gathering the family to sing O Come Emmanuel, reading Scripture verses of the day and hanging the corresponding Jesse Tree ornament, is now a beautiful Advent tradition in our home. We hang the ornaments on our tree until Christmas Eve. We attend Mass, then exchange Jesse Tree ornaments for Christmas ornaments, while we enjoy eggnog and cookies.

We’ve done this for the past eight years or so, and I always think back to that first encounter of the woman who gave us the gift of the Jesse Tree. She first gave a strong testimony to me by simply bearing her pain and being patient in a Confessional line. 

After welcoming me, a stranger, into her home, she became a good friend. Our little Jesse Tree gatherings became a Bible Study group. Our children were friends for years.

Two years ago, at the start of Advent, she continued her testimony. I received an email from Katherine, that she had sent to people who had either made ornaments with her or received those ornaments: that email went to 18 recipients, all people touched by her little Jesse Tree ministry. She wrote:

“I remember fondly praying, studying, and crafting with you, in our old apartment, at your house, or in our basement of this house.  So many years, with great glue shared around many a newspaper covered table!”

She reminded us to take out our Jesse Trees, writing, “I hope your family life is drawn closer to the heart of God due to the love of Jesus, and growing through His Word through this simple devotion.  None of us gets it perfectly.  We just do as many days as we each can.  The goal is to pray with our family, and to spend time together.”

Then she went on to describe other Advent traditions in her family. This lady was chasing around one-year-old twins, caring for a daughter with heart defects that needed massive surgeries, had children ranging up to the teens, and I believe it was right around that time that repeated floods had destroyed her basement. Yet she took time to encourage 18 other people in their Advent journeys.

Katherine’s a graduate of Franciscan University in Steubenville, a great Catholic College, but it’s hidden in her home, surrounded by little ones, laundry and household duties, that she continues to be a powerful lay missionary, giving a testimony that enriches lives.

In her own words:

“Jesus being in our lives as the focus and center is key for every job we have to do.”

May your Advent be blessed.


Photos by Marianna Bartholomew