Happy Easter

XPICTOC ANECTH

 

CHRIST IS RISEN!

 

 

"Why do you seek the Living One

among the dead?

He is not here.  He has been raised up."

He Descended into Hell

“Out of our midst he plucked the shade
of our first parent, of Abel his son, of Noah,
and of Moses, obedient in giving laws,
the patriarch Abraham, and David the king,
Israel with his father and his sons,
and with Rachel, for whom he served so long,
as well as many others, and he made them blessed.
And, I would have you know, before these
no human souls were saved.”

Virgil to Dante, Inferno IV, 55-63 (Hollander translation)
Art: Duccio di Buoninsegna

Good Friday

“I’m a Christian not because of the resurrection … and not because I think Christianity contains more truth than other religions … and not simply because it was the religion in which I was raised (this has been a high barrier). I am a Christian because of that moment on the cross when Jesus, drinking the very dregs of human bitterness, cries out, 'My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?' … The point is that he felt human destitution to its absolute degree; the point is that God is with us, not beyond us, in suffering.”

 

Christian Wiman

The Magic Word

A Quote for the Day

 

"Here I would add one more thing: caring, protecting, demands goodness, it calls for a certain tenderness.  In the Gospels, Saint Joseph appears as a strong and courageous man, a working man, yet in his heart we see great tenderness, which is not the virtue of the weak but rather a sign of strength of spirit and a capacity for concern, for compassion, for genuine openness to others, for love.  We must not be afraid of goodness, of tenderness!" 

 

Franciscus Papa, at his inaugural mass today, the feast of Saint Joseph

 

A Quote for the Day

"Catholicism does not propose any specific economic or political systems, but it must always criticize whatever systems insult human dignity."

Michael Sean Winters, in "Pope with a Purpose," a brief, excellent reflection on Pope Franciscus

Franciscus Off to a Good Start

 

I haven't yet seen anyone tease out the theology in the new pope's words to the crowd at St. Peter's.  Francis referred to himself five times as "bishop" and to Benedict XVI as "bishop emeritus."  He never said "pope," "supreme pontiff," "universal shepherd," or "vicar of Christ."  As bishop of Rome he addressed the people of Rome, and his mention of the cardinal vicar's assistance in "the evangelization of this most beautiful city" underscored the local perspective.

 

His new mission won't be static and predetermined but a journey, and a shared one: "And now, we take up this journey: Bishop and People."  The "we" is not the papal "we"; it's we the People of God.

 

Francis then alluded to the wider (universal) aspect of the mission: "This journey of the Church of Rome which presides in charity over all the Churches."  He was echoing what may be the earliest attribution of a special charism to the Church of Rome: it "presides in love," according to St. Ignatius of Antioch, writing in the early second century.

 

Instead of authority or orthodoxy, Francis went on to evoke "fraternity," "love," "trust among us," and above all, "pray[ing] for one another."