This evening there will be a communal celebration of the Sacrament of the Sick with Mass at St. Mary’s at 7:30pm. I came across this video on this very special sacrament and include the link here for those of you that are interested in understanding this sacrament a bit better: Link
Years ago I was a huge fan of Marshall McLuhan (Media is the Message), and Theilard DeChardin who wrote about Cosmic Consciousness (Noosphere). As I watched this Video by Professor Michael Wesch from Kansas State Univ., I couldn’t help but think of these two men. If you have High Speed and an hour of time, and are interested in exploring the Digital Age, specifically You Tube, then here is the video for you.
I captured a few pictures from the EWTN Broadcast of the Youth Rally with The Pope. It was a glorious meeting filled with African Music, Welcoming Messages, Youth Testimonies, and a short speech by Pope Benedict encouraging the youth to be faithful to their Christian Identity. He challenged the youth to make life long decisions and commitments – the true test of real maturity in every age: Dare to make definite decisions – life long commitments, and don’t give in to doubt, corruption, and hedonism. You are the seed – the seed of the new City, the New Jerusalem, he said, and the only way to grow the seed is to die to love. Bring to life the Holy City, the Pope challenged, as the crowds applauded enthusiastically. Towards the end of the event a young man in a wheel chair came on to the stage with the Pope and sang a moving song to Jesus My Friend. The young man appeared to have been crippled during the recent civil war, and as he sang I’m sure many a tear of thanksgiving and hope were shed as he made God’s love strong and visible.
John Allen who is following the Pope throughout Africa and attempting to give us a real feel and insight into what he sees, hears, and feels posted this on March 18, 2009. It tends to confirm what the Harvard Center reported in my previous post.
Benedict talks to journalists during his flight from Rome to Africa March 17. (CNS/ Reuters)
Yaoundè, Cameroon
Pope Benedict XVI’s claim yesterday that condoms actually aggravate the problem of AIDS may seem an explosive claim internationally, but it’s barely made a ripple here — in part, because it simply repeats an argument made so often by Africa’s Catholic bishops that it long ago lost any shock value.
I wish the Pope had handled the condom question a little differently so that the condom controversy didn’t overshadow his African pilgrimage. But now that it has become front page news I’d like to get my two cents worth in on the topic as well. It sounds to me like the Pope might be on the right track about condoms when you read what the Director of the Aids Prevention Research Project at The Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies has to say. (This quote is from First Things)
“Edward C. Green, the director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, and Allison Herling Ruark, a research fellow at the Center, wrote just one year ago in First Things: (more…)
This event is really not attracting much attention by the main stream media either in America or Europe.
It seems that all the press heard was the Pope’s statement about condoms on Pope Benedict’s trip to Africa. Such a shame! As John Allen pointed out in a recent column, this is a very important event, and it would be nice to have a better feel for the people, the event, and the African Church. Guess that is asking too much from a press that is only interested in controversy and headlines. Here is one of the few videos I could find on the web that at least allows one a feel for an African Liturgy. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7952754.stm
John Allen’s Report from Cameroon: African Catholics Can Transform Society
I did find a few pictures on the web, as well, but not very many. Here are some of the better ones:
On February 26th Pope Benedict XVI appointed Fr. Thomas Rosica (Basilian Priest) as a as a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. Speaking to CNA, the priest said that he sees this as the Pope entrusting a special responsibility to the Church in Canada.
Fr. Thomas Rosica, is the CEO of the Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation and Television Network, a network that was born out of World Youth Day in Toronto, Canada.
I recently read Fr. Richard Richard Rohr’s Book: Hope Against Darkness. (The Transforming Vision of St. Francis in an Age of Anxiety) Some of you might find it to be a particularly relevant given the upheaval in our world at the present time. It is also a good Lenten book, in my opinion.
Fr. Richard (a Franciscan priest) is founder and animator of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is the author of numerous books, including Jesus’ Plan for a New World, The Sermon on the Mount with John Feister (St. Anthony Messenger Press). Besides his Center in New Mexico, he gives retreats and lectures internationally. He also emails free of charge a daily Meditation to which I subscribe. I thought today’s particularly moving and insightful so I am including it here. You might like to subscribe yourself – there is a link below. 
SUFFERING
This Sunday we read Mark’s account of the Transfiguration of Jesus on a mountain top. It is about a God who literally comes down the mountain to be with us – the mystery of the incarnation. I have posted a few thoughts I will share in this Sunday’s homily on my homily site: Fr. Bob’s Homilies
