Papal Intentions for February

General Intention:

For all scholars and intellectuals, that by means of sincere search for the truth they may arrive at an understanding of the one true God.

Apostolic Intention:

That the Church, aware of its own missionary identity, may strive to follow Christ faithfully and proclaim His Gospel to all peoples.

Lord, hear his prayers. Amen.

Lenten Ignatian heads up for Bostonians!

St. Francis Chapel in the Prudential Center will host another Lenten Ignatian prayer experience. The first group meeting will be on the Monday before Ash Wednesday, Feb 15th, at 7:00 pm. The group will meet on each Monday of Lent and each participant can also sign up to meet individually with an Oblate for personal spiritual direction. We will be using the 40 meditations from Fr. Tim Gallagher's book, An Ignatian Introduction to Prayer. For more information, email Father Dennis Brown, OMV: evangelization@aol.com -- or call 617-437-7117.

N.B. It is highly recommended to also read Fr. Gallagher's short book, Meditation and Contemplation. Both of these books can be purchased at a discount for participants from the St. Francis Chapel Bookstore.

(Also cool: the Chapel validates parking! So you can park for $10, which, trust me on this one, is a deal. Make an evening of it! Mass at 4:45 PM, Rosary following. This usually ends at about 5:30-6:00 PM, which gives you plenty o' time to grab a bite at a nearby cheap cafe before the meeting.)

Tim Tebow Super Bowl ad blasted by pro-"choicers" -- sight unseen.

But then, what do facts have to do with anything?

Source: Fox News

Damascus!

Tomorrow, Monday, January 25, is a favorite feast for me...the Conversion of Saint Paul!

Enjoy!

Mary, Full of Life: there where she's needed the most!

From Valerie at Mary Full of Life:

An image of Mary Full of Life was put onto 15 bus shelter transit posters in Washington DC, on Jan. 18th scattered throughout the Mall area from the Washington Monument, White House, and Capital Hill, and will be up until Jan. 25.

It was a rare opportunity which came up suddenly a couple weeks ago. I knew it would be during the Roe v. Wade anniversary, and the March for Life, but since then I realized it was also the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1 year anniversary of President Obama, during the time the Senate was trying to ram through the health care bill, and the octave of the week for the Prayer of Christian Unity, and 18th the Feast Day of the Confession of St. Peter and the 25th being the Feast Day of the Conversion of St. Paul...so I guess it was the right time for Mary Full of Life to be present in Washington DC!?!?

There is also a billboard in the outskirts of DC somewhere not far from the USCCB headquarters, the Basilica, and Catholic American University.

Mary, Full of Life, pray for us!

I do urge you to visit the site...the images are wonderful.

Today: A Day of Prayer and Penance for Life

In all the dioceses of the United States of America, January 22 (or January 23, when January 22 falls on a Sunday) shall be observed as a particular day of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion, and of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life. The Mass "For Peace and Justice" (no. 22 of the "Masses for Various Needs") should be celebrated with violet vestments as an appropriate liturgical observance for this day.

General Instruction of the Roman Missal, no. 373

Kyrie eleison.

Coakley loses. Let's roll. So life wins!

MCFL: Liar, liar, pants on fire (and an alert)

From a hysterical MCFL email blast:

The most disgraceful thing is happening!

Pro-lifers are receiving phone calls from people claiming to be Mass Citizens. The callers say that Mass Citizens is not supporting Scott Brown because of his position on health care!
The truth is that Mass Citizens is suporting [sic] Brown because of his position on health care!

These deceitful calls are coming from 202-461-3441, a Washington, DC number. The phone company says this is a company called SOOH. Pro-lifers are not the only victims of this scam. Our MCFL sleuths have found that this same number is calling people across the state claiming to be different groups with different messages - all anti-Brown!

Please, please send this email to your entire list and ask those people to do the same! This deceit must go viral!

We cannot let this election be stolen!

Keep up your great work!

Anne Fox

P S If you get the call on your answering machine, please save it. These people should be made accountable for using our name!

Albeit a tough situation, I'm not at all sure that MCFL is in a position to whine all that much. The charge—and I'm assuming it's true although I'm not at all sure I should presume anything MCFL says is true, but let's say it is—is deplorable, of course. But then MCFL isn't all that lily-white either, when it comes to the truth-telling department. What goes around, etc., etc.

I hope Scott Brown defeats Coakley. If he does—or if he doesn't—the real work begins. That is, restoring what is left of the pro-life movement in Massachusetts.

Okay, so I plan to vote for Scott Brown tomorrow.

After much prayer and discussion, I've decided. (Although an pro-Coakley ad kinda sealed the deal.)

I've also decided to cease support for Mass Citizens for Life at this time.

I'm Kelly Thatcher and I approve this message.

Help Haiti (and an apology from the Lady in the Pew)

The Anchoress has an incredibly helpful round-up of sources to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake here. God bless her, and the people of Haiti. Please cooperate with God and help these people. Thank you.

For those following the Lady in the Pew, my apologies for the paucity o' blogs lately. No excuse, but my mind—and conscience—have been a crazy stew while I grapple with the right way—in other words, God's will for me—to handle the special senate election in Massachusetts. Not to burden you, but the two candidates are both pro-abortion. One, Martha Coakley, is extraordinarily so. The other, Scott Brown, is, as his supporters say, less so. (Which sounds like being a "little bit pregnant" but there you are.)

Anyway, I've been praying very hard to discern God's will in this matter and ask for your prayers that I be able to do so.

Me and my conscience, in light of what's happening in Haiti, are not important. Please help in however ways you can.

God bless you! (And, please, may He bless me.)

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton...and her evangelizers

She was a wife of a loving and wealthy husband, the mom of five kids, and a New York Episcopalian.

When her husband became ill, he was advised by his doctors to move to a warmer climate. The Setons chose Italy, and after her husband's death, she spent time with a Roman Catholic Italian family.

Their example of holiness and love gave her cause to contemplate its origins...and ultimately she converted to the Church.

Much has been written about this lovely lady—the first native-born US citizen to be canonized. Much should be written about her...the patroness of Catholic education.

But I'm thinking about that family she lived with in Italy.

We've supposed to evangelize.

What does that mean? To be a John the Baptist, preaching in the desert? For some, yes. To be a Frank Sheed, to proclaim the Gospel in city parks? Indeed, for some. To be a Mother Teresa, lovingly sharing the love of Jesus while tending to the poorest of the poor? Yes, and what a privilege that would be!

But there's another sort of evangelization...that of example.

Elizabeth Seton was so impressed by what she saw and felt and drank in among this holy Italian family with whom she lived that she decided to investigate its source. And she came to the conclusion that it was their faith—their Catholic Faith—that fed it.

The widowed lady was received into the Roman Catholic Church on March 14, 1805, by John Carroll, the first bishop of Baltimore. The rest, of course, is history.

A remarkable woman, Elizabeth Ann Seton. But perhaps just as remarkable—or even more so?—is the notion of what ordinary, practicing Catholics can accomplish through the grace of God. I don't even know the name of the Italian family that so inspired Elizabeth, but I do think this:

Saint Augustine tells us that, without the prayers of the martyred Stephen, there would be no Saint Paul. I'm thinking that, without the example of a Roman Catholic family in Italy a couple of hundred years ago, there would be no Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.

From the Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament, we learn:

Before converting, St. Elizabeth recalled: “How many thoughts on the happiness of those who possessed this, the blessed faith of Jesus still on earth with them, and how I should enjoy the heavenly consolation of speaking heart to heart with Him in His tabernacles, and the security of finding Him in His churches.”