Category Archives: All Things Catholic

Tuesday of Holy Week

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About Today (from divineoffice. org
Tuesday of Holy Week
“And now the Lord says, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength—he says: ‘It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth’” (Isaiah 49:5-6). [1]

Today is Tuesday of Holy Week. This Servant song in Isaiah heralds the divine appointment of the Savior. The Lord says his servant’s mission reaches beyond Israel to all the nations, to the very ends of the earth. The church sees in this a foreshadowing of Jesus’ mission to bring salvation to the whole world. As Pope Francis said in a recent homily, we share in that mission: “My wish is that all of us, after these days of grace, will have the courage, yes, the courage, to walk in the presence of the Lord, with the Lord’s Cross; to build the Church on the Lord’s blood which was poured out on the Cross; and to profess the one glory: Christ crucified. And in this way, the Church will go forward.” [2][3][4]

Seared into Her Soul

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2

Seared into her soul,
She lived in the reality
Of the Christ.
She loved in the reality
Of the Anointed One,
The appointed One.

Seared into her soul,
She lived in the reality
Of the Crucifixion.
She suffered in the reality
Of the Crucified.

Seared into her soul,
Abandonment,
Alive for her Son,
She lived life now,
In His Dying,
In His Death.

Seared into her soul,
The life born purified
For this moment,
The moment of His glory.

Seared into her soul,
The birthing of His Body,
And from the Cross
Received His Church as Son.

Seared into her soul,
Moments for Eternity,
By His birth, the Father said,
“Into your hands I commit my Son.”
The Virgin said, “Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum”
The Son said, “Mother”.

Seared into her soul,
The Mother said,”My Son”
With the Son in the Spirit,
“Into Your Hands I commit my spirit.”
We rest in her “Amen.”

©2013 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved

Child of the Cross

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1

Mother Mary,
Witness of the Passion,
Suffering witness,
Living the Passion,
As your Jesus
Hung on the Cross.

Pray, Mary.
Pray, My Mother,
Pray for me,
Who am so scattered,
Distracted and disengaged.

Pray every moment
Of my life here on earth,
That I be prepared for suffering,
That I be prepared for eternity.
That I find my Life
In the dying of Your Son,
My Lord.

Hold my hand, O Mother,
Every moment of everyday.
Pray for my yesterdays,
My today, and tomorrows.
Guide my feet to follow
In His steps.

As forbidden fruit
Appeals in its many disguises,
And occasions of evil spring-up,
Pull me out of harm’s way.
Steer me true, O Mother,

As my heart yearns for eternity
Let my glory be
As that of Jesus,
The Cross, the Crucifixion,
And the Dying.

May I live now,
Dying to Sin.
Witnessing at your side,
As Jesus beholds you.
He pronounces me your child.

I am a child
Of the Cross of Christ,
Which came to be
To ransom men.
I behold you, Mother Mary,
And you meet your Son in me.

© 2013 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved

Whispers in the Loggia: “We Are Brothers”: Two Popes, Together

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Whispers in the Loggia: “We Are Brothers”: Two Popes, Together.

We Are Brothers”: Two Popes, Together

…and here it is: in a moment without precedent in the 2,000-year annals of the Roman church, two Popes together in life.

Ten days after Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s election as the 266th pontiff, the three-hour meeting between Pope Francis andPope-emeritus Benedict XVI  at Castel Gandolfo included lunch and a 45-minute private discussion.

According to a briefing from the lead Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Fr Federico Lombardi, when the duo entered the villa’s chapel for a moment of prayer, Benedict emphatically motioned at Francis to take the single armchair and pre-dieu reserved for the Pope.

Instead, the pontiff told his predecessor, “No – we are brothers,” gesturing for them to kneel side by side in the same pew, which they did.