𝐅𝐫. 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐰 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐧™️

A message to all you people trying to tear down the Body of Christ instead of building up the Body of Christ:

Bring. It. Back.

Powerful reflections from Bishop Erik Varden's 11th and final conference given at the Vatican: Reverence for Christ’s wounds defined Christian sensibility for centuries. It found expression in devotion to relics of the Passion; in Stations of the Cross; in poems and paintings; in works of music from Renaissance Lamentations through Bach’s Passions to nineteenth-century hymnography. It was expressed in the cult to the Sacred Heart that spread worldwide in the wake of revolutionary furies. At the heart of it was respect for the tremendous mystery of suffering, constitutive of the human condition as we know it. The Cross lets us own reality while it affirms the non-finality of wounds, which can be healed and become sources of healing. To root ourselves within this mystery of faith is to work a constructive revolt against several fallacies: against the political fallacy that society, and the state, should be run on an evolutionary model in view of human perfectibility; against the anthropological fallacy of a normative standard of ‘health’ deployed to mark divisions between lives ‘worth living’ and lives ‘not worth living’; against the cultural fallacy that ascribes to wounds a fatal, deterministic power; and against the psychological fallacy that surrenders to hopelessness, mesmerised by the voice that whispers in our ear, at dead of night, regarding our most intimate hurts: ‘It will always be like this’. Christ’s Passion lets us lament without rage. It opens us to compassion, which is an epistemological category apt to prepare a graced insight like Job’s: ‘I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, now my eye sees you.’ We may call out to the Crucified-and-Risen-One: ‘My Lord and my God!’ The Gospel states that Christ’s wounds, after his rising, were not done away with, but rendered glorious. The world’s wounds can be, too, when Christ’s oil and wine are poured upon them.

Do the rules of fasting apply to Stanley? One normal sized pup cup, and two smaller pup cups that together do not surpass the size of the main pup cup.

@SwamTheTiber Tweet of the year

When they train you to be an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion to homebound they fail to mention that only 10% of your time is distributing the Eucharist and the other 90% is opening pickle jars and admiring their seashell collection.

Now much less fanfare: the sticky note reminding me to use the name of our new Archbishop.

A new look at Archbishop Hicks’s cathedra at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. His coat of arms has been added, and the accenting color has been changed from red to green. May God bless Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks abundantly in his new ministry as the Archbishop of New York!

The students at Sts. John and Paul School have some ideas of what they would do if Santa were stuck in their chimney, my favorite being “freak out.” Same.

Happy #Türkiye Day

BREAKING NEWS: Pope only wears white socks 😉, and uses different start word for Wordle everyday.

This made me chuckle during the Office of Readings today: Oh *that* Ahasuerus! I wasn’t sure which one they meant.

The always emotional ‘Adeus’ or goodbye in Fatima today. Ó Virgem do Rosário, da Fátima Senhora; De Portugal Rainha, dos homens protectora. Ó Virgem do Rosário, da Fátima Senhora, Do Vosso Santuário, forçoso é ir-me embora. Uma prece final ao deixar-Vos, Mãe de Deus: Viva sempre em minha alma Este grito imortal: Ó Fátima, Adeus!

God put us on the earth at the same time as Aaron Judge. How kind He is.

Lydia was shot in the head while praying during Mass at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis five weeks ago. Today, she is back in school. Never let the worldly people tell you that prayer is useless. Prayer is powerful. Welcome back, Lydia! God bless you.

The 1700+ year blood of the martyr San Gennaro (St. Januarius) has once again miraculously liquified in Naples this morning.

This is how the Introduction to the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible ends. Well done.

“St. John Chrysostom and Empress Eudoxia” A saint who spoke God’s truth without fear, even before an emperor’s court. His courage cost him exile—and gained him eternal glory. St. John Chrysostom, pray for us!

Jesus defeated death so you can live.

Hey @father_cag

Beautiful homily from the pastor of Annunciation Church in Minneapolis, MN the Sunday following the tragedy at Annunciation School.

Today I baptized a sweet princess in an unusual circumstance. 5 month old Emma has been diagnosed with leukemia and will begin chemotherapy next week. The prognosis is hopeful. Please pray for Emma as she begins her treatment, and for her family as they embrace this cross.