Tag Archives: Consistory

Tu Es Petrus

18 Saturday Feb 2012

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N.B., this was a scheduled post, and I was surprised to see that His Holiness took his reflections this morning from the same gospel passage

In response to Jesus’ question, we hear that great Profession of Faith flow right out of Peter’s mouth.  This great profession of faith that we all need to profess every day.

Tu es Christus Filius Dei vivi. Thou art Christ, the Son of the Living God.

Who is Jesus?  He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

respondens autem Iesus dixit ei beatus es Simon Bar Iona quia caro et sanguis non revelavit tibi sed Pater meus qui in caelis est.  And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven.

Who revealed this to Simon Peter?  God the Father.  This same Father whose Son will be killed on a CROSS for my sins.  Killed on a CROSS for your sins.  For the sins of the whole world.

Christus Vincit! Christus Regnat! Christus Imperat!

et ego dico tibi quia tu es Petrus et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam et portae inferi non praevalebunt adversum eam.  And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Tu es Petrus.  You are Peter. Et portae inferi non praevalebunt adversum eam.  The gates of hell will not prevail against Her.  Holy Mother Church will prevail in the end.  She will rein.  We may lose the battle, but will win the war.

The Blood of a Martyr

17 Friday Feb 2012

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With everything going on these days, in regard to the HHS Debacle, I can’t help but think that it is extremely fitting that the elevation to the Sacred College of Cardinals will happen this Saturday, almost a month following the announcement of the HHS Mandate.  The Cardinals, both old and new, are called to give their life to Christ.  This is represented by the color of their vesture- the red of the blood of a Martyr.

Yes, the scarlet of the Cardinal might look pretty, but it means nothing if he is not ready to shed their blood

This idea is seen most fittingly in a reflection provided by His Eminence, Timothy Cardinal-Designate Dolan, written in A Call to Prayer and Joyful Witness.

Yes, becoming a cardinal is an honor, and many of you have been so kind in extending your good wishes and congratulations to me upon receiving it. Thanks! But it is not meant to be an honor without responsibility. To the contrary, cardinals are specifically asked to serve Jesus and His Church with renewed courage. When the Holy Father presents the “red hat” to the new cardinals, he will ask us to accept it as a sign of our readiness to shed our blood for the strengthening of the faith, the peace and tranquillity of the people of God, and the liberty and growth of the Church. Get it? Blood! Red!

Would you pray for me that I might do as I am asked, that I will be a courageous preacher of the Gospel, and defender of human dignity, the Church and our cherished religious freedom? I need more than your prayers though. I need your joyful witness, your solidarity. Just as the whole community shares in this honor, so too do we all share in the responsibility. If all this only means that I now dress up in a red cassock and red hat, we will have missed the whole point.

Are you ready to shed your blood? Every Christian disciple should aspire to be brave enough to do so. Please God, the day of shedding one’s blood for the faith will not come to New York, but the cardinalatial red should invite everyone to ask some questions and examine our consciences. As Blessed John Paul II observed, “If something is not worth dying for, it’s not worth living for.” God, family, faith, freedom, one’s country, friends, honor, virtue, life itself, the Church—all worth dying for . . . all worth living for!

For my part, I have to ask myself: Where do I show steadfastness now? If I can’t be courageous now in small things, how might I be ready to answer the summons to shed my blood in grave matters? Do I speak of the Gospel full and entire, with joy and conviction, even to those who appear to be indifferent or hostile? Do I defend the Church when she is maligned or attacked, or when her proper liberties are threatened? Do I stand fast with those around the world persecuted and even martyred for their faith, raising my voice in solidarity with them? Do I do my utmost, with the help of God’s grace, to live the virtues, especially those of humility and charity? Do I fight the daily battle to make room for God, in time set aside for prayer, the sacraments and works of service to others, especially those in need?

Might I invite you to ask those same questions? I hope that these days of the consistory in Rome be an occasion of renewed zeal throughout the [church], inaugurating an increasingly confident, joyful, courageous Catholic witness….

Pope Benedict XVI chose February 18 for the consistory because of its proximity to February 22, normally the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter. (This year the feast will not be observed, as it is Ash Wednesday.) Peter’s final “chair” in Rome was the cross upside down, on a hill called “the Vatican,” and his martyr’s grave lies below the very spot where we new cardinals will receive the red biretta. The shedding of blood is not a metaphor; it is a reality.

There will be joy in Rome, but a sober joy. We are grateful to be Roman, to be Catholic, to be heirs to the promises of Christ and the blood of the martyrs. We renew our love for Christ, His Church, His Vicar on earth. We strengthen our courage to be witnesses of that love for the entire Church, and for the world that so urgently needs her witness.

That’s the significance of the consistory for new cardinals, for Rome, for New York.

And so,

Ad laudem omnipotentis Dei
et Apostolicæ Sedis ornamentum,
accipite biretum rubrum,
Cardinalatus dignitatis insigne,
per quod significatur usque ad sanguinis effusionem
pro incremento christianæ fidei,
pace et quiete populi Dei,
libertate et diffusione Sanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ
vos ipsos intrepidos exhibere debere.

To the glory of Almighty God
and the honour of the Apostolic See,
receive the scarlet biretta
as a sign of the dignity of the cardinalate,
signifying your readiness to act with courage,
even to the shedding of your blood,
for the increase of the Christian faith,
for the peace and tranquillity of the people of God
and for the freedom and growth of Holy Roman Church.

The Family and The State

15 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by in Catholicism, Family, Politics

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In my history class today, we were discussing Calvinism, and, in part, how it led to the growth of not only the State, but also the State’s involvement in Family life.  As I was contemplating this idea, I jotted down on an extra sheet of paper the following:

Calvinism leads to the Consistory in Geneva
Consistory in Geneva leads to State Intervention in the Family Life
State Intervention in the Family in Calvinism relates to The Obama Administration
One of the many atrocities of the Obama Administration is the HHS Mandate
 

So, before I can get all the way through this, I guess that I had better start at the beginning.  While in the midst of starting a new religion, John Calvin fled to Geneva, Switzerland.  After a number of years, began to reform the city.  This led to the creation of the Consistory.  The Consistory was the judicial body in Geneva, and, due to the strict order that Calvin wanted in his city, chances are that one would be called before them for one reason or another within a ten year span.  

Due to the fact that most people were called before the consistory for one thing or another, the Consistory not only slowly began to get more involved in family life.  Because of this, punishments became much more harsher.  There were small penalties for things like not knowing your prayers in French (God help the poor woman who goes and recites Ave Maria, gratia plena… in Latin) to death for repeated adultery.  I get that it’s the 16th century and there were different beliefs about punishment, but really?  Death because someone couldn’t keep their damn pants on???   

I continue, lest I begin digressing about this.  So we see that the Consistory led to state intervention in family life, especially since the Consistory was certainly running the show in Geneva.  How does this connect to today, you may be asking.

Well, in November of 2008, a very confused American People, and in that group, the majority of Catholic voters, elected a man named Barack Obama to the White House.  Since day one, he has been doing all he can to interfere with the private life of families in America.  Fast forward to January 20, 2012.  Kathleen Sullivan, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, a “Catholic”, [For the record, due to her clear public stance on Abortion, I fully support the Prelates of the Church that have told her not to receive Holy Communion, but I digress yet again.] decreed that the Obama administrations original mandate requiring all institutions to provide birth control at no cost.  This isn’t the state intervening in family life, per-say, but it is intervening instead on RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.  One of the founding principles of this country.  We see history repeating itself.  The state interfering in things it really has no right to interfere on.  Religious Liberty is why we are fighting the Obama administration on this.  Yes, being forced to provide birth control is horrible, but it is not the heart of the issue at stake here. Religious Liberty is.  

So, history always seems to repeat itself.  500 years ago, we had the consistory of Geneva interfering in people’s lives and killing them for not being able to keep their pants on.  Now, we have the Obama administration interfering in people’s lives, and ultimately, Religious Liberty, forcing those who object to artifical birth control to pay for it so their employees don’t.  Ironically, this also leads to people’s deaths, yet again because people can’t keep their pants on.  There is no need to be providing birth control, let alone free birth control.  But, yet again, I start digressing… This is a topic for another post.

P.S.  The only good kind of Consistory will happen this Saturday.  That is the Elevation of new Cardinals to the Sacred College of the Holy Roman Church.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us!