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Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Sep 5, 2008

Blessed Teresa of Kolcata – September 5

Mother Teresa was born in Albania in 1910. She went to India in 1929 to become a Sister of Loreto, an order of teaching nuns. She took her first vows in 1931 and began working as a teacher, work she deeply enjoyed. She chose the name Teresa in honor of St. Therese of Lisieux, patroness of the missions.

As the years passed, Mother Teresa became increasingly aware of the poverty and despair that were the lot of so many people in India, including around the school in Kolkata. On September 10, 1946, she received a “call” from the Lord to leave the work she was doing and go out to live among and serve the poorest of the poor. Her response to this call and the positive results of her service and witness are well documented.

From the streets of Kolkata, men and women who joined her in service as the Missionaries of Charity have moved throughout India and into the broader world. Today, as sisters, priests and brothers, they have schools, clinics and shelters in 120 countries, including the United States. My home parish, St. Patrick’s, in Spokane, WA is even blessed to have a group of sisters working in the community. They are quietly witnessing and bringing the Good News to the larger neighborhood and diocesan community through their service and I am grateful for their presence there.

Many words have been written about Mother Teresa, including a post in this blog last year. Some praise her. Some criticize her. Some mock her. Some don’t know what to think about her. None of this would come as a surprise to her. It was like that from the beginning of her work. In the decades of her “dark night of the soul,” many of these things may have been thoughts she had herself.

But she was faithful to the calling she received and Pope John Paul II declared her Blessed. We’d do well to keep that in mind as we try to be faithful to the calls each of us have received. There are no guarantees of success or popularity. Most of us will never be praised by Kings, Queens and Presidents. Few will receive Nobel prizes. But we all can aspire to be faithful to the work set before us by our Lord.

If you’d like to send an e-card with words, prayers, and/or blessings from Mother Teresa, check out this link. http://www.catholicgreetings.org/Saints/motherteresa.asp

Blessed Teresa, pray for us.

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Sep 3, 2008

Saint of the Day – St. Gregory the Great – Preaching the Gospel to the Ends of the Earth

St. Gregory the Great was born in Rome around 540 AD. This was a time when the Goths and Franks were invading Rome. The emperor was in Constantinople. The Senate had been disbanded. Italy was still one country, called Rome, and late classical Latin was the language of the people.

Gregory’s family were wealthy, owning homes and property in and around Rome and in Sicily. He was raised and educated for a career in public office. He had fresco portraits of his family painted at some point, and his biographer, John the Deacon, left a description of them 300 years later as they appeared in the portraits. Gregory’s father was tall and had a light eyes and a long face. He wore a beard. Gregory’s mother was also tall, but she had a round face and blue eyes. She appeared to be a cheerful person. A portrait of Gregory himself was done shortly after his death. Again, John the Deacon left a description of his appearance in the portrait. Gregory is described as being somewhat bald, with a tawny beard. The shape of his face was somewhere between that of his mother and his father. His remaining hair was worn long and curled carefully. He had a thin, straight, almost aquiline nose and a high forehead. His lips and chin were described as also attractive and it is said that his hands were beautiful.

St. Gregory lived in a time of great turmoil. Wars, floods, famines, political changes, and religious controversies swirled through Italy and the Empire. He left a career in public service to enter a monastery when he was around 30 years old, only to be drawn back into public life by the Pope, who sent him to Constantinople to request help from the Emperor in defending Rome. Following 6 years in Constantinople, he returned to Rome. Eventually he himself was elected Pope, an office he tried to decline.

As Pope, he is remembered for reforms of the liturgy, establishing rules of conduct for bishops, the wielding of political power in dealing with invading armies and natural disasters, his insistence on the supremacy of the papacy over the other patriarchs of the church, the notion that the Pope is the “Servant of the Servants of God,” and for establishing the papacy in the form it would take during the Middle Ages. He insisted that the Church has a responsibility to care for the poor. When famine threatened even the wealthy in Rome, he arranged for food and other supplies to be delivered from properties in southern Italy (lands that his family had given the Church) and distributed in the city. He cooked meals for the formerly wealthy himself to spare them the pain of having to ask for charity.

St. Gregory is also remembered for sending missionaries to England, the “end of the Earth” from the perspective of Rome. At that time, there was no knowledge of lands beyond the British Isles. In the rest of the Roman Empire, Christianity had been introduced. Even the Franks in Central Europe had been reached by missionaries. Given the turmoil and upheaval, it stands to reason that he might have thought, as many do today in times of natural disasters and social turmoil, that the end of the world must be near. The Gospels said that the end would not come until the Good News was preached to the ends of the Earth, however. So, perhaps with that in mind, and certainly with a fondness for the blond, blue-eyed people (the Angles) he had seen in Rome, he sent Anselm of Canterbury to preach the Good News in England.

The end of the world didn’t come in St. Gregory’s time. However, the works he did influenced the Christian community of his time and continue to play a role in even our beliefs and style of worship today.

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Aug 27, 2008

Saint of the Day – St. Monica – August 27

St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine, was born in North Africa in 333 AD. She was raised a Christian but her parents arranged her marriage to a non-Christian. It was not a happy marriage for many years, but eventually both her husband and her mother-in-law became Christians as well.

Monica had three children, two boys and a girl. The oldest, Augustine, is the best known. He tells the tale in his Confessions of his nearly 20 year journey to faith. Monica struggled with his lack of faith, his lifestyle that included a mistress and child, his time as a supporter of Manichaeism and his travels. At one point she even drove him away from home, but invited him back after receiving a vision that reassured her that he would eventually turn out all right.

Monica followed Augustine from North Africa to Rome and Milan. When eventually he became a Christian, she believed that her prayers had been answered and she died not long afterward.

The story of St. Monica is one I find intriguing. As a mother I can understand her desire to share her faith with her children. I know my children, like hers, must find their own way to faith, building on what we their family and community have shared with them as children, but somehow making it their own. I’m not sure the idea of pursuing them across oceans to keep trying to bring them to faith is a good idea, at least not today. When all was said and done, it was St. Ambrose who reached Augustine and led him to faith.

It seems to me that as 21st Century Christians, we can take part of her example – that of praying unceasingly for our children. Then it’s important to remember that we are part of a much larger community, and trust the Holy Spirit to send the right person or circumstances to help them grow to an adult faith of their own.

When one time someone asked my father-in-law what the most difficult age in raising children was, in his experience, he replied, “Thirty-eight!” At that point they are grown up and making their own decisions. His input was not always requested or welcomed, and he didn’t always understand the world in which they lived and worked.

I’ve always thought he had a point. Mine aren’t that old yet, so I can’t say whether I agree with his opinion about the age, but I know that being a parent doesn’t end at age 18 or even 21. We continue to care deeply about our children and the choices they make. We remember the mistakes we made. We dream of what they can be and the wonderful things they can do if they choose. But we can’t live their lives for them. We can’t make their decisions for them. All we can do is pray with great hope for them and “be there” when they come for support, advice and loving care.

Although St. Monica is not generally presented as patroness of parents in general, I think she should be. All parents can benefit from her example of unceasing prayer. And we can hope and pray that, as in the case of Augustine, other members of the community will reach out to our children and help them as well as they grow to adult faith and participation in the mission of spreading the Good News.

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Aug 18, 2008

Saint of the Day – St. Jane Frances de Chantal

St. Jane Frances de Chantal was born in France in 1582, the daughter of the president of the Parliment of Burgundy. She married Baron de Chantal and had 6 children, three of whom died shortly after birth. She became a widow at the age of 28 as the result of a shooting accident. She was heart-broken and vowed never to marry again. She lived with her children in the home of her father-in-law for seven years before she was allowed to visit her father in 1604.

On that visit, she met St. Francis de Sales and he became her spiritual director. By 1610, in collaboration with Francis de Sales, she founded the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, for widows and lay women who were not called to such strict forms of religious life as were common at the time.

One description of the order states that its charism “combines gentleness with a valiant spirit; initiative with communal support; dedication to prayer with presence in the world; a contemplative life with an apostolic dimension. The order’s motto is “Vive Jésus” (French for “Live Jesus”).”

Visitationist sisters work with widows and women in poor health. They also have some schools. Their life includes a strong contemplative element.

One of St. Jane Frances de Chantal’s teachings to her sisters is as follows:

Fidelity toward God consists in being perfectly resigned to his holy will, in enduring everything that his goodness allows in our lives, and in carrying out all our duties, especially that of prayer, with love and for love. In prayer we must converse very familiarly with our Lord, concerning our little needs, telling him what they are, and remaining submissive to anything he may wish to do with us…

We should go to prayer with deep humility and an awareness of our nothingness. We must invoke the help of the Holy Spirit and that of our good angel, and then remain still in God’s presence, full of faith that he is more in us than we are in ourselves.

There is no danger if our prayer is without words or reflection because the good success of prayer depends neither on words nor on study. It depends upon the simple raising of our minds to God, and the more simple and stripped of feeling it is, the surer it is.

We must never dwell on our sins during prayer. Regarding our offenses, a simple humbling of our soul before God, without a thought of this offense or that, is enough…such thoughts act as distractions.

Saint Jeanne de Chantal, from Wings to the Lord

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Aug 14, 2008

Operation Kolbe – Continuing the Witness

The Kidnapped Colombia

– John Angée, artist

In preparation for the celebration of the feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe, Randy requested input from outside sources about Kolbe and his life. One of the responses came from a group in Colombia who offer themselves in exchange for persons kidnapped by rebels. This was their response.

El 14 de Agosto se recuerda y celebra la vida de Maximiliano KOLBE. Unidos a todos los secuestrados, Operación Kolbe, iniciativa de largo aliento, quiere renovar su ofrecimiento por la libertad.

Hemos expuesto un óleo titulado: “La Patria secuestrada” de John Angée (USA 2007) a la entrada del edificio Pedro Arrupe (Facultad de Teología) de la Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá y seguimos alentando a Relevos, Orantes y Difusores para que se mantengan en la firme de decisión de acompañar solidariamente a tantos hombres y mujeres que siguen en cautiverio y a sus familiares y amigos.

No sabemos si algún día esta propuesta sea aceptada, pero sabemos, sí, que no descansaremos hasta ver en libertad al número desconocido de hermanos y hermanas que dramáticamente y en silencio nos piden no olvidarlos.

OPERACION KOLBE 2008
COLOMBIA

RESPONDER A: operacionkolbe@hotmail.com

[On August 14 we remember and celebrate the life of Maximilian Kolbe. United with all those kidnapped, Operation Kolbe, a long term enterprise, wishes to renew its offer for liberty.

We have exhibited an oil painting titled: “The Kidnapped Colombia” by John Angée (USE 2007) at the entrance of the Pedro Arrupe building (Department of Theology) of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Xavier Pontifical University) in Bogotá and we continue to encourage those who serve as Relief, those who Pray and Broadcasters to remain firm in their decision to accompany in solidarity the many men and women who remain in captivity and their family and friends.

We do not know if one day this offer will be accepted, but we know that, yes, we will not rest until we see the return to freedom of the unknown number of brothers and sisters who dramatically and in silence ask us not to forget them.

Operation KOLBE 2008

We can be reached at: operacionkolbe@hotmail.com

Translation by Kathy Pozos]

Thank you for your response. We will keep you and all kidnap victims and political prisoners in our prayers.

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Aug 13, 2008

How can I sponsor Theologika.net?

Theologika.net is an online resource offered at no charge to our users. Our goal is to support the catechetical and evangelization mission of the Church by providing a database of trustworthy, relevant, authoritative information for use in ministry or personal spiritual growth. Our dream is that in even the smallest, most isolated village in the world, if there is a computer that can reach the Internet, the collected thinking of the Christian church through the centuries, that has been indexed and organized through the Theologika database, will be available to the man, woman or child who wants to learn more about God and grow in faith. And in our own, highly developed, capitalistic countries of the world, the same resources will be available to those who seek the same knowledge and growth – regardless of ability to go out and buy a book or attend a class.

Just now, Theologika.net is in its infancy. It’s less than a year old, but already hundreds of items have been tagged, and we have users all around the world. The number of entries and Trustees entering materials is growing at a steady pace. Within a year, Theologika will have become a substantial resource for our Christian community. We’re even hoping to be able to move into languages beyond English soon.

So, how to fund the effort?

Theologika.net is not a charity. We can’t offer tax-deductiblity in return for charitable donations. We encourage you to donate to your parish, to the missions, to schools. However, we can’t ask for your donations.

What we can offer are sponsorship listings on our webpages, with our thanks. If you have a business, we’re happy to link to your website. Take the cost out of your advertising budget and it still may be deductible! (Check with your accountant, of course.)

If you’d like to help support the development of this resource for ministry, please contact us. We’ll be happy to talk with you about how you can help. We have a variety of options available and will be delighted to work with you to find the best fit. Just as the mighty redwood tree has its start from tiny seeds in tiny cones and/or can grow from the base of parent trees, so together we can grow a great resource for the Church from a tiny start.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Aug 12, 2008

Searching and Tagging Tips – More on how to use Theologika.net

NEWS FLASH!

Theologika.net will begin offering workshops and classes in collaboration with our trustees and other theologians, philosophers and social scientists in early 2011. As part of this new development, the ways you will search for information and create tags will change.

Check out these two posts for details about the upcoming changes and how to save your own personal directory materials.

2011 Brings Classes and Big Improvements to Theologika.net

We’re Moving: Time to Pack Up Your Data

More information about the changes will be posted on our blog at https://blog.theologika.net as they develop .

If you yourself have a website yourself, please put our site, www.theologika.net, into your links and recommendations. We’ve even got a neat logo you can put with it if you’d like. You can copy it from the blog at https://blog.theologika.net/2008/06/20/your-own-directory-at-theologikanet/.

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Aug 11, 2008

Saint of the Day – St. Clare of Assisi – August 11

St. Clare of Assisi was born in 1194. She was one of the early followers of St. Francis of Assisi and with him co-founded the Order of Saint Clare, now commonly known as the Poor Clares.

Clare was from a wealthy family and left it all to lead a life of absolute poverty in a cloistered monastery. She and her sisters passed their days working and praying. The order has continued into our times, with monasteries of sisters in communities around the world.

In celebration of the feast of St. Clare, I invited some of her sisters to share their insights and reflections. I received these responses.

From Sr. Miriam Varney, Abbess of the Monastery of St. Clare in Chesterfield, NJ,

Saint Clare had a great devotion to the Eucharist and it was shown at the time when the town of Assisi was being attacked. Clare’s response was to go to Jesus in the Eucharist. Here is our prayer Novena for our Feast Day:

Saint Clare, radiant light, Shining in Splendor, help us all to walk, “with swift pace and light step” in the footprints of the “Poor Crucified and His Most Holy Mother.” Through Your presence in the Blessed Sacrament, Protect all life, our homes and cities from crime and violence as you once protected your sisters and the city of Assisi.
Through your powerful intercession obtain many graces for the Church, for each of us, for our Franciscan family and for the whole world. Amen

From the Poor Clare Nuns of Belleville:

13th century St. Clare stands as a 21st century witness of Gospel hope. She is reminder that human fulfillment is not a matter of power or prestige or possessions, but of discovering the treasure that lies hidden in the field of the world (3rd Letter of St. Clare to St. Agnes of Prague). Clare bears shining witness that the kingdom of God is within. She shows the world that a life full of God is a life full of hope. She confirms this telling observation of Pope Benedict XVI: Prayer is the language of hope — not a hope which isolates or renders indifferent to the sufferings of the human family, but a hope that gives the individual a heart for the world and thus to all that makes the world truly worthy of its divine destiny.

Each Poor Clare community is called to be an “assembly of hope.” Hidden and apart, universal and eschatological (Poor Clare Constitutions, art. 44,1), the more deeply, fervently and faithfully we live our enclosed contemplative form of life, the more do we bear witness to Christ, the Life and Hope of the world. Ours is a life of joy and faith, surrender and self-sacrifice which enables our monasteries to continue to offer to today’s world, with its widespread need for spirituality and prayer, the demanding proposal of a complete and authentic experience of God, One and Triune, radiating His loving and saving Presence. (Pope John Paul II)

For more information on our community, our Poor Clare vocation and for reflections on various Franciscan/Clarian themes, you are welcome to visit our website.

From Sister Jane Marie Delevan of St. Clare Monastery in Evansville.

We appreciate your efforts to make our Mother St. Clare better known and yes you are in our prayers, God Bless you, Sr. Jane Marie,O.S.C. Happy & Blessed Feast Day!!

And now, a quick trivia question. Why is St. Clare shown with a cat in the first image? The story goes that when she was confined to bed due to illness, she continued to work. One day she dropped the roll of fabric on which she was working and it rolled away out of her reach. The monastery cat brought the fabric back to her, so she could continue working.

One of the California missions, and indeed, an entire city, is named for St. Clare of Assisi. Mission Santa Clara de Asís is located near San Jose, California and was founded in 1777 by Fr. Junipero Serra. Fray Tomás de la Peña and Fray José Murguía were the first to minister at Santa Clara. Today Santa Clara University is located on the site of the mission and the restored mission church is the university chapel.

My thanks to the communities who have shared their thoughts with us and to all Sisters of Saint Clare, for your dedication to serve the Lord and the Christian community through your lives of prayer and sacrifice, as well as through the many types of work you do in service to the community. Happy Feast Day.

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Aug 8, 2008

Saint of the Day – St. Dominic – August 8

For the feast of St. Dominic, I asked several Dominicans what they would like people to know about the founder of their order, the Order of Preachers. These were responses I received in the order received.

From Timothy Radcliffe, OP, Blackfriars, Oxford:

I would say that one of the things that struck people about St Dominic was his joy. One has the impression that he delighted in talking to people, whoever they were. He had an immediate empathy with people, with their sorrows and joys. It was said that he laughed during the day with his brethren, and wept at night with God. This joy is the beginning of all preaching. The early Dominicans all compared the gospel to new wine, which makes you drunk!

From Thomas McDermott, OP, Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri

Here’s something that you might be able to use:

“Two distinctive features of Dominican spirituality are study and preaching. St. Dominic situated his religious communities not in the countryside, as in the case of monks, but in the center of university cities. Manual labor was replaced by study and the friars could be dispensed from attending parts of the Liturgy of the Hours for purposes of study. What were they to study? Truth–sacred truth. The motto of the Order is Veritas. Study was to inform the contemplative life of the Dominican friar and preaching, in all its forms, was the overflow. Another motto is, “To preach, and to share with others the fruits of one’s contemplation.” The official name of Dominican order is the Order of Preachers. Democracy has always been a hallmark of the Dominicans. Major and local superiors are elected by the friars themselves. General chapters of the Order take place every three years to respond to current needs and keep the Order’s legislation up to date.”

Here’s a good source for biographies of St. Dominic and other OP saints, http://www.domcentral.org/trad/

From Michael Fones, OP, Co-director, Catherine of Siena Institute

I would want people to know that he was in such love with God that it was said of him that “he was always either talking to God or talking about God.” I say this is a sign of his great love of God because we naturally want to be in conversation with our beloved, and he or she is always so much on our mind that we inevitably talk to others about them.

From Sr. Barbara Long, OP, Holy Cross Parish, Santa Cruz

St. Dominic’s ministry is as contemporary today as it was in the 13th century. Dominic realized that we need to meet people where they are at. He didn’t wait for people to come to him, but encountered them in the every day activities of their lives and shared the Gospel message.

My thanks to these and other dedicated brothers and sisters of St. Dominic for sharing your gifts and insights.

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Aug 7, 2008