Fr. Robert Barron will be the con-celebrant for noon Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City on Wednesday, December 14. He will be signing copies of his book, CATHOLICISM: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith, at 12:45 in the Cathedral gift shop.
" Do not be troubled or weighed down with grief...Am I not here who am your Mother?"
-Our Lady of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego
The Symbolism of the Image
The miraculous image produce on the apron or tilma of Blessed Juan Diego is rich in symbolism. The aureole or luminous light surrounding the Lady is reminiscent of the "woman clothed with the sun" of Rev. 12:1. The light is also a sign of the power of God who has sanctified and blessed the one who appears. The rays of the sun would also be
recognized by the native people as a symbol of their highest god,
Huitzilopochtli. Thus, the lady comes forth hiding but not extinguishing the power of the sun. She is now going to announce the God who is greater than their sun god.
The Lady is standing upon the moon. Again, the symbolism is that of the woman of Rev. 12:1 who has the "moon under her feet". The moon for the Meso-Americans was the god of the night. By standing on the moon, she shows that she is more powerful than the god of darkness. However, in Christian iconography the crescent moon under the Madonna’s feet is usually a symbol of her per- petual virginity, and sometimes it can refer to her Immaculate Conception or Assumption.
The eyes of Our lady of Guadalupe are looking down with humility and compassion. This was a sign to the native people that she was not a god since in their iconography the gods stare straight ahead with their eyes wide open.
Thus Mary says to us that we are all called to open ourselves to the action of the Holy Spirit to be able to reach our final destination, to be immaculate, fully and definitively free of evil' -- Pope Benedict XVI
The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated by the Church on December 8th. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary was defined, ex cathedra, by Pope Pius IX in 1854:
"The Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, and in view of the foreseen merits of Jesus Christ, the savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin."
'Catholics Come Home', a fast growing lay organization, is launching a $3.5 million prime-time television campaign aimed at drawing people to the Church.
Jennifer Levits of the Wall Street Journal recently wrote the following:
"Commercials, airing in English and Spanish on major networks in every diocese between Dec. 16 and Jan. 9, will highlight the history, spirituality, and accomplishments of the 2,000-year-old Catholic faith in 30- and 60-second spots."
In an MSNBC piece entitled "Prime Time Religion: Catholics to Air National TV Ads", James Eng wrote that "Catholics Come Home wants Catholics to come back to church, and it's using prime-time television ads to get across the message" .
The bi-lingual Catholics Come Home commercials are scheduled to air on CBS, NBC, Univision, TBS, USA, TNT, CNN, FoxNews, and other networks during shows like 60 Minutes, NCIS, Kennedy Center Honors, NBC Nightly News, The Today Show, Jay Leno, O'Reilly, major sports, and ...
FRANCIS XAVIER, ST. (1506-1552). Born in the family castle of Xavier, near Pamplona in the Basque area of Spanish Navarre on Apr. 7, he was sent to the University of Paris 1525, secured his licentiate in 1528, met Ignatius Loyola and became one of the seven who in 1534, at Montmartre founded the Society of Jesus. In 1536 he left Paris to join Ignatius in Venice, from whence they all in tended to go as missionaries to Palestine (a trip which never materialized), was ordained there in 1537, went to Rome in 1538, and in 1540, when the pope formally recognized the Society, was ordered, with Fr. Simon Rodriguez, to the Far East as the first Jesuit missionaries. King John III kept Fr. Simon in Lisbon, but Francis, after a year's voyage, six months of which were spent atMozambique where he preached and gave aid to the sick eventually arrived in Goa, India in 1542 with Fr. Paul of Camerino an Italian, and Francis Mansihas, a Portuguese. There he began preaching to the natives and attempted to reform his fellow Europeans, living among the natives and adopting their customs on his travels. During the next decade he converted tens of thousands to Christianity. He visited the Paravas at the tip of India. near Cape Comorin, Tuticorin (1542), Malacca (1545), the Moluccas near New Guinea and Morotai near the Philippines (1546-47), and Japan (1549- 51). In 1551, India and the East were set up as a separate province and Ignatius made Francis its first provincial. In 1552 he set out for China, landed on the island of Sancian within sight of his goal, but died before he reached the mainland. Working against great difficulties, language problems ( contrary to legend, he had no proficiency in foreign tongues ), inadequate funds, and lack of cooperation, often actual resistance, from European officials, he left the mark of his missionary zealand energy on areas which clung to Christianity for centuries. He was canonized in 1622 and proclaimed patron of all foreign missions by Pope Pius X. F. D. Dec. 3.
In a recent article put out by the BBC, several reports were put out by Apple customers who complained that Siri, the voice-activated assistant to the new Apple iPhone, failed to locate nearby abortion clinics. Rights groups, such as NARAL (National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws) and internet bloggers made their concern known to Apple.
Siri can perform many tasks, but cannot find an abortion clinic.
Apple soon after stepped onto the scene to squash such rumors that these omissions were intentional" Apple spokeswoman, Natalie Kerris, told reporters, "These are not intentional omissions meant to offend anyone, it simply means that as we bring Siri from beta to a final product, we find places where we can do better and we will in the coming weeks."
It is no surprise that Apple would want to cover its own tail in order to keep its consumer audience as large as possible as any business would, but the statement that really caught my attention was from Nancy Keenan, President of NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation. Keenan said, "Thus, it is disappointing to read that a tool like Siri is missing the mark when it comes to providing information about such personal health issues as abortion care and contraception." She later added, "Although Siri is not the principal resource for women's health care, I hope you agree that it is important that the women who are using this application not be misled about their pregnancy-related options."
Is someone truly being misled if they cannot find the nearest clinic to terminate their unborn child while on-the-go from their cell phone? How has our society gotten to the point that finding an abortion clinic should be among the common tasks performed by a smart phone?
