Tuesday, March 25, 2014

He Hath Filled The Hungry With Good Things; And The Rich He Hath Sent Empty Away

ALLORI, Alessandro 
Annunciation 
1603

My soul doth magnify the Lord.
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is his name.
And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him.
He hath shewed might in his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble.
He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
He hath received Israel his servant, being mindful of his mercy:
As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed for ever.

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Evil Portent For Fatima? Portuguese Cardinal Policarpo, 78, Dies While On Retreat At Fatima


VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Portuguese Cardinal Jose da Cruz Policarpo, the retired archbishop of Lisbon, died March 12 at the age of 78, apparently of a ruptured aortic aneurysm. He had been on retreat in Fatima when he experienced chest pains and was taken to a hospital in Lisbon, where he died. He led the church in Portugal from 1998 to 2013, serving as archbishop or, officially, as "patriarch of Lisbon." Made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2001, he participated in the 2005 conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI and in the 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis. In an interview with Catholic News Service on the eve of the 2005 conclave, Cardinal Policarpo said the church needed to find new ways to proclaim the faith. Evangelizing "must come, above all, from the deep experience of living the love of God and the Holy Spirit," he said. "There's no more room for a Christian to stay hidden" or confined to "the inside of the church." A prolific writer and dedicated teacher, he spent most of his priesthood working in the field of education, either in seminaries or at the Portuguese Catholic University. Born in 1936 in Alvorninha, Portugal, Jose da Cruz Policarpo studied at the minor seminaries of Santarem and Almada before completing his preparation for the priesthood at Christ the King Seminary in Olivais. Ordained to the priesthood in 1961, he was sent to Rome for further studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University, earning his degree in dogmatic theology in 1968. Between 1963 and 1968 he also taught at the minor seminary at Penafirme, Portugal.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Blessed Be The Lord My God, Who Teacheth My Hands To Fight, And My Fingers To War ~ Ash Wednesday 2014

GRÜNEWALD, Matthias
The Crucifixion (detail)
c. 1515

Blessed be the Lord my God, who teacheth my hands to fight, and my fingers to war Ps.cxliii.i.