By Joe Lee JACKSON – Succeeding a legend like Shae Goodman-Robinson would be a daunting task to some, but for Christopher Payne, the incoming principal of Sister Thea Bowman School, it’s a comfortable fit as well as an opportunity to continue paying forward the many life lessons he learned from his mentor.
A graduate of Mississippi State University, Payne has spent the last seven years teaching social studies and technology to Sister Thea Bowman students in grades 3-6. A native of Jackson, he graduated from Jim Hill High school and knows the city and its challenges well.
“In my first year, I noticed a student whose behavior was changing. He was more aggressive around others and a bit standoffish,” Payne said. “I’ve seen boys do that and felt I needed to have a heart-to-heart with him. He started talking about what was going on at home, his relationship with his parents, and he broke down and cried.”
“I started sharing some of my experiences from the past, and he hugged me and said he hadn’t had anyone to talk to. That was the moment I said, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is the impact I can have on these students’ lives.’”
In the short term, Payne says that while Sister Thea Bowman School already has a safe, loving, Christ-like environment, he wants to bring it “times ten” and immediately increase enrollment.
“I want to help guide the school to be one of the premier Catholic schools in Jackson,” Payne said. “Sister Thea Bowman is up for canonization, and we look forward to our school being known as ‘Saint’ Thea Bowman Catholic School. Having at present a prominent African American student body, I’d like to see kids of all races at our school. That’s what Sister Thea wanted: harmony among all groups.”
(Sister Thea Bowman School is now enrolling grades PreK-3 through sixth grade. Interested persons may contact the school at (601) 352-5441. Financial contributions to Sister Thea Bowman School as well as donations of your time and talents are greatly appreciated. Visit theabowmanschool.com to learn more.)
By Joe Lee JACKSON – Something especially meaningful dawned on Shae Goodman-Robinson as she drove to Sister Thea Bowman School one morning near the end of her thirteenth and final year as principal.
“I told my parents that I started at Sister Thea Bowman in kindergarten when it was Christ the King School, and here I am retiring there as principal,” Robinson said. “What a beautiful full circle of how God puts you in places to pay it forward.”
In the midst of an emotional few days of saying goodbye to students, parents and her employees, Robinson reflected on the many pay-it-forward moments she’s had in more than four decades of being an educator.
“I’ll miss the children and the face-to-face contact with them,” she said. “It put a smile on my face, whatever may have been on my mind at the time. Kids will tell you what they see, in their honesty and love for you. ‘I love your hair, Ms. Robinson. I love your dress, Ms. Robinson. I love your shoes, Ms. Robinson.’ I will genuinely miss that. It’s kept me going all this time.”
Sister Thea Bowman, whom Robinson met two years before her death in 1990, had a profound impact on the way approached her calling.
“Her legacy was, ‘I try,’ and one of my favorite Sister Thea sayings was, ‘I know God is using me in ways beyond my comprehension,’” Robinson said. “As principal, I tried to make sure the students understood the importance of education, and that they took responsibility each day. I tried to make sure they understood that everything comes full circle regarding academic education and spiritual growth.”
A kindergartener in the early 1960s, Robinson recalls her parents earning approximately $200/month but insisting on paying a tuition bill of $32/month to send all three of their children to Christ the King School. “They believed in the importance of the education we were getting at Christ the King,” she said. “All of that propelled me to want to come back to the school and help pay it forward.”
Another full circle moment is the friendship and work relationship Robinson has had with her successor, Jackson native Christopher Payne, who has taught at Sister Thea Bowman school for seven years and will serve as principal beginning this fall.
“I worked with his grandmother at Bailey Alternative School back in the 1980s, and I told Chris that I remember when his parents got married and when he was born,” Robinson said. “He attended my children’s birthday parties – I remember him as a toddler and growing up. My daughter went to Mississippi State, and so did he.”
“When I heard Chris was in education I talked to him, and when he said he wanted to teach, I offered him an open position I had. Once he got here, I saw leadership skills. He was not a teacher that raised his voice. He was always mild-mannered, and the kids loved him.”
“Shae was the main reason I ended up at Sister Thea Bowman School,” Payne said. “I wasn’t even sure teaching was my calling, but she saw something in me. She said to me, ‘You aren’t just here to work for the students; you’re here for the parents, your co-workers, the church and the community. She has instilled in me the bigger picture, that what happens outside the classroom matters most.”
Robinson will certainly miss her cherished interactions with the many students she mentored at Sister Thea Bowman School, but she has no doubt the right person was selected to succeed her.
“There was never hesitation when I asked Chris for help. He was always ready to help, and he volunteered to do things he saw that needed to be done without me having to ask,” Robinson said. “He has the personality, intelligence and another level of ideas that can take Sister Thea Bowman School to another level.”
(Joe Lee is the Editor-in-Chief of Dogwood Press, a small but traditional publishing house. He is a regular contributor to Mississippi Catholic and a parishioner of St. Francis Madison.)
By Joanna Puddister King A trailer has been released by NewGroup Media and the Diocese of Jackson for the upcoming documentary on Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman.
The trailer has been making the rounds on social media and gives a glimpse into the life of the future Black Catholic saint. The documentary is entitled “Going Home Like a Shooting Star: Thea Bowman’s Journey to Sainthood” and it encompasses her life from her childhood in Canton, her rise to fame as a public speaker and evangelizer, to her death from cancer at age 52 in 1990.
The documentary features testimonies from Sister Thea’s friends, fellow sisters, former students, acquaintances and admirers. It also includes live-action reenactments from moments in her life. The reenactments were filmed in various locations around the country, including locally in Canton featuring local talent, with St. Joseph Catholic School student Madison Ware, as young Bertha Bowman.
Early reactions on social media platforms included: “These 6 minutes make me wish I had known her so much earlier! Thank you!” “She deserves this and so do the people!” “Sister Thea will hopefully one day be the first saint from Mississippi.”
The trailer can be viewed on YouTube at https://bit.ly/SrTheaShootingStar. The film will be released this fall and is due to air on ABC.
Screengrab from the trailer of the upcoming documentary on Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman. The film is due to be released this fall, airing on ABC.
JACKSON – Traditionally, June is the month on the Roman Catholic calendar when on the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul (June 29), each newly named metropolitan archbishops is given a pallium by the Holy Father. Pallium is a Latin word that means a mantle or cloak.
Made of lamb’s wool, the pallium is a white band measuring about two- and one-half inches in width. Two equally wide bands, about 15 inches long containing small silk-covered lead pieces, extend one in front and one down the back. It is worn over the chasuble.
The pallium is decorated with six black crosses placed in the front and back, on each shoulder, and on the ends of the pieces hanging in front and back. Three pins, spinula in Latin for thorn, are placed in the crosses on the front, the back and the left shoulder.
The following historical description is taken from the Vatican’s website: “The Liber Pontificalis (Pontifical Book) notes that Pope St. Mark (died 336) conferred the pallium on the Suburbicarian Bishop of Ostia, one of the consecrators of the Roman Pontiff. Even if we cannot be sure of the historic value of this information, at least it reflects the practice of the fifth and sixth centuries, when the Liber Pontificalis was compiled by the Roman Curia.”
“In 513, Pope Symmachus granted the privilege of the pallium to St. Caesarius of Arles and thereafter the concession of the pallium by the Pope to the bishops of Italy and outside Italy multiplied.”
“The pallium is the symbol of a special relationship with the Pope and expresses the power, that, in communion with the Church of Rome, the metropolitan acquires by right in his own jurisdiction. According to Canon Law (canon 437), a metropolitan must request the pallium within three months of his appointment and may wear it only in the territory of his own diocese and in the other dioceses of his ecclesiastical province.”
Spiritually speaking, the pallium’s unique design represents a yoke placed on an ox. The one who takes up the yoke carries the church on his shoulders, plowing through the many challenges and yet the many joys of church life.
Archbishop Thomas Rodi is pictured wearing his pallium. The pallium is a symbol of a special relationship with the Pope. Made from wool, the pallium of the metropolitan archbishops is decorated with six black crosses. In her column “From the archives,” Mary Woodward writes about the history and meaning behind the pallium. (Photo courtesy of Archdiocese of Mobile/The Catholic Week)
Traditionally, on the feast of St. Agnes (Jan. 21), two lambs are brought from Tre Fontane, the site of St. Paul’s martyrdom, to the Basilica of St. Agnes on the Via Nomentana. After they are blessed, the sheep are presented to the Pope, then they remain in the care of the women religious who reside at the Basilica of St. Cecilia in Trastevere.
Just before Easter, these lambs are shorn and their wool is used to make the pallia for newly appointed archbishops. On the night of June 28, the pallia are placed beneath the main altar of the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome where they lie close to the tomb of the first pope.
In receiving his papal pallium when installed in 2005, Pope Benedict XVI in his homily stated: “The symbolism of the pallium is even more concrete: the lamb’s wool is meant to represent the lost, sick or weak sheep which the shepherd places on his shoulders and carries to the waters of life.”
In June 2008, I was privileged to travel to Rome with Bishop Joseph Latino and Bishop Emeritus William Houck for the conferral of the pallia on all the new archbishops of the world by Pope Benedict XVI. This included our current metropolitan, Archbishop Thomas Rodi of Mobile.
One of my main tasks was to pack and unpack cassocks according to the ceremony of the day and keep them wrinkle free. I like to joke that it was a terribly demanding job, but it was not. It truly was a blessing, especially considering I was in Rome participating in such a beautiful church tradition. Throughout the weeklong trip, it was about 99 degrees outside and inside was only slightly less hot. There is air-conditioning in Rome hotels, but basically it is a box on the wall that makes a lot of noise and drips water on the floor.
The two bishops and I celebrated Mass in four major basilicas in Rome – Peter, Paul, John Lateran and my favorite, St. Mary Major. We managed the heat fairly well and became quite adept at hailing taxis. The day of the Pallium Mass in St. Peter Basilica, I positioned myself along the rail so that I would be close to the procession. I do not recall how many new metropolitans were there besides ours, but I do remember as they processed out through the basilica, they all looked so serene and otherworldly in their red chasubles and newly placed pallia.
It was the look of being swept up into the heart of the triune God; to being entrenched in the 2000-year tradition of our church; and to being surrounded and bolstered by the Communion of Saints ready to bear the yoke and till the soil in God’s vineyard.
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson)
Archbishop Thomas Rodi is pictured wearing his pallium. The pallium is a symbol of a special relationship with the Pope. Made from wool, the pallium of the metropolitan archbishops is decorated with six black crosses. In her column “From the archives,” Mary Woodward writes about the history and meaning behind the pallium. (Photo courtesy of Archdiocese of Mobile/The Catholic Week)
By Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz, D.D. The return after three years to our Saltillo Mission was a high-spirited and joyful adventure after nearly three years since the previous visit for the 50th anniversary of the beginning of Father Patrick Quinn’s missionary work in 1969. But many of you know of this pastoral visit through the social media networks of the Diocese of Jackson and the Diocese of Biloxi. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then you have already enjoyed multiple portrayals of the whirlwind of four days. It is amazing to consider the high volume of activity that occurs in such a compact timeframe. It can be exhausting and exhilarating over every bump on the road.
Let me digress a moment to treasure the source of the spiritual bond that continues to thrive between Mississippi and Saltillo even in the absence of overland mission trips.
In our Catholic world we are in the midst of celebrating the golden triangle of exceptional Solemnities beginning with Pentecost Sunday and the culmination of the Easter season, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, and the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord.
The gift of the Holy Spirit received in faith and celebrated uniquely at Pentecost opens up a world of mystery with our God who is love, the Holy Trinity of persons who overflowed in love in the gifts of creation and salvation. The celebration of Corpus Christi continues this outpouring of love poured out on the Cross and commemorated and lived each time we gather for Mass, the holy Eucharist.
The three feasts together reveal the nature of love within the Trinity which manifests itself in Christian community, unity, communion and fraternity in the Body of Christ throughout the world bonded by one faith, one baptism, one God who is Father who is over all and in all. Thus, the joy of solidarity and unity can overflow with every liturgy, with every fiesta, with every meal and with every conversation in all parts of our world.
From this fountain of faith, hope and love, we all cherish the history of these past 53 years, the memory of Father Quinn, and all who have given of themselves, from here and over there, whether for years or for weeks.
The Sacrament of Confirmation with 80 candidates was the culminating liturgy with Bishop Hilario Gonzales Garcia, the recently installed Ordinary of the Diocese of Saltillo. It was heartening to concelebrate with him around the altar, and to spend time at table afterwards.
One year into his episcopal ministry and he already has experienced the blessings of the relationship that Jackson and Biloxi have with his diocese. He fully supports what we are doing and hopes that we will accompany one another well into the future. We all hope that the day will come when the overland mission trips are able to resume, enabling the a new generation of Mississippi Catholics to be missionary disciples, evangelizing and being evangelized by our Mexican brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Amidst the many grace-filled moments, meals and ministries from Monday to Thursday evening’s Confirmation, there were various signature events. On Tuesday we celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation two hours out at Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in Garambullo and then bounced back to a special liturgy at San Miguel’s that honored all fathers in attendance with a special blessing as the Mariachis played and sang full throated and unsparingly.
Afterwards, a fiesta followed honoring the young people who raised the most money for their individual parish communities. Various groups of entertainers, mostly young, performed splendidly in song, dance and gesture in a religious and cultural festival. Que Buena noche!
Wednesday saw another memorable event unfold before us in amazement. In route to St. Pedro’s for the Sacrament of Confirmation we gathered at St. Joseph’s Chapel which was dedicated three years ago on the last pastoral visit. After prayer and blessings, cars and trucks were organized into a procession that grew into a ‘flotilla on the road’ to San Pedro. You have seen some of the photos, and the entire experience was as joyful as it looked. The fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit were in abundance at the Confirmation that followed.
On Thursday prior to the Confirmation Bishop Kihneman and I, along with the other pilgrims from Jackson and Biloxi, visited the tomb of Father Quinn in the Church of Perpetuo Socorro. Over the past year the back walls of the church above his tomb have been covered with the photos that provide a panorama of the events, the people and the places of the Father Quinn years. It is well done and very touching.
While I stood there in admiration, I felt so grateful to have a part in this amazing story whose chapters are still being written, and to represent the faithful of our diocese who further the mission through prayer and generosity.
Next year will mark the 25th anniversary of San Miguel, the cornerstone parish of the mission since Father Quinn’s death, and the dates are on the calendar for the September 2023 anniversary celebration. Stay tuned!
Bishop Louis Kihnemann of Biloxi, Father David Martinez, pastor of San Miguel Mission and Bishop Joseph Kopacz wave during a procession on the road to San Pedro. (Photo Terry Dickson/Diocese of Biloxi)
BAY ST. LOUIS – Father Malcolm Mark O’Leary, SVD, age 92, died on May 25, 2022. He was born April 21, 1930 to the late John O’Leary and Clementine Conway O’Leary in Sulphur Springs, Mississippi. He was one of twelve children and attended Sacred Heart School in Camden, Mississippi; as well as, Holy Ghost School in Jackson.
Father O’Leary began his formal educational preparation for the priesthood in September of 1947 at St. Augustine Seminary in Bay St. Louis. Upon the completion of his priesthood preparation, Father O’Leary entered novitiate training in Techny, Illinois on Sept. 8, 1951 and took his first vows in 1953. On May 4, 1961, under the authority of Archbishop Vagnazzi, Father O’Leary was ordained into the priesthood at St. Augustine Seminary in Bay St. Louis.
In the Diocese of Jackson, Father O’Leary served at Sacred Heart Greenville from 1962-1964; St. Francis Yazoo City as associate pastor from 1967-1969 and pastor from 1969-1972; Holy Ghost Jackson from 1972-1980; Immaculate Conception Clarksdale from 1980-1984; and St. Mary Vicksburg from 2008-2018. He retired from active ministry in 2019 and was a resident at the Woodland Village Nursing Home in Diamondhead.
Father O’Leary was preceded in death by his parents, John O’Leary and Clementine Conway, six brothers, John Frank O’Leary, Patrick Henry O’Leary, Lawrence “Smitty” O’Leary, James Kermit O’Leary, Eldridge “Tommy” O’Leary and Alfred Wendell O’Leary; three sisters, Selena O’Leary, Annie Mae O’Leary and Mary O’Leary.
He is survived by two brothers, James T. O’Leary of Alabama and Bernard O’Leary of California; and a host of nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends. His departure will be felt by many, but family and friends are comforted in knowing that he has now joined the faithfully departed.
His Funeral Mass was held June 1 in the chapel of St. Augustine Seminary in Bay St. Louis.
It may be the middle of the calendar year, but the vocations calendar is about to turn. We got to celebrate the priestly ordination of Father Andrew Bowden in May and the ordination to the diaconate of Carlisle Beggerly in June. Now, vocation directors in turn are getting ready for the ‘next school year,’ and the work of finding the next Bowdens and Beggerlys.
Father Nick Adam
In July, we will hold our third Quo Vadis discernment retreat at Our Lady of the Pines in Chatawa. This is a retreat open to young men ages 15-25 who are open to a call to priesthood. The retreat will run from July 25-28. Our first two retreats of this kind were held last year, and they were a lot of fun. If you know of someone who would benefit from this retreat, or if you are interested in helping out with this event or ones of this kind – i.e. chaperoning, providing food/snacks, please let me know via email nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.
In early August the seminarians will come together for our annual convocation. This event has grown over the last several years and we enjoy getting together and checking in prior to the new school year. One of the highlights of the convocation this year will be seminarian Will Foggo receiving his call to candidacy. Being a candidate for Holy Orders means a couple of things: 1) you are committed to priestly discernment, and while you have not officially committed to going all the way to ordination, you believe that the Lord is calling you in this direction. Think of it like a high school football player making a verbal commitment to a college. One of the joys of candidacy is that a seminarian is then authorized to start wearing a roman collar in public. This is a neat stage of discernment because it starts ‘getting real’ for the seminarian. He is a public man of the church, not just as a seminarian, but visibly through his dress. Typically, a man receives candidacy when he begins his theology studies – 2-4 years into his priestly formation.
The convocation is also a good opportunity to build fraternity with our current priests. We’ve had our convocation in Natchez the last two years, which has been amazing, and distinctly ‘Mississippi,’ but this year we are going to have our gathering in the Jackson Metro Area, and I’m planning on inviting priests from around the area to drop by to say hello and give talks to the seminarians. There is no better way to build relationships that quality time in front of another person, and in a world that is increasingly digital, it is vital that our seminarians get in front of our current priests so they can encourage one another. I find it very energizing to witness the zeal and excitement of our seminarians, and I’m excited to get together with them all at the end of what will be a busy summer for each of them. – Father Nick Adam
If you are interested in learning more about religious orders or vocations to the priesthood and religious life, please email nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.
By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Health care is a fundamental right for all and not a privilege for the rich while the poor and disadvantaged are left to the wayside, Pope Francis said.
“When a country loses this wealth that is public health care, it begins to make distinctions within the population between those who have access, who can have paid health care, and those who are left without health care services,” the pope said June 4 to representatives of the Italian health care association, Federsanità.
According to its website, Federsanità is a confederation of local health care facilities and hospitals that seek to promote policies “strongly oriented toward a new concept of ‘taking care’ of patients based on proximity, proactivity, personalization and participation.”
In his address, the pope said closeness to patients is “the antidote to self-referentiality” that “breaks the chains of selfishness” and allows health care professionals to view patients “as brothers and sisters, regardless of language, geographical origin, social status or health condition.”
“Being close to others also means breaking down distances, making sure that there are no first- and second-class patients, and committing energies and resources so that no one is excluded from receiving health care,” he said.
Medical professionals, he said, should adopt a more holistic approach to health care that takes into account not only a patient’s illness but also “his or her psychological, social, cultural and spiritual condition.”
“When Jesus heals someone, he not only eradicates the physical ailment from the body, but also restores dignity, reintroducing him or her into society, giving them a new life. Of course, only he can do this, but the attitude, the approach to the person is a model for us,” he explained.
Placing the dignity of the person at the center, he added, helps to counter the “throwaway culture” that views the sick “as a burden and a cost.”
“Illnesses may mark the body, confuse thoughts and take away strength, but they can never nullify the value of human life, which must always be protected, from conception to its natural end,” he said.
Lastly, Pope Francis said health care professionals must seek the common good to counter “the pursuit of partisan interests” in which “the economic or political interests of one group prevail at the expense of the majority of the population.”
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, he said, has proven that “’every man for himself’ translates rapidly into ‘everyone against all,’ thus widening the gap of inequality and increasing conflict.” “It is necessary to work to ensure that everyone has access to care, that the health care system is supported and promoted, and that it continues to be free of charge,” the pope said. “Cutting resources for health care is an outrage to humanity.”
Pope Francis accepts a copy of the children’s book, “La luna di Kiev” (The Moon of Kyiv), during an audience with representatives of the Italian health care association, Federsanità, at the Vatican June 4, 2022. The pope said that health care is a fundamental right for all and not a privilege for the rich while the poor and disadvantaged are left to the wayside. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
If we genuinely trust scripture, our own experience, and our own sanity, we can only conclude that God has a sense of humor, and a robust and sneaky one at that. Where’s the evidence?
A generation ago, Peter Berger wrote a remarkable little book entitled, A Rumor of Angels. Unlike Aquinas, Anselm, Descartes and a number of renowned philosophers, he didn’t try to “prove” the existence of God through logic and argumentation. Rather, he simply examined a number of very ordinary human experiences and pointed to what’s hidden inside and behind the walls of those experiences. For instance, when a mother soothes and calms a frightened child at night, assuring the child that there is nothing to fear, she does this in good faith only because at some deep level she intuits that ultimately everything is all right. In effect, unconsciously, she is praying a Creed.
Now, one of the experiences Berger highlights is the experience of humor. Here’s his thesis: no matter how oppressive and dire the circumstance, human beings always have the capacity to make light of it, to view it through the prism of irony and humor. For example, martyrs have joked with their executioners and, no doubt, there was some banter, sarcasm, irony and bitter humor at times inside extermination camps. The fact that people can do this, and do in fact do it, shows that there is always something transcendent inside us, something over which no human oppression has power, something that sets us above any situation within which we find ourselves. Our sense of irony and humor manifests that something in our soul sets us above anything that can beset us.
And this can have its source in only one place, inside of the Creator who made us. Thus, not only must God have a sense of humor, humor must be something inherent within the nature of God, since humor is good, and God is the author of all that is good.
There’s a school of classical philosophy that believes God has four transcendental properties. God, it teaches, is One, True, Good and Beautiful – to this we can add, Humorous. Moreover, this can be inferred from more than just the fact that sometimes we sense that humor manifests our transcendence within a given situation. More importantly, we can infer that humor has some godliness from examining the component parts of love. God is love, and humor is undeniably an important part of love.
When the classical Greek philosophers defined love, they highlighted a number of components within it, namely, erotic attraction, obsession, friendship, pragmatic arrangement and altruism. However, they also highlighted another component, playfulness/banter/humor. How insightful. Humor along with healthy banter and playful teasing are part of the grease that enables us to sustain relationships long term, despite the inevitable over-familiarity, hurt, disappointment and boredom that beset even the most loving relationships. Humor helps make it all work. Thus, since it is an innate part of love, it is an innate part of God.
Sadly, we don’t often picture God that way. Christianity, Judaism and Islam have this in common. We all picture God as male, celibate, solemn – and humorless. How might we picture God differently?
If you were to draw up a composite face representing God, whose face would you include in this picture? The pious face of the gentle, blond-haired Jesus with a lamb on his shoulder we see in our holy pictures? Images of a serenely composed and quiet Mary that we see depicted in our statues of her? The face of Mother Teresa? The face of Therese of Lisieux? The face of Dorothy Day? Of Martin Luther King? Of Oscar Romero? Of Billy Graham? Of Henri Nouwen? Of Rachel Held Evans? The face of your mother or father? Would you also include the face of your favorite comedian or favorite wit? Jerry Seinfeld? Bette Midler? Rowan Atkinson? The mischievous face of your colorful uncle telling a joke?
Any picture of God’s face needs to manifest an inner soul that is One, True, Good, Beautiful, but also Humorous and Mischievous. Funny, while I believe that God is the author of humor, I’ve never been enamored by the various artistic depictions of Jesus as laughing uproariously. Good idea, good intention, good theology, but to my taste, lacking the right nuance. That kind of laughing face has an ephemeral quality that too easily gives way to something else after it’s had its moment. God’s face, I suspect, has a quieter, sneakier, more permanent mischievousness to it.
If this is true, if God not only has a sense of humor but is also the author of humor itself, then humor is an important quality within sanctity and holiness. What makes for wholeness, maturity, holiness, love and for the kind of person you want beside you at the table, here and at the eternal one in heaven? Certainly, you want someone who manifests the qualities that Jesus asked for in the Sermon on the Mount – along with a warm, playful and mischievous sense of humor.
(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher and award-winning author. He can be contacted through his website www.ronrolheiser.com.)
In popular Catholic piety, the month of June is traditionally devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, celebrated this year on June 24. Most Catholics are familiar with the image of the Sacred Heart: a heart topped with a flame and a cross, signifying Jesus’ love and compassion for us, and circled with a crown of thorns, representing His Passion. Many Catholic homes display a picture of Jesus pointing toward his heart, shown exposed in his chest. The practice of displaying such an image arose after a series of apparitions to a 17th century French nun, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, but the origins of devotion to the Sacred Heart are much older.
Some of the early Church Fathers used the image of the heart of Jesus to symbolize his love for us, especially in his willingness to die to save us, but it wasn’t until the 11th century that a specific devotion to the wounded heart of Jesus began to develop.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote that the piercing of Christ’s side revealed his goodness and the charity of his heart for us. Practices honoring the Sacred Heart were prevalent in the Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries as private devotions, and soon began to spread to other religious orders. Franciscans had developed a special devotion to the Five Holy Wounds of Jesus, and St. Bonaventure wrote in his Mystic Vine, “Who is there who would not love this wounded heart? Who would not love in return Him, who loves so much?” The Sacred Heart also figured in the visions of several female mystics of the time.
By the 16th century, devotions to the Sacred Heart had become more formalized and special exercises and prayers were written. The Jesuits had a special devotion to the Sacred Heart and placed its image on the title pages of their books and on the walls of their churches. As lay people became more familiar with the idea of the Sacred Heart through the influence of the Jesuits, the devotion began to spread outside of the religious orders. St. Francis de Sales promoted this devotion, and his protégé St. Jane Frances de Chantal was influenced by him in her founding of the Visitation nuns. It is from this order that the best-known devotions to the Sacred Heart developed, thanks to visions of Jesus experienced by a Visitation nun, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque.
St. Margaret Mary experienced a series of visions of Jesus beginning in 1674 and ending in 1689. These visions have become the most significant source of devotion to the Sacred Heart in modern times. In these visions, Jesus called for special devotion to Him and his heart because of his great love. He requested reception of Holy Communion on the First Friday of every month for nine consecutive months, Eucharistic Adoration during a Holy Hour on Thursdays, and the celebration of a Feast of the Sacred Heart. In return, he made twelve promises to those who observed this devotion. “I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life. I will establish peace in their homes. I will comfort them in all their afflictions. I will be their secure refuge during life, and above all, in death. I will bestow abundant blessings upon all their undertakings. Sinners will find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
Lukewarm souls shall become fervent. Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection. I will bless every place in which an image of my Heart is exposed and honored. I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts. Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in my Heart. I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that my all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on the First Fridays in nine consecutive months the grace of final perseverance; they shall not die in my disgrace, nor without receiving their sacraments. My divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.”
After initial resistance, the nine First Friday devotions, along with the establishment of the Feast and the Holy Hour, spread throughout the world, aided by promotion by the Jesuits. A formal feast day for the Sacred Heart was recognized in 1765 in France and established as a feast day to be recognized by the whole church in 1899 by Pope Leo XIII.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart has a long history in the church. It recognizes the humanity of Christ in the image of the human heart, and the depth of his love and compassion for us in his Passion. The promises tied to devotion to his Sacred Heart are very powerful, and the practice of these devotions (the novena of First Fridays, Holy Hours, placement of a picture of the Sacred Heart in the home) are beneficial to any Catholic.
(Ruth Powers is the program coordinator for St. Mary Basilica Parish in Natchez.)
