JACKSON – The Diocese of Jackson joyfully honored the anniversaries of married couples from across the diocese with two special Masses, celebrated by Bishop Joseph Kopacz. The first Mass took place on Saturday, Feb. 7, at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in Jackson, followed by a second celebration on Saturday, Feb. 14, at St. James in Tupelo. These gatherings brought together couples of all ages to celebrate the sacred bond of marriage and their commitment to one another through the years.
During the World Marriage Day celebrations, couples were honored with a special anniversary certificate, blessed and signed by Bishop Kopacz. These certificates serve as a meaningful keepsake, commemorating their years of love, commitment and faith.
The ceremonies also provided an opportunity for couples to renew their vows in the presence of family, friends and fellow parishioners, reaffirming their dedication to one another and to God.
The diocese extends heartfelt congratulations to all the couples who participated in this year’s celebrations. Whether newlyweds or those marking decades of marriage, each couple serves as a witness to the enduring power of love and the grace of the sacrament of matrimony.
Please join us in celebrating and praying for these special couples, that their love may continue to grow and inspire others for years to come.
JACKSON – Couples, including Pham Nguyen and Bach Tuyet of St. Richard Parish, renew their marriage vows during the World Marriage Day celebration Feb. 7 at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle. The Mayos celebrated 35 years of marriage and Nguyen and Tuyet 38 years. (Photos by Tereza Ma)Will and Sallie Ann Inman of St. Francis Parish in Madison pose with Bishop Joseph Kopacz after the World Marriage Day celebration Feb. 7 at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle. The couple is celebrating 35 years of marriage.
By Gina Christian (OSV News) – Catholics across the Middle East are reeling with shock and sorrow, and responding with prayer, amid joint strikes Israeli and U.S. forces launched on Iran Feb. 28, plunging the region into war.
The U.S. and Israel revealed that Iran’s supreme leader, 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is among the country’s senior leaders killed in the initial assault, which targeted Tehran and cities across Iran.
U.S. President Donald Trump described the attacks as part of “major combat operations” to overthrow Iran’s regime in order to “defend the American people.”
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz announced the Feb. 28 “preemptive strike” against Iran, with a state of emergency declared across Israel.
Iran has retaliated with counterstrikes, targeting Israel and several U.S.-interest locations across a number of Middle East nations.
Casualties on all sides – including countries caught in the crossfire – are still being assessed amid the ongoing exchanges.
Iran’s foreign minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, claimed that a girls’ school in Minab was bombed in the U.S.-Israeli air assault and showed a photo.
“Dozens of innocent children have been murdered at this site alone,” he said. “These crimes against the Iranian People will not go unanswered.”
U.N. Secretary General António Guterres begged “all parties to return immediately to the negotiating table,” warning “the alternative is a potential wider conflict with grave consequences for civilians and regional stability.”
On March 1, Pope Leo XVI spoke out in the Sunday Angelus at St. Peter’s Square telling the warring parties they had a “moral responsibility” to end the fighting and return to diplomacy before the violence led to an “irreparable abyss.”
Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, warned, “We are faced with the possibility of a tragedy of immense proportions.”
Bishop Aldo Berardi, apostolic vicar of northern Arabia issued a Feb. 28 statement on Facebook, urging the faithful “to remain calm, united in prayer, and attentive to the safety of everyone.”
“Please follow carefully the instructions of civil authorities and take all necessary precautions,” said Bishop Berardi.
“Let us remain united in faith and charity, caring especially for the elderly, the sick, and the vulnerable,” said Bishop Berardi. “May Our Lady of Arabia, our mother, watch over us all.”
Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Bashar M. Warda of Irbil, Iraq, told OSV News March 2 he “could see the whole scene” of nearby missile attacks by Iran on a U.S. military base near the Irbil airport.
“The missiles … the noise and the bombing,” he said. “You can imagine the fear and horror.”
“Prayer is the only hope we have,” he said.
In Israel, Benedictine Father Nikodemus Schnabel – abbot of Dormition Abbey on Mount Zion in the heart of Jerusalem and of Tabgha, the community’s priory on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee – sheltered with some 60 pilgrims at Tabgha, the revered site of Jesus Christ’s multiplication of the loaves and fishes.
“It was always in the air that … something could happen,” he explained.
He said their international group had been in the shelter for two hours, describing the time – which video obtained by OSV News showed the pilgrims praying and singing – as unifying amid the attacks.
“It was a good experience. We don’t know each other, but then we sing songs in different languages. We pray together,” he explained.
He said the experience was an example of Benedictine hospitality.
“Very often I say, ‘I want that our two monasteries are two islands of hope in an ocean of suffering,’” said Father Schnabel. “And this was exactly the feeling. We were also today an island of hope in an ocean of suffering.”
Jesuit Father John Paul, rector of the Tantur Ecumenical Institute – located between Bethlehem and Jerusalem – told OSV News he believed “Jerusalem is not a target area.”
The priest, whose institute is staffed by both Palestinians and Israelis, pointed to the sorrow evoked by the strikes, which follow the Israel-Hamas war and ongoing tensions between Israel and Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
“Overall, with local Palestinians” there is “a feeling of real sadness – my guess is with Israelis as well,” said Father John Paul.
Father Schnabel said the pilgrims at Tagbha were praying for all affected.
“We pray for the others … So let’s pray for the people in Iran. Let’s pray for the people in Israel. Let’s pray for the people in Palestine. Let’s pray for the people in the region who are facing this situation,” he said.
(Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Paulina Guzik, international editor of OSV News, contributed to this report.)
By Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz, D.D. The Ash Wednesday admonition from the Lord Jesus to pray, fast and give alms – when done faithfully – are the driving forces that give God an opening for repentance, conversion and deep-seated change in a person’s life. The big three make fertile the soil of one’s heart and mind to welcome the grace of God in expectant faith.
When the desire to repent awakens in a person’s soul what are the signs that the hands of divine providence are at work?
Psalm 51 is the classic prayer of repentance and restored hope that the tradition says is the heartfelt plea of King David after he had sinned grievously in adultery with Bathsheba in combination with the murder of her husband Uriah the Hittite.
Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz, D.D.
The psalm below portrays the journey of a soul as he or she passes from the stages of deep-seated sorrow to the joy of right relationship with God, with others and the proper stance in worship, all accomplished by God’s saving grace.
Have mercy on me, God, in accord with your merciful love; in your abundant compassion blot out my transgressions. Thoroughly wash away my guilt and from my sin cleanse me. For I know my transgressions; my sin is always before me.
Against you, you alone have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your eyes. Behold, you desire true sincerity, and secretly you teach me wisdom. Cleanse me with hyssop that I may be pure; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
You will let me hear gladness and joy; the bones you have crushed will rejoice. Turn away your face from my sins; blot out all my iniquities. A clean heart create for me, God; renew within me a steadfast spirit. Do not drive me from before your face, nor take from me your holy spirit.
Restore to me the gladness of your salvation; uphold me with a willing spirit. I will teach the wicked your ways, that sinners may return to you.
Lord, you will open my lips, and my mouth will proclaim your praise. My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit. A contrite, humbled heart, O God, you will not scorn. (Psalm 51)
The rush of God’s mercy like an unfailing stream over King David is every man and every woman’s experience when brought to their knees with the weight of sin and raised up in the freedom of forgiveness.
All of the penitential psalms in one way or another anticipate the life, death, and resurrection of God’s beloved Son, and the power of the Cross to forgive and reconcile. Psalm 51, in the manner of St. Augustine in his Confessions, uniquely reveals the depravity of sin and the bounty of God’s mercy. It is not surprising then that the Church selects this psalm on Ash Wednesday in anticipation of the second reading from St. Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians where the apostle assures us that we are a new creation in Jesus Christ. The gift of God’s mercy that we receive In the Sacrament of Reconciliation or in whatever moment or situation in our lives is both personal and relational.
On Ash Wednesday we heard this in St. Paul’s words:
Brothers and sisters, we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. … Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says: In an acceptable time, I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you. Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
The Lord invites us today, not tomorrow, to be reconciled to God, to one another, and as his ambassadors to pray and work for peace in our world.
May we receive the grace of God in all its beauty, goodness, and truthfulness in order to bear fruit that will last as his disciples in a world crying out for peace and unity.
We are in the midst of ‘application season’ in the diocese. Typically this time of year, we have several men who are considering whether they are called to enter seminary formation, and Father Tristan Stovall and I try to walk with them as best we can. Our goal is to help them discover whether seminary is the place for them.
We discover this through one-on-one conversations so that they can ask me what seminary life is all about. They also are encouraged to visit the seminary at some stage so they can see what it’s really like. So many young people (and older people) think that a seminary operates like a monastery, but it’s not! As Father Tristan and I get to know a discerner, there comes a point when it is appropriate to ‘hand him an application.’ Sometimes the discernment process ends without an application, but once the application is in hand, then we can plug the applicant into more resources to discover whether he’s called to the seminary.
We have the applicant work with the St. Luke Center in Louisville, Kentucky, a firm of Catholic psychologists who conduct testing that is called for by the Church. Since St. Luke works exclusively with applicants for formation, they know what to look for in a good applicant, and they give the candidate and me great information.
Once the application is turned in and the testing at St. Luke Center is through, we ask the candidate to meet with our Vocation Committee. This is a group of laity from various parishes who hear the story of the candidate and then ask him questions to get to know him better. This group has been working with me since 2020, and they have seen many applicants through the process. The Vocation Committee gives their opinion to me and Bishop Kopacz, and then a final decision is made on the candidate. I am confident that our application process helps men whether or not they end up enrolling in the seminary. It also helps us be generous but judicious with the resources entrusted to us to provide education and formation for our seminarians. We provide resources to these applicants to help them understand who they are and what God is calling them to do, and I am grateful for the collaboration of experts and the people of God in the process.
Please keep all those men applying for the seminary this year in your prayers, and pray that God’s will, not ours, be done!
(Father Nick Adam is Director of Vocations for the Diocese of Jackson. He can be contacted at nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.)
(OSV News) – As tensions escalate following the Feb. 28 U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran, we share this prayer to St. Francis of Assisi – a timeless intercessor for peace – which Pope Leo XIV shared with leaders of the Franciscan order on the beginning of the 800th anniversary of St. Francis’ death in January 2026.
Pope Leo XIV shared this prayer to St. Francis with leaders of the Franciscan order on the beginning of the 800th anniversary of St. Francis’ death in January 2026. (OSV News graphic/Megan Marley)
IN EXILE By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI I heard this story from a renowned theologian who prefers I don’t use his name in sharing this, though the story speaks well of his theology.
He was giving a lecture and at one point stated that God didn’t want Jesus to suffer like he did. A woman in the audience immediately raised her voice: “Do you mean that?” Not knowing whether this was an objection or an affirmation, he invited the woman to speak to him at the break. Approaching him at the break, she repeated her question: “Do you mean that? Do you believe that God didn’t want Jesus to suffer as he did?” He replied that indeed he meant it. God didn’t want Jesus to suffer as he did. Her response: “Good, then I can pray again. I struggle to pray to a God who needs this type of suffering to pay some kind of debt.”
Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI
Why did Jesus suffer? Was his suffering needed to pay a debt that only a divine being could pay? Was the original sin of Adam and Eve so great an offense to God that no human sincerity, worship, altruism, or sacrificial suffering could appease God? Indeed, does God ever need to be appeased?
The idea that Jesus needed to suffer as he did to somehow appease God for our sins lies deep within our popular understanding of Jesus’ suffering and death, and there are seemingly strong references in support of that in scripture and in the theology of atonement. What these suggest is that some quota of suffering was needed to pay the debt for sin, and Jesus’ suffering paid that debt. And since the debt was huge, Jesus’ suffering had to be severe.
But, how much of this is metaphorical and how much of this is to be taken literally? Here’s another take on why Jesus chose to accept suffering as he did.
He did it to be in full solidarity with us. He accepted to suffer in such an extreme way so that no one would be able to say: “Jesus didn’t suffer in a way that I have! I have suffered in more painful and humiliating ways than he ever did!”
Well, let’s examine Jesus’ suffering in the light of that challenge.
First, in his life before his passion and death, he suffered the pain of poverty, misunderstanding, hatred, betrayal, plus the loneliness of celibacy. As well, on the cross he suffered a dark night of faith. But these are ordinary human sufferings. It’s in his passion and death that his sufferings become more extraordinary.
Jesus was crucified. Crucifixion was designed by the Romans as more than just capital punishment. It was also designed to inflict the optimum amount of pain that a person could absorb. That’s why they would sometimes give morphine or some other drug to the one being crucified, not to dull his pain, but to keep him conscious so that he would suffer longer.
Worse still, crucifixion was designed to utterly humiliate the one being crucified. Crucifixions were public events, and the one being crucified was stripped naked so his genitals would be exposed and in the spasms as he was dying, his bowels would loosen. Utter humiliation. This is what Jesus suffered.
Moreover, scholars speculate (albeit there is no direct evidence for this) that on the night between his arrest and his execution the next day he was sexually assaulted by the soldiers who had him in their custody. This speculation grounds itself on two things: a hunch, since sexual assault was common in such situations; and to suffer this kind of humiliation would be Jesus’ ultimate solidarity with human suffering.
Perhaps no humiliation compares with the humiliation suffered in sexual assault. If Jesus suffered this, and the hunch is that he did, that puts him in solidarity with one of the deepest of all human pains. Everyone who has suffered this humiliation has the consolation of knowing that Jesus may have suffered this too. Why did Jesus accept to suffer as he did? Why, as the Office of the Church puts it, did he become sin for us?
Whatever the deep mystery and truth that lie inside the motif of paying a debt for our sins and atoning for human shortcomings, the deeper reason Jesus chose to accept suffering as he did was to be in full solidarity with us, in all our pain and humiliation.
Jesus came from our ineffable God, brought a human face to the divine, and taught us what lies inside God’s heart. And in doing this, he took on our human condition completely. He didn’t just touch human life, he entered it completely, including the depth of human pain.
Indeed, there are particular sufferings that perhaps Jesus didn’t explicitly experience (racism, sexism, exile, physical disability) but in his dark night of faith on the cross and in his humiliation in his crucifixion, he suffered in a way that no one can say: “Jesus didn’t suffer as I have suffered!”
(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a professor of spirituality at Oblate School of Theology and award-winning author.)
Lou Holtz, a legendary college football coach and devout Catholic who led the University of Notre Dame to the 1988 National Championship, died March 4, 2026, at age 89. He is pictured at Catholic Charities Journey of Hope in Jackson, Miss. in June 2016. (Photo from archives)
By Eric Peat, Today’s Catholic (OSV News) – Leading up to a college football clash between Notre Dame and heated rival Miami in the late 1980s, a team chaplain for the Hurricanes proclaimed that God doesn’t care who wins football games.
Lou Holtz, coach of the Fighting Irish at the time, agreed. “I don’t think God cares who wins, either,” he replied with a smile. “But his Mother does.”
This now-famous quip captured the essence of the legendary coach: an uncanny wit, an unwavering Catholic faith and an unshakable love for Notre Dame – Our Lady’s university. On March 4, Holtz died in Orlando, Florida, at the age of 89, surrounded by his family. Holtz leaves behind not just a decorated football resume but a legacy of shaping young men and inspiring people to live virtuously.
Louis Leo Holtz was born on Jan. 6, 1937, in Follansbee, West Virginia, and grew up in East Liverpool, Ohio. He played linebacker at Kent State University before beginning a coaching career that would span over four decades. With head coaching stops at William and Mary, North Carolina State, Arkansas, Minnesota, Notre Dame and South Carolina, Holtz became the ninth-winningest coach in college football history with a record of 249-132-7. He received national Coach of the Year honors on three occasions and remains the only coach to lead six separate programs to bowl games.
However, Holtz is best remembered for his 11 seasons in South Bend, where he revitalized the Notre Dame football program. From 1986 through 1996, the Fighting Irish won 100 games, reached a program-record nine consecutive bowl games, and were undefeated national champions in 1988 – Notre Dame’s last national title to date.
After retiring from coaching, Holtz spent time as a studio analyst for ESPN, a best-selling author and a motivational speaker, where he continued inspiring people with the same energy and charisma. He often told crowds, “I follow three rules: Do the right thing, do the best you can, and always show people you care.” Holtz preached that “life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you respond to it.” He challenged people to live exceptional lives, famously stating, “I can’t believe that God put us on this earth to be ordinary.”
Central to everything Holtz did was his faith. A lifelong Catholic, Holtz served as an altar boy and credited the education he received from the Sisters of Notre Dame with instilling the desire to make God the focus of his life. Holtz was outspoken about his faith and believed following Church teachings “brings meaning and lasting happiness to life.”
He possessed a deep and profound love for Notre Dame – not just his team, but the university, the students, the fans and the faith alive on campus. “Every single day being there was very special,” Holtz told the National Catholic Register in a 2012 interview, “because there were so many opportunities to encounter and live out the Catholic faith.”
(Eric Peat writes from Fort Wayne, Indiana, for Today’s Catholic, the news outlet of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend.)
NATION SACRAMENTO, Calif. (OSV News) – St. Mary Parish School in Sacramento averted a possible mass shooting during an Ash Wednesday school liturgy, thanks to the quick intervention of an off-duty law enforcement officer and school parent who detained an armed former student attempting to enter the church. The suspect, 20-year-old Brian Richard Girardot Jr., now faces a federal charge of possessing a firearm within a school zone. School principal Amy Hale credits parent volunteers serving as safety monitors for preventing what could have been a tragedy. The Feb. 18 incident comes some six months after the deadly shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis during a school liturgy. A police search of Girardot’s car and home turned up several more weapons and a profanity-laced suicide note that named three relatives as the reason for his potential attack. “Thanks to the vigilance and professionalism of our parent volunteers, our children remained safely inside the church for the duration of Mass and a potential crisis was averted,” Hale said in a Feb. 18 statement posted to the school’s Facebook page. “No students came into contact with the man, and were unaware of the situation happening outside. After Mass the children were escorted back to class.”
WASHINGTON (OSV News) – A number of violent extremist groups, led by minors and young adults, are increasingly targeting kids online – in some cases, with deadly results. And as federal officials, counterterrorism experts and child advocates sound the alarm, parents need to take action amid the “growing problem,” a scholar at a Catholic university told OSV News. “There is a naive view of the dangers that are currently online,” said Mary Graw Leary, professor of law at the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America. Leary, a former federal prosecutor and an expert on technology and victimization, said that despite ongoing efforts to protect children and youth in the digital space, “we see law enforcement issuing more and more warnings” – especially about 764, a loosely affiliated network of online communities that prey on vulnerable youth. The group coerces them to produce sexually explicit material, and then blackmailing them to harm themselves as well as others, even beloved family pets. Deemed a terrorist organization by Canada, 764 is gaining increased scrutiny by U.S. federal and state authorities. Leary said that while children and vulnerable persons have throughout history been at risk of abuse and exploitation, groups such as 764 show that “the internet provides access to large groups of victims” for predators. Leary said the internet and such deviant subgroups “provide affinity and normalization” for the worst of human behavior. “We’ve got people supporting each other’s perverse, violent proclivities in a way that we didn’t see before,” she said. “These channels are fueling this in a way that didn’t exist.”
VATICAN ROME (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV will travel to six countries over the next four months, including a 10-day tour of Africa and trips to Monaco and Spain, the Vatican announced Feb. 25. His first stop will be Monaco on March 28 – the first papal visit there in the modern era. Then, from April 13 to 23, he’ll travel to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea, marking his first visit to Africa as pope. The Vatican said peace and care for the poor will be key themes of the trip. In Algeria, he hopes to visit sites linked to St. Augustine and to “continue the conversation of dialogue, of building bridges between the Christian world and the Muslim world.” And, in Cameroon, he’ll enter a region scarred by separatist violence. In June, Pope Leo heads to Spain, where he is expected to inaugurate the tallest tower of Barcelona’s Sagrada Família and visit the Canary Islands. With expected stops in Tenerife and Gran Canaria, the Canary Islands visit could draw attention to the migration issue. The Atlantic archipelago, situated off the northwest coast of Africa, is one of Europe’s main entry points for migrants crossing from Africa.
ROME (OSV News) – A Synod on Synodality study group has recommended the creation of a new “Pontifical Commission for Digital Culture and New Technologies” in the first of 15 synod study group reports expected in the coming weeks. The Vatican published the first two final reports from its Synod on Synodality study groups on March 3. The first report contains recommendations on navigating the Church’s presence in digital spaces. The second report focuses on guidelines for the formation of future priests and includes a call for more women to play a role in aiding the formation of seminarians for the priesthood. The report also lists 26 real world examples of “best practices” from seminaries around the world. Among those highlighted: a program in eight U.S. dioceses focused on healing wounds caused by the excessive use of technology and family breakdown, centered on an eight-day silent retreat and a small-group chastity program; and a Nigerian seminary that requires seminarians to perform all maintenance work and cleaning of their seminary building to “experience the dignity of human labor.” The General Secretariat of the Synod will publish 13 more study group final reports, according to its website.
This is a poster from “No Priests Left,” a short-film documentary series produced by “A Faith Under Siege” that documents the persecution of Catholics in Russian-occupied Ukraine. (OSV News photo/courtesy A Faith Under Siege)
WORLD WASHINGTON (OSV News) – As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine reaches the four-year mark, the recently released documentary “No Priests Left,” available on YouTube, shows the ravages of the aggression on Ukraine’s Catholic communities. In the occupied regions, Russian officials have driven out all Catholic clergy. Torture, imprisonment, and killing of clergy by Russian forces has been documented, with some 700 houses of worship damaged or destroyed. Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest Father Oleksandr Bohomaz, who appears in the film, described the repression of the Church in eastern Ukraine after Russian forces launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. “Priests and pastors were arrested. They were interrogated. They were beaten. They were held in … torture chambers,” said Father Bohomaz, who was forcibly deported from Russian-occupied Melitopol in December 2022. Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Archeparchy of Philadelphia, who appears in the film, told OSV News that “global, particularly American, awareness, prayer and action are crucial” to prevent further atrocities. He encouraged “all bishops and priests” to show “No Priests Left” to the faithful. Everyone who does see the film “cannot but be mobilized to prayer and action,” he said. Archbishop Gudziak stressed that it was crucial “as human beings and as Christians” for people of goodwill “to see what has happened, to realize the biblical nature of this war, and to do everything we can spiritually, socially, or politically to help the innocent victims.”
FROM THE HERMITAGE By sister alies therese “Don’t turn a deaf ear when I call to You, God. If all I get from You is deafening silence, I’d be better off in a Black Hole.” (The Message, E. Peterson, Ps 28:1)
And that’s how it is for many of us … there is no answer to prayer, no sense that God is listening. During Lent we have been turning our minds and hearts toward the relationship we have with Jesus so that we might be purified vessels for God to use. How is that working for you? Have you made great progress this year, unlike years before? Maybe not.
Our CCC highlights this issue in Part Four, Christian Prayer. Here are a few key ideas: “Why do we complain of not being heard? (2735 ff) … what motivates our prayer: an instrument to be used or the Father? … pray to be able to know what He wants? If we enter into the desire of the Spirit, we shall be heard.”
Psalm 28 continues, “I’m letting You know what I need, calling out for help and lifting my arms toward Your inner sanctum. Don’t shove me into the same jail cell with those crooks who are full-time employers of evil. They talk a good line of ‘peace’, then moonlight for the devil.” Oh, ok … I’m letting You know … what arrogance! Deciding what God should do and how He should do it. Maybe it is all ‘about me’? Afterall, it is my prayer. Really, I’m the one who knows who I want to pray for, what I need, and what I think God needs to hear. Does it surprise you that He might not be listening to that attitude while deciding what He will be gifting you?
We also find this in the CCC (2697 ff): “Prayer is the life of the new heart. It ought to animate us at every moment. But we tend to forget Him who is our life and our all … prayer is a remembrance of God often awakened by the memory of the heart: ‘We must remember God more often than we draw breath’ (St. Gregory Nazianzus).”
Because prayer is a fundamental relationship, the attitude mentioned might be how we relate to other people. Do we actually listen or are we reworking our responses as they talk? Does anger feature in our relationships; is there desire for retaliation in our resentment, bitterness or sadness? The desert Fathers and Mothers (4th century) offer lessons for us. “Abba Evagrius once defined prayer as ‘the seed of gentleness and the absence of anger.’ Further, ‘the opposite is also true. The desire to retaliate could be so deeply imbedded that any attempt at prayer would be futile; to be able to pray again, one would have to deal with the particular source of that anger.’”
You wonder if or when God is listening to you? Consider Abba Zeno: “If a person wants God to hear quickly, … one must pray with all one’s heart for one’s enemies (Mt 5:44). Through this action God will hear everything you ask.” (The Word in the Desert)
Oh, so I need to change my attitude? A new heart? Perhaps one resembling Brother Lawrence (The Practice of the Presence of God, Carmel, Paris, d. 1691): “Ah, did I know my heart loved not God, this very instant I would pluck it out. O loving-kindness so old and still so new, I have been too late loving You. You young … consecrate all your early years to His love … believe me count as lost each day you have not used in loving God.”
CCC challenges us to this kind of loving (2730) when facing difficulties in prayer: “the battle against the possessive and dominating self requires vigilance, sobriety of heart. When Jesus insists on vigilance, He always relates it to Himself, to His coming on the last day and every day, today. ‘Come,’ my heart says, ‘seek His face.’” With an attitude as arrogant as we began with, we are not seeking His face, but our will and desires. Fortunately, the psalmist has moved from that attitude to more understanding, rooting his life in thankfulness and joy, “Blessed be God – He heard me praying. He proved He’s on my side; I’ve thrown my lot in with Him. Now I’m jumping for joy, and shouting and singing my thanks to Him. God is all strength for His people …. Save Your people and bless Your heritage. Care for them; carry them like a Good Shepherd.”
As we move toward the Passion and Easter, let us, with Brother Lawrence, beg for enrichment of soul, courage in difficulty, and grateful love. “We have a God who is infinitely gracious and knows all our want … He will come in His own time, and when you least expect it. Hope in Him more than ever; thank Him…” (Br. Lawrence, Third Letter). Can He hear you now? I suspect so!
Blessings. Happy Easter.
(sister alies therese is a canonical hermit who prays and writes.)
ORDINARY TIMES By Lucia A. Silecchia Not long ago, I was sorting through some of my Dad’s old papers and I came across a candy wrapper and a Father’s Day card tucked into an envelope that bore a March 2001 postmark from Rome. As soon as I saw it, it brought back happy memories of a sabbatical I spent living and working in Rome for several spring months.
One of the highlights of my stay was the chance to celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph – Italian style. I have long thought that this strong, silent hero of the New Testament gets far less attention than he deserves. First, of course, I honored him by indulging in several of the zeppole di San Giuseppe – a pastry made in his honor. I do not know the history of this sweet tradition, but that did not prevent me from following it with enthusiastic respect.
Lucia A. Silecchia
Second, I celebrated at a lively street festival. Although I was living in the shadows of St. Peter’s Basilica, my local parish was dedicated to St. Joseph. Thus, our festival was particularly exuberant. Talented chalk artists sketched portraits of St. Joseph in the middle of the closed street and crowded sidewalk. A traditional procession of a floral wrapped statue wended its way through the crowd, and the sound of hymns – and joyful noises – filled the evening air. In the windows of bakeries and bars were signs advertising – what else? – zeppole. Falling in the heart of Lent, the Feast of St. Joseph was the justification for a very welcome and high-spirited celebration.
Third, and most personal, was the fact that St. Joseph’s Day is also the day Italians celebrate Father’s Day. That explained why I sent my Dad a Father’s Day card in March – along with some Italian chocolate he would like. The fact that he saved the card and the evidence of the long-gone chocolate warmed my heart and made me glad I braved a crowded, inefficient Roman post office to send it to him.
I like the link between rejoicing in St. Joseph’s Day and celebrating Father’s Day. Sometimes, like St. Joseph, good fathers also get far less attention than they deserve. Fathers who are careless, absent, or worse, get attention, while those who live their vocation well are often not noticed quite as much. So, when March 19 comes around, the Feast of St. Joseph may be a time to be prayerfully grateful for loving dads if we are, or once were, blessed to have them journey with us through life.
St. Joseph was asked to undertake a challenge he did not fully comprehend. Thanks to all dads who face difficult challenges, bearing their struggles with strength, trust and endurance.
St. Joseph housed his family in a stable when that was the best he could find. Thanks to all those struggling dads who ache to give their families more in material comfort while they give them the shelter of great love.
St. Joseph practiced his faith through his life of prayer and following religious traditions with fidelity. Thanks to all those dads who, through their example, give their children the precious bequest of faith. St. Joseph spoke not a single word recorded in Scripture. Thanks to all those dads who work in quiet ways, putting the good of their families ahead of their own needs and wants.
St. Joseph was a carpenter and made his living with manual labor – his art and trade. Thanks to all those dads who work long hard hours in labor, art or trade to support their families, contribute to their communities, and glorify God through their work.
St. Joseph searched for Jesus when, as a boy, Jesus stayed behind in a temple in Jerusalem after a family pilgrimage. Thanks to all those dads who seek for their own children when they are lost in so many different and heartbreaking ways.
St. Joseph cared for his beloved during the months of her unexpected pregnancy. Thanks to all those dads who care for the mothers of their children as they carry their infants within them, especially when the circumstances are most difficult.
St. Joseph loved and honored Mary. Thanks to all those dads who give their children a priceless gift when they love and honor their mothers.
My own Dad has finished his journey through this life. So, on March 19, I cannot send him a card or candy as I once did. But now, like then, I can still offer him my thanks on St. Joseph’s Day. And, in a particular way, I am thankful that my Dad saved an old card and a candy wrapper. It reminded me to be grateful for ways he walked with me through ordinary times.
(Lucia A. Silecchia is Professor of Law at the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law. Email her at silecchia@cua.edu.)
