Daniel Berrigan, prophetic poet

Daniel Berrigan, the Jesuit priest and acclaimed poet who for decades  challenged U.S. Catholics to reject war and nuclear weapons, died on April 30, 2016, at his Jesuit community centre in the Bronx, New York. He was 94. He was a Jesuit for 76 years and a priest for 63 years.

“It’s terrible for me to live in a time where I have nothing to say to human beings except, ‘Stop killing’. There are other beautiful things that I would love to be saying to people.”

 

Berrigan & Merton

Pope Francis reaching out to refugees

So moving despite all the criticism, to see this compassionate gesture in the face of the greatest refugee crisis of our times. I suspect history will look back on this mercurial, passionate and tender-hearted Pope far more kindly than his contemporaries.

 

John Allen in Crux:

Perhaps what the lack of resistance suggests is that Francis’ accent on what might be called an “Ecumenism of the Here and Now” is actually working.

In a nutshell, when Francis reaches out to other Christians, or for that matter followers of other faiths, he does not begin with history, with what went wrong in the past. Instead, he focuses on the present, and what the two parties can do together right now to move the ball on their shared social, political and cultural concerns.

 

 

Pope Francis refugees

Rejoice with trembling

From John Henry Newman: A Portrait in Letters, the letter written to Emily Forley,  a young Catholic convert:

 

It is God’s mercy to bring us over difficulties. As time goes on, you may be cast down to find that your warmth of feeling does not last as it once was, and instead of it you may have trials of various kinds. Never mind; be brave; make acts of faith, hope, and charity; put yourself into God’s hands, and thank Him for all that he sends you, pleasant or painful. The Psalms and Saint Paul’s Epistles will be your great and abiding consolation.

“Rejoice with trembling.” I say all this, not as dissuading you from enjoying your present joy and peace, but that you may enjoy them religiously.

I repeat, God bless you, keep you, and direct you. Through His grace you have begun life well. May he give you perseverance.

 

 

Blessed Oscar Romero

From Vatican Radio and other sources:

March 24th marks the Church’s day of prayer for missionary martyrs, in memory of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero who was murdered while celebrating Mass on that day in 1980.

During Romero’s beatification in San Salvador last May, March 24th was also recognized as his feast day, yet this year the date marks Holy Thursday and will therefore not be celebrated as an official saints day.

Romero spoke out on behalf of the poor, “decrying the violence of death squads and private militias, calling for political and economic reforms that would bring some measure of dignity to both campesinos — rural peasants — and the urban poor,” Gordon wrote. “For his efforts, the government redoubled its persecution of the Church.”

On March 24, 1980,  Romero celebrated Mass in the chapel of Divine Providence Hospital. “Those who act out of love for Christ and give themselves to the service of others will live,” he told the small congregation, including nuns from a nursing order. Referring to the Eucharist he was about to celebrate, he said, “May this body immolated and this blood sacrificed for humans nourish us also, so that we may give our body and our blood to suffering and to pain — like Christ, not for self, but to bring about justice and peace for our people.”

Moments later, as he elevated the chalice filled with the Precious Blood, a gunman shot Romero from the back of the chapel. He died almost immediately.

 

 

Romero 1