HOLY WEEK AT THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PAUL

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Cardinal Rigali Addresses Visitation House Dinner

Visitation House

Annual Fund Raising Dinner

March 24, 2010

Remarks by His Eminence

Cardinal Justin Rigali

I wish to express my gratitude to Bishop McManus for his kind invitation to be with you this evening. I am delighted to support the important work of Visitation House.

Five years ago, the vision of a small community of disciples of the Gospel of Life to establish a home for homeless mothers was realized with the foundation of Visitation House. Last year, sixteen babies were born into a safe and loving environment thanks to your efforts, and this evening eight expectant mothers are in a warm and safe house, and not on the street, because of your help.

Two of the greatest scourges which our country endures are the killing of unborn children and homelessness. The first is an unimaginable holocaust which compromises the moral fabric of our country. The second grows from our failure to meet even the most basic needs of families, especially in urban minority settings. When a homeless woman is so desperate as to consider the termination of her pregnancy these two horrors merge into one.

Such horrors touch not just the life of the mother, but threaten the innocent child whom she carries in her womb as well. If Visitation House did not exist, how many more children would have been taken from us? If Visitation House did not exist, how many more mothers would have carried the stain of guilt in their hearts? If Visitation House did not exist, how many more women living on the Streets of Worcester would have been pressured to abort their child?

This is precisely what our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, was talking about when he insisted that “the protection of unborn human life likewise requires attention: care must be taken that pregnant women in difficult conditions do not lack material help...” (Pope Benedict XVI to Members of the Regional Board of Lazio, January 12, 2006.)

The Visitation

Your work for Visitation House can only be understood, however, by meditating on the mystery of the Visitation of our Blessed Mother to her Cousin Elizabeth.

The story of the visitation is the story of an encounter of four persons: two mothers and the two infants they carried in their wombs. The unborn infants were, of course, our Blessed Lord and his cousin, Saint John, soon to be known as the Baptizer. And the mothers were our Blessed Lady and Saint Elizabeth.

The Visitation is introduced by the Annunciation, as the Angel Gabriel declares to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she is to bear a Son and name him Jesus and that her older cousin Elizabeth is already in the sixth month of her pregnancy.

As Saint Luke tells us, the Blessed Virgin’s first reaction to this great good news is to proclaim her acceptance of the will of God, despite her fear. Then, no sooner does the angel leave her presence than the Blessed Virgin sets out “in haste” for the hill country where her cousin Elizabeth lives.

Why does Mary so quickly set out on such a laborious journey? Precisely because, as our Holy Father has reflected, she is moved “by the mystery of love that she had just welcomed within herself, [and so] she set out "in haste" to go to offer Elizabeth her help. This is the simple and sublime greatness of Mary!” (Pope Benedict XVI, homily for the Marian Vigil Concluding the Month of May, May 31, 2008.)

What happens when Mary reaches Elizabeth’s house is an interaction more beautiful than any artist could depict.

Moved by the love of the child she carries in her womb, the Blessed Virgin runs to greet her cousin, who exclaims: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Meanwhile, John the Baptist welcomes the Christ and the Blessed Mother by leaping for joy within his Elizabeth’s womb.

It is good that your house bears the name of so beautiful a mystery as the Visitation, the only time in all the scriptures when the actions of two unborn children play such an important role.

Likewise, the deep and mutual love and concern of both pregnant mothers for each other prefigures the care and concern which you demonstrate every day for the unborn and homeless child and the mother. Truly it is of such little ones that Christ spoke when he said whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me. (Matthew 25:40)

You carry on the tradition of the Visitation in your support of homeless mothers and their unborn children. It has, truthfully, been a while since I have spoken at a Pot Luck Supper. But I could not resist being among you this evening as you seek to promote and sustain such an important work.

Pope John Paul II on Lent

In one of the first Lenten messages of his Pontificate, the servant of God, Pope John Paul II, reflected on how this Holy Season can foster “a spirit of recollection, prayer and attentiveness to the Word of God [and] encourage us to respond generously to the Lord’s call as expressed in the words of the Prophet: Is not this the fast that I choose… to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house? … Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say: ‘Here I am’” (Cf. Isaiah 58:6,7,9)

In calling us to a deeper concern for the poor, the Holy Father reminded us that the first victims of poverty and homelessness are often the children. It is for this reason that we must “recall with what determination our Lord Jesus demonstrated his solidarity with children: he called a small child to himself, set him in their midst and declared: Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and he commanded: Let the children come to me.” (Matthew 18:2, 5; 19:4)

The Holy Father continued: “I strongly urge you, in this liturgical period of Lent, to allow the Spirit of God to take hold of you, to break the chains of selfishness and sin. In a spirit of solidarity, share with those who have fewer resources than yourselves. Give, not only the things you can spare, but the things you may perhaps need, in order to lend your generous support to the actions and projects of your local Church, especially to ensure a just future for children who are least protected.”

This is the work of Visitation house, a work which is at the front lines of the struggle to protect the life of every human being from conception to natural death.

I will pray for the success of this good work and I thank God for the ways in which the miracle of the Visitation is lived out today on Vernon Hill in Worcester.

Vespers at the Cathedral

CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PAUL

The service of Vespers or Evening Prayer is part of the Church's Liturgy of the Hours. As the evening approaches and the day is about to end, we, the Church, pause to remember the blessings that the Lord has bestowed on each of us during the day and pray for our redemption. It is a time when we raise our hands as praise and sacrifice. We affirm our faith in the light that knows no setting. We offered Vespers together at the Cathedral on March 20 as the sun was setting on the first day of Spring.

Before we did, many of us joined together in the Cenacle to share a simple meal of soup and bread as sisters and brothers in Christ. To read more about the Liturgy of the Hours, Google Books has portions of the USCB's Liturgy of the Hours available at this site. There are many other places online where you can find information about the daily prayers of the Church but the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains it this way:

The mystery of Christ, his Incarnation and Passover, which we celebrate in the Eucharist especially at the Sunday assembly, permeates and transfigures the time of each day, through the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, "the divine office."46 This celebration, faithful to the apostolic exhortations to "pray constantly," is "so devised that the whole course of the day and night is made holy by the praise of God."47 In this "public prayer of the Church,"48 the faithful (clergy, religious, and lay people) exercise the royal priesthood of the baptized. Celebrated in "the form approved" by the Church, the Liturgy of the Hours "is truly the voice of the Bride herself addressed to her Bridegroom. It is the very prayer which Christ himself together with his Body addresses to the Father.49

See further here #1174.

THE LOST SON

Last weekend I spent some time with the parents of those young people who are preparing to receive the Sacrament of Penance for the first time. There’s a great short video of THE LOST SON which we use with the kids in these sessions. I thought you might enjoy it.

Monsignor Moroney

HOLY FATHER'S PASTORAL LETTER TO THE CHURCH IN IRELAND

Our Holy Father has just published a pastoral letter to the Church in Ireland on the subject of the crisis which has emerged from the sexual abuse of children by priests and religious and the failures to adequately respond to this grievous sin.

It was not so many years ago that the same crisis deeply affected the Church in the United States. The Church in Germany (and elsewhere in Europe) is just beginning this same painful self-examination.

I strongly recommend this letter to your reflection. The extraordinary and blunt honesty of the Holy Father’s recollection and his clear view that only prayer, penance, honesty, truthfulness and courageous action can bring about the healing so desperately needed. Here's the link: PASTORAL LETTER OF THE HOLY FATHER POPE BENEDICT XVI TO THE CATHOLICS OF IRELAND

Here's a link to the Child Protection Website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops so you can see how our bishops have reacted to the crisis here in the United States.

WITH THE HELP OF SAINT PAUL

My Dear Brothers and Sisters:

First, I want to thank you for your generosity to Partners in Charity. We are well on the way to making our goal. Many have still not had the opportunity to make their gift but we hope you will do so, by making a gift today. Pledge envelopes are, once again, available in each pew, as are golf pencils. Once completed, please place them in the collection basket.

Congress continues to debate health care reform. While the House passed a health care bill that prevents the federal government from funding elective abortions, and includes provisions making health care affordable and accessible for all, the Senate rejected this and passed a bill that requires federal funds to help subsidize and promote health plans that cover elective abortions, while forcing purchasers to pay directly for other people’s abortions. Congressional leaders are now trying to figure out how the rules of the House and Senate could allow the final passage of a modified bill that would satisfy disagreements between House and Senate versions. Final votes may take place as early as this weekend. The U.S. bishops continue to strongly oppose abortion funding, and call for critical improvements in conscience protection, affordability for the poor and vulnerable, and access to health care for immigrants.

In your bulletin today, you’ll find an insert from the U.S. Bishops Conference asking you to please contact your congressional representatives immediately and urge them to address these moral issues. The flier/bulletin insert includes a web address that allows you to send an email message to Congress with a click of a button. The bishops have asked for our swift action and our prayers. Thank you for your help. We can help make sure that health care reform will protect the lives, dignity, conscience and health of all. Health care reform should be about saving lives, not destroying them.

As you have heard, my homily this weekend is an invitation to take part fully in the last days of Lent and the Sacred Paschal Triduum. We live in a society which has become so good at denying reality, especially the reality of death.

We sometimes have reminders: the sudden death of a close friend or relative, rumors of a pandemic like H1N1, the feeling you get as you walk from the nursing home to your car, or the latest twinge of late middle age that heralds what is soon to come.

Each reminder of death is a gift from God, for it reminds us of how few days we have to accomplish what God has given us to do: to love, to forgive, to heal, to sacrifice, and to learn to be like Jesus. The greatest gift we can receive is to learn what life is about and to use each minute he gives us to do his will! That is where true happiness lies.

In the course of writing my homily, I went back to visit some old friends: the epitaphs which are such a testament to the wit and wisdom of our New England forebears. There’s one I just couldn’t work into my homily, but it’s one of my favorites, so I use it to close this week’s column.


Here lies a poor Atheist.
All dressed up,
and NO PLACE to go!



In the Lord,
Monsignor James P. Moroney