March 12-14, 1999: Weekend Front Page (index.htm)

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FRIDAY-SATURDAY-SUNDAY vol. 10, no. 50 March 12-14, 1999

For the Liturgy this Laetare weekend

see LENTEN LITURGY

Click on your choice of articles below

294 - 293 - 292 and counting and hoping and praying...

WEEKEND DAILY LITURGY Rejoice for Laetare Sunday

This weekend we observe the Lenten Liturgy Friday, Saturday and Sunday with the FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT also known as LAETARE Sunday. For the readings, liturgy, and meditations, click on DAILY LITURGY FOR THE WEEKEND.

PRAYER & DEVOTIONS Below is another increment of a special prayer for Fasting and Giving Alms from the USCC:

Blessed are You, Lord, God of all creation; You call us to set free the oppressed and to share our bread with the hungary.

Events this weekend in Church History 725th anniversary of death of St. Thomas Aquinas

Friday is the 1,395th anniversary of the death of one of the Church's greatest popes Pope Saint Gregory the Great who composed a new form of music that was named after him - Gregorian chant. Sadly it has been abandoned by many since Vatican II and the richness of the square notes is sorely missed. For other events throughout the centuries that are memorable in Church history this weekend, click on MILLENNIUM MILESTONES AND MEMORIES

Coming MONDAY:

Installment Three of the Holy Father's Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America in THE VICAR OF CHRIST SPEAKS

A layman's perspective on the Church today in Pat Ludwa's VIEW FROM THE PEW

Biography on Sicily's Cardinal Salvatore de Giorgi in COLLEGE OF CARDINALS COLLECTION

Messages 433 and 434 in "I SOLEMNLY TELL YOU..."

Time Capsules in Church History with MILLENNIUM MILESTONES AND MEMORIES focusing on March 15th.

Short gems from Bishop Fulton J. Sheen in SIMPLY SHEEN

Part One of Chapter Seven of "IT IS CONSUMMATED!"

Daily Dose of Ecclesial facts in CATHOLIC CANVAS

Another new Catholic site in SITE OF THE DAY

DAILY LITURGY for Lenten Weekdays.

...and much more in our 51st issue for 1999!

To review past articles in textonly format, click on Archives.
To read the front page graphics versions click on the desired Year below

If we keep our lamps lit we will be smiling when He comes

If we are careless we'll be very, very sad

No question about it! Our happiness depends on how we watch and pray!

In this weekend's editorial we ask if you'd rather have a "happy face" for all eternity or be stuck forever with a frown. It all depends on us, but we can't worry about it or practice how we look to the Holy Trinity by watching others but rather, through the mirror of faith and virtue, reflecting the graces and gifts He gives us to the many, many other souls He and the Blessed Mother ask us to care for and pray for. It all comes down to obedience to God's Will and being prepared by having our lamps lit without worrying about things we have no control over or shouldn't know yet. For this weekend's commentary Are we all so busy watching for the Warning that we miss Christ's warning? , click on CATHOLIC PewPOINT.

To make the roses of virtue grow, practice makes perfect. This helps eliminate those imperfections that clutter the garden of our souls.
In her column this week, Sister Mary Lucy Astuto

continues her series on Lent, devoting today's column to things that are not sins but rather imperfections. But, like a garden, if not tended to and pruned, rather than a bouquet of virtuous roses these imperfections can grow into thorny weeds and choke out graces, making it prey to the carniverous larvae of sin. For Sister's column, Remember Imperfections?, click on GETTING TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER

Beware of complacency! The Son suffers alone in the Garden as Judas plots against Him. What about us?

Meditative Lessons on the Sorrowful Mysteries
That is what Our Lady asks us in her meditation in Meditative Lesson 6, on IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE where she shares what her Divine Son felt and how Divine Will can overcome the weakness of human will. These meditative lessons, imparted by Our Lady to the Hidden Flower of the Immaculate Heart during Lent of 1993 and are meant to inspire and prompt a greater understanding of the season of Lent in helping us all prepare for His Passion and Death, and ultimately the glorious Resurrection. These lessons help us realize that through our faithfulness to God, we can offset all that Judas did and fulfill the Divine Will. Click on "IT IS CONSUMMATED!"

Excuses won't cut it with God
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but the words of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen have been known to launch a thousand images in one's mind. This late luminary did so much to evangelize the faith. Because of the urgency of the times and because few there are today who possess the wisdom, simplicity and insight than the late Archbishop who touched millions, we are bringing you daily gems from his writings. The good bishop makes it so simple that we have dubbed this daily series: "SIMPLY SHEEN". On Fridays we bring you more than just a quote; we bring you a brief homily on a subject that is pertinent today. This weekend, the good bishop addresses honesty and the way we rationalize right and wrong. He points out that it doesn't matter what others think because there is only one right, one wrong - what God says! That's the only thing that counts. For words of wisdom from Bishop Sheen, click on Simply Sheen.

Medjugorje Monthly Message for FEBRUARY 25th The Gospa's message for February

Dear children! Also today I am with you in a special way contemplating and living the passion of Jesus in my heart. Little children, open your hearts and give me everything that is in them: joys, sorrows and each, even the smallest, pain, that I may offer them to Jesus; so that with His immeasurable love, He may burn and transform your sorrows into the joy of His resurrection. That is why, I now call you in a special way, little children, for your hearts to open to prayer, so that through prayer you may become friends of Jesus. Thank you for having responded to my call. For more on Medjugorje, click on MEDJUGORJE AND MORE

"Be watchful. Pray ceaselessly, and I will help you. Heed my motherly heart's cries to her children."
Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of Mary

Those words come from the Blessed Virgin Mary in her 432nd Message to the Hidden Flower of the Immaculate Heart on the Feast of the Dedication of Sts. Peter and Paul Basilicas in Rome on November 18, 1993 in which Our Lady pleads for her children to watch and pray for the spiritual darkness grows thicker as she endeavors to prepare all for her Son's incarnation. She prefaces this in her 431st Message six days earlier alerting her little ones of the takeover by satan and the perils to come and again urges us to watch and pray lest we, too, become lost in the darkness and stumble into the abyss. For Messages #431 and 432, click on "I SOLEMNLY TELL YOU..."

The DAILY WORD "Rejoice, Jerusalem! Be glad for her, you who love her; rejoice with her, you who mourned for her, and you will find contentment at her consoling breasts."

Isaiah 66: 10-11

For additional religious and secular headlines from around the world, we refer you to our new up-to-the-minute NEWS ticker billboard by clicking on the ARROW

TODAY'S
HEADLINES:

Pope and Iran's President meet for historic summit

Vatican newspaper extends special honors to Croatian cardinal beatified by Pope last year

Last chance for peace: Kosovo religious leaders to meet in Vienna to iron out problems

Kansas City bishop challenges youth to evangelize to youth at scouting conference

These headlines and more are featured in today's NEWS & VIEWS below.

Worldwide Catholic News

WORLDWIDE
NEWS & VIEWSwith a Catholic slant provided by
Catholic World News Service and Noticias Eclesiales Church News

Historic summit of Iran's new president and Holy Father goes well, both seek better understanding between peoples of all faiths Iranian President Khatami meets with Pope - AP Photo

"Important and promising," is what Pope John Paul II labeled his historic 25-minute meeting with Iranian President Mohammed Khatami Thursday at the Vatican. Both called for reconciliation and better relations between the Holy See and the Republic of Iran. The Pope wants assurances that Iranian Catholics, and other faiths as well, will have the freedom to worship and travel. No specifics were forthcoming in regards a papal trip to Tehran. For more, click on Rome-Iran Summit

Croatia's newest blessed is honored during Croatian Bishops ad limina to Rome
Croatian flag

The Holy See's publication L'Osservatore Romano released a special edition honoring Blessed Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac whom the Holy Father beatified on his Croatian visit last year. The newspaper published eighty-plus-pages filled with testimonials lauding this Croatian prelate who was a staunch defender of the faith against communism. It is almost unprecedented in the annals of the centuries-old paper. For more, click on Kudos to Croatian Cardinal.

Religious leaders of Kosovo's faiths to convene in Vienna to discuss and pray for peace in that region

Hoping to stave off an inevitable war, an ecumenical group has invited the religious leaders of all major faiths in Kosovo to meet with them in Vienna, Austria to work on how peace can be achieved in this Yugoslav region where violence and armed invasion has plunged the ethnic Albanians into despair. The meetings will begin March 16th and Bishop Marko Sopi of Kosovo will be in attendance representing Catholics. For more, click on Last chance for peace?.

KC Bishop prods teens to not wait for others to evangelize but to set the example for others now

At a conference of Boy Scout leaders the bishop of Kansas City-Saint Joseph, Missouri Bishop Raymond Boland challenged the young leaders to set the pace and follow up now what the Holy Father asked while he was across the state in St. Louis. Since peer pressure is so influential in today's society, the bishop called for a stronger "peer ministry" and asked the young leaders assembled to be the trendsetters in fulfillment of not only what the Pope requested, but what Christ asks as well. For more, click on Let the youth reach the youth.

For more headlines and articles, we suggest you go to the Catholic World News site at the CWN home page and Church News at Noticias Eclesiales Both CWN and NE are not affiliated with the Daily CATHOLIC but provides this service via e-mail to the Daily CATHOLIC Monday through Friday.

Cardinal Julius Riyadi Darmaatmadja, S.J. - photo from Inside the Vatican

In a land of 3,000 islands Cardinal of Indonesia reaches out to illustrate that no man is an island
We continue with this new series that debuted the beginning of the year, bringing you on a regular basis three times a week the Princes of the Church. Our thirtieth red-hat we feature, in alphabetical order is Cardinal Julius Riyadi Darmaatmadja, S.J., the Archbishop of Jakarta who has offered pastoral assistance to Indonesian Catholics for thirty years. For more on Cardinal Darmaatmadja, click on COLLEGE OF CARDINALS COLLECTION

To print out this issue in TEXT ONLY, click on the porthole For text of this page, click here

Daily Dose of curious contents of the Church: Laetare Sunday
and the Golden Rose

The Fourth Sunday in Lent is called Laetare Sunday; and the name is derived from the first word of the Introit or Entrance Song for the Mass of this day. Everything speaks of joy in the liturgy of this day, because on this day flowers are allowed on the altar and rose-colored vestments used by the celebrant. Also those candidates who are to receive baptism at Easter are enrolled and the Church prepares for the time of restoration of the public penitents. Today this is symbolic for public penance is no longer encouraged. On this day in Rome a golden rose is blessed by the Pope who, to soften the sadness of the days which are to come in the next three weeks, announces to the faithful the glory of the Resurrection, bearing a golden rose in his hand. The rose is used because it is the most beautiful among all the flowers. The rose is called "gold" for that is the most precious metal and the most proper to represent the glory of Jesus in His Resurrection. The rose is anointed with musk and balm; balm to preserve the body from corruption, expressing in the rose the immortality of the risen Savior; musk is the most odoriferous of the aromatics, thus a symbol of the fame of Christ which like a sweet odor is spread everywhere through the ministry of His apostles and their successors. This blessed rose is carried by a clerk who precedes the Pope, then is laid in the middle of the altar on a rich silken veil embroidered with gold. Afterwards, the Holy Father usually sends it to some important personage to honor him, or as a testimony of gratitude for the Church. (source: The Glories and Triumphs of the Catholic Church, Benziger Brothers Publishers)

For the Lenten Way of the Cross, click on either the graphics Daily Way of the Cross or the text-only Daily Way of the Cross or the Meditative Lessons on the Way to Calvary

SITE OF THE DAY This weekend we feature one of the original Catholic megasites CATHOLIC ONLINE which offers a plethora of features, chat rooms, resources and some stunning religious art on the home page. The site is owned and operated by Michael Galloway out of Bakersfield, California.

March 12-14, 1999 volume 10, no. 50
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