Mass. to observe statewide day of mourning for Va. Tech victims

Posted on by Fr. Peter
April 19, 2007
BOSTON –Gov. Deval Patrick declared Friday as a statewide day of mourning for the victims of the Virginia Tech shootings, coordinating with a similar observance in Virginia.

The dead included a student from Massachusetts.

Patrick called for a moment of silence at noon, and asked that bells in churches and public institutions be tolled. He said Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine asked fellow governors to join the initiative.
Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui shot 32 people to death and committed suicide Monday in the deadliest one-man shooting rampage in modern U.S. history. Among those killed was Ross Alameddine, 20, of Saugus, a Virginia Tech sophomore.
“No one wants to get the call that families of the Virginia Tech victims got this week,” Patrick said in a statement accompanying his declaration on Thursday. “What happened on that campus was an unspeakable tragedy and our thoughts and prayers are with all those touched by it.”

from www.Boston.com

Heroes

Posted on by Fr. Peter

The stories of heroes are beginning to come out of the tragedy in Virginia. One of those is Romanian Born Dr. Liviu Librescu. This is the Holocaust survivor that put himself between the gunman and his students to give them time to get away. How awesome is that? The thing that strikes me most about this is that he survived the Holocaust and was gunned down at a US University.

May His Memory Be Eternal!

St. Donnan

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Several months ago I began postings about Scottish Saints. I feel short and stopped posting them but now I continue with today’s entry St. Donnan. This information comes from the Catholic Encyclopedia.
There were apparently three or four saints of this name who flourished about the seventh century.
(1) ST. DONNAN, ABBOT OF EIGG, and ST. DONNAN OF AUCHTERLESS are regarded by both the Bollandists and Dempster as different personages, but there is so much confusion in their chronology and repetition in what is known of them, that it seems more probable that they were identical. Reeves (Adamnan’s Life of St. Columba), moreover, accepts them as the same without discussion. According to Irish annals St. Donnan was a friend and disciple of St. Columba, who followed him from Ireland to Scotland toward the end of the sixth century. Seeking a solitary retreat, he and his companions settled on the island of Eigg, off the west coast of Scotland, then used only to pasture sheep belonging to the queen of the country. Informed of this invasion, the queen ordered that all should forthwith be slain. Her agents, probably a marauding band of Picts, or pirates according to one account, arrived during the celebration of Mass on Easter eve. Being requested to wait until the Sacrifice was concluded, they did so, and then St. Donnan and his fifty-one companions gave themselves up to the sword. This was in 617. Reeves mentions eleven churches dedicated to St. Donnan; in that at Auchterless his pastoral staff was preserved up to the Reformation and is said to have worked miracles. The island of Eigg was still Catholic in 1703 and St. Donnan’s memory venerated there (Martin, Journey to the Western Islands, London, 1716).
(2) SON OF LIATH, and nephew and disciple of St. Senan, in whose life it is related that by his uncle’s direction he restored to life two boys who had been drowned. This St. Donnan succeeded St. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise as Abbot of Aingin, an island in Lough Ree, on the Shannon (now Hare Island). He flourished about the middle of the sixth century.
(3) ST. DONNAN THE DEACON, son of Beoadh and brother of St. Ciaran. He was a monk in his brother’s monastery at Cluain, or Clonmacnoise, in Ireland, in the sixth century.

Scottish Bishops Urge a Value Vote

Posted on by Fr. Peter
GLASGOW, Scotland, APRIL 15, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The Catholic bishops of Scotland are urging their parishioners to vote against legislation and regulations at odds with the insights and values of the Christian faith.
In a strongly worded letter to be read at all Masses in Scotland’s 500 Catholic parishes, the bishops said: “We invite you to look beyond the superficially attractive and fashionable to recognize those policies and values which are most in tune with the dignity of the human person and with the common good of our society.”
The bishops’ deepest concerns are directed at legislation permitting “abortion, embryo experimentation, easy divorce and civil partnerships.” They also fear a future campaign to legalize euthanasia.
Beyond this, the bishops’ letter explained: “We find ourselves having to counter criticism of the very existence of Catholic schools, in large part prompted by an agenda which aims to remove religion from the public sphere.”
“These dubious innovations are detrimental not just to the good of the Catholic community but to the common good of humanity as a whole,” the bishops said. “They deserve to be challenged at the ballot box.”

Virginia Tech

Posted on by Fr. Peter
I have been trying to make some sense of of the events of yesterday and I am having a hard time getting my mind around what happened. What causes someone to do the things that were done yesterday. The simple answer of course is evil but did it start that way or was he some how possessed by events that happened before. Either way we will be thinking and praying about this for a long time to come. As we pray for the victims and their families let us not forget to pray for the one who perpetrated this hellish thing and his family as well.
Padre Rob has posted a beautiful prayer and reflection on his blog I could not do a better job so take a look at it here.
May their memory be eternal!

Sunday of St. Thomas

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Acts: 5:12-20
John 20:19-31

A missionary was tortured for preaching Christ in pagan Burma. His fingernails were torn from the roots and he was hung by his fingers until his hands were twisted and scarred. Later when he asked to preach in a certain town, the pagan Prince of that town refused saying: “I would allow a dozen ordinary men to speak, but not you with those scarred hands. My people would never listen to what you say, for they could not help seeing your hands.” The inference was that the missionary’s scarred hands would speak more convincingly of his love for Christ than any words he could say.

Today we are introduced to the scares of Jesus. Thomas says that unless he sees the nail prints and can touch the wounds he will not believe in the Resurrection. When Jesus reveals himself to Thomas, all Thomas needed was to see the scares he did not need to touch them. For Thomas the scares were the greatest proof that Jesus, who had suffered and died, was now risen from the tomb. Jesus is appearing to us today and he is showing us his scares. What do they mean? I would like to suggest three ways.

1. Love – The scares of Jesus show that although we are sinners, Jesus died for us.

A little girl sat on her mother’s knee, and as she looked into her mother’s face she said” “Mummie, you’ve got the prettiest hair and the sweetest eyes I have ever seen. And Mummie, why are your arms so ugly?” The mother then explained to her daughter that when she was a tiny baby the house caught fire. She ran into the house and rescued her our of her crib. In the process her arms and hands were badly burned. When the little girl heard this, tears began streaming down her face. Looking once more into her mother’s face she said, “Mummie, you’ve got the prettiest hair I have ever seen, and yours is the sweetest face, and your eyes are wonderful. But, Mummie, your hands and your arms are the most beautiful of all. I have loved you always, but I love you more than ever now.”

This love of Jesus for us should make us all respond as Thomas did with “my Lord and my God.” This is the true Christian response to the scars of Jesus.

2. Struggle – The scares of Jesus show that life is a struggle. The life of a Christian is not easy. Even God’s own Son had to suffer. But God promises us victory over this suffering
3. Our Scars – The dark hour when we feel that God is not with us in our suffering. The first thing that Jesus does is show us His scars and His sufferings. Jesus came to save us all but also to suffer with us. Look at His hands and his side. He is holding his hands out to you. His scars did not go away with resurrection He carries them with you, and they are your scars.
4. Scars caused by sin – The nail is the preferred symbol for sin. Each sin is a nail that contains to be driven into the body of Jesus. In sin we not only break the commandments but we break God’s heart.
The world is full of footprints of God. Every thing we see is footprint of the maker. But we need not follow Him by His footprints. He has revealed Himself to us through the Gospel. This book tells us who God is and what he has done through His Son. The footprints of the setting sun may tell us that God is. But only the nail prints in the hands of Jesus tell us that God is love. Jesus appears and showed Hos scars. They were proof of His love. They won the final victory over death they speak compassion to our wounds. Scars that we re-open with our sin but can close again with repentance. We have been very hard on Thomas through the years but today he speaks for all of us. The words he spoke should be our words. “My Lord and My God.”

Kirking of the Tartans

Posted on by Fr. Peter
As I mentioned in a previous post, I had the honor of leading the Kirking of the Tartans service yesterday. Below is the sermon I gave for the event. It is recreated from notes so I might have left some of the things out but the main points are there.
Why are we here? We are here to celebrate our heritage. We do this because the more we know about our roots the better equipped we are for the future. A cherished history inspires us to greatness while illuminating certain sinkholes of though and behavior.
How do we do this? I am by training what’s known as a historical theologian. I look at theology not just from the scriptural or dogmatic sense but in the context of history and what was going on at the time. Most of our theology was adopted because of some historical event or schism. So with this in mind let us look at the kirking of the tartans and why we do this. The main reason is faithfulness.

In 1745 our ancestors fought what would latter be called the battle of Culloden. The battle was fought after several unsuccessful Jacobite rebellions and culminated with the brutal repression of the Scottish people. Part of this repression was the prohibition against the wearing of the traditional highland dress, the pipes, and other related legislation from 1746 leading to the destruction of the clan system. This was not the first time our ancestors were treated this way. All we have to do is think of the movie Braveheart for a trip down memory lane of another severe brutal repression.

So with this repression came the Highland Clearance. 1792 became known as the year of the sheep and people were forced off of their land to make room for the much more profitable sheep. Many of these people left Scotland as my ancestors did and began a new life in Nova Scotia leaving behind everything that they knew and loved. There were also religious considerations. Many if not all of the Highlanders were Roman Catholic and also Presbyterians and were forced out on religious grounds.

So as time went on and as the repression grew a service would be held on certain Sundays of the year. On these days people would bring small pieces of their tartan, at great risk to their own lives, to the Kirk, or Church, to be blessed by the clergy. Was this an act of rebellion? Some would answer yes. I believe I would be one of the ones who would answer yes, but I also believe that this was done out of faithfulness. This simple act was an act of great faith. Faith brought them where they were and faith would see them through. Faith is a big word. Faith can move mountains and faith will see US through. We sang the great hymn Faith of our Fathers at the beginning of this service. Although a song about Christian faith I believe that it is applicable to our topic today.

That is the faith we celebrate. That is the faith of our ancestors. The faith that has brought us here and the faith that will lead us home. In a moment we will bless the simple pieces of cloth that are token of our heritage. We honor our ancestors when we wear them with honest pride and genuine humility.

God bless us all.
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