Ave Maria!

The AirMaria Crew (minus our Roving Reporter, friar Roderic) recently went to Cleveland, Ohio, for the Catholic Marketing Network’s Trade Show.

Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J. was the principal celebrant for the Holy Mass on Thursday morning, and afterwards we caught up with him, to do a series of several parts, on the recent documents released by Pope Benedict XVI. Fr. Fessio is a close friend of the Holy Father and in this short series he explains these documents with insights from this unique perspective.

This first episode is an explanation of the very recent Apostolic Letter “Motu Proprio”? Summorum Pontificum which our Holy Father, Pope Benedict released on 07/07/07 concerning the use of the Roman Missal promulgated by John XXIII in 1962.

We are very blessed to have Fr. Fessio agree to do this series for AirMaria and we hope you will not only enjoy it, but will gain a higher appreciation for how our Holy Father is guiding his flock with wisdom and prudence.

Ave Maria!

The post Video: Extra #1 – Fr Joseph Fessio, S.J.: Recent Vatican Documents #1: Motu Proprio first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Ave Maria!

In this segment of our mini series on Recent Vatican Documents Fr. Fessio discusses the Cover Letter to the “Motu Proprio” Summorum Pontificum. In this letter pope Benedict XVI addresses confusing and speculative reports in the media prior to the release of the Motu Proprio and strong reaction to these reports both positive and negative. The pope says the two fears that sparked most of the opposition are that allowing the old rite would:

1. be a detraction from the authority of the Second Vatican Council and its liturgical reform, and

2. lead to disarray and division in parish communities.

Come listen to Fr. Fessio as he covers the thoughts of the Holy Father in regard to these fears based on the Cover Letter but also based on his own familiarity with the pope’s position on the liturgy. In the process he covers the true nature of the reform of Vatican II, the bad interpretations of that reform (and resulting damage) and where the Holy Father wants the reform of the reform to go in relation to the old liturgy. Fr. Fessio also adds many of his own insights.

Ave Maria!

The post Video: Extra #2 – Fr Joseph Fessio, S.J.: Recent Vatican Docs #2: Cover Letter first appeared on AirMaria.com.

The following is a video posted on YouTube in which the Holy Father talks about his visit to the United States.

He should be stepping on the tarmac at 4pm today, so keep him in your prayers.

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The post FiNews – Pope Benedict XVI: Historical First Visit to the USA first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Ubi Petrus ibi Ecclesia : Where Peter is, there is Christ’s Church

The primacy of Peter. The love of the early Chris?tians for Peter

The Church is built on the primacy of Peter, as on a rock, until the end of the world. Peter’s stature is immeasurably enhanced since Christ is the real foundation of the Church and Peter now takes his place. That is why his successors have since acquired the title of Vicar of Christ, that is, one who takes Christ’s place.

Peter is the Church’s strong defense against the storms she has suffered and will suffer throughout the centuries.

Built on him, as foundation and with his watchfulness as good shepherd, its victory is assured despite trials and temptations. Peter must eventually die but as regards his role of supreme shepherd Our Lord will assure it lasts eter?nally for the perpetual health and perennial good of the Church, which, being founded on rock, must remain stable to the end of time.

Love for the Pope goes back to the Church’s begin?nings. The Acts of the Apostles tell us movingly of the early Christians’ reaction to the imprisonment of St. Peter by Herod Agrippa, who planned to kill him when the Paschal feast was over. Meanwhile the Church prayed unceasingly to God for him. Look at how the faithful feel for their pastors, says St John Chrysostom. They don’t resort to protest or rebellion, but to prayer as an unfailing remedy. They did not say: as we are powerless men, it is useless to pray for him. They never reasoned in this way, but prayed with love.

We ought to pray a lot for the Pope and his intentions, since he bears the heavy weight of the Church on his shoulders. For example, we could use the following liturgi?cal prayer : may the Lord keep him and give him life, make him happy on earth and save him from deliverance into the hands of his enemies. Every day the clamor of the entire Church spread over the world rises to God in petition with him and for him. No Mass is celebrated without his name being mentioned and prayers said for him and his intentions. Our Lord will be very pleased to see that throughout the day we remember to offer prayers, hours of work or study and some mortification for his Vicar on earth.

Thank you, my God, for that love for the Pope you have placed in my heart ; it would be wonderful if we could say this more meaningfully each day. This love and veneration for the Roman Pontiff is one of the great gifts Our Lord has left us.

Faithful obedience to the Vicar of Christ;- making his teaching known. The sweet Christ on earth.

Along with showing him love and respect, we also pray for the one who takes Christ’s place on earth. Love for the Roman Pontiff must be in us a beautiful passion, for in him we see Christ. Therefore we will not fall into the all too easy temptation of setting one Pope against another, having confidence only in those whose actions respond to our per?sonal feelings. We are not among those who nostalgically look back to a former Pope or look forward to one in the future who will eventually dispense us from obeying the present one. Read the liturgical texts for the coronation of Pontiffs and you will notice that nowhere is there a reference to a conferral of powers proportionate to the dignity of the person elected by the conclave. Christ gives these powers directly to Peter’s successor. Therefore in speaking of the Roman Pontiff we exclude from our vocabulary any expressions derived from parliamentary assemblies or the polemics of newspapers; let it not be said that people not of our faith should be the ones who explain the prestige of the head of Christendom in the world to us.

And there would be no true love and respect for the Pope without faithful internal and external obedience to his teaching and doctrine. Good children listen with pro?found respect to even the simplest advice of the common Father and try sincerely to put it into practice. In the Pope we should see somebody who is in Christ’s place in the world – the sweet Christ on earth, as St Cath?erine of Siena used to say – loving and listening to him because his voice is the truth. We try to see that his words reach all the corners of the earth without distortion, so that, just as when Christ was on earth, many people disoriented by ignorance and error can discover the truth and many afflicted people recover their hope. It is part of the Christian’s apostolic task to make the Pope’s teaching known.

Jesus’ very words can be applied to the Pope: He who abides in me … he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing . Without this union all fruit is only apparent and empty and, in many cases, brings bitter?ness and damages the whole Mystical Body of Christ. On the other hand, if we are very united to the Pope, we will only have reasons for optimism in the task before us; this is reflected in these words of Mgr Escriva: Joyfully I bless you, son, for that faith in your mission as an apostle which inspired you to write: ‘There’s no doubt about it, the future is certain, perhaps in spite of us. But it is essential that we should be one with the Head so that all be one!

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Homily #080422 ( 06min) Play – Christ can give the only true peace because He is the one who made the sacrifice and has risen from the dead to be with His Father. He gives the grace of this sacrifice through the sacraments and the teaching of the Church which he has guaranteed be giving Her the grace of infallibility centered on the pope.
Ave Maria! Mass readings
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The post Apr 22 – Homily – Fr Bonaventure: Peace which only Christ can Give first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Well almost. Starting at 9:00pm tonight EWTN will replay a prerecorded recitation of the rosary by the Pope at St. Mary Major in Rome (one of the 4 Basilicas of Vatican City) and many FI’s will be there because we are in charge of the Sacristy and have our seminary and a couple of friaries in the city. So tune into EWTN at 9:00

From New Liturgical Movement

Deo Gratias!! Ave Maria!

The post FiNews – Pope Saying the Rosary with FI’s on EWTN first appeared on AirMaria.com.

No Apologies #47 – A visible Church requires a visible head. ( 07min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

Amongst the Apostles it’s clear that our Lord singled out one to hold a unique place in His Church – St. Peter

Ave Maria!

The post Video – No Apologies #47 – Primacy of Peter first appeared on AirMaria.com.

The transmission of human life is a most serious role in which married people collaborate freely and responsibly with God the Creator. It has always been a source of great joy to them, even though it sometimes entails many difficulties and hardships.

The fulfillment of this duty has always posed problems to the conscience of married people, but the recent course of human society and the concomitant changes have provoked new questions. The Church cannot ignore these questions, for they concern matters intimately connected with the life and happiness of human beings.

Faithfulness to God’s Design

13. Men rightly observe that a conjugal act imposed on one’s partner without regard to his or her condition or personal and reasonable wishes in the matter, is no true act of love, and therefore offends the moral order in its particular application to the intimate relationship of husband and wife. If they further reflect, they must also recognize that an act of mutual love which impairs the capacity to transmit life which God the Creator, through specific laws, has built into it, frustrates His design which constitutes the norm of marriage, and contradicts the will of the Author of life. Hence to use this divine gift while depriving it, even if only partially, of its meaning and purpose, is equally repugnant to the nature of man and of woman, and is consequently in opposition to the plan of God and His holy will. But to experience the gift of married love while respecting the laws of conception is to acknowledge that one is not the master of the sources of life but rather the minister of the design established by the Creator. Just as man does not have unlimited dominion over his body in general, so also, and with more particular reason, he has no such dominion over his specifically sexual faculties, for these are concerned by their very nature with the generation of life, of which God is the source. “Human life is sacred?all men must recognize that fact,” Our predecessor Pope John XXIII recalled. “From its very inception it reveals the creating hand of God.”

Consequences of Artificial Methods

17. Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings?and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation?need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.

Finally, careful consideration should be given to the danger of this power passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a government which in its attempt to resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as are regarded as lawful by married people in the solution of a particular family difficulty? Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone. It could well happen, therefore, that when people, either individually or in family or social life, experience the inherent difficulties of the divine law and are determined to avoid them, they may give into the hands of public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife.

The post July 25th: The Anniversary of a Prophetic Encyclical first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Homily #080725 ( 14min) Play – Today we celebrate the Feast of St. James the Apostle, and the 40th anniversary of the Encyclical Humanae Vitae. In today’s homily Father Ignatius speaks about our disordered desire for independence from authority, and the nature of the Married State in relation to the Church’s teaching against contraception.
Ave Maria! Mass readings
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The post Jul 25 – Homily – Fr Ignatius Mary: Humanae Vitae first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Roving Reporter #41 – Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate go to WYD Sydney, packing their new video camera. ( 7min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

The friars from down under in our Perth, Australian friary just sent this video of their trip to World Youth Day in Sidney (other side of Australia.) Sounds like they and the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims had the experience of a life time. Viva la Papa and God bless Australia!

I might add, this is a fine example of our Australian friar’s new video publishing apostolate and a great step forward in our effort to make AirMaria a worldwide apostolate. Top job mates!

Ave Maria!

The post Video – Roving Reporter #41 – FIs in WYD Sydney ’08 first appeared on AirMaria.com.