Filipino diocese advances sainthood cause for lay catechist Laureana ‘Ka Luring’ Franco

Pope Francis at the Angelus from St. Peter’s, July 9, 2023 / Vatican News

Vatican City, Jul 9, 2023 / 07:09 am (CNA).

The residents of three rich cities in the time of Jesus were incapable of marveling at his works and message, Pope Francis noted, seeing in their example a warning for the faithful of today.

Before praying the midday Angelus with a large crowd in St. Peter’s Square on this very warm Sunday, the Pope considered Jesus’s “very beautiful prayer” addressed to the Father and recounted in the Mass of today: “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.”

The Pope reflected on two questions about Jesus’s prayer: What are these “things” and who were they hidden from?

To answer the first question, the Pope noted that just before this passage Jesus recalled some of his works, including healings.

“The message, then, is clear. Let us not forget this,” Pope Francis said. “God reveals himself by liberating and healing the human person, with a gratuitous love that saves. This is why Jesus thanks his father, because his greatness consists in his love and he never works outside of love.”

Those who pretend to be great cannot understand these things, the Pope warned. 

“In this regard, Jesus names the inhabitants of three rich cities of his times — Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum — where he had accomplished many healings, but whose inhabitants remained indifferent to his preaching. For them, his miracles were only spectacular events, useful for making news and to incite gossip. Once passing interest in them was over, they archived them, maybe in order to occupy themselves in other novelties of the moment. They did not know how to welcome the great things of God.”

Those who miss God’s message because they are “full of themselves” are contrasted with the “little children.”

Jesus praises the Father for “the simple people whose hearts are free from presumption and self-love. The little ones are those who, like children, feel their need and are not self-sufficient. They are open to God and allow themselves to be amazed at his works. They know how to read the signs, to marvel at the miracles of his love!”

Pope Francis invited the faithful to remember that “our lives, if we think about it, are filled with miracles.”

And he suggested that instead of being indifferent, we allow ourselves to be impressed:

“To impress — a beautiful verb that brings photographic film to mind. This is the correct behavior before God’s works: to take a photo of his works in our minds so they are impressed on our hearts, to then be developed in our lives through many good deeds, so that this ‘photograph’ of God who is love becomes ever brighter in us and through us.”

The Pope concluded, as he often does, with some questions for reflection, or examination of conscience: 

“In the deluge of news that overwhelms us, do I, as Jesus shows us today, know how to stop myself before the great things that God accomplishes? Do I allow myself to marvel like a child at the good that silently changes the world? And do I thank the Father each day for his works? May Mary, who exulted in the Lord, make us able to be amazed by his love and to thank him with simplicity.”

After praying the Angelus, the Pope announced that he will create 21 new cardinals in a consistory on September 30.

He also noted the new flare-up of violence in the Holy Land. He expressed his hopes that Palestinian and Israeli leaders would commit themselves to dialogue so that “we can put an end to the spiral of violence and open paths of reconciliation and peace.”

Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, who is among those the Pope has just named a cardinal, on July 4 condemned the Israeli government’s air and ground attacks on the Jenin refugee camp in the Palestinian West Bank after two unknown assailants launched rockets toward Israel from Lebanon.

In a statement on Twitter, the patriarch said, “the city of Jenin has been subject to unprecedented Israeli aggression, which also caused a lot of damage to our Latin parish in Jenin.”

“We condemn this violence, demand a ceasefire, and hope for the pursuit of peace and dialogue to prevent other future unjustified attacks on the population,” he said.

Pope Francis also noted that today is Sea Sunday. In addition to thanking the various people who work in ports and on the seas, he noted the many volunteers who dedicate themselves to cleaning the oceans. The Pope spoke of recent news about the amount of plastic that is found in the water and praised those who are working to combat this issue. 

In the same context, he thanked those who work to help the many migrants who try to find better lives by crossing the Mediterranean Sea. He has referred to this body of water as “Europe’s largest cemetery.”

Nearly 50 people were saved just last Friday off the coast of Libya. The International Organization for Migration has reported that the first quarter of 2023 was the deadliest first quarter since 2017, with 441 migrant deaths in the Central Mediterranean. In fact, according to that UN group, nearly 2,000 have already died this year. Part of that large number is due to one of the worst tragedies to ever occur: when the Adriana sank last month off the coast of Greece. The IOM estimates the number who died at 596.

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Nancy and Kelly McKeague of Alexandria, Va., say their Catholic faith provided an “anchor” to their marriage during Kelly’s service in the U.S. Air Force. / Courtesy of Nancy and Kelly McKeague

Boston, Mass., Nov 11, 2021 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

To coincide with Veterans Day, a marriage ministry has launched a free “virtual date night” video series specifically for military couples, providing mentoring and other resources to help spouses strengthen their bonds to one another, to their families and communities, and to God.

The new, three-part series is one of several developed by Witness to Love, a faith-centered marriage ministry based in St. Martinville, La. Founded by a Catholic couple, Mary-Rose and Ryan Verret, in effort to supplement existing church-based marriage preparation programs, Witness to Love provides a “virtues-based, Catechumenate model of marriage renewal and preparation that integrates modern principles of psychology and the virtues to help couples facilitate an authentic dialogue about their relationship,” according to its website.

There is also a date night series tailored to first responders and hospital workers, and a more general program suitable for all couples. 

Daniela Mazzone, vice president of content and leadership development and Spanish support lead at Witness for Love, told CNA that the idea for a date night video series came in response to the fact that so many couples were home together during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’ve always had in our hearts to do something for military couples, because we know that they also need a lot of support because there are challenges that they face in their own marriages which are much harder and could be different from what the average couple deals with,” especially when spouses are separated during a deployment, Mazzone said.

Couples can register online for free and will have access to Witness to Love’s app where they can see all the videos. It is not necessary to download the app on their mobile devices to see the videos, as they can also be viewed on the organization’s website, Mazzone said.

The military spouses series launches on Nov. 11, but couples will still have access to the videos on the website after that date. You can watch a promo video about the new military date night series below.

The new series features Kelly and Nancy McKeague, an Alexandria, Va. couple with four grown children who share the challenges and successes they experienced in their marriage while Kelly served in the U.S. Air Force.

“While a military spouse may not wear the uniform,” Kelly McKeague told CNA, “they’re going through the same tribulations and trials.”

“I just traveled with him and went along for the ride,” Nancy McKeague quipped. But her husband disagreed.

“I think, to be fair,” Kelly McKeague said, “the military spouse has a very unique role just because of separation, deployments, and what have you, and so in essence, a military spouse really does serve.”

Military life is a “higher calling,” Kelly McKeague said. “It’s a calling of service, but also a sacrifice that takes many, many forms.” 

Nancy McKeague told CNA that “it would seem that whenever Kelly would leave and be gone, something pretty dramatic and traumatic would happen in our life.”

Speaking about a time when their son had an asthma attack in the middle of the night, Nancy McKeague said that she grabbed all her children and went to the emergency room, spending hours there.

She noted that emergencies like her son’s asthma attack happened “quite frequently,” and she just had to remind herself to stay strong for herself and children.

Nancy McKeague said she constantly reminded her children, while her husband was deployed, to “just remember that Daddy is doing this not only for our family, but for our country, and this is a really great thing that he’s doing.”

“I know it’s not easy for him to be gone,” she would say to her children, “but just remember we’re just going to pray for Daddy that he comes safely back home.” 

The video series is not exclusively for Catholic couples. However, the McKeagues, who have been married for more than 37 years, say in their video testimony that their Catholic faith was their “anchor” during Kelly’s military service.

“Having that strong faith connection, in our view, as we present in the video, was so crucial to us, not only surviving as a military family, but thriving as a military family,” Kelly McKeague told CNA.

Staying close to the sacraments was “crucial” in keeping them strong as a couple and as a family, Nancy McKeague added. 

Other presenters in the videos include a Navy couple, Shannon and Kim Walker, who speak about interpersonal relationship; an Air Force couple, Jon and Lea-Ann Virnig, who discuss family and community life; and Father Michael Murphy, the pastor at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Coronado, Colo. Reflection questions and other resources resources are included with each video.

While each of the couples in the series has a unique perspective on the challenges that military spouses face, they also share a common experience, the McKeagues say.

“The thing that I’ve always loved so much about our military life was traveling to new places, getting to meet many new people, building friendships that have lasted since the beginning of our time in the military, and people that we’ve kept in touch with through the years that have made us stronger and have made us grow in our faith more,” Nancy McKeague told CNA.  

“Those relationships and those friendships have been such a huge blessing to both of us,” she said.

“We were all in the crucible together, we were all experiencing the same challenges, and then some of those friends that Nancy talked about are from the chapel community, the Catholic chapel and they were lifelong friendships because they were honed in somewhat less than ideal circumstances, either the place or the situation or the operational tempo,” Kelly McKeague said.

“All of that starts to build a closeness with people who share the same uniform, but also share the same faith. So it’s an added bonus,” he said.

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Pope Francis meets with rectors and formators from Latin America at the Vatican Nov. 10, 2022. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Newsroom, Nov 10, 2022 / 09:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Thursday said that “all priestly formation, particularly that of… […]