Blogs
In the News: October 26, 2015
By Michael Duricy
Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute Features
Updates
The Aggiornamento Award, established in 1980, is presented by the Parish and Community Library Services Section through the Aggiornamento Award Committee. It is awarded annually in recognition of an outstanding contribution made by an individual or an organization for the renewal of parish and community life in the spirit of Saint John XXIII (1881-1963).
2016 Aggiornamento Award Winner – The Marian Library
The Catholic Library Association is excited to announce The Marian Library as the recipient of the 2016 Aggiornamento Award Winner. The Marian Library was founded by the Marianists of the University of Dayton in 1943 to make the Blessed Virgin Mary better known, loved, and served. It is recognized both nationally and internationally as a center for scholarship on Mary. It serves the research needs of faculty and students of the International Marian Research Institute and of the broader University of Dayton community, and of visitors throughout the world. The Award will be presented to the Marian Library at the 2016 CLA Convention in conjunction with the National Catholic Educators Association Convention and Expo being held March 29-31, 2016 in San Diego, CA.
Click here to see the original article posted on the website of the Catholic Library Association.
Mary in Media: Books, Films, Music, etc.
Kevin Symonds sent us the following information in a recent email:
From the Marian Treasure Chest
Brother John M. Samaha, S.M., sent us the text below along with the following comments: "Anticipating November, the month in which we pray especially for our deceased, and All Souls Day on Nov. 2, Catholic San Francisco, published this article on page 17 in the October 22, 2015, issue."
Death in Christian Perspective by Brother John M. Samaha, S.M.
When someone departs from this life we say that person has died. What do we mean? St. Paul says the person fell asleep in the Lord. Others say those persons passed on. Other Biblical allusions say they are in peace; He takes them to Himself; they shall also live with God; death no longer has power over them; it is the will of my Father that they have eternal life.
We say that a deceased person has died. What do we mean? We recall that Jesus died and was in the tomb for three days before His resurrection. But during those three days he was contacting Adam and Eve and the other departed who were awaiting their entrance into paradise, and reassuring them that the time had finally come. Jesus was not dead. His body had died and was lifeless in a tomb until it was reunited again to His spirit, made alive again in resurrection.
When we gaze into an open casket at a wake or funeral we see a lifeless body of one who has passed into another totally different sphere of being, which St. Paul describes for us in these words: "Eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, nor has it so much as entered into our minds the manner of things that God has prepared for us." The deceased is now more fully alive than when with us in this limited world, which is a world limited by time and space, size and shape, weight and gravity. Only when these bonds and impediments are broken do we truly live. The deceased is not totally separated from us. In the creed we state that we believe in the communion of saints--not canonized saints but all believers--those in this world and those in the other who form one body in Christ.
Humans have great difficulty finding suitable words to express the realities of this world in which we live because everything is mystery. Even more do we lack adequate language for that other world for which we were made, for which this one is but a preparation.
At a funeral we gather to praise God for calling the deceased to a closer union with the creator and redeemer, to a fuller and unending life, to a joy and satisfaction beyond our ability to conceive.
We say someone has died, but that is not what we mean. Earthly death is not the extinction of being; it is not going out of existence; it is not returning to the nothing from which we came. It is the separation of the material that we are from the spiritual that we also are. The deceased will be given a marvelously better body described in the creed as the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. The deceased still lives, but in a wondrously different way. The Preface of the funeral liturgy reminds us that "life is changed, not ended."
Death is a birthday into a new form of being, to the fullness of life. That is what we commemorate and celebrate at a funeral.
Marian Events
At the Manger: World Nativity Traditions
Christmas and Beyond will be presented from Saturday, November 28, 2015 - Sunday, January 24, 2016 by the University of Dayton Libraries as our gift to the community. The Nativity of Christ is not an isolated event, but rather a union of many events and stations. This year's festival of crèches explores these events and stories of those who pondered and pictured the birth of Christ through different cultural lenses.
The Grand Thanksgiving Open House will be held on Saturday, November 28, 2015 from 1-5 p.m. Fun, free and family-oriented with children's activities, live music, light refreshments, and a football viewing lounge. It's where Christmas begins!
Click here for details.
Mary in the Catholic Press
Cardinal Re at Fatima: Absence of God Is Cause of Crisis from Zenit (Portugal) October 14, 2015
Celebrating Mass in Fatima for the Oct. 13 feast day, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said the root of the crises in today's world, both economic and moral, is the "absence of God."
The retired prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, and the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, said that faith is something essential that cannot be marginalized or considered irrelevant, "because it changes radically the way of thinking and acting." And it is not only about eternal salvation, but about something fundamental for "a serene life on this earth." ...
He asserted that the Fatima apparitions continue transmitting a message of holiness and an invitation to change one's life.
Click here to read the complete article
TOPMary in the Secular Press
The director and editors of The Mary Page under the auspices of the International Marian Research Institute do not necessarily endorse or agree with the events and ideas expressed in this feature. Our sole purpose is to report on items about Mary gleaned from a myriad of papers representing the secular press.
Mary Inspires Art and Life (National Catholic Register) October 25, 2015
In September, Morning Star Obstetrics and Gynecology in Gilbert, Ariz., celebrated its tenth anniversary. In the last two years since this pro-life practice run by Dr. Clint Leonard moved into its new facility, he and his wife, Kathryn, wanted it to be a place of welcome, through beauty--starting with art.
Obstetrician-gynecologist Leonard entrusted his practice, which is faithful to the magisterium, to Our Lady when he started it: "I consider that she has protected me through my training and, ever since, in practice as well. She's a protector for me, but also a great role model for me and for our patients. I wanted to give true honor to her and make it a welcoming place."
Part of honoring Mary is gracing the office with Marian art. The Leonards, who have three young children, began with a work depicting Our Lady as the Morning Star." ...
Click here to read the complete article.