Photo: I arise today

 

Prayer: The Deer’s Cry Anonymous 8th Century Translated from old Irish by Kuno

I arise today through the strength of heaven

Light of sun, radiance of moon

Splendor of fire, speed of lighting

Swiftness of wind, depth of the sea

Stability of earth, firmness of rock

 

I arise today through God’s strength to pilot me

God’s eye to look before me

God’s wisdom to guide me

God’s way to lie before me

God’s shield to protect me

 

From all who shall wish me ill

Afar and a-near

Alone and in a multitude

Against every cruel, merciless power

That may oppose my body and soul

 

Christ with me, Christ before me

Christ behind me, Christ in me

Christ beneath me, Christ above me

Christ on my right, Christ on my left

Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down

Christ when I arise, Christ to shield me

 

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me

I arise today

Photo: A place of warmth

 

Spirituality: “Mid-Lent” by Christina Rossetti

Is any grieved or tired? Yea, by God’s Will:

Surely God’s Will alone is good and best:

O weary man, in weariness take rest,

O hungry man, by hunger feast thy fill.

Discern thy good beneath a mask of ill.

Or build of loneliness thy secret nest;

At noon take heart, being mindful of the west,

At night wake hope, for dawn advances still.

At night wake hope. Poor soul, in such sore need

Of wakening and of girding up anew,

Hast thou that hope which fainting doth pursue?

No saint but hath pursued and hath been faint;

Bid love wake hope, for both thy steps shall speed,

Still faint yet still pursuing, O thou saint.

Photo: Ignatius at Prayer

 

Pom: Sonnet 19: “On His Blindness” By: John Milton

When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one Talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent

To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide;
“Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?”
I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent

That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed

And post o’er Land and Ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.”

 

Spirituality: Synod Study Groups 3 and 4

 An Update of the Working Documents of the Synod

At the conclusion of the Synod’s proceedings, ten working groups were established for further listening and consultation.

To achieve transparency and accountability, Pope Leo XIV has directed that the Final Reports be made public. These study groups reflect an authentic exercise of shared listening, reflection and discernment. It is synodality put into practice, not merely bureaucratic cooperation,” states Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod.

The first two reports are made public:

                  The report on mission in the digital environment (Group No. 3)

                  The report on formation to the priesthood (Group No. 4)

The next publication is schedule for March 10^th.

The Report on the mission in the digital environment (Group No. 3)

(click on the link above for the full report.)

The Report addresses how to live the Church’s mission within a culture increasingly shaped by the digital sphere.

Among the key themes: the need to integrate digital mission into the Church’s ordinary structures; an in-depth analysis of territorial jurisdiction considering online communities; and the formation of pastors and pastoral workers in digital culture.

The Report concludes with proposals articulated at three levels – the Holy See, Episcopal Conferences and dioceses.

 

The Report on formation to the priesthood (Group No. 4)

(click on the link above for the full report.)

Rather than proceeding with a revision of the Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis (2016), Study Group No. 4 elaborated a “Proposal for a Guiding Document” for its implementation in a missionary synodal key.

The document is structured in two parts. The Preamble offers an ecclesiological-pastoral framework and identifies a series of necessary conversions in priestly formation: relational, missionary, towards communion, towards service, and towards a synodal style. At its heart lies a central insight: the identity of the priest is formed “in and from” the People of God, not in separation from it.

Among the most significant proposals: alternating residence between the seminary and parish communities or other ecclesial contexts; shared formative experiences and moments with lay faithful, consecrated persons and ordained ministers beginning from the propaedeutic stage; the inclusion of qualified and competent women as co-responsible at all levels of formation, including within formation teams; and the acquisition of skills for co-responsibility and communal discernment.

 
Cardinal Grech underlines that the Final Reports are to be understood as working documents that already contain valuable indications from which local Churches and various ecclesial realities may draw inspiration from this very moment.

This is the spirit of synodality: a journey that does not come to a halt, in which each stage is already generative. It now falls to the General Secretariat of the Synod, together with the competent Dicasteries, to translate what has emerged in the Reports into operative proposals for the whole Church to be submitted to the Holy Father.

Photo: Christ the Priest Chapel

 

Prayer: Pawnee/Osage/Omaha Song in Earth Prayers

 Remember, remember the great life of the sun

breathing on the earth
it lies upon the earth
to bring out life upon the earth
life covering the earth.

Remember, remember the sacredness of things
running streams and dwellings
the young within the nest
a hearth for sacred fire
the holy flame of fire.

Photo: Ignatius and companions taking vows