Social networking, better known as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, occupies the time of many of us throughout the day. The largest companies in the world utilize various social networks to reach consumers where they live, mainly on the Internet via PDAs, computers, and cell phones. So it seems natural that the Catholic Church would utilize these websites as well and they have. I was reading an interesting story about the Church in France. They have created a Facebook page that is being used to recruit men to the priestly vocation. The campaign is being pitched using the slogan "Why Not Me?" I think this is very smart. It is where the young people have gathered to communicate, like it or not and it allows someone who is discerning their vocation to do it asynchronously. I will be anxious to see how successful this campaign becomes and urge all of you to pray along with me that many men will respond to God's call to become priests. I also noticed another interesting story about France that involves reconciliation. The story is called "Praying People into the Confessional." It describes how St. John Vianney was able to attract thousands of sinners to Ars so that he would hear their confession. St. John Vianney in his early life was judged by some in the hierarchy to be rather limited in potential. As it turned out, he become one of God's most fervent warriors and continues to be honored with the naming of parishes and schools all around the world. Today is the feast day for St. Catherine of Siena. Did you know that she was the youngest of twenty-five children? Did you know that she joined the Dominican Third Order at the age of eighteen? Did you know that she was able to mediate a conflict between the papacy and the city of Florence? Her life is truly remarkable and she is one of my favorite saints.
The spiritual climax of the Gospel of John, as Father John Waiss points out, occurs at the foot of the Cross, where Jesus utters his parting words: “Woman, behold, your son!” and “Behold your mother!” (John 19:26-27). While these words were addressed to the Apostle John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, the Church has long understood this moment as a universal adoption. To truly image Christ, we must share in His parentage; if we embrace God as our spiritual Father but reject Mary as our mother, we treat Christ as a half-brother rather than our "firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29). As Origen noted as early as the third century, the profound depths of the Gospel are only accessible to those who, like John, rest their heads on Jesus’ breast and receive Mary into their own homes. This maternal role is deeply rooted in biblical typology, positioning Mary as the fulfillment of the great mothers of the Old Covenant. She is the New Eve , the mother of all the living according ...
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