Year of Saint Joseph | March 27-28, 2021: PALM SUNDAY |75th Anniversary Year

True stories: The pandemic brought a huge faith boost for many

God always finds his ways to make a "silver lining."

The pandemic changed my life for the better. Did it do the same for you?

St. Augustine said God “would never allow any evil whatsoever to exist in his works if he were not so all-powerful and good as to cause good to emerge from evil itself,” and from the suffering, death, isolation, and unemployment the pandemic brought, it seems he has outdone himself.

Pew Research reported in January that in America “Nearly 3 in 10 U.S. adults say the outbreak has boosted their faith,” and “about 4 in 10 say it has tightened family bonds.”

This certainly happened to me. I felt gripped by God’s love and compelled to do more with my time and go deeper in my faith after both my own coronavirus infection and witnessing the incredible power of prayer at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.

In my case this led to a rediscovery of Scripture, through Bishop Robert Barron and Father Mike Schmitz. One mom told me the same thing happened to her.

“Bishop Robert Barron has played a huge role for me too,” said Alexa Paul, in the Washington, D.C., area. She also “read a chapter of St. Paul’s letters every day with one of my sisters and we reflected on it together” through video chat.

You know this is from the Holy Spirit because a huge number of people rediscovered Scripture during the pandemic.

“Right now I’m doing Fr. Mike’s Bible in a Year podcast as well,” she said. “All these Old Testament readings are kind of killing me, but I’ve never read the entire Bible. There’s also a different experience to hearing it every day rather than just reading it.”

Tom Hoopes – Aleteia, 22/3/21

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 Year of Saint Joseph | March 20-21, 2021: 5th Sunday of Lent | 75th Anniversary Year

Pope Francis has told us to “Go to St Joseph.”

Now, in this age of pandemic, where unemployment and lockdowns have shattered so many families, closed churches have tested the faith of the faithful, and gender ideology undermines the meaning of male and female, Pope Francis has told us to “Go to St Joseph.” It’s a timely message and an invitation to explore the many facets of Scripture’s most precious diamond in the rough: St. Joseph.

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Elizabeth Lev, AngelusNews, 18/3/’21

 Year of Saint Joseph | March 13-14, 2021: 4th Sunday of Lent | 75th Anniversary Year

Insightful book Whatever Became of Sin

“Karl Menninger in his insightful book Whatever Became of Sin? illustrates the deep value of love in the healing process of mentally ill patients. One day in his famed hospital, the Menninger Institute in Topeka, Kansas, he carried out an experiment. Calling the entire staff from all levels of service (from doctors and nurses to cooks and janitors), he told them of his conviction that the time spent in the mental hospital could be significantly reduced. How? Simply by going about one’s duties with a great deal of genuine love and joyful caring and gentle affirmation. This loving attitude was to be exercised by all, even the employees cleaning the rooms and changing the light bulbs. To the surprise and satisfaction of the entire staff, the time patients were hospitalised was significantly reduced.

It is also reported that Dr Menninger asked his resident students to identify the most important part of the treatment process of mental patients. Some said it was the relationship between the therapist and the patient; others thought it was a list of recommendations; still others spoke of the necessity of contact with the families after a patient was discharged; a group thought it was the prescription of drugs. However, Menninger did not accept any of these suggestions; for him the first and foremost task of any healer or therapist was to listen. “After decades of work as a psychiatrist, Menninger believed that the experience of not being listened to made people unwell, and the experience of being listened to made them well again. The experience of stillness in the presence of another person gave them a sense of their God-given purpose in life... Listening to someone may not seem like much, but its effects are very healing. Everyone yearns to be heard.”

The author himself recalls a personal experience. In the many counselling classes he attended, he frequently heard the expression to listen with the third ear. The professor (a psychiatrist) was emphasizing the importance of attentive listening that can hear what is not being said. The secret to this listening is observation: observation of body language, choice of words, tone of voice, facial expressions. To be able to intuit problems is satisfying both for the therapist and for the client. The same dynamics are in play when an adult is truly present and listening to a troubled youth.”

P. Avallone SDB, Keys to the Hearts of Youth, Salesiana, New Rochelle, ‘99, pp 91-92.

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 Year of Saint Joseph | March 6-7, 2021: 3rd Sunday of Lent | 75th Anniversary Year

Nun and monk put themselves between police and protesters in Myanmar

"Shoot me first," Sr. Ann Nu Thawng challenges armed guards.

A Buddhist monk and a Catholic nun in Myanmar both offered their lives in place of youthful protesters, who marched on Sunday against the military coup that is now a month old.

As police cracked down on marches throughout Myanmar, some 20 protesters were shot dead and scores wounded.

In Myitkyina, in the state of Kachin, Sr. Ann Nu Thawng, a Sister of St. Francis Xavier, knelt down in front of troops, raised her hands into the air and cried out, “Don’t shoot, don’t kill the innocent. If you want, hit me.”

Fides, the information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies, quoted Joseph Kung Za Hmung, editor of the “Gloria News Journal,” the first online Catholic news-paper in Myanmar, as saying, “Sr. Ann Nu Thawng is today a role model for Church leaders: bishops and priests are called to step out of the their comfort zones and follow her courage as an example.”

Fides added that more than 100 demonstrators were able to find shelter in Sr. Ann’s convent, protecting them from beatings and arrests.

Benedict Rogers, East Asia Team Leader for Christian Solidarity Worldwide, writing at UCANews, said he was haunted by a number of scenes from recent protests, including Sr. Ann’s gesture, as well as “the image of a monk courageously sitting in the street between the police and protesters, telling the police in this Buddhist-majority nation to shoot him first.”

UCANews reported that hundreds of Catholic laypeople joined by priests and nuns marched in Mandalay, praying the rosary out loud and calling for a peaceful solution to the crisis.

In a homily on Sunday morning, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon, commented the relevance of the day’s Gospel reading, describing the Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor.

“What transfiguration are we looking for in Myanmar today?” Cardinal Bo asked. “If we seek it, all the confusion, all the darkness, all the hatred will go away and our country, the famous Land of Gold, will be transfigured into a land of peace and prosperity.”

The cardinal reminded listeners that over the past month, the Church has implored everyone that “peace is the only way; peace is possible.”

“Pope Francis has called for the resolution of all conflicts through dialogue,” Bo said. “Those who want conflict do not want the good of this nation. Let us all become Elijah who proclaims peace, by lighting a lamp of hope in the midst of darkness.”

He prayed for the nation that “has seen so much suffering, so much war, so many deaths” and said, “Like Abraham, we seek a promised land. The promised land comes when we are ready to sacrifice what we consider very dear.”

Saying weapons are unnecessary, he urged Burmese, “We must rearm ourselves through reconciliation and dialogue. Myanmar’s Mount Tabor must be climbed with patience, tolerance, if we are to witness this transfiguration. Evil must disappear, but it cannot be destroyed by another evil.”

The army took power in Myanmar on February 1, declaring a year-long “state of emergency,” after accusing the National League for Democracy, the party of the civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, for fraud in the November election.

John Burger, Aleteia, 2/3/21

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