Servant and Steward

Religious freedom given to Christians 1,700 years ago

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:06:00 +0000

Catholic World News today reports on a joint initiative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Council of the Bishops' Conferences of Europe to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the famed Edictum Mediolanense, the Edict of Milan of the Emperor Constantine I, in Istanbul this May 17-18. This news caught me quite off guard; somehow the anniversary of this document that truly changed the world escaped my notice.

The issuance of the Edict of Milan is one of those moments in history of which everyone should be aware, so great were its consequences.

The Edict itself was drawn up in Milan by the Emperors Constantine I (of the West) and Licinius (of the East) in February of 313 and proclaimed in June 313 at Nicomedia. Following its formal announcement, the Edict was sent throughout the Roman Empire and its shock waves and ripple effects continue to our own day, even if these waters of change are beginning to be recede and, in some instances, being dammed up.

Building upon the Emperor Galerius' Edict of Toleration, which he issued in the year 311, that granted to Christians the tolerance "be Christians and may hold their conventicles [meetings or assemblies], provided they do nothing contrary to good order." The Edict of Milan went even further and granted "to the Christians and others full authority to observe that religion which each preferred." What is more, the Emperors Constantine I and Licinius declared:

Therefore, your Worship should know that it has pleased us to remove all conditions whatsoever, which were in the rescripts formerly given to you officially, concerning the Christians and now any one of these who wishes to observe Christian religion may do so freely and openly, without molestation. We thought it fit to commend these things most fully to your care that you may know that we have given to those Christians free and unrestricted opportunity of religious worship. When you see that this has been granted to them by us, your Worship will know that we have also conceded to other religions the right of open and free observance of their worship for the sake of the peace of our times, that each one may have the free opportunity to worship as he pleases ; this regulation is made we that we may not seem to detract from any dignity or any religion.
Moreover, in the case of the Christians especially we esteemed it best to order that if it happems anyone heretofore has bought from our treasury from anyone whatsoever, those places where they were previously accustomed to assemble, concerning which a certain decree had been made and a letter sent to you officially, the same shall be restored to the Christians without payment or any claim of recompense and without any kind of fraud or deception, Those, moreover, who have obtained the same by gift, are likewise to return them at once to the Christians. Besides, both those who have purchased and those who have secured them by gift, are to appeal to the vicar if they seek any recompense from our bounty, that they may be cared for through our clemency,. All this property ought to be delivered at once to the community of the Christians through your intercession, and without delay. And since these Christians are known to have possessed not only those places in which they were accustomed to assemble, but also other property, namely the churches, belonging to them as a corporation and not as individuals, all these things which we have included under the above law, you will order to be restored, without any hesitation or controversy at all, to these Christians, that is to say to the corporations and their conventicles: providing, of course, that the above arrangements be followed so that those who return the same without payment, as we have said, may hope for an indemnity from our bounty. In all these circumstances you ought to tender your most efficacious intervention to the community of the Christians, that our command may be carried into effect as quickly as possible, whereby, moreover, through our clemency, public order may be secured [more].

In short, the Edict of Milan not only made Christianity a legal religion within the Roman Empire, but also restored to the Christians those properties which had been confiscated from them (why Constantine generally receives the credit for the edict and Licinius does not, I do not know).

You will often find textbooks that claim Constantine I made Christianity the official religion of the Empire; this is simply false. Constantine I did not make Christianity the official religion of the Empire, but made it a legal religion in the Empire; a Christian could no longer be persecuted legally because of his faith in Jesus Christ.

It was the Emperor Theodosius I (r. 379-395) who, on 27 February 380, with his Edict of Thessalonica, made Christianity the "official" religion of the Roman Empire when he decreed that the citizens of the Empire "should continue to the profession of that religion which was delivered to the Romans by the divine Apostle Peter, as it has been preserved by faithful tradition and which is now professed by the Pontiff Damasus [r. 366-384]."

What is more, Theodosius I declared in the same document that those who did not profess the faith of the Apostle Peter "shall be branded with the ignominious name of heretics, and shall not presume to give their conventicles [meetings or assemblies] the name of churches."

How so many textbooks - written by those who claim to be historians - could confuse and conflate two key historical events separated by 67 years is beyond me.

It is curious how 1,700 years after a decree was issued that granted religious freedom to Christians that same freedom is now slowly - though increasingly - being stripped away from Christians.

For my mother

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Sun, 12 May 2013 11:47:00 +0000

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Lessons from Father Damien on living in a land that is not your own

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Sun, 12 May 2013 03:48:00 +0000

I know I am a little late with this post, but I've been pondering it for a few days. Father Damien is generally not very far from my thoughts, not least of all on his feast day, and I frequently find myself calling upon his intercession.

Father Damien arrived at the Kalawao leper settlement on the Kalaupapa peninsula of the island of Molokai 140 years ago this past Friday, where he spent the remaining 16 years of life. He arrived in Hawaii 9 years earlier after a 5-month voyage at sea from his beloved home and family.

As you read through the letters he wrote to his family back in Belgium, you soon become aware of how isolated from them he felt. Naturally, in those days communication was not as swift as it is in our day of telephones, airplanes, e-mail, Facebook, Skype, and Face Time. Not only did you have to wait for the length of the voyage for a letter to reach the one to whom you wrote, but you first had to find a carrier heading at least in the general direction of where your letter needed to go. You can imagine how this was not always timely, particularly if someone moved after you sent the letter.

As I look now to the beginning of my new assignment in the Eternal City - among a culture that is not my own and among a people whose language I do not yet know well, and a quarter of the world away from home, family, and friends - I find myself turning to Father Damien to learn from his example. I think particularly of one letter he wrote to his sister who was a nun in Holland:

Three years now, and not a line from you. Where are you then, my dear sister? Are you off to Heaven already? Not so fast, if you please. A little more time is needed to win that crown. Take pity then on your poor brother, who, by dint of being so long forgotten, will soon become a regular savage among savages. Well, I certainly love my savages, who soon will be more civilized than Europeans. They are learning to read and write.

Another time he answered a letter from his parents, saying that "for a long time I have been distressed and in suspense about you, not knowing what might have happened. I learn to my great joy that you are in good health."

I can only imagine the pain that he must have felt at such a lack of correspondence from home, especially when some of his letters went left unanswered Certainly his love for his family did not diminish with the passage of years, as we learn from others of his letters, but how did he endure this isolation from his family and friends whom he left behind in service of the Gospel?

The answer, really, is quite simple. Just after he left Belgium he wrote a letter home before embarking on the journey to what were then known as the Sandwich Islands, in which he reminded his parents:

Henceforward we shall not have the happiness of seeing one another, but we shall always be united by that tender love which we bear to one another.

He knew that this love has its origin in the love of God. So it is that I find my thoughts turning once again to the most profound words he ever put to paper:

I find my consolation in the one and only companion who will never leave me, that is, our Divine Saviour in the Holy Eucharist. . . .It is at the foot of the altar that we find the strength necessary in this isolation of ours. Without the Blessed Sacrament a position like mine would be unbearable. But, having Our Lord at my side, I continue always to be happy and content. . . . Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the most tender of friends with souls who seek to please Him. His goodness knows how to proportion itself to the smallest of His creatures as to the greatest of them. Be not afraid then in your solitary conversations, to tell Him of your miseries, your fears, your worries, of those who are dear to you, of your projects, and of your hopes. Do so with confidence and with an open heart.

He endured the separation from his loved ones back home through his closeness to Jesus Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament.

Even with the greater ease and the swiftness of modern communications, and with the ability to return home once or twice a year, this is a lesson I will continually ask him to teach me.

Please don't think that I am dreading my new assignment; I am looking forward to it, though I do know that there will be some particular hardships that come with it, the separation from family and friends for a great length of time being perhaps the greatest of them.

Concerning the arrival of letters that did come from home, Father Damien once commented:

It is a great happiness to me whenever I have an opportunity of sending news of myself, of reminding you, my dear parents, that on an island in the midst of the great Pacific, you have a son who loves you and a priest who prays for you.

I will soon echo these sentiments not from an island in the Pacific, but from an ancient city on the Italian peninsula.

In the past, I haven't used Skype very much; now I will have to make frequent use of it.

On my desk in my office is a statue of Father Damien that I touched to his relic in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace. As I begin considering what I will bring with me to Rome, this statue will certainly be among the first things packed.

A new assignment decreed

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Sun, 12 May 2013 02:43:00 +0000

Each time a priest receives a new ecclesiastical assignment he receives a decree from his Bishop which makes it official.

When I stopped in at my office yesterday morning I found the Decree of Appointment sitting on my desk. The text of the decree reads as follows:

DECREE OF APPOINTMENT

By this decree, I appoint

THE REVEREND DAREN J. ZEHNLE

to graduate studies in canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, with residence at the Casa Santa Maria of the Pontifical North American College, Rome, from Priest Secretary and Master of Ceremonies to the Bishop, and Associate Director of the Office for Vocations, effective July 1, 2013.

/s/ Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki

Bishop of Springfield in Illinois

May 9, 2013

Springfield, Illinois

Now it will be filed away with the other Decrees of Appointment I have received.

From the See City to the Eternal City

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Wed, 08 May 2013 02:35:00 +0000

Speaking today to his priests at the annual Jubilee Day, the Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki, Bishop of Springfield in Illinois, announced a series of new priestly assignments to take effect July 1, 2013, most of which will be announced in the parishes this weekend.

Since the 11^th of January 2010, I have served as Priest Secretary and Master of Ceremonies to the Bishop and as Associate Director of the Office for Vocations, both positions which I have much enjoyed.

However, as His Excellency has seen fit to send me to obtain a Licentiate in Canon Law (J.C.L.) at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, I will soon conclude my present assignments. While in Rome for the next three years, I will reside at the Casa Santa Maria, the house for American priests studying in the Eternal City.

Prior to the beginning of this course of studies in October, I will study the Italian language for six weeks at the Academia Lingua Italiana in Assisi, the home of Saints Francis and Clare, beginning July 22nd, and will reside for the length of these studies at the Casa Papa Giovanni.

I am particularly grateful to Bishop Paprocki for his many kindnesses to me these past several years, most especially for this kindness which surpasses them all:

and for the confidence he has placed in me.

Bishop Paprocki first mentioned this coming assignment to me, if memory serves, sometime in November and shortly thereafter several friends were asking me to witness their weddings, assist at retreats, or baptize their children. Declining their invitations was not easy, both because I very much wanted to accept them and because I could not tell them why I could not join them for these happy occasions. I am glad now to be able to make the assignment public.

As you can well imagine, several tasks now lie before me, not the least of which is packing my earthly possessions and deciding which I will bring with me and which I will leave behind, and where they will stay in my absence, not to mention determining a good “home base” for return visits home. The vast majority of my possessions consists of books, which, thanks be to God, are not terribly difficult to store. My coming move will provide a much looked for opportunity to begin discarding things to which I have paid little attention over the years and really only serve to take up space.

It is a curious way how the Lord brings people into your life for a time and then reconnects you years later.

During my time in Effingham, I was happy to make the acquaintance of two families in Italy through students in a foreign exchange program at the high school; one of the families lives in Rome (with whom I was able to visit a year ago February) and the other in the north of Italy.

I also recently learned that one of my classmates at Mundelein Seminary will also be going to Rome this Fall for advanced studies. When we spent a month in Rome on pilgrimage, he and I often travelled about the city together with a few others; it will be good to so with him again.

Bishop Paprocki is also sending one of our seminarians, Michael Friedel, to the Pontifical North American College, the American seminary in Rome.

Initially I thought I would be heading to Rome on my own for three years, which felt a bit daunting, but the Lord seems to have taken care of this concern for me.

As I look ahead to the coming weeks, I ask your prayers for me. The next three years will be a great and unexpected adventure, one which I welcome.

It has not been easy to keep this news quiet these past several months, but in some way I will still have to keep it quiet. Since Saturday afternoon my voice has taken a bit of a vacation – to where I do not know. Today I am able to make a few vocal noises but no words. I expect to be able to speak again on Thursday, or Friday at the latest. So if you happen to call and I do not answer, now you know why.

Seminarians run for vocations

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Sun, 05 May 2013 02:31:00 +0000

Today, five seminarians of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois ran in the Indianapolis half-marathon as a way to pray for vocations:

Mark Tracy, Michael Meinhart Willie Jansen II, Dominic Vahling, and Dominic Rankin

One of the runners, Dominic Rankin, has a post on his blog, Open Wide the Doors for Christ, describing his experience of the run.

I am happy to hear that they all completed the race and are doing well. Congratulations, gentlemen; well done!

A note of thanks

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Sun, 05 May 2013 02:10:00 +0000

In some ways the act of writing a note of thanks can be learned, and in aspects it is certainly an art at which some people excel and others manage reasonably well.

Today I received a grateful note from one of our seminarians, who writes in part:

I have really enjoyed the times you have taken us out to eat this year and more importantly, the 2 times you cooked for us. Most of all, thanks for sharing your time, knowledge, opinions and nerdyness with us. I have really come to love hearing your thoughts on various topics.

Whether he spelled "nerdyness" properly or not, neither spell check nor I know with certainty, though it seems to me it should be spelled "nerdiness."

After two days spent largely on the highway driving through the rain up and down the State of Illinois, and after realizing that I have lost my voice, these words brought a great smile and a good laugh.

Novena to Saint Damien

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Thu, 02 May 2013 03:44:00 +0000

Nine days from now - on May 10th - we will observe the memorial of my favorite saint, Saint Damien de Vuester.

To help us prepare for this great day, someone - I cannot remember on which blog I saw this - has posted a link to a Novena to Father Damien, which begins today (I'm sorry I'm so late with this!).

Incidentally, the celebration this year will mark the 140th anniversary of Father Damien's arrival at Kalaupapa.

Kalakaua meets Leo

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 13:16:00 +0000

On 3 July 1881 His Hawaiian Majesty King David Kalakaua, in his journey as the first monarch to circumnavigate the globe, was received in audience by His Holiness Pope Leo XIII.

In her book, Kalakaua: Renaissance King, which I have recently finished reading, Helene G. Allen provides a description of the meeting the two, as given by a member of the King's entourage (though she does not tell us which member):

A door opened, and his Holiness, Leo XIII, a thin and spare old man with an extremely pale face, entered and slowly moved across the room, while all bowed in reverence, to a chair on a dais raised a few inches from the floor. In front of him another chair was placed for the King; around the Holy Father the Cardinals were grouped, and we of the suite stood near the King.

The Pope began the conversation at once in Italian, which was interpreted by Cardinal Howard. He asked many questions about the Hawaiian kingdom. The Cardinals joined, and soon showed that they were well informed about the condition of the native Catholics in Hawaii, of whom there were almost as many as there were Protestants. The Holy Father said to the King: "Will you present your companions?" The King presented us. The Pope asked: "Are they natives of your country?" The King replied that we were, and the sons of Protestant missionaries. Cardinal Howard laughed, and said, "Then they are in the opposition." The Holy Father smiled. There was no solemnity in the interview; it was only a pleasant chat.

"Do my people in your kingdom behave well?" asked the Pope.

"Yes," said the King, "they are good subjects."

"If they do not behave," said the Pope, "I must look after them. Why do you have a white Minister in your government?" he continued.

The King could not make a brief explanation and turned to me. I answered, for him, that the kings of Hawaii chose educated white men, who were better able to deal with the foreigners, who held most of the wealth of the country.

Cardinal Howard asked, "Are there any Catholics in your government?"

I answered: "No, the American Protestants entered the country before the Catholics did, and have kept control of public affairs; but no efficient Catholic is excluded from high office by reason of his faith."

There was a pleasant twinkle in the Holy Father's eyes, and he smile while he spoke ...

After an interview which lasted twenty minutes we kissed the Holy Father's hand and rose. He said to the King, "Your country is far away. I shall pray for your safe return" (124-125).

What do you say when someone thinks you're dead?

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:17:00 +0000

Yesterday, one of our seminarians who is on internship in Effingham shared with me a conversation he had recently with a first grader:

Me: "oh wow what a neat picture! and you were baptized by Father Daren!"
Her: "Yeah he was so nice, I was really sad when my Mom told me he died."
Me: "died?"
Her: "yeah a couple years ago, I was really sad."
Me: "Oh! He didn't die, he just moved! Father Daren is alive and well and was just here on Sunday! Maybe you will get to see him soon!"
Her: (with a giant smile) "That makes me so happy!!!!"

I was glad to learn that not all of the first graders think I'm dead.

The nameday of my fathers

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:32:00 +0000

Today, the memorial of Saint George, is a day that gets me thinking about my name. You see, my father was George William:

His father was George Arthur:

His father was George:

His father was Ambrose:

Ambrose is seated, with the white beard.

The point I am making is that I should have been named George, in keeping with three generations of tradition. I should have been George IV. Instead, I was given the name Daren, the reason for which I have never asked.

A Call to Prayer, Pledge to Fast

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 00:18:00 +0000

You will, I hope, recall that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have invited the faithful to fast and abstain from meat on Fridays through the Solemnity of Lord Jesus Christ the King and to pray each Friday for a particular intention for Life, Marriage, and Religious Liberty.

As our intention for tomorrow, the Bishops have proposed the following:

For the approval of laws which will protect health care professionals from being forced to violate their consciences.

As you pray for Boston, Massachusetts and West, Texas, I hope you will remember this important intention, as well.

A prayer for Boston

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 20:00:00 +0000

O God, author and lover of peace,
to know you is to live, to serve you is to reign;
defend against every attack those who cry to you,
so that we, who trust in your protection,
may not fear the weapons of any foe.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

- Roman Missal

For Civil Needs: In Time of War or Civil Disturbance

Why the Church doesn't do more to help the poor

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 15:53:00 +0000

I often hear it asked why the Church does not do more to help the poor. Putting aside for the sake of argument the fact that the Church does more to assist the poor than any other organization in the world, it is certainly a fair question and one that we should not be afraid to answer even as we allow it to challenge our hearts.

To my mind, there are many possible and correct answers, but two stand out the most.

The first answer is that the average Christian has not yet taken to heart the Lord's words that "Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for these least brothers of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40).

There are, however, a good many Christians who have taken these words to heart and meet the poor each day, providing what help for them they can.

Then are other Christians who have a deep desire to help the poor but do not quite know where to begin because the government gets in the way of putting charity into action.

Consider this recent story concerning the Missionaries of Charity in Miami. Thirty-three years ago Blessed Teresa of Calcutta visited Miami and established a soup kitchen there, which her Sisters have been operating every day since. More three hundred people are fed there each day. The Sisters recently "found a notice of violation with a potential property lien from a City of Miami Code Enforcement inspector posted on an electrical pole."

What, you, ask is the problem? What code have the Sisters violated in their feeding of the hungry?

Apparently the sisters had never obtained a permit for feeding — for free and without using public funds — hundreds of homeless who see in their eyes the universal symbol of compassion and dignity represented by Mother Teresa.

“What kind of violation are we doing?” asked convent superior Lima Marie. “Taking care of the homeless and feeding them is a violation?”

The sisters felt intimidated because the notice ends with a threat: operating “a business without all required licenses is illegal under state and city law and is punishable by criminal arrest and/or closing the business.”

Situations such as this is why the Church does not do more to help the poor.

I have met several people who, on their own initiative and motivated by love, made sandwiches and went about the sidewalks distributing them to the hungry and the poor.

These same sandwiches, which were made also for their own families, could not be distributed to the poor because, local authorities said, the kitchen in which they were prepared was not up to code.

The Church wants to do more to help the poor but is often obstructed by a government that thinks it knows better.

Pope appoints two Bishops in the U.S.

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:05:00 +0000

This morning His Holiness Pope Francis announced two episcopal appointments in the United States of America.

First, he appointed a new Archbishop for the Church in Dubuque, His Excellency the Most Reverend Michael Owen Jackels, until now Bishop of Wichita.

The Archbishop-elect was born in Rapid City in 1954 and ordained a priest of the Diocese of Lincoln in 1981. He was appointed to the See of Wichita in 2005.

Second, the Holy Father appointed the Reverend Monsignor John Thomas Folda as Bishop of the Church in Fargo.

The Bishop-elect was born in Omaha in 1961 and was a ordained a priest of the ~~Arch~~Diocese of ~~Omaha~~ Lincoln in 1989.

Update: That's two appointments from the clergy of the Diocese of Lincoln in one day.

Of Tasers and abortion: A failure of logic

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 01:49:00 +0000

It isn't every day that I agree with the opinion of the State Journal-Register, but today I find myself agreeing - sort of - with their suggestion that the Springfield Police Department "should re-evaluate use of Tasers on women."

First, a bit of background that prompted the writing of this opinion piece:

On March 30, Springfield police were sent to a parking lot on the city’s west side after a man backed his vehicle into one driven by Lucinda D. White, which was stopped in a parking aisle.
No one was injured, and there was minor damage to the cars.

White called police, and things escalated. White’s boyfriend began yelling and cursing at the officer writing an accident report. A scuffle broke out between the boyfriend and the officer, and White inserted herself into the fray.

A second officer applied a Taser “drive stun” — applying the Taser directly to the skin — to the boyfriend’s hip and tried to pull White off. White refused to get on the ground when told to do so by the officer, and she tried to pull away from his grip on her shoulder. The officer then applied a one-second drive stun to her thigh to get her to cooperate.

The incident itself strikes me as rather odd, but I suppose many incidents that land on the police blotter are.

The important aspect of the event is the fact that a Taser was used on a pregnant woman, which led the editorial board to opine:

It’s disconcerting, though, to see any electrical shock applied to a pregnant woman. It also is unclear why it was necessary for White to lie on her stomach during arrest.

I agree, as, I imagine, most people will, though I must disagree with the reasoning behind the opinion:

We do not want to see the city of Springfield caught up in a costly or embarrassing lawsuit. If tweaking the police department’s policy on how best to handle pregnant women could head that off, do it.

The possible risk to the life of the child in the womb seems to be of secondary concern, after the financial risk the department might incur.

One might suppose that the editorial board would call upon the Springfield Police Department to re-examine its policy on the use of Tasers out of concern for the innocent one involved in such cases: the child in the womb. I daresay, most people would agree that the well-being of the child in the womb should be of primary concern instead of a possible costly financial settlement.

But, I wonder, would these same people carry this logic just a little bit further: If a pregnant woman should not be Tasered because of the possible risk to the child within her, why should it be legal for a pregnant woman to "abort" the child in her womb, the same child that should not suffer adverse effects of a Taser?

We are in great need today of a consistent use of logic.

What your government thinks of you

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:39:00 +0000

According to the Department of Defense, faithful Catholics and Evangelical Christians are "religious extremists" to such an extent that the government now groups us with Al Qaeda, Hamas, and even the Ku Klux Klan. Apparently the DOD thinks it is a teaching of the Church that Catholics are "superior to others based" on their religious beliefs, which of course is nonsense.

The Archdiocese of Military Services "is astounded that Catholics were listed alongside groups that are, by their very mission and nature, violent and extremist," according to a statement released today.

The Twelfth Station

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 20:00:00 +0000

In St. Francis of Assisi church
Kalaupapa, Moloka'i, Hawai'i

My Lord Jesus Christ, I pray you to grant me two graces before I die: the first is that during my life I may feel in my soul and in my body, as much as possible, that pain which You, dear Jesus, sustained in the hour of Your most bitter passion.

The second is that I may feel in my heart, as much as possible, that excessive love with which You, O Son of God, were inflamed in willingly enduring such suffering for us sinners.

- Saint Francis of Assisi

Spy Wednesday

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 14:00:00 +0000

The Wednesday of Holy Week is often called Spy Wednesday because of the passage of the Passion that we hear today at the Holy Mass:

One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you" (Matthew 26:14-15).

We sometimes wonder how Judas could betray and sell Jesus for such a small sum, but we forget that we often do the very same (though not always for financial gain).

In his little book On the Passion of Christ According to the Four Evangelists, Thomas a Kempis prayed:

Alas! How poorly I tolerate a brother when he has said or done something against me. But you, for so long a time and without complaint, have endured your disciple Judas, who would soon sell and betray you, while I, for a paltry insult, quickly yield to anger and think of various ways of vindicating myself or of offering excuses. Where then is my patience, where is my meekness?

Help me, good Jesus, and instill the virtue of your meekness in my heart in greater abundance, for without your inspiration and special grace I cannot enjoy peace of soul amid this life's many vexations.

Pope Francis' Three Words: Joy, Cross, Youth

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 13:33:00 +0000

Here follows the text of the homily preached by Pope Francis today in St. Peter's Square for the Mass of Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, via Vatican Radio and with my emphases:

1. Jesus enters Jerusalem. The crowd of disciples accompanies him in festive mood, their garments are stretched out before him, there is talk of the miracles he has accomplished, and loud praises are heard: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Lk 19:38).

Crowds, celebrating, praise, blessing, peace: joy fills the air. Jesus has awakened great hopes, especially in the hearts of the simple, the humble, the poor, the forgotten, those who do not matter in the eyes of the world. He understands human sufferings, he has shown the face of God’s mercy, he has bent down to heal body and soul. Now he enters the Holy City!

It is a beautiful scene, full of light, joy, celebration.

At the beginning of Mass, we repeated all this. We waved our palms, our olive branches, we sang “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord” (Antiphon); we too welcomed Jesus; we too expressed our joy at accompanying him, at knowing him to be close, present in us and among us as a friend, a brother, and also as a King: that is, a shining beacon for our lives. And here the first word that comes to mind is “joy!” Do not be men and women of sadness: a Christian can never be sad! Never give way to discouragement! Ours is not a joy that comes from having many possessions, but from having encountered a Person: Jesus, from knowing that with him we are never alone, even at difficult moments, even when our life’s journey comes up against problems and obstacles that seem insurmountable, and there are so many of them! We accompany, we follow Jesus, but above all we know that he accompanies us and carries us on his shoulders. This is our joy, this is the hope that we must bring to this world of ours. Let us bring the joy of the faith to everyone!

2. But we have to ask: why does Jesus enter Jerusalem? Or better: how does Jesus enter Jerusalem? The crowds acclaim him as King. And he does not deny it, he does not tell them to be silent (cf. Lk 19:39-40). But what kind of a King is Jesus? Let us take a look at him: he is riding on a donkey, he is not accompanied by a court, he is not surrounded by an army as a symbol of power. He is received by humble people, simple folk. Jesus does not enter the Holy City to receive the honours reserved to earthly kings, to the powerful, to rulers; he enters to be scourged, insulted and abused, as Isaiah foretold in the First Reading (cf. Is 50:6). He enters to receive a crown of thorns, a staff, a purple robe: his kingship becomes an object of derision. He enters to climb Calvary, carrying his burden of wood. And this brings us to the second word: Cross. Jesus enters Jerusalem in order to die on the Cross. And it is here that his kingship shines forth in godly fashion: his royal throne is the wood of the Cross! I think of what Benedict XVI said to the cardinals: "You are princes but of a Crucified King"...Jesus says: “I am a King”; but his power is God’s power which confronts the world’s evil and the sin that disfigures man’s face. Jesus takes upon himself the evil, the filth, the sin of the world, including our own sin, and he cleanses it, he cleanses it with his blood, with the mercy and the love of God. Let us look around: how many wounds are inflicted upon humanity by evil! Wars, violence, economic conflicts that hit the weakest, greed for money, which no-one can bring with him, my grandmother would say, no shroud has pockets! Greed for money, power, corruption, divisions, crimes against human life and against creation! Dear friends, we can all conquer the evil that is in us and in the world: with Christ, with the force of good! Do we feel weak, inadequate, powerless? But God is not looking for powerful means: it is through the Cross that he has conquered evil! We must not believe the Evil One when he tells us: you can do nothing to counter violence, corruption, injustice, your sins! We must never grow accustomed to evil! ... And we must not be afraid of sacrifice. Think of a mother or a father: what sacrifices they make! But why? For love! And how do they bear those sacrifices? With joy, because they are made for their loved ones. Christ’s Cross embraced with love does not lead to sadness, but to joy!

3. Today in this Square, there are many young people: for 28 years Palm Sunday has been World Youth Day! This is our third word: youth! Dear young people, I think of you celebrating around Jesus, waving your olive branches. I think of you crying out his name and expressing your joy at being with him! You have an important part in the celebration of faith! You bring us the joy of faith and you tell us that we must live the faith with a young heart, always, even at the age of seventy or eighty.! A young heart! With Christ, the heart never grows old! Yet all of us, all of you know very well that the King whom we follow and who accompanies us is very special: he is a King who loves even to the Cross and who teaches us to serve and to love. And you are not ashamed of his Cross!

On the contrary, you embrace it, because you have understood that it is in giving ourselves that we have true joy and that God has conquered evil through love. You carry the pilgrim Cross through all the Continents, along the highways of the world! You carry it in response to Jesus’ call: “Go, make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19), which is the theme of World Youth Day this year. You carry it so as to tell everyone that on the Cross Jesus knocked down the wall of enmity that divides people and nations, and he brought reconciliation and peace. Dear friends, I too am setting out on a journey with you, from today, in the footsteps of Blessed John Paul II and Benedict XVI. We are already close to the next stage of this great pilgrimage of Christ’s Cross. I look forward joyfully to next July in Rio de Janeiro! I will see you in that great city in Brazil! Prepare well – prepare spiritually above all – in your communities, so that our gathering in Rio may be a sign of faith for the whole world. Young people must tell the world that it is good to follow Jesus, that it is good to love Jesus and that it is good to go out to the preferies of the world and follow Jesus!

Three words: Joy, Cross and Youth.

Let us ask the intercession of the Virgin Mary. She teaches us the joy of meeting Christ, the love with which we must look to the foot of the Cross, the enthusiasm of the young heart with which we must follow him during this Holy Week and throughout our lives. Amen.

A gift for the Bishop

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:01:00 +0000

To celebrate the tenth episcopal anniversary of His Excellency the Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki, a good number of the priests of - or who serve in - the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois concelebrated the Holy Mass last evening with the Bishop in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. More than 250 of the faithful also came to pray with and for the Bishop.

A reception was then held in the Cathedral Rectory for the priests in which they had an opportunity to visit the third floor, the Episcopal Residence. Many priests who had served for decades in the Diocese had not yet been to the third floor and so enjoyed the visit.

In the between the reception and the dinner, the priests who were able to stay after the Mass - or who could attend the dinner but not the Mass - joined His Excellency on the steps of the sanctuary for a photograph to mark the special day:

At the conclusion of the dinner the priests of the Diocese - included many who were unable to join us last evening - presented a gift to the Bishop in gratitude for his pastoral ministry: a new crozier.

The Bishop was touched by the gift and expressed his gratitude to the priests for their pastoral service, together with the joy he experiences at being our Bishop.

This morning I took a full shot of the crozier:

The evening was a most enjoyable one and a great opportunity for priestly fraternity with our Bishop. Congratulations, Bishop Paprocki! Ad multos annos!

My name-day

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:41:00 +0000

Having received the middle name of Joseph, today I join Catholic men across the globe - including His Holiness Benedict XVI - in celebrating my name-day (there is no Saint Daren, or - so far as I can tell - its equivalent).

Over at Vultus Christi, Father Mark shared several prayers to Saint Joseph, one of which I particularly like for today's solemnity:

Saint Joseph,I take you this day as my advocate and defender,my counselor and my friend.Open your heart to meas you opened your home to the Virgin Motherin her hour of need.Protect my holy priesthoodas you protected the life of the Infant Christthreatened by cruel Herod.In darkness bring me light;in weakness, strength,and in fear the peace that passes understanding.For the sake of the tender love that bound youto the Virgin Mary and the Infant Christ,be for me, Saint Joseph, a constant intercessorand a shield against every danger of body, mind, and soulso that, in spite of my weaknesses and sins,my priesthood may bring glory to Christand serve to increase the beauty of holinessin his bride the Church.Amen.

A happy anniversary

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:34:00 +0000

Ten years ago today His Eminence Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., Archbishop of Chicago consecrated His Excellency the Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki a Bishop.

For us here in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, this day is one of many causes for rejoicing:

the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary;
Bishop Paprocki's anniversary, who took Joseph as his Confirmation name;
Pope Francis' inaugural Mass;
and the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey on DVD and BluRay (at least for me).

His Excellency will offer the Holy Mass this evening in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception at 5:15 p.m.

Please join me in congratulating Bishop Paprocki and in praying for him:

O God, eternal shepherd of the faithful,

who tend your Church in countless ways

and rule over her in love,

grant, we pray, that Thomas John, your servant,

whom you have set over your people,

may preside in the place of Christ

over the flock whose shepherd he is,

and be faithful as a teacher of doctrine,

a Priest of sacred worship

and as one who serves them by governing.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Pope: We must not be afraid of goodness, of tenderness!

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 12:55:00 +0000

Via Vatican Radio, here follows the text of the homily preached by His Holiness Pope Francis during the Inaugural Mass for the Petrine Ministry, with my emphases:

Dear Brothers and Sisters, I thank the Lord that I can celebrate this Holy Mass for the inauguration of my Petrine ministry on the solemnity of Saint Joseph, the spouse of the Virgin Mary and the patron of the universal Church. It is a significant coincidence, and it is also the name-day of my venerable predecessor: we are close to him with our prayers, full of affection and gratitude.

I offer a warm greeting to my brother cardinals and bishops, the priests, deacons, men and women religious, and all the lay faithful. I thank the representatives of the other Churches and ecclesial Communities, as well as the representatives of the Jewish community and the other religious communities, for their presence. My cordial greetings go to the Heads of State and Government, the members of the official Delegations from many countries throughout the world, and the Diplomatic Corps.

In the Gospel we heard that “Joseph did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife” (Mt 1:24). These words already point to the mission which God entrusts to Joseph: he is to be the custos, the protector. The protector of whom? Of Mary and Jesus; but this protection is then extended to the Church, as Blessed John Paul II pointed out: “Just as Saint Joseph took loving care of Mary and gladly dedicated himself to Jesus Christ’s upbringing, he likewise watches over and protects Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church, of which the Virgin Mary is the exemplar and model” (Redemptoris Custos, 1).

How does Joseph exercise his role as protector? Discreetly, humbly and silently, but with an unfailing presence and utter fidelity, even when he finds it hard to understand. From the time of his betrothal to Mary until the finding of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem, he is there at every moment with loving care. As the spouse of Mary, he is at her side in good times and bad, on the journey to Bethlehem for the census and in the anxious and joyful hours when she gave birth; amid the drama of the flight into Egypt and during the frantic search for their child in the Temple; and later in the day-to-day life of the home of Nazareth, in the workshop where he taught his trade to Jesus.

How does Joseph respond to his calling to be the protector of Mary, Jesus and the Church? By being constantly attentive to God, open to the signs of God’s presence and receptive to God’s plans, and not simply to his own. This is what God asked of David, as we heard in the first reading. God does not want a house built by men, but faithfulness to his word, to his plan. It is God himself who builds the house, but from living stones sealed by his Spirit. Joseph is a “protector” because he is able to hear God’s voice and be guided by his will; and for this reason he is all the more sensitive to the persons entrusted to his safekeeping. He can look at things realistically, he is in touch with his surroundings, he can make truly wise decisions. In him, dear friends, we learn how to respond to God’s call, readily and willingly, but we also see the core of the Christian vocation, which is Christ! Let us protect Christ in our lives, so that we can protect others, so that we can protect creation!

The vocation of being a “protector”, however, is not just something involving us Christians alone; it also has a prior dimension which is simply human, involving everyone. It means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book of Genesis tells us and as Saint Francis of Assisi showed us. It means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live. It means protecting people, showing loving concern for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about. It means caring for one another in our families: husbands and wives first protect one another, and then, as parents, they care for their children, and children themselves, in time, protect their parents. It means building sincere friendships in which we protect one another in trust, respect, and goodness. In the end, everything has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are responsible for it. Be protectors of God’s gifts!

Whenever human beings fail to live up to this responsibility, whenever we fail to care for creation and for our brothers and sisters, the way is opened to destruction and hearts are hardened. Tragically, in every period of history there are “Herods” who plot death, wreak havoc, and mar the countenance of men and women.

Please, I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: let us be “protectors” of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment. Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance of this world! But to be “protectors”, we also have to keep watch over ourselves! Let us not forget that hatred, envy and pride defile our lives! Being protectors, then, also means keeping watch over our emotions, over our hearts, because they are the seat of good and evil intentions: intentions that build up and tear down! We must not be afraid of goodness or even tenderness!

Here I would add one more thing: caring, protecting, demands goodness, it calls for a certain tenderness. In the Gospels, Saint Joseph appears as a strong and courageous man, a working man, yet in his heart we see great tenderness, which is not the virtue of the weak but rather a sign of strength of spirit and a capacity for concern, for compassion, for genuine openness to others, for love. We must not be afraid of goodness, of tenderness!
Today, together with the feast of Saint Joseph, we are celebrating the beginning of the ministry of the new Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Peter, which also involves a certain power. Certainly, Jesus Christ conferred power upon Peter, but what sort of power was it? Jesus’ three questions to Peter about love are followed by three commands: feed my lambs, feed my sheep. Let us never forget that authentic power is service, and that the Pope too, when exercising power, must enter ever more fully into that service which has its radiant culmination on the Cross. He must be inspired by the lowly, concrete and faithful service which marked Saint Joseph and, like him, he must open his arms to protect all of God’s people and embrace with tender affection the whole of humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison (cf. Mt 25:31-46). Only those who serve with love are able to protect!

In the second reading, Saint Paul speaks of Abraham, who, “hoping against hope, believed” (Rom 4:18). Hoping against hope! Today too, amid so much darkness, we need to see the light of hope and to be men and women who bring hope to others. To protect creation, to protect every man and every woman, to look upon them with tenderness and love, is to open up a horizon of hope; it is to let a shaft of light break through the heavy clouds; it is to bring the warmth of hope! For believers, for us Christians, like Abraham, like Saint Joseph, the hope that we bring is set against the horizon of God, which has opened up before us in Christ. It is a hope built on the rock which is God.

To protect Jesus with Mary, to protect the whole of creation, to protect each person, especially the poorest, to protect ourselves: this is a service that the Bishop of Rome is called to carry out, yet one to which all of us are called, so that the star of hope will shine brightly. Let us protect with love all that God has given us!

I implore the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Saints Peter and Paul, and Saint Francis, that the Holy Spirit may accompany my ministry, and I ask all of you to pray for me! Amen.

Pope Francis' Coat of Arms

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:47:00 +0000

The Holy See has quietly published the coat of arms of His Holiness Pope Francis in the section of the official web site devoted to his writings and preaching:

His motto remains the same: miserando atque eligendo, "lowly and yet chosen".