The Holy Father observed a Vigil For Nascent Human Life last night, in a service coinciding with the First Vespers of Advent. He'd asked people world-wide to kick off Advent with prayers for the unborn. WaPo noticed.Here's a snip or two from the homily:
The beginning of the liturgical year helps us to relive the expectation of God made flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary, God who makes himself small, He becomes a child, it speaks to us of the coming of a God who is near, who wanted to experience the life of man, from the very beginning, to save it completely, fully. And so the mystery of the Incarnation of the Lord and the beginning of human life are intimately connected and in harmony with each other within the one saving plan of God, the Lord of life of each and every one of us. The Incarnation reveals to us, with intense light and in an amazing way, that every human life has an incomparable, a most elevated dignity.And:
There are cultural tendencies that seek to anesthetize consciences with misleading motivations. With regard to the embryo in the womb, science itself highlights its autonomy capable of interaction with the mother, the coordination of biological processes, the continuity of development, the growing complexity of the organism. This is not an accumulation of biological material, but a new living being, dynamic and wonderfully ordered, a new unique human being. So was Jesus in Mary's womb, so it was for all of us in our mother’s womb. With the ancient Christian writer Tertullian we can say: "he who will be a man is already one," there is no reason not to consider him a person from conception.Here is this morning's Angelus, in which he reflects on waiting.
Our whole personal, familial and social existence passes through this dimension of waiting. Waiting is something that is present in a 1,000 situations, from the smallest and most banal to the most important, which draw us in completely and in the deepest way. Among these, we think of a husband and wife waiting for a child; of waiting for a relative or friend who is coming from far away to visit us; we think of a young person waiting to know his grade on a major exam or the outcome of a job interview; in romantic relationships, of waiting to meet the beloved person, of waiting for a letter, or of receiving forgiveness... One could say that man is alive so long as he waits, so long as hope is alive in his heart.Well...that puts a whole other spin on Black Friday! Or maybe not:
man is able to recognize that what he waits for and what he hopes for discloses something about his moral and spiritual "stature."What are you waiting for?
Everyone of us, therefore, especially in this season in which we prepare for Christmas, can ask himself: What am I waiting for? For what, in this moment of my life, does my heart long? And this same question can be posed at the level of the family, of the community, of the nation. What are we waiting for, together? What unifies our aspirations, what do they have in common?He seems to suggest that what you find depends on what you are looking for...or give up looking for.
Potpourri:
In spite of the lengthy list just yesterday, there is a little bit.
- Canada: hosted a debate about religion between Tony Blair & Hitch. ninme with details.
- Great Britain: This moving account of one of our new Anglican brothers' last homily in the CofE. Click through and read his sermon. Made me cry, and when he was done he laid his mitre & crozier at the feet of Our Lady. Also: that poster at the top is part of a controversial ad campaign in the UK.
- Italy: The B16 Foundation!
- U.S. Whole 'nother take on the war on Christmas; Christmas is winning, by the way.
