In Baptism, the Lord does for us what he did for the man we met in today’s Gospel. He opens our ears and looses our tongues!

In Baptism, the Lord does for us what he did for the man we met in today’s Gospel. He opens our ears and looses our tongues!

Here are several suggested ways school children can participate in the Our Lady of Fatima Rosary Congress.

A website devoted to the promotion of Rosary Congresses across the United States is providing resources to parishes, schools and dioceses that wish to host the seven-day period of prayer and reflection.

In observation of the Oct. 3-9 Archdiocese of Baltimore Rosary Congress, the Archdiocese of Baltimore encourages parishes to inform parishioners of events happening at the Baltimore Basilica and to organize their own activities.

Notice how Jesus resolutely found time to withdraw from the crowds to pray… that is what Jesus did whenever he retreated to a deserted place, even though the crowds were pressing in upon him. Therefore, pray resolutely!

The pastor’s role is to set the stage for that encounter and to bring it about in the lives of each of his parishioners and in the parish community as a whole, encounters with the living Christ, encounters that are powerful and transformative, encounters that free us up to become the persons and community God calls us to be.

When the Word of God is proclaimed, Jesus speaks. When Baptism is administered, Jesus begins to live in us. When the Eucharist is celebrated, Jesus is truly present.

I am heartbroken by the increasingly violent events occurring in Afghanistan and the senseless loss of precious life.

Acts of terror are an attack against all of us and have no place in a civilized or just society.

Me encuentro muy afligido por los eventos cada vez más violentos que ocurren en Afganistán y la insensata pérdida de vidas preciosas.

In this Year of the Eucharist, you have an opportunity to reach for the stars, to introduce our young people more profoundly into this sacred mystery, “this sacred banquet in which Christ is received, the memory of his Passion is renewed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.” Let us in God’s grace reach for the stars! May God bless you and keep you in his love!

So, gazing again at the dome, it lifts our spirits upward, as if to say to us with wordless beauty that, if we follow Christ on earth, we, not unlike Mary, will reign with him in heaven.
