Corpus Christi: Evidence that God is Love

VATICAN CITY (VIS) - At midday Sunday, before praying the Angelus with thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square, the Pope dedicated some remarks to the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, which is being celebrated today in various countries and "in which the Sacrament of the Lord's Body is borne in solemn procession".

At the heart of this feast, the Pope explained, "is the sign of the bread, fruit of the earth and the heavens. Hence the Eucharistic bread is the visible sign of He in Whom heavens and earth, God and man, were joined and made one".

"The Solemnity of Corpus Christi is intimately associated with Easter and with Pentecost: its premise is the death and resurrection of Jesus and the effusion of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore it is directly linked to the Feast of the Blessed Trinity, which was celebrated last Sunday. Only because God Himself is a 'God of relation' is it possible to have a relationship with Him; and only because He is love can He love and be loved. Thus Corpus Christi is an expression of God, it is evidence that God is love. In a unique way this feast speaks to us of divine love, of what it is and what it does".

"Love transforms all things", said Benedict XVI, "and hence we can understand why, at the heart of today's Feast of Corpus Christi, lies the mystery of transubstantiation, the sign of Jesus-Charity that transforms the world. By looking at Him and adoring Him, we are saying: yes, love exists, and because it exists things can change for the better and we may hope.

"It is the hope that arises from the love of Christ that gives us the strength to live and to face up to difficulties", the Holy Father added. "That is why we sing as we carry the Blessed Sacrament in procession; we sing and we praise God Who revealed Himself by hiding Himself in the sign of the broken bread. We all need this Bread because the journey towards freedom, justice and peace is long and tiring".

He then called upon the faithful to imagine "with how much faith and love the Virgin must have received and adored the Blessed Eucharist in her heart. For her, each time was like reliving the entire mystery of her Son Jesus, from conception to resurrection". Then, after recalling how John Paul II had described Mary as "Eucharistic woman", Pope Benedict concluded by encouraging people to learn from her "to renew our communion with the Body of Christ, in order to love one another as He loved us".

Watch Wednesday's installation of Archbishop Carlson

Watch Wednesday's 2 p.m. installation of Archbishop Robert J. Carlson locally on EWTN or online at www.CatholicTV.com or http://www.archstl.org/.



Carlson will be installed as the 10th ordinary and 9th Archbishop of St. Louis. He served as the fifth Bishop from 2005 until his appointment to St. Louis on April 21.

Pope: Name of the Holy Trinity is engraved in the universe

VATICAN CITY (VIS) - In his remarks preceding the June 7 Angelus, the Holy Father spoke of the three Solemnities celebrated after Pentecost: Trinity Sunday which fell June 7, Corpus Christi on Thursday and the Feast of the Sacred Heart on Friday of next week.

"Each of these liturgical feasts", the Holy Father told the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square, "focuses on an aspect that embraces the entire mystery of the Christian faith, respectively: the reality of the One Triune God, the Sacrament of the Eucharist and the divine-human centre of the Person of Christ. In truth, these are all aspects of the one mystery of salvation" and "comprehend the entire span of Jesus' revelation from incarnation to death and resurrection, unto His ascension and the gift of the Holy Spirit".

Benedict XVI went on, we contemplate the Holy Trinity "just asJesus revealed it to us. He showed us that God is love 'not in the unity of a single person, but in the Trinity of a single substance'". Thus He is "Creator and merciful Father; only-begotten Son, eternal Wisdom incarnate Who died and rose again for us; and finally, Holy Spirit Who moves everything, universe and history, towards the final recapitulation.

"Three Persons Who are one God", the Pope added, "because the Father is love, the Son is love and the Spirit is love. God is entirely and only love, pure love, infinite and eternal. He does not live in splendid solitude, rather He is the never-ending source of life Who incessantly gives and communicates Himself. We may get some idea of this by observing both the macro universe (our earth, the planets, the stars and galaxies) and the micro universe (cells, atoms, elementary particles). In a certain way the 'name' of the Holy Trinity is engraved on everything that exists, because all being, down to the smallest particle, exists in relation to others".

Thus we see the "God of relation", thus in the final instance we see "creative Love. Everything comes from love, tends towards love and moves impelled by love, though naturally with differing degrees of awareness and freedom".

"The strongest proof that we are made in the image and likeness of the Trinity is this: only love can make us happy, because we live in relation to others, we live to love and to be loved. Using an analogy taken from biology we could say that the human beings carry in their 'genomes' the profound traces of the Trinity, of God-Love", the Holy Father concluded.

Archbishop Carlson ordained three priests for the Diocese of Saginaw

SAGINAW -- Archbishop-elect Robert J. Carlson ordained three priests to serve the Diocese of Saginaw during a 1 p.m. Mass today at St. Stephen in Saginaw.

Carlson, who was appointed to lead the Diocese of Saginaw in December 2004, will be installed as Archbishop of Saint Louis, Mo., on June 10. With today's ordinations, he now leaves the Diocese of Saginaw 11 new priests -- nearly 20 percent of the active presbyterate.

The diocese newest priests include:

Father David Jenuwine, 47, (pictured second from right), is a Detroit native. He held careers as a researcher for General Motors and as a linguist for the U.S. Navy before he pursued God's call to the priesthood following a discernment retreat at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit in 2001. He holds electrical engineering degrees from General Motors Institute and Purdue University in addition to a Christian ministry and theology degree from Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, and a master's in divinity from St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. Father Jenuwine has been assigned as associate pastor at Sacred Heart, Mt. Pleasant, with residence at St. Mary University Parish, Mt. Pleasant, effective July 1.

Father Thai Hung Nguyen, 55, (pictured far right), is a native of Vietnam. In 1980, he fled his home country as one of the many "boat people" who escaped the Communist nation following the Vietnam War. After being rescued by a German freighter, he lived and worked as a refugee in Germany for 18 years. He left Germany for the United States after a 1997 pilgrimage to Medjugorie, Bosnia, rekindled the call to the priesthood he first felt when he was 10 years old. He has studied at Sacred Heart Seminary, spent a semester in Rome, and at Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell, Conn. Father Nguyen has been assigned as chaplain at St. Mary’s of Michigan Hospital, Saginaw, and in-residence at Holy Family, Saginaw, effective July 1.

Father José Parra, 32, (pictured far left), is a native of Chiquinquira, Colombia. Although he has felt the Lord's call to the priesthood since he was 9 years old, Father José worked as a salesman and electrician before he enrolled in St. Joseph Seminary in Tunja, Colombia. He came to the Diocese of Saginaw in 2007 after meeting then-Bishop Carlson through the Messengers of Peace religious community, which the bishop founded in Colombia. He studied English at Saginaw Valley State University and earned his master's of divinity degree from St. Vincent Seminary in Latrobe, Pa. Father José has been assigned as associate pastor at St. Thomas Aquinas, Saginaw, effective July 1.

The Diocese of Saginaw is home to an estimated 119,000 Catholics worshiping in 105 parish communities throughout Arenac, Bay, Clare, Gladwin, Gratiot, Huron, Isabella, Midland, Saginaw, Sanilac, and Tuscola counties.

Bishop Cistone on TV 12

Bishop Cistone talked to WJRT TV-12 about the sexual abuse scandal and his commitment to protect children and young people.

Watch TV-12's the story at http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/local&id=6848711

Archbishop Carlson will serve as Apostolic Administrator

SAGINAW - Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Archbishop Robert J. Carlson as Apostolic Administrator of the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw following his installation as Archbishop of Saint Louis on June 10 until the installation of Bishop Joseph R. Cistone as the sixth Bishop of Saginaw on July 28.

U.S. Bishops express 'profound regret' about shooting death of abortion doctor

WASHINGTON (USCCB) — Speaking on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, expressed profound regret upon learning of the shooting death of abortion doctor George Tiller.

"Our bishops' conference and all its members have repeatedly and publicly denounced all forms of violence in our society, including abortion as well as the misguided resort to violence by anyone opposed to abortion," Cardinal Rigali said.

"Such killing is the opposite of everything we stand for, and everything we want our culture to stand for: respect for the life of each and every human being from its beginning to its natural end. We pray for Dr. Tiller and his family."