A Hyper-powered New Epoch is Emerging in Our World

"True patriotism never seeks to advance the well-being of one's own nation at the expense of others. For in the end this would harm one's own nation as well: doing wrong damages both aggressor and victim" (Saint John Paul II, Speech to United Nations, 1995).

Thirty years later, it is even more clear that nations must collaborate for the well-being of the whole human family and our earthly home... indeed, for the very survival of these. Collaboration, however, cannot be manufactured by a global totalitarian system (see the monstrous failed experiments of the last century). Not will it come about by the magic of some "invisible hand," as the unsought consequence of nations closing in on themselves, betraying cooperative commitments, and limiting themselves to making transactional "deals" with each other that are inherently unstable and ignore the needs of the rest of the world.

We inhabit local places directly, but we have reached out to wider geographic places by the technological "extensions" of our presence via rapid and facile mobility, enhanced electronic communications, and all the engagements and activities they make possible. We have unprecedented and astonishing possibilities in this 21st century which inevitably involve us in an exponentially bigger "space," drawing us to reach out in exploration toward greater understanding, empathy, and real communicative connection with other persons over great distances.

The human "reach," however, remains limited in the temporal realm, even with all the "extensions" of transportation and communication that make us in some respects "larger" but also carry the danger of misshaping  our spatio-temporal ground, distracting and distorting our perception, and over-extending and exhausting our capacities. As bodily persons, we need some kind of locality. The vast majority of us need a strong local foundation for a dignified human life with its proximate physical needs and its engagement with firm integral human relationships. 

Fundamentally, there are the relationships that originate from and are generated by our natural bodily persons. This refers to the proper features of our "historical" roots and expression-by-self-giving that move through time in the lineage of our families, wherein we receive the gift of human life and give it to others, thereby "living" an organic bodily-personal "extension" from past-to-present-to-future and collaborating naturally in the intergenerational history of the whole human family. For embodied personal existence, this also entails the gifts and responsibilities of human formation, concrete care, and the most specific forms of love by which as bodily persons we naturally participate in the "movement" of human history. 

We all are involved in at least some features of this lineage and the personal bonds built by it (by our origin from our parents, and at least "mediately" through extended family bonds or those very real bonds forged by the profound human "re-generative decision" of adoption). Furthermore, basic human community is facilitated by local, physical proximity that is usually essential for at least the security of fundamental physical needs, but also provides a larger space for interpersonal and communal life constituted by the freedom and creativity of people sharing life together in a given, natural fashion. Human beings are thus "naturally networked," and this is what has inspired us to develop further techniques of "networking" with wider spaces and more distant peoples and activities - by traveling, by hospitality, by study, and by communications media.

It is essential to our humanity that we continue to have families, communities, nations, and peoples whose own responsibilities and actions must be respected and valued according to the principle of subsidiarity. At the same time, the various spheres of subsidiary action naturally seek to be interconnected and at the service of one another through a conscious and vital solidarity. 

We find ourselves today in a whole world of unprecedented mutual dependence, co-involvement, and - thanks to the ongoing technological revolution - a proximity to one another over distances that can be enriching in many ways but also strange, partial and ephemeral, easily misunderstood, and sometimes invasive or too much to handle. It's easy to lose our balance, our sense of place, and become isolated. We are also caught up more and more in systems we don't understand, and  sustained by powers we do not know. We are still limited and ignorant of many things in a world whose interdependence benefits some at the expense of others, with new forms of oppressive poverty, and possibly new reckless experiments of thoughtless plundering of the physical world. These new forms of violence are among the most imminent dangers that threaten all of us in the hyper-powered emergence of this new epoch in human history.

For the whole human family to flourish today and tomorrow, we must grow in the awareness that the earth is the common home of everyone, and that we are all brothers and sisters. We must remember that the physical creation is good, and that it has been entrusted to us to contemplate the wisdom and beauty of its Origin through all the intrinsic, diverse, and interrelated significance of created things (with their mysterious, constitutive, distinctive qualities as signs of the unfathomable Divine omnipotence and gratuitousness).

The world has also been entrusted to the freedom of our creative work to understand and further its vital development - with a freedom informed by wisdom and responsibility, attention, care, and restraint in governing our own ambitions as we develop harmoniously and reap with gratitude the fruits of creative things.

We can only be stewards of creation together, as children of God, as brothers and sisters of His Son who draws all things to Himself by the Holy Spirit. Indeed, this "fraternity" - this communion of persons - is who we are called to be, together.

"A Love That Wanted Us..."

"Our existence did not originate from our decision, but from a love that wanted us... a love that precedes us, surprises us and is infinitely greater than us: the love of God" (Pope Leo XIV).

Pope Leo's Message to "Digital Missionaries"

Pope Leo’s message to the Jubilee for Digital Missionaries and Catholic Influencers is not only an extraordinarily rich statement, it also shows that he knows the Internet and recognizes it as a reality with specific possibilities as well as problems and dangers. He encourages us to witness to Jesus in these digital spaces, recognize Him in others, and “nurture a culture of Christian humanism” in these new technological environments as they continue to develop. I want to remember the wisdom and the challenges he sets before us here, so I'm going to post his words for my own reference, and — of course — for anyone else who reads this blog and might benefit from them. Here is a substantial portion of the message of July 29th, courtesy of the Vatican website:

1. This is the mission that the Church entrusts to each of you who have come to Rome for your Jubilee. You are here to renew your commitment to nourish Christian hope in social networks and online spaces.  Peace needs to be sought, proclaimed, and shared everywhere, both in the places where we see the tragedy of war and in the empty hearts of those who have lost the meaning of life and the desire for introspection and the spiritual life.  Perhaps, today more than ever, we need missionary disciples who convey the gift of the Risen Lord to the world; who voice to the ends of the earth the hope that Jesus gives us (cf. Acts 1:3-8); and who go wherever there is a heart that waits, seeks, and is in need. Yes, to the ends of the earth, to the farthest reaches, where there is no hope.

2. There is a second challenge in this mission: always look for the ‘suffering flesh of Christ’ in every brother and sister you encounter online.  Today we find ourselves in a new culture, deeply characterized and formed by technology.  It is up to us – it is up to each one of you – to ensure that this culture remains human. Science and technology influence the way we live in the world, even affecting how we understand ourselves and how we relate to God, how we relate to one another.  But nothing that comes from man and his creativity should be used to undermine the dignity of others.  Our mission – your mission – is to nurture a culture of Christian humanism, and to do so together. This is the beauty of the ‘network’ for all of us. Faced with cultural changes throughout history, the Church has never remained passive; she has always sought to illuminate every age with the light and hope of Christ by discerning good from evil and what was good from what needed to be changed, transformed, and purified. Today we are in a culture where the technological dimension is present in almost everything, especially as the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence will mark a new era in the lives of individuals and society as a whole.  This is a challenge that we must face: reflecting on the authenticity of our witness, on our ability to listen and speak, and on our capacity to understand and to be understood.  We have a duty to work together to develop a way of thinking, to develop a language, of our time, that gives voice to Love. It is not simply a matter of generating content, but of creating an encounter of hearts.  This will entail seeking out those who suffer, those who need to know the Lord, so that they may heal their wounds, get back on their feet and find meaning in their lives.  Above all, this process begins with accepting our own poverty, letting go of all pretense and recognizing our own inherent need for the Gospel.  And this process is a communal endeavor. 

3. This brings us to the third invitation in this mission, which I extend to all of you: ‘go and mend the nets.’ Jesus called his first apostles while they were mending their fishing nets (cf. Mt 4:21-22). He asks the same of us today. Indeed, he asks us to weave other nets: networks of relationships, of love, of gratuitous sharing where friendship is profound and authentic; networks where we can mend what has been broken, heal from loneliness, not focus on the number of followers, but experience the greatness of infinite Love in every encounter; networks that give space to others more than to ourselves, where no ‘bubble’ can silence the voices of the weakest; networks that liberate and save; networks that help us rediscover the beauty of looking into each other’s eyes; networks of truth.  In this way, every story of shared goodness will be a knot in a single, immense network: the network of networks, the network of God. Be agents of communion, capable of breaking down the logic of division and polarization, of individualism and egocentrism.  Centre yourselves on Christ, so as to overcome the logic of the world, of fake news, of frivolity, with the beauty and light of Truth (cf. Jn 8:31-32). 

Before concluding with a blessing and commending your witness to the Lord, I would like to thank you for all the good you have done and continue to do in your lives: for pursuing your dreams, for your love for the Lord Jesus and your love for the Church, for the help you give to those who suffer, and for your journey along the virtual highways. 

Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione — Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Freedom From “The Grasp of the Powers-That-Be”

I am continually learning the truth that Father Giussani always emphasized about the concrete meaning and fulfillment of our existence. We discover our true freedom and identity in belonging to Jesus Christ, through whom we become children of the Father in the Spirit, and are raised up to a participation in the eternal life of the Triune God who is Infinite Love. This is the destiny for which each one of us was created. Either we live in the freedom of relationship with the God who gives Himself to us, or we live as slaves of dehumanizing idols shaped by the powers who aspire to be the masters of this world.

Following Christ awakens us to a greater intelligence of reality and this also empowers us to become our true selves. Christ enables us to be free from the lies, distortions, and manipulation imposed by those who hold power — those who seek to impoverish our humanity and do violence to the dignity of our integral human vocation.

The Friend of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus

Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Martha of Bethany along with her sister Saint Mary of Bethany and their brother Saint Lazarus (the latter two were recently added to Martha's feast, as all three were disciples and friends of Jesus who have distinct roles in the Gospel). We often hear the story of Martha's "anxiousness in the kitchen," but the culmination of her relationship with Jesus is manifested in a powerful way in the days following the death of her brother.

After Lazarus died, many people came to Martha and Mary to mourn with them. Jesus had waited until this time to go to the household of these dear friends in Bethany, whom he loved with a deep human affection. The surrounding people knew that Martha, Mary, and Lazarus were dear to Jesus, and wondered why he had not come sooner and healed Lazarus of his illness. Martha and Mary themselves carried this question within their hearts, but continued to hope in Jesus. 

In this great Gospel text of John 11, Martha is led to a deeper faith; she is given the grace to recognize and confess that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior. When Jesus reveals himself to her as "the Resurrection and the Life," he addresses Martha's freedom: "Do you believe this?" When Martha says "Yes," she moves beyond her view of Jesus as a prophet within the context of Israel's hope for "the Last Day." Like Peter in Matthew 16, Martha expresses a new kind of faith in the presence of Jesus in her immediate history, that he is the Messiah, the hope of Israel and the world, the hope of victory over death itself:

"When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.' Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise.' Martha said to him, 'I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.' Jesus told her, 'I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?' She said to him, 'Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.' " (John 11:19-27).

“Let Us Not Cease to Pray…”

"The Lord always listens to us when we pray to him. If he sometimes responds in ways or at times that are difficult to understand, it is because he acts with wisdom and providence, which are beyond our understanding. Even in these moments, then, let us not cease to pray — and pray with confidence — for in him we will always find light and strength" (Pope Leo XIV).

It's Grandparents' Day!

"Today we celebrate the Fifth World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, centered on the theme: 'Blessed are those who have not lost hope.' Let us look to grandparents and the elderly as witnesses of hope, capable of showing the path for new generations. Let us not leave them alone, but instead, form a bond of love and prayer with them" (Pope Leo XIV).

Witnesses of hope. Sometimes we don’t feel that way, but hope is not just a feeling. We have traveled for years, for decades, on the road of perseverance even if our journey is not yet completed. We have learned many lessons about who deserves our trust, no matter what. Indeed, by God’s infinite mercy, we are witnesses of hope. Yet we continue the journey, dear young people, and we want to walk with you. We can help one another.

We know the limited character of earthly success; we have also failed many times; we know how crushing the burden of failure feels; we have lived a whole lot of life with joy and also affliction and endurance. Through it all we "have not lost hope."

This is not because we are "good at hoping" or have adopted an ideology of optimism. Rather we have found again and again that we are being drawn and carried by Another, who gives us being and life, who calls us each by name, who shapes our path toward a mysterious and glorious fulfillment. We belong to this Other, not because we deserve or earn this belonging. Rather He has grabbed hold of our lives because He loves us, and in everything He stirs up in our hearts the awareness and capacity to trust in Him.

Many elderly people are lonely. Sometimes the "lonely" have more inner strength and resilience than you might think, because they know they belong to Christ, and they hope in Him. But loneliness can be very hard. Dear young people, give the elderly your time and your companionship.

It's beautiful for young people and the elderly to "form a bond of love and prayer" between them. We have been entrusted to one another and we need one another.

I am grateful for the faces of my precious grandchildren. I am grateful for the precious time I spend with them.

Is JJ a "Digital Missionary" or "Catholic Influencer"?

The end of July marks a "Jubilee event" in Rome for "Digital Missionaries and Catholic Influencers" — people who use the Internet and social media to witness to the Gospel, reaching out to all the spaces on the "Digital Continent."

Do I "fit in" here?

There are lots of young people who have taken up this task consciously and enthusiastically. They identify with these terms, and they produce polished, high quality audiovisual content. I have come to "know" some of them (through online communication) and I appreciate the value of what they do. Especially during the Pandemic, they provided "spaces" for connection, often live streaming events for music and prayer that brought quarantined people all over the world "together." Those times were precious, surprising experiences of our closeness within Christ's Mystical Body, even when separated by vast distances.

These young people know the roads of the Internet. They know how to use the tech. They're "new media" savvy. But "blogs" are included...

I am a blogger, I guess. But what am I really doing? I'm a university professor, long "pre-maturely retired" due to debilitating illnesses which I have described many times on this blog. I'm a writer, who sort of accidentally stumbled upon blogging in 2011. Sometimes my blog is my "creative workshop" for material that I'm thinking about or working on (including experiments in photographic and pictorial art). Sometimes my blog is like a little "classroom" in which I seek to do something that resembles "teaching." Not many people read it. 

Am I "influencing" anybody?

I'm not a "native" of the Digital Continent. I'm more like a "refugee," who came here after nearly fifty years, because I had nowhere else to go. I have seen the great possibilities for communication, and made use of them as best as I can. I have tried to make a "place" here, rather than taking up a conscious project. A place where I can "be," and open up myself — my mind and my heart — to others who might find me in this place. Here I am: long-winded, awkward, a bit preposterous, melodramatic, sometimes troubled, with a whole lot running around in my brain, and of course the talents and experience I’ve been given. I’m writing about my life as a human person, an incurable intellectual, a husband, father, and grandfather, and someone who benefits from and/or struggles with the many factors of these particular times. I also share what I think are worthwhile resources... and my attempts at art (for what they're worth).

And of course I witness to Jesus Christ. I witness to my hope in Him. What is my life without Him? Yes, I want to communicate "messages of hope and love," the hope and love that I need for my own broken, sinful life — I know that the truth about life, the source of freedom, the reason for hope is the merciful love of God, and that others need Him too. We are all human. We are all created by God, redeemed by Jesus, called to be brothers and sisters.

This is a "digital platform" and I am putting myself "out here" as I am, with my struggles and my hope. I am a witness to hope and love. I have hope, because I have been loved.

I'm not good at interacting with media. I have the old-fashioned habits of a writer — habits that are leftover from the ancient world of print culture, the world of books and journals, magazines and newspapers, the world that Marshall McLuhan called "the Gutenberg Galaxy." But I'm on the Internet and I'm trying to reach people, even if it's just a few people. As for “AI,” I’m not even sure what that is, but it’s here and it’s coming even more… so what can I say? I’ll do what I can with it. Bring it on!

I'm a Catholic Christian human person who has been sharing his life on this blog for — wow! — fourteen years. And I can't help sharing about Jesus. He is the life of my life.

I suppose this makes me a Digital Missionary.

Saint James the Apostle

July 25: Happy Feast of Saint James, first martyr among the Apostles!

"King Herod laid hands upon some members of the church to harm them. He had James, the brother of John, killed by the sword" (Acts 12:2).

"We who live are constantly being given up to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh" (2 Corinthians 4:11).

Jesus said, "Whoever wishes to be great among you

shall be your servant;

whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.

Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served

but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28).

With My Every Breath, You Are Near...

God gives us everything. Right now, we exist because He is giving us the very reality of ourselves.

His love gives me each breath that I take. Even if all I have is that breath, it is a wondrous thing. I want to be grateful for every breath, even the laborious ones, even the breaths that I feel like I'd rather not take.

Lord, even when I don't feel grateful, 

even when I feel angry or frustrated 
or humiliated or empty, 
or when I think I don't want to live anymore, 
give me gratitude for the wonder of you, 
in whose image I am made,
you who alone know the secret of who I am.

Enable me, whatever the awful darkness, 
to be grateful, 
to hold on to your mercy and goodness and love, 
or when it seems like I can't even reach out to you, 
to allow you to hold onto me 
and carry me in this black night. 
I'm blind and torn and fighting 
and I feel like running away because it's all so strange.

Don't let go, Lord. Don't let me be alone.

You love me even when I don't remember you, 
can't see you, can't feel you, 
can't imagine how hope could be possible in life, 
how there could be anything other than the pain 
and more pain and more pain...

Even when I am far from you and losing myself, 
you are near. 
With my every breath, 
with every stirring of my frame 
and movement of my soul, 
you are near.

God, find me! 
God, find me!

The Pope Calls Buzz Aldrin on Moon Landing Anniversary

I’m geeking out!

On July 20, 1969, Bob Prevost was a 13-year-old kid in Chicago. I was a 6-year-old kid in New York. We both did the same thing on that evening: we watched on our televisions as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first and second human beings to set foot on the surface of the Moon.

There were two unprecedented events on that day. One was the first moon landing. The other was the first global live television broadcast. The first was an amazing achievement that — whatever complex motives drove the space race — was a moment of wonder for kids like us, not only in the U.S.A. but all over the world. The second was a “giant leap” for audiovisual communications media that in some way allowed us all to “participate” in this event.

In 2025 Pope Leo video-called the 95-year-old Aldrin, the only surviving Apollo 11 astronaut. Leo posted, “together we shared the memory of a historic feat.” It is a memory that I also share, a pivotal childhood memory of an event that “involved me” through broadcast TV. Indeed, it was an event that pointed to the mystery of Creation.

Have I Become a Mediocre Old Man?

When I look at myself after six-decades-and-two-and-a-half years of life, it's hard to avoid the crushing sense that I have become a mediocre old man. Forty years ago, I had dreams of greatness, and I have accomplished a few things in this world, but in pursuing these ambitions I have continually crashed into the limits of myself. 

I have seen how deep my own selfishness and stupidity can be, and yet I have also tried to love! But my love has been small and inadequate. I have been afraid of the great risks, I have stayed in "the safe lane," I have lived more in fear than in love, and when I invested my love, I always hedged my bets.

This is a depressing reckoning, but I think many people my age are wrestling with this kind of perception of themselves. It would indeed be crushing if I thought it was the last word on my life, if I thought it defined my value as a human being.

But there is something else that is more important than my broken ego, or my inability to "justify myself."

The grace and the calling and the beauty of God have been so abundantly showered upon me in my life. And God’s love has "broken through" the limits of my mediocrity. 

When I remember His love, I am astonished, humbled, and grateful. Ultimately, I am not defeated by disappointment. Rather, I am overcome by gratitude. I know that if I have accomplished anything truly well, if I have ever truly given myself in love (in a way that goes beyond the impenetrable murky mess of my own life and the efforts of my own feeble power), it is because of the action of this grace in my soul.

Grace and mercy.

What of all the failures of the past? I bring the whole mess of it to the Lord, with repentance and sorrow. I abandon the past and the future to God, who in His mercy will turn all of it to the good, if only I trust in Him and love Him, now, today.

My love will still (mostly) be tinged with selfishness, but the miracle is the wonder, the fascination, the recognition and response to God that He begins to engender within my poor love by His healing and transforming grace.

The real story of my life is the mysterious story of what His grace and mercy are accomplishing in me as I beg for His presence, as I seek to adhere to Him and trust in Him and let myself be embraced by Him who has become flesh. Jesus Christ.

I am truly sorry for all my years of selfishness, of holding back, of distancing myself, of chasing the vanity of ambitions that lead only to cynicism and bitterness. I "firmly resolve" to "do penance and amend my life,"  but this is not another self-affirming project. I know that I am poor. I must listen more and let myself be loved by Him. My hope is not in any power that I can give to myself.

My hope is in Him. My hope is in Jesus Christ. By His grace, I hope to adhere to Him whose redeeming love is greater than my weakness, who has loved me from the beginning, who never gives up on me.

The Wellspring of Life or The Conformism of Power?

"God revealed the person’s destiny by revealing himself; he made known the name of human destiny through his presence; he intervened in order to remind us that he is the destiny of each one, the unum capable of making our life more human. And history is the long story of the reshaping of human pride, which tends to make its own image of its destiny, which tends to base the constitutive factors of its physiognomy on its total autonomy."

Human pride has asserted itself as the measure of meaning and the autonomous fabricator of the self, of the value of things, of relationships, of destiny. But "when God is eliminated as the wellspring and the law of life, reality becomes incomprehensible, elusive, precisely at the point which should be the center of awareness: the I. And so, with such confusion, the only energy that allows the natural propensity of people to come together and communicate seems to be that which is guaranteed by power, in its double modes of conformism and instrumentalization."

~Luigi Giussani 

Kateri: The “Lily of the Mohawks”

The story of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, the "Lily of the Mohawks,” is dear to people of every heritage, but especially to Catholic Native Americans. Her brief life and luminous soul were a response to the Gospel being brought to the American northeast, and were formed by the witness of both the European missionaries and the baptized Native Americans who had come to know and love Christ before her.

Tekakwitha was born in 1656 in the Mohawk village of Ossernenon in present-day northern New York State. Her father was a high-ranking Mohawk chief, but her mother was Algonquin, a captive taken in a recent war, who had been catechized and baptized by French Jesuits. No one knows what mysterious communication took place between mother and daughter during the first four years of Tekakwitha's life. But it was through her own mother that Jesus first looked upon Tekakwitha with love.

Her parents died in a ravaging smallpox epidemic in 1660, and she was adopted by her uncle. Although she was scarred and partially blinded by the disease, Tekakwitha leamed to embroider and sew and carry out the tasks expected of a girl of high rank, and in due time her adoptive family sought to arrange a worthy marriage for her. But the young girl spurned all their efforts. They did not understand that she had already been touched and called by her true Spouse. The seed planted by her mother was growing in the secret depths of her soul.

A generation before Tekakwitha's birth, Jesuit missionaries were martyred by the Mohawks. But their blood would bear fruit. The missions continued in the region and the faith began to take root among the surrounding peoples. Following a treaty with the French, missionaries had begun to make converts among the Mohawks as well, and Tekakwitha no doubt heard the new Christians speak about the Creator who sent his Son into the world. She heard them sing Christian hymns in her native tongue. She embraced all that she learned in this way, and knew that it was God himself whom she truly loved. Thus, beginning with her mother, Jesus drew the heart of Tekakwitha to himself through the witness of her own people.

Nevertheless, she was a chief's daughter living a guarded and secluded life. But when Father Jacques de Lamberville came as missionary to her village, Tekakwitha was longing and praying to be able to meet him. It is not surprising that, one spring day in 1675, as he passed by what he thought was an empty dwelling, he felt called to enter. He was surprised to encounter this modest eighteen-year-old girl who opened her heart to him and told him of her burning desire to become a Christian. The next year she was baptized Catherine (Kateri in Mohawk).

She soon went to live in a village of converts called Kahnawake, near Montreal. Here she learned about the vocation to consecrated life. In 1679, Kateri Tekakwitha openly expressed her decision to take Jesus as her Spouse. She died the next year, the first Native American consecrated virgin, with the fire of her love having made a profound impact on her fellow converts and on the missionaries who knew her. That impact continues to grow even to this day.

Saint Benedict’s “Atmosphere of Prayer”

Here is Pope Benedict (of very happy memory) preaching about Saint Benedict, the 6th century “father of Western monasticism,” whose current feast day in the Roman rite is July 11:

"Saint Benedict's life was steeped in an atmosphere of prayer, the foundation of his existence. Without prayer there is no experience of God. Yet Benedict's spirituality was not an interiority removed from reality. In the anxiety and confusion of his day, he lived under God's gaze and in this very way never lost sight of the duties of daily life and of man with his practical needs... In contrast with a facile and egocentric self-fulfillment, today often exalted, the first and indispensable commitment of a disciple of Saint Benedict is the sincere search for God on the path mapped out by the humble and obedient Christ, whose love he must put before all else, and in this way, in the service of the other, he becomes a man of service and peace" (Pope Benedict XVI, Homily on Saint Benedict, 2008).

Celebrating the Catholic Martyrs of China

Pictured: Shrine of the 120 Martyrs in Taiwan.

The memorial of “Saint Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions, Martyrs” on July 9th celebrates 120 men and women (33 European missionaries and 87 Chinese) whose witness spans the entire period from 1648 to 1930, and who were martyred in different parts of China at different times under diverse local and/or imperial persecutions.

Although Augustine Zhao Rong is named explicitly at the head of this feast day, not many details are known about his life. The essential facts, however, are clear: Zhao was an adult convert to Christ, who became a Catholic priest in central and western China in the late 18th century. He exercised a remarkable and courageous ministry among his people. In 1815, under the persecution of Emperor Jiaqing, he became the first native Chinese priest to die for Christ.

Various accounts converge in their affirmation of one or more of these central points in Zhao Rong’s life. They provide different (possibly complementary) details regarding the circumstances of his conversion, and the persons who were instrumental in bringing him to a decisive encounter with Jesus. Zhao was a soldier in Sichuan in central China whose official duties led him to meet French missionaries of the Paris Foreign Missions Society. According to some accounts, he first met the priest (and later bishop) Saint Jean Gabriel Taurin Dufresse, who was arrested in Chengdu (capital of Sichuan). Zhao was part of the guard that accompanied the prisoner from Chengdu to Beijing – a long and difficult journey. The prisoner was extremely ill-treated the whole way, but he may also have been able to converse with his guards. In any case, we are told that Zhao was struck by Dufresse’s patience with his persecutors, and decided to become a Christian himself. It’s not clear when these events took place, as Dufresse was often imprisoned and transported under guard during his many years in China.

Other accounts attribute Zhao’s conversion to the ministry of another missionary of the Paris Foreign Mission Society, Blessed Jean-Martin Moye (who was not one of the 120 martyrs). In 1774, Moye was arrested in neighboring Guizhou province, subjected to torture and interrogation, and kept in the magistrate’s jail, where Zhao was one of his guards. Here, too, Moye was not prevented from speaking about his faith. Zhao was impressed not only by his courage but also by the reasonableness of his discourse. After Moye was released, Zhao followed him as a catechumen. According to these accounts, Moye baptized him on August 28, 1776, giving him the Christian name of Augustine in honor of that saint’s feast. Moye continued to guide this remarkable young man, eventually recommending him as a candidate for the priesthood.

This latter account seems to have more specific documentation, but perhaps Zhao was prepared to respond to Moye’s witness because he had already seen the holiness and patience of Dufresse. In any case, there is little doubt that he knew both of these missionaries who had come from far away and given themselves totally to the service of the Chinese people, learning their language, caring for them, enduring and forgiving their persecutors whose accusations against them were groundless: all to share with them the good news of the salvation of God through Jesus Christ in His Church. It was this kind of patient, attentive missionary witness that planted and cultivated the Catholic Church in China hundreds of years ago. Though small, the Church has persisted to this day, enduring even greater persecutions, which will eventually bear even more abundant fruit.

Magnolia Tree Blooming

Magnolia Tree Blooming in Summer 2025.

I Am the "Rich Man"

How hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

I am a rich man. Our family is rich in material possessions and conveniences, in spite of what in the United States of America would be considered our precarious financial circumstances. I could scarcely manage without all the comforts of this fully industrialized and electronically developed society. I do not know where the clothes on my back or the food I eat or the furniture in my home come from, nor what web of unjust socioeconomic relationships govern the paths they travel from their places of origin to my home. I do not know what I or my family can do about the injustice in the world, but it is a reminder to pray to God that the relationships which are within the reach of our freedom may be founded on justice, solidarity, love, and mercy. And it is a reminder that we need to ask the Holy Spirit to transform our minds and open our hearts to the creative possibilities that God gives us to contribute to the common good.

I am a rich man in other ways too. There are riches that I possess in abundance, and that are very much at my disposal: the wealth of talent, capacity for expression, education, and experience in teaching others. I would like to think that here I have given liberally, that I have shared myself, that I have poured out these riches in love. But the truth is that even here I hoard my wealth. It is with these personal riches especially that Jesus says, "Go, sell all you have...follow me."

How much of my "giving" is really self-advancement? Very much, I fear. Images from the gospels resonate with my life: I love the special seats at gatherings, and being called rabbi. I love praying and performing religious acts for people to see, and--I hope--to applaud. I love to show my misery to the world so that everyone knows that I am suffering. It's such a sweet thing to get attention!

And so I have my "reward." I remain rich. I am a fool and a hypocrite. Even this confession of pharisaical behavior right now is really something of a scam; deep down there is that part of me that craves your admiration for my candor. Don't trust me! I don't trust myself!

The flaw, the twist, the self-love, the grasping seem to be a little mixed in with so much of what I do. And so it is, for human flesh and blood. "Forgive us our trespasses," we are taught to pray every day. The assumption, of course, is that we are going to trespass. Jesus doesn't want us to obsess over our faults, but to ask for the Father's mercy, and to be formed according to His will in the school that is this life: "Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

So we fail, and God is rich in mercy. But there is a special way that we must ask for God's mercy, and that is with the humility of hearts that are themselves merciful. "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." Here Jesus sums up life. We sin. But others also sin against us. We are hurt. We are betrayed. We are the victims of injustice. We are neglected. But we must forgive others. We must be people of mercy. This is not easy. This is where I experience my powerlessness. Here I must really "sell all I have" and give it away. Here is where following Christ begins. Here is where true riches are to be found.

How can I be merciful to others? I must ask God to enable me to be merciful to others. Everything begins in the position of prayer and poverty before God. Another word for this kind of poverty is trust.

It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

Now Peter is very perceptive at this point. He cries out, "then who can be saved?" It is more than a matter of economics, although on this level it is important to remember that there are, on the whole, two kinds of people: those who are rich, and those who want to be rich. On the personal level, however, everyone is "rich"--even if all he possesses is "himself." Because we must lose our very selves for His sake.

"For man it is impossible," Jesus says. So we can't trust in our own riches. We can't trust in ourselves!

"But nothing is impossible with God." So return, again and again, to that posture of begging for mercy, and that posture of trust because the God who does the impossible has given Himself to us. He wants to and He will transform us into people of compassion, people who give themselves away, people who follow Him and in Him discover the only true treasure, His Love.

I am a hypocrite and a fool, but I know that God's Mercy is true, and I want it, and I beg for it from God--I beg for it for myself and for the whole world. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have Mercy on me, a sinner.

Summer Scene

“Summer Scene” (Evening). July 2025.

The Ugly "Mass Deportation" Policy of this U.S. Regime

It's the evening of July 4, 2025. The horizon grows dim with the twilight. All around, there are the sounds of pop pop boom as people continue to set off fireworks. I'm walking in the dusky cool air on this melancholy Independence Day as the shadows grow over my native land.

I love my country. My ancestors came from the Mediterranean world, and I am the grandson of four birthright citizens. But I feel like my country has been hijacked!

What can I say about the government of the United States of America today, about the ruthless, ugly words and actions perpetrated by representatives of the current regime? What can I say about the persecution aimed at terrorizing whole communities of people, my neighbors in this country, who are being scapegoated, caricatured as “alien invaders” and criminals who are so dangerous that we are justified in treating them as sub-human? What can I say about a so-called “government program” marketed and presented with such undisguised brutality and vulgar “humor” that seems to invite us to laugh at the misery of others?

Today, we have government officials who do not know how to speak like adults, who threaten those who oppose them, who behave like thugs and bullies. They generate or exaggerate fear in order to push their merciless policies. They have no sense of statesmanship, no sense of common decency, no willingness to admit they're wrong, no clarity, no transparency, no honor.

Immigrants are "Foreign Invaders"?

And now, they have intimidated legislators into passing a statute that provides 170 billion dollars to fund a national Secret Police force of gigantic proportions. The new expanded ICE agency will continue on a much greater scale the raids by their (at best) poorly identified, anonymous face-covered officers and unmarked vans into mostly Latino/a neighborhoods, communities, and workplaces. They are essentially authorized to arrest and detain without due process anyone they suspect might be in “violation” of the hopelessly convoluted requirements of our broken immigration system. (The “Department of Homeland Security” posts creepy exhortations like the one pictured here, telling citizens to “report all foreign invaders,” using this term to slander these immigrants and manipulate our fears and prejudices.) And now,  miserable “detention centers” are being built (such as one recently opened in the Florida Everglades) to hold indefinitely and defenselessly thousands of people. The vast majority of undocumented immigrants are not criminals (much less “invaders”). Some have been in this country for decades, working, paying U.S. taxes, raising families, and making constructive contributions to their communities and U.S. society.

We need a reformed immigration system that is equitable and generous in providing various pathways for people — especially our regional neighbors — to reside and work in our country on a temporary or permanent basis. 

Certainly we have a responsibility to protect our borders, and to protect the people who live here from violent criminals and genuine threats to our national security. But we must not close ourselves off to those who are in need or in danger in their own lands, especially when they include so many who are willing to work hard and use their gifts to contribute to our commonwealth. Why would we want to purge these people from our land and visit scorn and contempt upon them? They are human beings who want to live in accordance with their dignity. 

Let us not forget: the United States is a phenomenally rich country. Our neighbors are sometimes desperately, intractably poor. We have a responsibility to help them. There are many ways we can try to help them, but we must begin by recognizing their dignity as human persons, children of God, our brothers and sisters.

Does the current deportation policy respect the human dignity of our immigrant brothers and sisters? Does the flippant attitude, the brash posturing, the fear-mongering, the scapegoating, and the vulgar threats and denunciations against those who oppose this policy show respect for anyone's human dignity?

Act of Faith

I know that I haven't been writing much lately. There are too many words going around, words of deception, words of insult and mockery, words that perpetuate the ongoing manipulation of "information."

There is a value to silence. The silence of study and searching for understanding. The silence of patience. The silence - sometimes - of sickness, exhaustion, and perhaps rest and recuperation. The silence of worshipping God, longing for Him, begging for Him from out of all the pain and distress that try to sink me. The silence of prayer. The silence which engenders an act of faith.

"Every time we perform an act of faith addressed to Jesus, contact is established with Him, and immediately his grace comes out from Him. At times we are unaware of it, but in a secret and real way, grace reaches us and gradually transforms our life from within" (Pope Leo XIV).

Pope Leo Meets With the People of “Martyred Ukraine”

We must not forget that Ukraine is still struggling against Russia's brutal invasion and ongoing war of aggression. Recently, Putin has intensified attacks, seeking to benefit from the global spotlight moving to Iran. 

Last week Pope Leo XIV met with His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Primate of the Ukrainian Greek (Byzantine) Catholic Church and thousands of Ukrainian Catholic pilgrims. Pope Leo again expressed solidarity with "Martyred Ukraine" and sorrow for the "victims of this senseless war." Leo exhorted them (as Sviatoslav has many times) to trust in God who will lead them from their present sufferings to the fruits of redemption: His word of life will prevail.

Peter and Paul (and John and Eileen)

Ah, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. 

So many things could be said about these two Apostles—whose ministries were so fundamental for the whole Church—and the different stories of their martyrdom (both in the Imperial Capital) in the decade of the '60s in the first Christian century.

I would like to dwell on the particular memories of two Roman pilgrims who were both present in the huge congregation of Saint Peter's Basilica for the Liturgy of today's feast 29 years ago, in 1996. They were newlyweds, who were beginning the great journey of their married life with a grand adventure of travel through the Italian peninsula, starting in Rome.

Eileen and I both consider ourselves "Romans" by virtue of the (different) times we each lived and studied there in our youth, as well as by our pilgrimage/excursion together at the beginning of our married life. The special significance of the Eternal City has also extended to the next generation of Janaros. Our four university graduates all participated in the Semester in Rome program, and two of them shared crucial moments together with their future spouses during their time in the city of La Dolce Vita. John Paul and Emily began dating in Rome in 2018. Lucia and Mike became engaged in the piazza of Saint John Lateran on a lovely spring day in 2021.

But returning to the original John-and-Eileen story: we spent three and a half weeks in Italy for our honeymoon back in 1996. We were able to make this beautiful and multifaceted trip because we didn't seek a "lovers' solitude" experience; we spent all but five nights at the homes of friends (we had—and still have—lots of Italian friends). We are both Italophiles (and overall Europhiles), and I have Italian heritage from my immigrant ancestors.

It was a real trek, from Rome to Assisi to Florence to Ravenna to Milan to the Italian Riviera. I'm so glad we did it then, when we had the time and the energy of our youth (well, relative youth—as I noted last week, I was 33 and she was 29). I'm glad that, while we were still able and vigorous, we rode trains and buses, hiked steep ancient cobblestone streets, prayed in venerable churches and marveled at great works of art, hauled bags that got bigger and bigger as we accumulated loot along the way, got local tours from our friends and tips about the best hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and slept on floors or (worse) the infamous Italian "letto" that rolls out at night from under the sofa. We had a blast, and we also had plenty of time for "romance." 

I recommend this kind of honeymoon for you young folks, especially if you are both ardent humanities buffs like us. Trust me, you will never be able to throw yourselves about with such freedom as in these early days of marriage. Soon come the babies, and then come the bad backs and the arthritis. Youth is the time to explore, to rough it, to have an adventure, especially with your spouse. Go somewhere beautiful and fascinating, full of human history and aesthetic richness. Or go on pilgrimage to the places where God's love has touched the world. You will build a foundation of common experience that will stay with you forever.

In Rome we spent a week and a half at an apartment not far from the Vatican, with a friend's mother. This lovely old woman cleared a room for us, made coffee for us every morning, and often fed us abundantly in the kitchen at night (even if we had already eaten). I have never found a restaurant that can match the culinary magic that happens in the simple Italian kitchen. Oh, my my!

We went to all our favorite spots in Rome and shared them together. We brought our gratitude and hopes for our newly married life to the tomb of Saint Peter, and prayed there for a good long time. We explored churches and ruins and great art. June 29th sticks in my mind because we went to Saint Peter's basilica for the ceremony in which the Pope (then Saint John Paul II) invests new Archbishops with the pallium, a woolen band worn as a sign of their particular responsibility and their communion with the Pope.

It was a beautiful ceremony, very crowded of course, so that we barely had a glimpse of the Pope (we had no idea that we were going to meet John Paul II a few days later, embrace him, speak to him, and receive his blessing on our married life—but that's another story that I've blogged about before).

June 29th is the feast celebrating the Apostles who founded the "local" Church of Rome (whose Bishop, through Peter, preserves to this day the primacy of teaching and jurisdiction that enables Popes to serve the truth and unity of the whole Church). We were so happy just to share in this beautiful event with John Paul II and his brother Archbishops in a liturgy that in a special way was dedicated to the service of ecclesial communion and solidarity. 

We knew that we were called, within our marriage union and its (then future) fruition of family life, to serve and build up ecclesial communion in our own way, among ourselves and with the people entrusted to us in our daily lives "on the roads of the world."

After the liturgy and in the midst of the crowds in front of Saint Peter's Basilica, we bumped into a new Archbishop from Malaysia. He spoke English, and so it was easy to strike up a conversation with him. He was a bishop from the “other side of the world” who was nevertheless someone with whom we could rejoice on this patronal feast of the Church of Rome — someone we recognized in that moment as an esteemed spiritual father and brother. We asked for and received his blessing; thus this kindly Malaysian man became the first bishop to bless our marriage. Thinking about this after 29 years, I don't even remember his name.

But Rome is like that. It's more than a gorgeous city steeped in over two thousand years of history, and containing some of the greatest artistic treasures in the world. Rome is the center of a Catholic Church that is more and more extensively embodying its "universal" character. Rome is a place of beautiful and surprising encounters with people from all over the world. We find ourselves united in Christ's Mystical Body, and journeying together toward His glory. We will never forget these experiences of 29 years ago with people from all over the world, with people walking together with Jesus according to His mysterious design for each one of us. 

Rome is a place where people discover that they are not alone.

A Mother's Heart Carries the Gift of Peace

Let's continue to pray to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for peace in these times of great danger and fragility in our poor suffering world. She knows how to bring us to the Heart of her Son, Jesus our Brother, who wants so ardently to forgive us, heal us, and reconcile us to one another. We are blessed to be embraced by the tender, attentive, faithful love of Mary's maternal heart.

Meek and Humble of Heart

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light" (Matthew 11:28-30).

Luigi Giussani: The Mystery Draws Close To Us

Luigi Giussani emphasizes that the Mystery which is the Source of everything, in revealing Himself as "Father," shows Himself to be our intimate companion.

"Even if it is translated into human terms, the result of revelation must be the intensifying of mystery as mystery. It must not reduce mystery, like a human being saying, 'I understand!'but rather deepen it. In this way, it is understood and yet always more understood as mystery. 

"For example: the world and my own life depend on God. And this is true. But if we replace the enigmatic word 'mystery' that reality suggests, with the word, 'Father' that revelation implies, then we have an extremely comprehensible term, which is part of our experience: it is Father who gives me life, who has introduced me to the beauty of things, who has put me on my guard against possible dangers. Voilà: the Absolute, the Mystery, is Father, to repeat, 'tam pater nemo.' No one is such a Father. This truth that Christ has revealed does not diminish the Absolute. Rather, it deepens our knowledge of the mystery: Our Father who art at the depths, who art in heaven, Our Father who art in my profound roots, Thou who art now making me in this instant, who generate my path and guide me to my destiny! 

"You can no longer retract after hearing these words of God. You can no longer go back. But, at the same time, the mystery remains, remains more profound: God is father, but he is father like no other is father. The revealed term carries the mystery further within you, closer to your flesh and bones, and you really feel it in a familiar way, as a son or daughter. There is no one who respects the sense of truth and is as devoted to his father as when the father is truly an intimate companion."

~Luigi Giussani, The Religious Sense, chapter 15.