Peter Steinfels in the NY Times on media coverage of the pope's visit:

Is the pope Catholic? That used to be a sarcastic way of saying, could anything be more obvious? Is fire hot? Is water wet?

Now, however, that nothing in the world is obvious, when Pope Benedict XVI arrives in the United States on April 15 there will surely be voices in the media apparently disconcerted to discover that, yes, the pope is Catholic.

Yes, he disagrees with Richard Dawkins that atheism is necessary for salvation. Yes, he believes that Jesus of Nazareth is the son of God and the center of human history. Yes, he thinks that Catholic Christianity is truer than Islam or Buddhism or Hinduism or even Protestant Christianity. Astounding. What next?

This will now be the eighth or ninth papal trip to the United States, depending on whether one counts John Paul II’s several hours of layover in Anchorage in 1981. What is surprising about every papal visit, at least after 1965, when Paul VI addressed the United Nations, is what so many people find surprising. Each time they are surprised, for example, that the pope hasn’t abandoned the notion that all human lives, even in their earliest, embryonic phases, deserve protection and that therefore abortion is wrong.

(h/t to Amy)

It's that time in the month to prepare our school's morning prayer for each day. As I look ahead, I wanted to include prayers to commemorate the Holy Father's visit to the United States. Here's the scheme for the month:

TU 04.01 Prayer for a new Sports Season
WE 04.02 Prayer for the Beatification of Pope John Paul II
TH 04.03 Prayer to Do our Best
FR 04.04 Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (First Friday)

Foreign Language Week:

MO 04.07 Prayer to Saint John Baptiste de la Salle (French)
TU 04.08 Prayer from India
WE 04.09 Prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe (Spanish)
TH 04.10 Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel (Latin)
FR 04.11 Prayer for those preparing for Confirmation

MO 04.14 Prayer for Vocations (World Day of Prayer is Sunday the 13th)
TU 04.15 Prayer for the Pope
WE 04.16 Prayer for our Nation (White House Visit)
TH 04.17 Prayer for the Pope
FR 04.18 Prayer for the Progress of Peoples (U.N. speech)

The week of the 21st is our vacation.

MO 04.28 Prayer to Mary (in honor of Louis de Montfort)
TU 04.29 Prayer to Saint Catherine of Siena
WE 04.30 Prayer to Saint Pius V

Here's what we'll be using for the day the pope arrives. I've shortened it but I've included it in full here from the Knights website:

Almighty Father, who pours forth blessings in abundance upon us, we humbly pray that you will inspire, guide and protect Pope Benedict XVI on his pastoral visit to the United States.

Lord God, bless our Holy Father who comes as a messenger of peace and charity to all people of faith and good will. May his presence in the United States serve to build up the bonds that unite us who are each made in your image and likeness, and may his teaching and witness strengthen the faith of the People of God.

Father, we lovingly entrust Pope Benedict’s visit to the care of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Queen of the Americas. Through her prayers may he be preserved from all harm, and may he shine forth with the truth of the Gospel that he proclaims, and may his presence among us foster a renewal of the Church in our country.

We make this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Cardinal O'Malley posted his entire Chrism Mass homily in his blog this week. Of course, it is profound and insightful, taking as his theme, "The priest as a man of communion." Because I am superficial, I am just going to post the stories and other funny tid-bits (along with brief lessons):

A husband was in big trouble when he forgot his wedding anniversary. His wife told him, “Tomorrow there better be something in the driveway for me that goes from 0 to 200 in 10 seconds flat.” The next morning the wife found a small package in the driveway. She was momentarily confused but thought perhaps she might find the keys to a new sports car in the package. Unfortunately, when she opened it, she found a brand new bathroom scale!

Unrealistic expectations and assumptions that are not shared are hard on marriages and are our greatest enemy in renewing our presbyterate. But our Chrism Mass with the renewal of our priestly commitment is a wonderful place to start. Our commitment to celibacy, to obedience, to prayer and to teach the Catholic faith, and pastoral service to God’s people help define us as priests, but also what defines us is our connectedness to each other in this presbyterate. We are cultic priests celebrating the sacraments and we are servant leaders. It is not an either/or proposition, and we are priests together.

Recently I heard a comment about a brother priest, “That man marches to his own tune.” The music is the William Tell Overture and the lyrics end with “Hi ho, Silver.” Unfortunately, we all know the profile. What is our identity? How do we see ourselves? How do people see us? Visiting a nursing home, I heard one of the residents say when she saw me, “I have a statue of him in my patio.” I thought to myself, I hope it’s not a birdbath.

Once after Mass, I was greeting the parishioners as they left the Church. One father carrying a small child asked the little boy as he pointed to me. Do you know who that is? Sometimes children say: God, the Pope, Santa Klaus, but without missing a beat, the kid says, “He’s the communion guy.” I like that. Ex ore infantium. A priest is the communion guy.

Today as we come together to reflect on our identity as priests and our mission in the world, I would like to focus on a phrase used by John Paul II in Pastores Dabo Vobis. He speaks of the priest as a “man of communion”, “the communion guy.” It is a marvelous insight into the identity of the priest and perhaps the best antonym for the phrase, the “lone ranger.” Our ideal is to become “men of communion” to borrow the Pope’s phrase.

...

Once many years ago in a land far away, I was in the box hearing confessions. A priest came and very piously made his confession. Trying to demonstrate a modicum of creativity, I said: “Father, for your penance pray the Te Deum. He said, “Where can I find it?” I said, “Three Our Fathers and three Hail Marys.” So much for creativity. I did not have the heart to tell him that the prayer is in his breviary — obviously a terra incognita to this priest.

All of you have heard of the breviary adjustment service. For a very reasonable fee of $25.00, the service provides that within hours after your death someone will go to your rectory and place the ribbons in your breviary in the proper corresponding places.

There is a special supplementary service offered for Bishops. If the Bishop expires while reading the minutes of the presbyteral council they will come and put the Imitation of Christ in his hands. It is what the Irish call cleaning up the obituary.

In this prayer of communion, the Liturgy of the Hours, we are praying the Scriptures, the word of God, that later we are called upon to preach to God’s people. We pray it in union with countless brothers and sisters throughout the world. We pray it with Christ our Head. This is why I like praying the office with others. It is a prayer of koinonia and helps us be men of communion.

How many times each week people ask for our prayers. The people of God expect us, need us to be men of prayer. The great prayer of communion is the Divine Office, the Liturgy of the Hours. It is a prayer that pulls us out of isolation and puts us in contact with priests, religious and faithful who are joined to others throughout the world who praise and intercede — along with and in the name of Christ, our High Priest.

Priceless.

From the New Bedford Standard Times (h/t domini sumus):

With neck bent and gripping forearm crutches, Jose Amaral slowly climbed the stairs to the Bullard Street entrance of St. Anthony of Padua Church.

Once settled in the pew near the door, he stowed the crutches until it was time to receive Holy Communion. Then, with great devotion, he made the painful journey to the altar.

Little did he know that he would soon receive the answer to his prayers.

When Mr. Amaral was 19, he was diagnosed with spinal stenosis, which caused him great discomfort and pain.

"I also have had for years arthritis all over," he said.

In February 2003, Mr. Amaral's condition worsened. He collapsed at work and was diagnosed with cervical myelopathy, a stroke of the spine.

"The neurologist and neurosurgeon both said that there was considerable nerve damage. I've gotten progressively worse and had to have five surgeries."

On Jan. 26, Mr. Amaral was reading from a booklet of meditations on the Gospel when his eyes fell on the passages about Jesus curing the paralytic (Mark 2:1-12 and Luke 5:17-26).

"You remember the story," he said. "Jesus first healed the paralyzed man of his sins and then cured him of his physical paralysis."

Mr. Amaral said that he went to confession that afternoon so that Jesus could heal him of his sins.

"Something happened during that confession that I cannot explain," he said. "But I felt different."

Later that night, Mr. Amaral was thinking about the experience in the confessional, and his eyes lit upon a picture he had beside him of Pope John Paul II.

"Pope John Paul the Great, please help me," he prayed. "Help me to understand God's will."

Turning on the TV to EWTN, he watched the movie, "Witness to Hope," a biography of Karol Wojtyla, who became Pope John Paul II.

"That is when something came over me that is very difficult to explain," he said. "I just kept remembering the late pope's words, 'Be not afraid!'"

Over the next few days, Mr. Amaral said that he began to walk a little better with his forearm crutches.

"But I didn't say anything about it to anyone," he said. "I was very calm and peaceful."

On Jan. 30 at 3 p.m., Mr. Amaral prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and looked over at Pope John Paul II's picture.

"I decided to get up and try to walk around without my crutches," he said. "I just walked back and forth, and I didn't stop — and I've never stopped since. My strength came all at once."

Mr. Amaral attended morning Mass on Feb. 2, and after the service, he approached the sacristy.

"I was taking off my vestments, and then all of a sudden I saw him," said the Rev. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Anthony's. "He was standing completely erect, and I had never seen him stand erect. I knew then as a person who had been trained as a scientist and worked at Mass. General for five years that the only way that happens is by direct intervention of the Lord."

The Rev. Landry said that his eyes welled up with tears and the men embraced and cried together.

"One of the most beautiful moments in my priestly life was when I saw him leaving the church, and this man whom I had never seen walk before, genuflected to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. I'll never forget that. Awesome."

Editor's note: The Rev. Landry has written a letter to the procurator at the Vatican relating Mr. Amaral's healing through the intercession of Pope John Paul II. A medically certifiable miracle is required for the late pontiff's canonization. Mr. Amaral visited his doctor last week and related that the physician had no scientific explanation for the healing. Last weekend, Mr. Amaral went shopping at the local Target for the first time and bought a pair of sneakers and a football.