Newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis
The Catholic Spirit December 2, 2010
Pope starts Advent with prayer for life
St. Paul parish welcomes newcomers from Myanmar
News with a Catholic heart
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‘IT’S THE FRAME OF OUR DAY’
Catholic News Service Pope Benedict XVI welcomed the beginning of Advent with a prayer for life and a defense of the human embryo. The pope presided over an evening prayer service at the Vatican Nov. 27, part of a worldwide pro-life vigil. He said it was an appropriate initiative to launch at Advent, the liturgical period in which the church prepares to celebrate the birth of Jesus. In a homily, he said the church’s teaching against abortion comes from its teaching about the dignity of every human life.
Science offers proof Regarding the human embryo, the pope said science itself has demonstrated the embyro’s autonomous capacity of interaction with the mother, the coordination of its biological processes, the continuity of its development and its complexity as an organism. “This is how Jesus was in Mary’s womb; this is how we each were in our mothers’ wombs,” he said. Pope Benedict emphasized that the threat to human life does not end at birth. He said children today are often subject to abandonment, hunger, poverty, disease, abuse, violence and exploitation. Faced with this “sad panorama of injustices” before and after birth, the church calls everyone to responsibility, he said.
Dianne Towalski / The Catholic Spirit
Alessandro Marchetti, a junior at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, prays the Liturgy of the Hours Nov. 23 in the Sitzmann Hall chapel. He said he has prayed the Liturgy of the Hours daily since he was a child.
Advent is a perfect time to start praying the Liturgy of the Hours and reaping the spiritual benefits that it offers By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit
It was 6:25 a.m. The vast majority of University of St. Thomas residence hall windows were dark and the campus was quiet, except for the hushed voices of a few students walking briskly to the chapel. Every weekday morning, students meet to pray morning prayer at 6:30 at the Florence Chapel in the basement of the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas. On this particular morning, 14 students — five women and nine men — sat down, opened their prayer books and prayed aloud in unison, their voices filling the small, dimly lit room. Liturgy of the Hours (sometimes called “the Divine Office”) is the public, daily prayer of the church. Mostly comprised of Scripture — especially Psalms and Gospel canticles — it’s organized as a four-week cycle of prayers, which are said at certain hours of the day. In an apostolic exhortation on Scripture released Nov. 11, Pope Benedict spoke about the beauty and importance of Liturgy of the Hours, and he encouraged lay people to pray it. The Liturgy of the Hours began as a
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Reasons to pray the Liturgy of the Hours
You’ll learn Scripture better. Most of the Liturgy of the Hours is from the Psalms. “The Psalms have always been the Christian prayer book,” said Deacon Joseph Michalak, the archdiocesan diaconate formation director. You’ll meet the Church Fathers and other saints. “In the liturgical calendar, the church introduces you to great characters — the saints . . . whereas most people would not engage the saints on a daily basis,” said biblical scholar Jeff Cavins. You’ll also foster proper Marian devotion, Deacon Michalak added. You’ll celebrate the seasons in the church year. Instead of thinking only in terms of winter, spring, summer and fall, you’ll incorporate Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter and Ordinary Time in your understanding of the movement PLEASE TURN TO SIX ON PAGE 23
prayer of the laity in the early church, and it is a means to “pray without ceasing,” which Paul urges Christians to do in his First Letter to the Thessalonians. Today, lay people are still interested in praying it, said Deacon Joseph Michalak, director of diaconate formation at the St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul. Those wanting to deepen their prayer life often ask how to pray it, he said.
Prayer to order the day Liturgy of the Hours includes prayers for morning, midmorning, noon, midafternoon, evening and night. The prayers change daily, according to the liturgical season. Most religious communities pray the Liturgy of the Hours, and priests are required to pray it. In praying the Liturgy of the Hours, “all of time becomes immersed in the Paschal mystery,” Deacon Michalak said. St. Thomas junior Alessandro Marchetti, 20, has been praying the Liturgy of the Hours since about the second grade, he said. His brother, a seminarian, introduced him to the practice. Now that Marchetti PLEASE TURN TO POPE ON PAGE 22