John Janaro's Blog, page 10

Leo XIV: "To Move Aside So That Christ May Remain"

"An indispensable commitment for all those in the Church who exercise a ministry of authority... is to move aside so that Christ may remain, to make oneself small so that he may be known and glorified, to spend oneself to the utmost so that all may have the opportunity to know and love him" (Pope Leo XIV).

Christina Grimmie Encourages Us in Life

Remembering Christina Grimmie after eight years and eleven months. She continues to encourage us not to be afraid, not to worry.💚

A Pope From "The Americas": Welcome Leo XIV!

We have a Pope!

White smoke emerged from the chimney yesterday evening, and an hour later came the announcement that Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost had been chosen by his brother Cardinals to be the 267th Pope, taking the name "Leo XIV." He was born in 1955 in Chicago, making him the first Pope from the United States of America. But he also spent many years in Latin America as a bishop in Peru, and became a naturalized Peruvian citizen. The people of Peru have long regarded him as "one of their own."

Now he belongs to the whole world. 

Dear Lord, bless and sustain our new Pope Leo XIV in his ministry as Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, Servant of the Servants of God.

The Church Sustained by the Gift of Jesus in the Eucharist

As we continue to pray for the Cardinals gathered in the conclave in Rome to elect a new Pope, the readings from the third week of the Easter Season give us God's Word to enlighten us, and for us to ponder, to shape our prayer, to lead us to worship Him who has given Himself totally, who reveals the mystery of the God who is Infinite Love.

To contemplate the mystery of the Eucharist (as we do in these days, in the Gospel readings from the sixth chapter of John) is to be full of wonder and gratitude for the gift of God the Father who sends His Only-Begotten Son to save the world (John 3:16), to draw us to share in the eternal life of the Trinity. Jesus gives Himself — His "flesh," His body and blood poured out for us — to nourish the new life of His people whom He unites to Himself in the Holy Spirit. Jesus in the Eucharist builds up His Mystical Body, the Church. Through His gift we encounter the singular, astonishing love that God has for us, and we are sent forth with the Risen Christ to share His mission, to witness to God's inexhaustible love, to be "instruments" of His love in the lives of those who are entrusted to us each day as we live out our vocation in this world.

This is the life of the Church for which we pray, as she is called to take a new step in her pilgrimage through history toward the fulfillment of the God's Kingdom, where God will "be all, in all" (1 Corinthians 15:28). This is the "new reality" present in the midst of the realities (and the illusions) of this age. As the Church lives these intense and decisive days, we remember that we are "members of one another" (Romans 12:5), and the Cardinals are our brothers. We express this mysterious unity in our solidarity with them in prayer. May they receive an abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit, to fill them and sustain them in wisdom so that they might elect a Pope who will remind us that we are one in Christ — united in truth and love, in Baptism and the Eucharist, in adoration of the Lord and in gratitude for making us His sons and daughters in Jesus. We beg God our Father through Jesus Christ our Savior in the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us the "continuation" of His gift of redemption for the whole world, drawing the heart of every human person through His Church.

We are a poor Church that depends entirely on our adherence to Jesus Christ, and a grateful Church sustained by the "bread of life," by the gift of "[His] Flesh for the life of the world."

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Jesus said to the crowds: "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: 'They shall all be taught by God.' [See e.g. Isaiah 54:13; Jeremiah 31:33-34.] Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.

"Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.

"Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.

"I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world."

~John 6:44-51

Colors of Hope

The Election of a New Bishop of Rome Begins

Wednesday, May 7 is the beginning of the Conclave in the Sistine Chapel, where 132 Cardinals from every inhabited continent on earth will gather to elect a Pope to succeed the late Pope Francis as leader of a Catholic Church that counts some 1.4 billion members.

This blog "covered" the last Conclave back in 2013. It was remarkable for many of us for the unprecedented (virtual) access we had to the ceremonies via livestream leading right up to the Cardinals entering through the doors of the Chapel, which were then closed and locked beyond the reach of all media technology. The livestream switched to the "chimney camera" so that we could see right away the color of the smoke when the four daily ballots were burned. Once the white smoke came, we saw it pour from the chimney in real time.

Then the "feed" switched to the balcony over Saint Peter's Square where great crowds of Romans gathered to wait for the new Pope to be announced and presented, and to give his first blessing. It was a long and suspenseful period of time that passed before we were introduced to a 76-year-old Argentine named Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who took the name "Francis."

The next 12 years of his papacy were beautiful, surprising, and challenging in ways we never could have expected.

Now the time has come, once again.

The world is very different than it was a dozen years ago. The ceremonies will be livestreamed from the cell phone in your pocket to the widest "smart TV" on your wall. Like in 2013, we Catholics will have the chance to be joined in prayer and solidarity all over the world, in support of the Cardinals as they carry out their sacred office, and in welcoming the new Successor of Saint Peter.

I'm not sure I'm going to watch every moment of the events on streamimg video. (I will at least check the smoke.) I have no expectations or analysis regarding who among the Cardinals right now is this "man-who-will-be-Pope." His responsibilities will be immense, the media scrutiny relentless, but the graces of the Holy Spirit superabundant for him to carry out God's will for the good of the whole Church and the world.

The way we can best be attentive to the process that is beginning is to pray for the Cardinals, that they will choose someone filled with wisdom, truth, charity, and humility to lead the Church in the worship of God, and guide us in adhering to Christ in whatever trials might await us in times to come. He will need to confirm us in our faith, inspire us to be courageous in our witness, and be an example to us of the ardent love through which the Sacred Heart of Jesus wants to love this poor world and every human person living in it.

The Election of a New Bishop of Rome Begins.

Wednesday, May 7 is the beginning of the Conclave in the Sistine Chapel, where 132 Cardinals from every inhabited continent on earth will gather to elect a Pope to succeed the late Pope Francis as leader of a Catholic Church that counts some 1.4 billion members.

This blog "covered" that last Conclave back in 2013. It was remarkable for many of us for the unprecedented (virtual) access we had to the ceremonies via livestream leading right up to the Cardinals entering through the doors of the Chapel, which were then closed and locked beyond the reach of all media technology. The livestream switched to the "chimney camera" so that we could see right away the color of the smoke when the four daily ballots were burned. Once the white smoke came, we saw it pour from the chimney in real time.

Then the "feed" switched to the balcony over Saint Peter's Square where great crowds of Romans gathered to wait for the new Pope to be announced and presented, and to give his first blessing. It was a long and suspenseful period of time that passed before we were introduced to an 76-year-old Argentine named Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who took the name "Francis."

The next 12 years of his papacy were beautiful, surprising, and challenging in ways we never could have expected.

Now the time has come, once again.

The world is very different than it was a dozen years ago. The ceremonies will be livestreamed from the cell phone in your pocket to the widest "smart TV" on your wall. Like in 2013, we Catholics will have the chance to be joined in prayer and solidarity all over the world, in support of the Cardinals as they carry out their sacred office, and in welcoming the new Successor of Saint Peter.

I'm not sure I'm going to watch every moment of the events on streamimg video. (I will at least check the smoke.) I have no expectations or analysis regarding who among the Cardinals right now is this "man-who-will-be-Pope." His responsibilities will be immense, the media scrutiny relentless, but the graces of the Holy Spirit superabundant for him to carry out God's will for the good of the whole Church and the world.

The way we can best be attentive to the process that is beginning is to pray for the Cardinals, that they will choose someone filled with wisdom, truth, charity, and humility to lead the Church in the worship of God, and guide us in adhering to Christ in whatever trials might await us in times to come. He will need to confirm us in our faith, inspire us to be courageous in our witness, and be an example to us of the ardent love through which the Sacred Heart of Jesus wants to love this poor world and every human person living in it.

Could This Be Pope Francis's "First Miracle"?

The last time these two met in person, things — to put it mildly — did not go well. But last week, after they both attended the funeral of Pope Francis, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelinskyy had an intense impromptu meeting in the back of Saint Peter's Basilica. The U.S. President's hostility, it seems, has turned around (at least for now), and the United States and Ukraine have since signed an economic cooperation agreement which is somewhat more vigorous in its affirmation of Ukraine's sovereignty.

It's a miracle?

Probably not, but it may be a step toward the peace that Pope Francis so ardently prayed for to his last breath. His perseverance in prayer and sacrifice for "Martyred Ukraine" will bear fruit. We all must continue to pray for an end to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, and for a just and lasting peace which respects Ukrainian sovereignty and allows Ukraine to flourish.

And we must continue to pray for the eternal rest of our beloved Francis, and for the approaching conclave that will elect his successor.

Athanasius and the Incarnation

May 2 is the feast of the crucially important fourth century Church Father Saint Athanasius of Alexandria. The text that follows is an excerpt from my 2003 book The Created Person and the Mystery of God, which - if I had actually had an "academic career" - would have been regarded as "one of his early works" (I was 40 years old when it was published😉). It has much in it that I would have liked to have developed in greater depth, but my path "moved in a different direction" due to illness and disability, which is a familiar story for anyone who reads this blog. 

The "historical section" of this book contains concise vignettes of some of the Church Fathers, and follows a style that is similar to my monthly articles in Magnificat (which I have been writing since 2013). If God wills, I may yet return to working on a "more mature" scholarly project bringing together the various themes and methodological approaches that I sketched out in this book nearly a quarter of a century ago. The intellectual realm of historical studies within the context of philosophical and theological anthropology (i.e. this multifaceted approach to "the created person and the mystery of God") is still the inspiration for my studies and what writing I have been able to do. My experience and my thinking have grown much since the days of this book, and circumstances have opened new doors and indicated larger vistas that would require several volumes to bring together in a formal academic study. 

If someone gave me a very large financial grant (enough to keep my wife and I going for the rest of our lives) and if they were very patient, a project like this might be possible. I am certain that no form of "AI" will ever be able to do it (perhaps it could assist in some tasks, like finding sources).

Who knows what might happen? May the Lord lead me, empower me, and show me the way. We live in a time of epochal change. I think right now of some poor archbishop who might be a bit older than me, taking a coffee in Roman coffee bar, looking forward to what he hopes will be a short bit of ecclesiastical "business" so that he can get back home; he has no idea whatsoever that in a few weeks he will be the Pope!

But, speaking of epochal change, I am supposed to be introducing Saint Athanasius here. Let us therefore proceed to text which looks at a great figure who endured many "changes" but persevered through them all in his defense of the Divinity of Jesus Christ:

Less than five years after Constantine’s declaratiom of religious freedom in 313 a.d., the Church was plunged headlong into a new type of crisis. A popular, talented, and politically astute priest in Alexandria named Arius had developed a theory about the Trinity.  Up until this time, most attempts by Christian thinkers to shed light on the unity and distinctness of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit had been provisional at best.  For Arius, classical Catholic accounts of the Trinity were dissatisfying and ambiguous and seemed to involve the Church in irrational and contradictory affirmations about God.  He proposed a simple solution, logically coherent, easy to understand, and—at first glance—seemingly consistent with the language of the New Testament.

Arius taught that the One Eternal God is the radically Unoriginate One in every respect. This meant that God is solely unoriginate "in Person" (this, in any case, is what his approach to the Trinity inescapable implied). It follows, that the Logos, the Word, is "God's" first and greatest creature.  The Word is a reflection of the Divine Being, so perfect that he is called “Son” and God is his “Father” in a unique manner.  Nevertheless, he is a creature.  According to a famous slogan of Arius which he even set to music, “there was a time when he was not.”  This first creature fashioned everything else in turn; therefore he is called “god” in relation to the rest of creation; however he is not divine by nature.  The Holy Spirit, too, is a creature, the first and greatest creature of the Word who is himself the divine-like creature of God the Father.

What Arius proposed was ingenious and remarkable.  It appeared to be nothing less than a translation into Christian terms of the “Divine Triad” of Neoplatonism, in which Universal Intelligence and Universal Soul were inferior reflections emanating from the Transcendent One and bringing forth the spiritual and material world in turn.  It seemed as though Arius had reconciled Catholic faith and philosophical wisdom, giving a rationally satisfying explanation of the Trinity. 

In fact, however, Arius had deconstructed the mystery of the Trinity, and he stubbornly refused all correction on the matter of what became known as the "great heresy" that bears his name.  His theory was condemned at the Council of Nicaea in 325, wherein the Only Son of the Father was proclaimed God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father.  After this Council, however, the Arian party succeeded in gaining imperial favor by means of deception and intrigue.  Enormous political pressure was brought to bear against orthodox bishops by Constantine’s successors, and imperially sponsored synods tried to construct and then impose compromise Trinitarian formulations that secretly favored the Arian position.  

In the center of this storm was the singular figure of Saint Athanasius, the great bishop of Alexandria and fearless defender of Trinitarian orthodoxy.  Athanasius was exiled from his see no less than five times during his tumultuous career, because he stubbornly opposed any and every politically engineered compromise with the Arian position.  

Modern secular historians may often wonder why Athanasius was so passionate and so persistent about what might seem to be an abstract theological point.  Yet we can appreciate the energy of his zeal if we realize that he perceived the deep connection between the mystery of the Trinity and the mystery of the Incarnation and Redemption.  Athanasius’s conviction about the Trinity was inseparable from his conviction about the Christian event and its significance for the life of man.  Through the incarnation and redemption, God has made it possible for us to share in His very life.  Our union with the Word made flesh gives us a participation in the Divine life.  This is the great patristic teaching on deification (“theosis”): God became man so that men might become “gods”—that is, adopted sons of the Father.  Athanasius perceived the radical implications of Arius’s theories: if the one who became incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary was not fully Divine, how could he possibly give us a participation in the Divine life?  In the Arian system, the magnificent destiny of the Christian man comes crashing to the ground.  The one who walked the earth, who became our friend, who gave us his flesh to eat and his blood to drink, was merely another creature like us.  God has not shown us His face nor invited us into his friendship.  He remains a stranger to us.  Thus Athanasius declares: “the Son of God became Son of Man, so that the sons of man, that is, of Adam, might become sons of God.  The Word begotten of the Father from on high, inexpressibly, inexplicably, incomprehensibly and eternally, is He that is born in time here below, of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, so that those who are in the first place born here below might have a second birth from on high, that is, of God.”  

Moreover, if the Holy Spirit is not fully God, how can he possibly transform us into the likeness of God?  “If the Holy Spirit were a creature, there could be no communion of God with us through Him.  On the contrary, we would be joined to a creature, and we would be foreign to the divine nature, as having nothing in common with it…If by participation in the Spirit we are made partakers in the divine nature…it cannot be doubted that His is the nature of God.”  

Thus for Athanasius, the full co-eternal divinity of the Word and the Holy Spirit was not only a truth about the mystery of God; it was also a matter of life or death for man—it was a truth decisive for the human vocation.  Only the Divine Word made flesh divinizes His brothers in the flesh.  If Christ is anything less than God, then the gates of heaven are closed and man is still in exile from his eternal home.  The comfortable rationalism of Arius, in the end, robbed Christianity of its very heart.

First Council of Nicaea, 325 - from an ancient fresco in present day Turkiye.

The Freshness of Spring and the Joy of Easter

"Almost-May" flowers and green are coming with their splendid show. The freshness of Spring!🌷🍃🌱

Even greater, the joy of Easter that remains in this season. Christ is Risen from the dead, and the foretaste of joy remains with us, carries us, renews its promise to us even in this strange year of 2025 that is so full of sorrows and concerns and trials — in our personal lives, in our society, in our world burdened by the distortion of sin that breeds so much injustice and violence, where war rages in many places and casts its looming shadow of horror over all of us. 

The Church rejoices in this Easter Season and “mourns” the passing of our beloved Pope Francis, sorry to be deprived of his physical presence but also astonished by his final days so luminous with deeds and words of mercy. Next month the Cardinals will elect a new Pope. There is no point in worrying about things beyond our power. We must pray from the heart for the Church, the world, and all our needs, and entrust everything to Jesus Christ our Lord.