John Janaro's Blog, page 301

Pope Francis: "The Courage to Persevere..."

Let us not give in to pessimism and discouragement; we have that firm confidence which the Holy Spirit gives the Church, with his mighty breath, the courage to persevere and to seek new ways to evangelize, to bring the Gospel to the ends of the Earth. The Christian truth is appealing and persuasive because it responds to the profound needs of human existence, announcing convincingly that Christ is the only Savior of the whole man and of all men.
Pope Francis

Josefina's First Thoughts About the New Pope

This conversation actually happened. I am not making this up. I think it reveals something about the emerging mental capacities of a five to six years old child. Or maybe its just Josefina's mind; I'm not sure. She's unique in many ways.

We've been watching all the conclave stuff and talking about it, and now we have Pope Francis. At some point in all of this, Josefina clearly started trying to figure out what was going on. We had told her about it in various ways, of course, but now she was thinking it through herself. Our talking and the television and her own imagination and memory were all active in the process. And she said....
Josefina: "That's the new Pope?"
Me: "Yes."
Her (in an earnest tone, and with a serious expression): "But who will train him?"
Me: "Train him for what?"
Her: "umm...Mass!"
Me: "Oh he doesn't need to be trained to say Mass. He's a priest and a bishop. He's been saying Mass for many years."
Her: "Before?"
Me: "Yes, of course."
Her: "When he was playing baseball?"

?
[REALLY, HONESTLY, I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP!]

....
Me: "Huh? He wasn't playing baseball. What are you talking about?"
Her: "I thought he was one of the Cardinals."
Of course, we all cracked up at this point! Oh no, hahaha! hahaha! "Hahaheh... actually that's a pretty smart connection she made...," I thought.

"No, not this kind of Cardinal!"I should point out that she was probably thinking of our local summer league baseball team, the Front Royal Cardinals. She's been to a few of those games. Also, Josefina tends to refer to every sport as "baseball" (I wonder why, haha).

So, I tried to explain to her the difference between the Cardinals who play baseball and the Cardinals who elect the Pope. And I also noted, "He's the same age as Papa [my Dad]. How could he be playing baseball?"

She thought about it for a moment and then said: "Did Papa play baseball?"

Woooosh! We're on another topic. :)

We Have a Pope! (White Smoke on a Seven Inch Screen)

Wow! What a day! Exhausting!

My windows on the world are a notebook computer, a seven inch Kindle Fire, and a cheap not-very-smart phone. For most of the afternoon, my Kindle was tuned in to a live webcam view of the chimney.

I tried to do other things in the office of the John XXIII Montessori Children's Center. But I kept looking at the chimney, over and over... me and the rest of the world.

If I had to leave my desk, I took my Kindle with me. I'm glad I didn't crash into anybody as I walked through hallways, staring at a digital image of a chimney instead of watching where I was going.

Most of the time I sat at the desk, looking at the chimney every few seconds, and then going over to Facebook to chat with other people who were also watching the chimney. The image kept pixilating, and often the digital variation looked like smoke. No smoke. A bird (seagull? pigeon?) perched on top of the chimney. The bird became an international celebrity for about an hour.

Meanwhile, kids kept popping their heads in the office. "Is there smoke yet?" Not yet, I told them. I'll let you all know. After the first vote on Tuesday, we had a crowd of kids in the office watching the black smoke pouring out of the chimney on the seven inch screen of my Kindle. The black smoke what quite unmistakably black.

So it went on, and I began to wonder what would happen if this turned out to be a long conclave. Chimney-watching every day for how long?

The internet had opened the possibility of an intimate sense of participation in these events. It had been deeply moving, to enter the Sistine Chapel with the Cardinals, to pray for them one by one as they took the the oath, to see human hands from all over the world, human hands of so many shapes and sizes and textures and hues, pressing against the book of the Gospels. Human hands.

But it was also good that we were not digitally looking over their shoulders as they voted. We observed a kind of silence (when our minds weren't racing with speculations). But it was the silence that we needed. The Cardinals were cloistered, and in a certain sense the whole Church was cloistered. The Cardinals had to stand before God with their consciences, and pray for the light of the Holy Spirit. We had to accompany them with our waiting hearts, full of that mysterious expectation that ultimately wants a "Someone" whom we can see and hear and even touch.

The man who would emerge on the balcony of St. Peter's as Pope would not satisfy our desire. He would not be the One for whom our hearts are made. But he would be a sign--and in his ministry we could hope to be guided on the journey, and even to see a glimpse of the New Creation that has already been fulfilled in the resurrection of a Man, and that is breaking into our world and changing our history right now. We hoped that the living testimony of this man who would step out on the balcony, this "papa," might focus the eyes of our faith on the Face of the One who lives forever, the One who is the definitive triumph of Love, through whom the heavens and the earth are being renewed.

And so the human beings gathered, thousands in the square, stretching their necks, cheering, praying, expressing that radical human hope; that joyful restlessness full of the profound depths of hope, but also full of ambiguity, lack of focus, and vacillation. Around the world, human beings looked at their digital gadgets with the same deep but often distracted hope.

Catholic Christians prayed to Jesus, prayed for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and also wondered if the guy they liked was going to "win;" if he would be tough and clean up all the messes made by the Church's members; if he would he be media-savvy.

We wondered if we would "like" him; we wondered if he would be energetic and zealous; we wondered how he would "do" the new evangelization; we wondered if he was young or old, disorganized or competent, an "insider" or an "outsider," a scholar or [and?] a pastor with heart. We wondered about his views on X, Y and Z (insert favorite opinions).

You can bet that bishops, priests, sisters, lay men and women who work for the Church, and of course theologians wondered, "How will the new pope affect my career?" (Let's be honest, people!)

I wondered many things as I watched the chimney. But the depths of hope had been strengthened by the witness of Benedict. He was confident that Jesus is the head of the Church. He had had the courage to put in Jesus's hands the office of successor of St. Peter with faith and serenity, so he might embrace the final pilgrimage of incapacity that was now upon him.

Hope had been strengthened, yet still I wondered many things.

Then, suddenly, a puff of smoke. "Looks like gray. It will turn black.... No. Is it? Could it be?"

I opened the office door and shouted "WHITE SMOKE!!!"

Kids crowded around me in the office to see the white smoke. There was no doubt that it was, indeed, white. I switched my Kindle over to EWTN's live stream.

Then we waited more.

Eventually, the Chelsea Academy folks set up a laptop with a projector in the large assembly hall. The teachers and the students of Chelsea and John XXIII gathered together to watch... and wait.

My kids will always remember this. The gathering and the expectation....

The curtain rustled.

"HABEMUS PAPAM!"

Then, at that moment, the screen froze up! "Ack!" "Wait, its back. Here we go... what's with the sound? I can't hear...."

"Eminentissimum ac Reverendissimum Dominum, Dominum Georgium Garbledigarbleum Sanctae Romanae Digarbledigooble Garbleorum What? Whatswrongwiththesound? Icanthear WhodidhesaywhoisGeorgium? Broonkbriipbroop nomen imposuit Franciscum!"

"Okay, Franciscum. Francis? Pope Francis. Pope Francis!"
"Who is Georgium?" For a moment, the name of "Cardinal George" actually passed through my mind. "No, couldn't be...."
On the (now restored) web stream the crowds were cheering, although I'm not sure they knew who had just become Pope. The EWTN announcers, who had been talking non-stop, heroically, for the last five days were totally silent. Maybe they didn't know either.
"Papa Francesco, Papa Francesco!" The crowd cheered. "Yes," I thought to myself, "Pope Francis... I got that part... but who is he?"
Finally, finally, one of the EWTN announcers spoke, "Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio has been elected Pope Francis I. He is the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina."
And we all cheered. Even though most of us still didn't know who he was!
But when Pope Francis came out on the balcony, radiating simplicity, asking us to pray for him and bowing his own head, the crowd at St. Peter's became silent. So did our crowd and the crowds of all the Church and all the world.
A path opened up in this silence, and we began the next moment of our journey.

The Papal Conclave Begins: The Holy Spirit Guides the Church

The Sistine Chapel, from the outside. The
inside is quite a bit more distinctive.In recent days I have found it difficult to write. So many experts, reporters, and analysts have had things to say, and I am grateful for their work, although reading all of it sometimes only made me uneasy and anxious. This is not to say that I haven't learned some important things, and discovered much about the good work that many are doing in the Church. I have also made my share of jokes (and will, no doubt, continue to make jokes, because true humor is an expression of reverence and affection).

But above all, the approaching moments are a time for recollection, and for drawing close in prayer to our brothers the Cardinals and the one among them who will follow in the footsteps of St. Peter

I am awake in the very early hours of the morning. This is not unusual for me. This morning, however, I hope to participate--in physical distance but electronic proximity--in the Mass soon to begin in Rome, the special Mass for the Election of a Supreme Pontiff offered by the Cardinals before they enter the silence of the Sistine Chapel. There they will choose, with the help of the Holy Spirit, the next bishop of Rome, successor of St. Peter, servant of the servants of God.

The "Conclave" is both mysterious and human. These are men, and they are choosing a man. Popes are not gods. This election does not transform someone into a semi-divine being, an all wise, all knowing being who possesses perfect judgment, to whom the rest of us submit like slaves. As Benedict XVI said, "the Pope is not an oracle."

Still the Pope is a man who is a bishop, who in assuming the office of St. Peter will stand out from among his brother bishops, the men who are the successors of the eyewitnesses of Jesus, those twelve who were empowered and commissioned by Jesus to gather the human race into a communion of persons who share His risen life. A communion of persons who become a "people," the People of God, gathered together in a visible, historical community.

This is mysterious. A two thousand year old historical community, whose members have through the ages done all the evil things that humans do, but who still endure and witness to the beginning of God's victory in the world, the beginning of a new creation. It is an historical community that points to Jesus of Nazareth, crucified and risen, and says, "We are together because of Him."

The Pope and the bishops who are in union with him have an office within this community: an authority which is a service and a profound responsibility. The Pope is not "god" or "emperor" or "dictator;" he is "papa," daddy, a man who is called to exercise the role of father in the great family of the Church.

It is not surprising that all of us are drawn to an intimacy and affection for the man who is Pope. The Church is a communion of love; it is the people brought together by the love of God in Jesus, and it reaches out to every human being. We look to the Pope, we have confidence in his guidance, and we follow him not because we think he is magic, or that his every word is divinely inspired.

We follow the Pope, listen to him, and learn from him because of our confidence that the Holy Spirit guides the Church. The Holy Spirit will not allow him to fail in his teaching on the fundamental realities--faith and morals--which sustain each of us in our vital relationship with Jesus, and with each other. Jesus Himself has given this promise to St. Peter, for the building up of His Church (see Matthew 16:6). Beyond this, we are also attentive to and recognize the unique value of the whole of the Pope's preaching and witness. We trust that the Holy Spirit will guide him and sustain him as an authority and a reference point for what is good for the Church, and good for the world.

And so we pray now, and we ask the Spirit of the Father and His Son Jesus to guide the Cardinals, we pray with joy and hope and confidence because we know that God loves us, God loves the Church, God loves the world and every person in it.

This is the secret of the fascination that people (even non-Christians) have with the election of a new Pope. We are awaiting a gift from God.

Act of Love

Holy Cross Cistercian Monastery, Berryville, Virginia



















Act of Love
O my God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,I love you above all things,with my whole heart, my whole soul, my whole mind,and my whole strength.I love you Eternal Father.In the name of Jesus, my Savior,I love you.Send forth your Spirit into my heart,guiding me in the ways of love.
I love my neighbor as myself for the love of you,my God,and all things for your sake and for your glory.I love you and desire to recognize you and love you more—as your Mercy and Wisdom enable me—in each and every human personcreated in your image and likeness
I forgive those who have injured me,I forgive them from the heartand I pray that you will bless abundantlyand give your grace to all those who have harmed me,who wished to harm me,or who have hurt me by failing to understand me.
And I ask pardon for all those I have injuredin thought, word, deed, or omission.Bless a hundred fold with healing and graceanyone whom I have harmed in any way,and have mercy on us all.
(March 12, 2011)

Are We Listening?

"Today if you hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts" (see Psalm 95:8).

Every day, we harden our hearts to the gentle promptings of the Spirit of God. We make excuses. We reduce His inspiration to our own measure. We bargain with Him.

Or we drown out His voice with every kind of noise, with our own projects, with the plans that our hearts have already set for themselves.

We are so busy. We are anxious about many things.
"Harden not your hearts...."
"But Lord, I have to do it this way, don't you understand? I'm trying to glorify You, preach Your gospel, serve the poor, change society, fight against the evil forces in the world, and do lots of good."
"Harden not...."
"But God, I'm doing this for the New Evangelization! I want to make You known and loved. What more could You want?"
"...your heart."

"Slushies" From Heaven

The view from the Porch of the Janaro EstateThe snowstorm came to town, as expected. Schools didn't even dream of opening.
A snow day in March!?
Here we are, two weeks before the first day of Spring. Daylight Savings Time begins this weekend. And there's hoodles of snow pouring down from the sky.
We turned on the Weather Channel, and there was a reporter stationed in our town. One of those brave, intrepid Weather Channel people--the ones who stand on the beach to report on a hurricane or go out on a raft in the midst of a flood--came to Front Royal to show her courage. We didn't know whether we should be flattered, or whether we should be evacuating!
Of course, by that time, we couldn't go anywhere.
This Snowman is having fun while he
still can. Temperature's rising.So we hunkered down and watched the snow and the wind. Well, I hunkered down. The kids, of course, went out to play. I only made a brief visit to check a few things out and take some pictures. It was a wet, wet snow. Good snowman snow. The kids built a lovely snowman.
The snow piled up to more than a foot, I'm guessing, when something strange began to happen. It continued to snow, but instead of getting higher, the stuff on the ground got thicker. It got goopier and goopier, but it was still snow. The temperature was above freezing and I think some of it was melting even as it fell. You could have scooped it up in a cup and you would have had...one of those frozen drinks that you get at fast food places, what are they called? I know that on Veggietales they call them "Slushies," and I can't think of a better word right now.
"And God rained down Slushies from heaven for His people" (says no chapter and verse anywhere in the Bible).
You-know-whoMe: "Josefina, what flavor of Slushie would you like?"
Her: "Strawberry."
Me: "I'll have to pour some artificial strawberry-flavored syrup on the snow!"
Her: <blank stare> [...of course, she doesn't get it...]
Oh well, another joke Fail.
If you think you're funny, try your jokes out on your kids. They are honest and ruthless, and they are already bored of your humor. If your kids laugh, its funny. If your teenagers laugh, take it to the bank.

All it needs is artificial color
and flavor, and... Slushies!Meanwhile, snow is falling off the trees. Melting. The humongous, dangerous storm has turned out to be (at least in our area) another dud. Which is fine with me.  As the sun sets, the clouds begin to part. I think our snowman is going to have a short life.
No damage to report here, other than a bathroom full of wet coats, sweaters, hats, gloves, and scarves. And a kitchen sink full of hot cocoa mugs. Clearly, fun has been had.
The Weather Channel must be very disappointed. Oh well, at least they can have all the Slushies they want.

Lucia, bundled up in front of the Snowman.


Teresa looks a little cold and wet without a hat!
A lot of snow for a little Josefina

March 5: Happy Birthday Eileen Janaro

Happy Birthday Eileen Janaro!

I love you! I love you!

I thank God for you.

Isn't she great??!!



















I love this lady, and I always will!

I'm Trying to Give Something Up That I Actually LIKE!

I LOVE this stuff in my coffee!!Sure, I gave up the usual list of things for Lent. And then there are things that I "gave up" in a "kinda sorta" way, which means I let myself cheat...sometimes (most of the time).

Also, as a zealous observer of the celebratory nature of "Sunday," I break from all these withering penances on Sundays.

And, of course, "Sunday" begins on Saturday evening. Right after First Vespers (which I mean to pray, but I usually miss; its hard to "get a handle" on Vespers, whereas Lauds fits right in with prayers in the morning).

Sometimes this results in a paradoxical (and stupid) thing that I call "Fat Sunday," in which I find myself eating, drinking, and watching stuff that I never care about any other time of the year!

Ice cream? I never eat ice cream... except during Sundays in Lent! Etcetera.

Lent really makes clear what a schlep I am.

Every Lent, I determine to make an effort to be extra patient and kind with the children. That means something more than being "nice" to the children. I can do "nice" without much trouble. Real love, however, is always a challenge. Its a challenge even to remember that the person in front of you needs love.

Its easier to give stuff up. So, during Lent, I muster the courage to embrace a few FirstWorld inconveniences. For example, I don't sweeten my coffee (note for *future canonization cause file*). I really like my coffee sweet. As I said in another post, I use real Stevia, which I have grown to love over the years. So its a sacrifice. Its wimpy. Its firstworldy. But its something.

Still, I can handle it. Its not that hard.

But I never "give up" my half&half in the coffee. Ooooh, no. No, no, no, no, no.

Really, half&half is the closest thing on the supermarket shelf to actual MILK! Even after being nuked by ultra-pasteurization, something real remains, and it tastes good.

It has real fat in it!

These days, I roam the supermarket looking for food that hasn't been kerschnoodled into some "healthy" imitation of what it used to be. Often, when some food item boldly advertises itself as LOW FAT, that means that they have removed the real fat, and replaced it with "fake fat"! And since your body doesn't feel satisfied with fake fat, they distract it by adding a few five-syllable ingredients that ultimately can all be translated by the word SUGAR.

Anyway, the bottom line is: I really love my half&half in my coffee!

But I have been thinking about the papal conclave with all of its tremendous implications, and I am wondering if I should subject myself to some further mortification (n.b. for *canonization cause file*).

We're not talking black coffee here. That would be martyrdom (for me, anyway). Its not time for martyrdom, yet. But, how about using milk instead of half&half in my coffee? Hee hee. Now that would be hard.

So I tried it.

Yuk! The coffee tastes horrible! I don't know how people drink it this way.

Bad. Mood. All. Day.

I'm embarrassed to even formulate this question, but I'm asking myself, "is this good for me?" Do I need to consult with my spiritual director? Or (since he's very busy) should I consult with that radical bedrock of common sense that God has placed in my life, i.e. my wife?

Really, this is not a hairshirt. This is not flagellation. This is not even switching to Maxwell House. This is nothing!

I'm laughing at myself. Well, that at least is a good thing!

Cardinal Tagle on Social Media, Human Connection, and Silence

The purpose of this post is not to engage in conclave speculation. It is just a coincidence that the texts below are from a talk by someone who might be the next pope. I have been interested in the Cardinal Archbishop of Manila, Luis Antonio Tagle, for some time.
I've watched him quite a bit on YouTube. The Philippines is a pivotal place for the future of the world and the Church. Filipinos are a great people who are presently under assault by the demographic imperialism of the secularized West. (That point deserves a post of its own sometime soon.)
If Cardinal Tagle is elected pope, it won't be because he's "Asian" or because he's "young" or because he has extraordinary personal charisma (all of this is true).
The exciting thing about Tagle is simply this: He's the real deal! He loves Jesus and the Church. Yes, he has "superstar" appeal and he knows instinctively how to use it, but he doesn't care about it. He cares about adoring Jesus in the Eucharist and finding Him in the poor. And he knows how to work with the 21st century media. If he does become pope, he will knock the secular Western opinion-makers completely off balance, but that's not what this post is about.
Regardless of whether he stays in Manila or moves to Rome, Cardinal Tagle is worth listening to. But all I want to do in this post is point to a few of his remarks on social networking, something that is huge in the Philippines. Catholic Filipinos have some experience with trying to use social media as tools for evangelization. Filipinos are online, big time.
These are some excerpts from a conference the Cardinal recently gave on the "spirituality of social media." These words were preached, with enthusiasm and ardor and warmth, moving freely back and forth between English and Tagalog. Of course I only understood the English parts, but insofar as I did understand, I was struck by what he said, and I transcribed some of it. He spoke about the possibilities of the media, the importance of one's own immediate human environment, and (in a point that I found particularly impressive) the fundamental role of silence at the root of any authentic communication.
Here are a few of his words:

You proclaim what you believe in. You proclaim the joy of being a follower of Christ. You proclaim and you hope to be 'viral'! To 'contaminate' others with the joy that comes to someone who has discovered Jesus. 'Contaminate' others, be a 'contagious disease.' Contaminate them with the joy of being a promoter of the Kingdom of truth, justice, and peace. Go 'viral'! This is the fundamental cause of Christians: the Kingdom of God, the Gospel....

But let us not forget that even in the absence of the gadgets, even in the absence of the cell phone, the computers, we can still connect. Let us not forget the basic human relationships that are always available: a smile, a recognition of the other person, a manifestation of compassion; these are all 'communicative,' and they are palpable. People can feel your touch. People can see your tears. People can hear your voice cracking out of compassion. People can hear your 'contagious' laughter, and in all of this, you are connecting. 

The Holy Father says, 'the best communication happens in silence.'... the silence of attentiveness... the silence of prayer. In prayer, we listen, we learn the art of listening. So before I utter my word, I know I have listened to God.... Silence prepares us to utter a meaningful word. Silence is the fertile ground for the communication of God's word. Only those who can be at home with silence can utter a meaningful word... I have to go back to silence... [put] the iPhone in silent mode. Only people who are capable of deep deep silence and communion can learn how to commune with others.