Catholic Spotlight

A purported miraculous cure of a nun afflicted with Parkinson’s Disease, who prayed to John Paul II for intercession for her health, was part of the recent documentation that filled many boxes being forwarded to the Vatican.  The Congregation for the Causes of Saints will consider the cause for his sainthood, which is on a remarkably fast pace.  It was just two years on April 2 that we remembered the death of Pope John Paul II.  Over the past two years, a massive amount of documentation has been accumulated, attesting to the late Pope’s holiness.  I suspect that even non-Catholics would completely understand this particular canonization.  Thy Will be done!

We’re in the peak buying season for First Communion gifts in the Catholic Church.  There are lots of very nice gifts to give, and one of them is a patron saint medal.  If the youngster does not have a saint’s name for their first or middle name, any of the popular saints is very appropriate — St. Therese, St. Michael, St. Joseph, St. Ann … and, of course, the Blessed Mother.

We’re coming into the most solemn week of the year in the Catholic Church - Holy Week.  If you haven’t been able to keep up with your Lenten resolutions, it’s not too late!  (”It’s never too late.” … would probably have been the comment of the workers in the parable, who came to work in the vineyard later in the day.)  Start a novena today — nine days of prayer to a particular Catholic Saint for his or her intercession for your particular intention.  Pray the rosary — only 20 minutes out of your 1,440 minutes of the day the Lord has given you.  Go to a weekday Mass.  Many Catholic Churches have extended Mass schedules during Lent.  Take a few minutes for prayer and thoughtful reflection on a particular Bible verse… maybe on today’s reading.  If you don’t have a good prayer book (maybe one that contains novenas, the rosary, and lots of other prayers and devotions), here’s where you can find any catholic prayer book you’re looking for.

Parishes all over the country are eagerly anticipating the “coming home” of their Christian family members and friends into the Catholic Church, at the Easter Vigil service.  It’s customary to buy a little gift for the RCIA candidate, and there are many choices for you at Catholic gift and book stores (online and offline).  Here are some gifts to consider:  Prayer book, Catholic Bible, patron saint medal, rosary, Holy Spirit jewelry, crucifix, other jewelry.

In the Catholic saints sense, I would use saint with a little “s” in the case of William Wilberforce. Not because I mean to diminish his life and amazing works, but because (technically speaking) the Catholic Church only canonizes recognized Catholics to sainthood. And I’m not making a case here for this to be reversed. I have to confess to knowing next-to-nothing about this man, but thanks to the film just released, his life is being brought front-and-center for all to hopefully ponder, and to find some aspects which we can imitate in our lives today.

After doing some reading about Wilberforce, it quickly came to me that his life was truly an example of Faith and Works, which the Catholic Church proclaims are both integral to our being saved. Over the next few days, I’ll continue with the things he did to warrant my saintly opinion of him.