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In a week in which natural disasters, war and racial conflicts dominated the headlines, Pope Francis prayed that Mary would bring peace to a divided world.
Seeing the violence in Charlottesville was saddening and disheartening. The more we read about the demonstration of racism, bigotry and self-proclaimed superiority made it seem as though we were living in a different time. So much progress has been made since the Civil Rights Movement. And yet, there are some who cling to misguided and evil beliefs about what makes America unique and remarkable.
St. Sebaldus was an English monk, most likely a Benedictine, who knew St. Willibald, his brother St. Winebald, and their sister St. Walburga. All of them had been invited by their cousin, St. Boniface, to come to Germany and help him plant the faith among the tribes. Sebaldus joined the German mission, dedicating himself to the region in around Nuremberg.
It is healthy to remember that God is great and powerful and that, in that way, He is different from us and therefore also distant. We also know that by knowing Jesus, God is close to us and invites us to be close to Him. Mysterious, for sure, and challenging.
In the aftermath of a chaos- and hate-filled weekend in Virginia, Catholic bishops and groups throughout the nation called for peace after three people died and several others were injured following clashes between pacifists, protesters and white supremacists in Charlottesville Aug. 11 and 12.
Retired Bishop Robert J. Shaheen, who was the second bishop to head the Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles, died in St. Louis Aug. 9.
The keys to the kingdom
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus gives to Peter the keys not to the family car but to the kingdom. This Gospel scene is captured powerfully in a painting by the Renaissance artist Pietro Perugino, found in the Sistine Chapel. It depicts Jesus handing on the keys to Peter as the other Apostles look on. Perugino sets it in a vast piazza as if to highlight the singular drama, majesty and universal reach of that moment that will fill the world, with the forgiveness of Christ as it does today in millions of confessions every week.