Someone recently shared with me a video of an interesting conversation between Bishop Robert Barron and Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ. Many of you are probably familiar with Bishop Barron, who has become well-known as the founder of Word on Fire Ministries and for his evangelization work on YouTube and other social media platforms. Fr. Fessio is less well-known than Barron but has been extraordinarily influential as the founder of the Catholic publishing house Ignatius Press, which he established in 1978. The conversation was really an interview of Fr. Fessio, who entered the Society of Jesus in 1961 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1972. Over the course of his life, Fr. Fessio had opportunities to spend time with some of the greatest theological minds of the twentieth century, including Henri DeLubac, Karol Wojtyla, and Josef Ratzinger, under whom he wrote a doctoral dissertation on the theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar. Besides Wojtyla, who would become St. John Paul II, and Ratzinger, who would become Pope Benedict XVI, most of the theologians discussed in the interview are relatively unknown outside academic circles and seminaries. But even the casual listener to the conversation can gain some insight into of the richness of theology as an intellectual discipline. As young men raised in Catholic families, and who were obsessed with baseball, both Bishop Barron and Fr. Fessio were introduced to the Catholic Church’s treasury of theology in high school, and it changed their lives. It shaped their understanding of God, of Christ, of the Church, of themselves, and of the whole of reality. They both responded to a vocation to priesthood and have spent their lives sharing their love for theology with others, hoping that it would help them to love the Lord more and inspire them to lives of greater holiness. The video was released on January 18 as the latest on the series “Bishop Barron Presents.” It’s only an hour, and worth a listen. You might also like his conversation with Shia LaBeouf in which the actor speaks about his conversion to Catholicism and how coming to faith in Christ changed his outlook on everything.
St. Blaise
Next Saturday, February 3, is the feast of St. Blaise. Falling in the heart of the cold and flu season, the annual blessing of throats on this day is a welcome tradition. This blessing involves the placing of two candles by the throat, with the priest saying: “Through the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr, may you be preserved from all afflictions of the throat and every evil, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The candles we use for the traditional throat blessing are among those which are blessed the day before, on the Feast of the Presentation (2/2), also known as Candlemas.
To commemorate the Feast of St. Blaise, we will be offering the traditional blessing of throats at the end of all Masses on Saturday, 2/3, including the Mass of St. Blaise at 8am at St. Gabriel’s that morning, and the two vigil Masses that evening (4pm & 5:30).
The Parish of St. Cecilia-St. Gabriel 