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Divine Mercy novena begins on Good Friday

Crucifixion. / Credit: Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 29, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has called God’s mercy “an abyss beyond our comprehension.”

“God’s mercy can make even the driest land become a garden, can restore life to dry bones (Ez 37:1-14),” he said in his very first Easter “urbi et orbi” message in 2013.

“Let us be renewed by God’s mercy, let us be loved by Jesus, let us enable the power of his love to transform our lives, too,” he continued, “and let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can water the earth, protect all creation, and make justice and peace flourish.”

One special way to bring about this transformation in our lives is to undertake the Divine Mercy novena, which begins each year on Good Friday.

This popular, nine-day devotion was shared with the world by St. Faustina Kowalska (1905–1938), a simple, uneducated nun from Poland chosen by Our Lord to be an apostle and secretary of his mercy.

Our Lord told St. Faustina: “I desire that during these nine days, you bring souls to the fountain of my mercy, that they may draw ... strength and refreshment and whatever grace they need in the hardships of life, and especially at the hour of death.”

The tomb of St. Faustina Kowalska (1905–1938) in Łagiewniki, Poland.  Credit: Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk
The tomb of St. Faustina Kowalska (1905–1938) in Łagiewniki, Poland. Credit: Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk

The Lord asked St. Faustina to begin the novena on Good Friday. “Each day you will lead a different group of souls and immerse them in the sea of my mercy,” he instructed. “Each day you will beseech the Father through my bitter passion for graces for these souls.”

This novena can be prayed at any time, but the faithful are encouraged to begin it on Good Friday in preparation for the feast of Divine Mercy, which is celebrated on the Sunday after Easter.

How to pray the Divine Mercy novena

The novena consists of praying a daily Chaplet of Divine Mercy along with specific prayer intentions for each day. The chaplet is prayed on rosary beads as follows:

  • The Lord’s Prayer

  • Hail Mary

  • Apostles’ Creed

  • On each of the large rosary beads say:

    Eternal Father, I offer to you the body and blood, soul and divinity of your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

  • On each of the small rosary beads say:

    For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

  • Conclude by saying three times:

    Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

First day

Jesus’ words: “Today bring to me all mankind, especially all sinners, and immerse them in the ocean of my mercy. In this way you will console me in the bitter grief into which the loss of souls plunges me.”

Prayer: Most merciful Jesus, whose very nature it is to have compassion on us to forgive us, do not look upon our sins, but upon our trust, which we place in your infinite goodness. Receive us all into the abode of your most compassionate heart, and never let us escape from it. We beg this of you by your love, which unites you to the Father and the Holy Spirit. Eternal Father, turn your merciful gaze upon all mankind and especially upon poor sinners, all enfolded in the most compassionate heart of Jesus. For the sake of his sorrowful passion show us your mercy, that we may praise the infinite power of your mercy, forever and forever. Amen.

Second day

Jesus’ words: “Today bring to me the souls of priests and religious and immerse them in my unfathomable mercy. It was they who gave me strength to endure my bitter passion. Through them, as though channels, my mercy flows out upon mankind.”

Prayer: Most merciful Jesus, from whom comes all that is good, increase your grace in men and women consecrated to your service that they perform worthy works of mercy and that all who see them may glorify the Father of Mercy who is in heaven. Eternal Father, turn your merciful gaze upon the company of chosen ones in your vineyard — upon the souls of priests and religious — and endow them with the strength of your blessing. For the love of the heart of your Son in which they are enfolded, impart to them your power and light, that they may be able to guide others in the way of salvation, and with one voice sing praise to your boundless mercy for ages without end. Amen.

Third day

Jesus’ words: “Today bring to me all devout and faithful souls and immerse them in the ocean of my mercy. These souls brought me consolation on the Way of the Cross. They were that drop of consolation in the midst of an ocean of bitterness.”

Prayer: Most merciful Jesus, from the treasury of your mercy, you impart your graces in great abundance to each and all. Receive us into the abode of your most compassionate heart and never let us escape from it. We beg this grace of you by that most wondrous love for the heavenly Father with which your heart burns so fiercely. Eternal Father, turn your merciful gaze upon faithful souls, as upon the inheritance of your Son. For the sake of his sorrowful passion grant them your blessing and surround them with your constant protection. Thus may they never fail in love or lose the treasure of the holy faith, but rather, with all the hosts of angels and saints, may they glorify your boundless mercy for endless ages. Amen.

Fourth day

Jesus’ words: “Today bring to me those who do not believe in God and those who do not yet know me. I was thinking also of them during my bitter passion, and their future zeal comforted my heart. Immerse them in the ocean of my mercy.”

Prayer: Most compassionate Jesus, you are the light of the whole world. Receive into the abode of your most compassionate heart the souls of those who as yet do not believe in you or do not know you. Let the rays of your grace enlighten them that they, too, together with us, may extol your wonderful mercy, and do not let them escape from the abode that is your compassionate heart.

Eternal Father, turn your merciful gaze upon the souls who do not believe in your Son, and of those who as yet do not know you, but who are enclosed in the most compassionate heart of Jesus. Draw them to the light of the Gospel. These souls do not know what great happiness it is to love you. Grant that they, too, may extol the generosity of your mercy for endless ages. Amen.

Pope Francis says Mass at the Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 11, 2021. Vatican Media.
Pope Francis says Mass at the Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 11, 2021. Vatican Media.

Fifth day

Jesus’ words: “Today bring to me the souls who have separated from my Church and immerse them in the ocean of my mercy. During my bitter passion they tore at my body and heart, that is, my Church. As they return to unity with the Church, my wounds heal, and in this way they alleviate my passion.”

Prayer: Most merciful Jesus, goodness itself, you do not refuse light to those who seek it of you. Receive into the abode of your most compassionate heart the souls of those who have separated from your Church. Draw them by your light into the unity of the Church, and do not let them escape from the abode of your most compassionate heart; but bring it about that they, too, come to glorify the generosity of your mercy.

Eternal Father, turn your merciful gaze upon the souls of those who are separated from your Son’s Church, especially those who have squandered your blessings and misused your graces by obstinately persisting in their errors. Do not look upon their errors but upon the love of your own Son and upon his bitter passion, which he underwent for their sake, since they, too, are enclosed in his most compassionate heart. Bring it about that they may glorify your great mercy for endless ages. Amen.

Sixth day

Jesus’ words: “Today bring to me the meek and humble souls and the souls of little children and immerse them in my mercy. These souls most closely resemble my heart. They strengthened me during my bitter agony. I saw them as earthly angels, who will keep vigil at my altars. I pour out upon them whole torrents of grace. Only the humble soul is capable of receiving my grace. I favor humble souls with my confidence.”

Prayer: Most merciful Jesus, you yourself have said, “Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart.” Receive into the abode of your most compassionate heart all meek and humble souls and the souls of little children. These souls send all heaven into ecstasy, and they are the Heavenly Father’s favorites. They are a sweet-smelling bouquet before the throne of God; God himself takes delight in their fragrance. These souls have a permanent abode in your most compassionate heart, O Jesus, and they unceasingly sing out a hymn of love and mercy.

Eternal Father, turn your merciful gaze upon meek and humble souls and upon the souls of little children, who are enfolded in the abode that is the most compassionate heart of Jesus. These souls bear the closest resemblance to your Son. Their fragrance rises from the earth and reaches your very throne. Father of Mercy and of all goodness, I beg you by the love you bear these souls and by the delight you take in them. Bless the whole world, that all souls together may sing out the praises of your mercy for endless ages. Amen.

Seventh day

Jesus’ words: “Today bring to me the souls who especially venerate and glorify my mercy and immerse them in my mercy. These souls sorrowed most over my passion and entered most deeply into my spirit. They are living images of my compassionate heart. These souls will shine with a special brightness in the next life. Not one of them will go into the fire of hell. I shall particularly defend each one of them at the hour of death.”

Prayer: Most merciful Jesus, whose heart is love itself, receive into the abode of your most compassionate heart the souls of those who particularly extol and venerate the greatness of your mercy. These souls are mighty with the very power of God himself. In the midst of all afflictions and adversities they go forward confident of your mercy. These souls are united to Jesus and carry all mankind on their shoulders. These souls will not be judged severely, but your mercy will embrace them as they depart from this life.

Eternal Father, turn your merciful gaze upon the souls who glorify and venerate your greatest attribute, that of your fathomless mercy, and who are enclosed in the most compassionate heart of Jesus. These souls are a living Gospel; their hands are full of deeds of mercy and their spirits, overflowing with joy, sing a canticle of mercy to you, O Most High! I beg you O God: Show them your mercy according to the hope and trust they have placed in you. Let there be accomplished in them the promise of Jesus, who said to them that during their life, but especially at the hour of death, the souls who will venerate this fathomless mercy of his, he, himself, will defend as his glory. Amen.

Eighth day

Jesus’ words: “Today bring to me the souls who are detained in purgatory and immerse them in the abyss of my mercy. Let the torrents of my blood cool down their scorching flames. All these souls are really loved by me. They are making retribution to my justice. It is in your power to bring them relief. Draw all indulgences from the treasury of my Church and offer them on their behalf. Oh, if you only knew the torments they suffer, you would continually offer for them the alms of the spirit and pay off their debt for my justice.”

Prayer: Most merciful Jesus, you yourself have said that you desire mercy; so I bring into the abode of your most compassionate heart the souls in purgatory, souls who are very dear to you, and yet, who must make retribution to your justice. May the streams of blood and water that gushed forth from your heart put out the flames of purgatory, that there, too, the power of your mercy may be celebrated.

Eternal Father, turn your merciful gaze upon the souls suffering in purgatory, who are enfolded in the most compassionate heart of Jesus. I beg you, by the sorrowful passion of Jesus, your Son, and by all the bitterness with which his most sacred soul was flooded: Manifest your mercy to the souls who are under your just scrutiny. Look upon them in no other way but only through the wounds of Jesus, your dearly beloved Son; for we firmly believe that there is no limit to your goodness and compassion. Amen.

Ninth day

Jesus’ words: “Today bring to me souls who have become lukewarm and immerse them in the abyss of my mercy. These souls wound my heart most painfully. My souls suffered the most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls. They were the reason I cried out: ‘Father, take this cup away from me, if it be your will.’ For them the last hope of salvation is to run to my mercy.“

Prayer: Most compassionate Jesus, you are compassion itself. I bring lukewarm souls into the abode of your most compassionate heart. In this fire of your pure love let these tepid souls, who, like corpses, filled you with such deep loathing, be once again set aflame. O most compassionate Jesus, exercise the omnipotence of your Mercy and draw them into the very ardor of your love; and bestow upon them the gift of holy love, for nothing is beyond your power.

Eternal Father, turn your merciful gaze upon lukewarm souls who are nonetheless enfolded in the most compassionate heart of Jesus. Father of Mercy, I beg you by the bitter passion of your Son and by his three-hour agony on the cross, let them, too, glorify the abyss of your mercy. Amen.

This story was first published on CNA on April 15, 2022, and has been updated.

Oregon reports significant uptick in assisted suicides

The Oregon State Capitol in Salem. / Credit: Zack Frank/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 28, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) is reporting a significant rise in assisted suicide prescriptions and deaths in the state, a move that comes after authorities in 2022 began allowing out-of-state residents to access the lethal services.

Since the state’s passage of the “Death with Dignity Act” in 1997, assisted suicide numbers have been generally rising there, with a markedly sharp uptick since 2013. OHA on March 20 released its 2023 assisted suicide data summary that reported a considerable increase in suicide prescriptions in 2023. 

The study found that assisted suicide prescriptions in the state rose from 433 in 2022 to 560 last year.

Of those 560 prescriptions, 367 people are known to have died from ingesting the suicide “medications.” This is up from the 304 who died from assisted suicide drugs in Oregon in 2022.

Over half, or 56%, of the assisted suicide deaths were of males, while the vast majority, 82%, were 65 years old and above, although one patient was 29. Sixty-six percent of those given a suicide prescription had cancer.

Nearly all — 92% — said their reason for obtaining the drugs included concern over “loss of autonomy.” Additionally, 82% also reported they were concerned about their “decreasing ability to participate in activities that made life enjoyable” and 64% cited concerns over “loss of dignity.”  

According to the OHA report, only three patients were referred for psychological or psychiatric evaluation, and 154 patients were granted exemptions from the statutory 15-day waiting period.

Just sixty patients, 16%, had a health care provider present when they consumed the suicide drugs.

In all, 2023 saw a nearly 30% increase in assisted suicide prescriptions and a 20% rise in deaths.

This uptick comes after the state passed a law in 2022 dropping its residency requirement for assisted suicide, which made it legal for Oregon doctors to prescribe lethal drugs to people who do not reside in the state. 

The 2023 report said 23 non-Oregon residents utilized the state’s suicide services. However, it noted that this number “may not represent all DWDA deaths from out-of-state residents,” because information on a patient’s state of residence is not collected during the prescription process and OHA does not receive death certificates from other states. 

The state’s relaxation of residency rules was condemned at the time by Oregon Right to Life, which expressed worry that it would mark the start of “death tourism” in Oregon. 

Oregon Right to Life President Lois Anderson said this month, meanwhile, that the state’s assisted suicide laws represent an “appalling lack of care and respect for the lives of Oregonians and those who travel from out of state to receive these death-inducing drugs.”

“Physician-assisted suicide targets vulnerable people who are made to feel that their lives are no longer valuable or worth living,” she said in a March 20 statement. “Instead of continuing to prescribe toxic cocktails of life-ending drugs, we should provide truly compassionate measures, ensuring that people facing end-of-life decisions have access to high-quality palliative care.” 

Anderson told CNA that she is especially concerned for the state’s most vulnerable residents, who she said are under special threat in the assisted suicide laws.

“After 26 years, the law has had a corrosive effect on medical professionals and caregivers who see assisted death as a legitimate response to illness and disability,” she explained. 

Now, Anderson said, there “are no real protections against coercion.”  

She urged people to give special care whom she believes are most targeted by the state’s assisted suicide laws. 

“Our elderly, disabled, medically fragile, and chronically ill neighbors need us to seek them out, actively communicate that each one is a person with infinite value, and find practical ways to help them in their daily lives,” she said. 

Since assisted suicide was legalized in Oregon there have been 4,274 lethal prescriptions and 2,847 reported deaths in the state, per OHA.

Governors in West Virginia, Utah, Idaho sign religious freedom bills

null / Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 28, 2024 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

Governors Jim Justice of West Virginia, Spencer Cox of Utah, and Brad Little of Idaho — all Republicans — signed legislation in their states to enhance religious freedom protections. 

The new West Virginia law establishes stronger religious freedom protections for student organizations at public universities. The Utah law allows residents to bring civil action against government entities if those entities violate their religious freedom. And the new Idaho legislation protects religious rights for faith-based adoption centers and foster care homes.

West Virginia

The West Virginia legislation amends a 1931 West Virginia law that guarantees “free expression on campus.” The amendment ensures that public universities cannot discriminate against student organizations, including faith-based organizations, if those groups require that members adhere to certain values. 

Under the new protections, a public university cannot deny a religious, political, or ideological organization any benefit or privilege generally made to other organizations based on a requirement that its leaders or members “affirm or adhere to the organization’s sincerely held beliefs, comply with the organization’s standards of conduct, and further the organization’s mission or purpose.”

Matt Sharp, a senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a statement that the new protection safeguards “the ability of belief-based student organizations to associate with those who align with the organization’s mission and purpose.”

“Religious clubs must remain free to require their leaders and members to adhere to their religious beliefs and values,” Sharp said. “This critical legislation specifically ensures that student groups at public universities can freely choose their leaders and members, and further their mission, absent of discrimination.”

Utah

The new Utah law recognizes religious freedom as “a fundamental right” and sets statewide standards for bringing civil action against a local or state government entity when a person believes that entity has violated his or her religious freedom.

Under the new law, which mirrors some of the federal protections in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, people can bring civil cases against public entities if they substantially burden their religious freedom by withholding a government benefit; assessing civil, criminal, or administrative penalties or damages; or exclude a person from a government program or from access to a government facility or service.

Greg Chafuen, a legal counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a statement that “citizens shouldn’t be left defenseless when their government attempts to burden their ability to live and worship according to their faith.”

“This law provides a sensible balancing test for courts to use when reviewing government policies that infringe upon the religious freedom rights of Utahans,” Chafuen said. “The law doesn’t determine who will win every disagreement, but it does ensure that every Utahan — regardless of their religious creed or political power — receives a fair hearing when government action forces a person to violate his or her religious beliefs.”

Idaho

The new Idaho law prevents state and local government entities from discriminating against adoption centers or foster care providers for adhering to their religious beliefs.

Under the law, entities cannot deny contracts, grants, or agreements based on the organization’s adherence to policies and procedures that align with “a sincerely held religious belief.” This also applies if the adoption center or foster care provider’s sincerely held religious beliefs contribute to decisions about where to place a child. 

Chafuen said in a statement that faith-based providers “have served children looking for loving homes for centuries while living out their sincerely held religious beliefs.” 

“We applaud Idaho for prioritizing the well-being of kids by prohibiting state and local government officials from discriminating against adoption and foster care providers and parents simply because of their religious beliefs and moral convictions,” Chafuen said. “This law helps children benefit from as many adoption and foster care agencies as possible, faith- and non-faith-based alike.”

South Dakota to create ‘Med Ed’ video to combat ‘abortion misinformation’

South Dakota's Governor Kristi Noem arrives to speak during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) meeting on Feb. 23, 2024, in National Harbor, Maryland. / Credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 28, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

A prominent pro-life group is praising South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem for signing a “Med Ed” bill that it says will mandate the creation of an informational video to combat “abortion misinformation.”

According to a March 25 statement by Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA), the South Dakota bill is the “first legislation of its kind drafted to end the confusion caused by the abortion lobby through direct education to doctors.”

Kelsey Pritchard, SBA state public affairs director, said in the statement that “though every state with a pro-life law allows pregnant women to receive emergency care, the abortion industry has sown confusion on this fact to justify their position of abortion without limits.”

“With many in the media refusing to fact-check this obvious lie, other states should look to South Dakota in combating dangerous abortion misinformation,” she said.

The bill, passed overwhelmingly by the Republican-controlled legislature, was signed into law by Noem, who is also a Republican, on Monday. Introduced by state Rep. Taylor Rehfeldt, who is a nurse, the bill requires the South Dakota Department of Health to create an informational video describing the state’s abortion law and clarifying when “life-threatening or health-threatening” exceptions apply.

Now that the bill has been passed into law the Department of Health has until Sept. 1 to create the video and accompanying informational materials. The video and materials will be posted to the Department of Health’s website for doctors and the public to use as a reference in understanding the state’s abortion laws.

South Dakota is one of 14 states that prohibit abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. While some states allow exceptions in cases of rape, incest, and fetal anomaly, South Dakota only makes exceptions in cases where the mother’s life or health is in danger.

The ACLU of South Dakota decried the bill when it passed out of committee, saying in a Feb. 28 statement that it “gives anti-abortion activists a guise to appear to care about pregnant patients while actually passing legislation that further enshrines anti-abortion cruelty.”

Pritchard, however, said that the new informational material will help to clear up confusion on when the exception allows an abortion to take place in the state.

“Regardless of political affiliation or whether someone is pro-life or pro-choice, South Dakotans of all philosophies can celebrate that moms will be better protected through direct education to our doctors on their ability to exercise reasonable medical judgment in all situations,” she said.

According to SBA, Kentucky and Oklahoma have also taken steps to clarify their abortion exceptions and the Texas Medical Board is currently considering issuing a clarification to its life of the mother exception.

Trump’s Bible peddling: welcome message or ‘misunderstanding’ about the faith?

Trump announced his Bible project on social media during Holy Week, saying he partnered with country singer Lee Greenwood on the initiative. / Credit: Screenshot/EWTN News Nightly

CNA Newsroom, Mar 28, 2024 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s message touting a patriotically-themed King James Bible is seen as either a welcome, “heartfelt” religious exhortation or a “potentially dangerous misunderstanding” about the Christian faith, according to several Catholic observers.

Trump announced his Bible project on social media during Holy Week, saying he partnered with country singer Lee Greenwood on the initiative. Greenwood’s 1984 song “God Bless the USA” is traditionally played before Trump’s campaign rally and event speeches.

In addition to the sacred Scriptures, the “God Bless the USA Bible” includes the Constitution of the United States and the country’s Declaration of Independence as well as the lyrics to Greenwood’s hit song.

“Our Founding Fathers did a tremendous thing when they built America on Judeo-Christian values. Now that foundation is under attack, perhaps as never before,” Trump declared. He went on to exhort Americans to “pray that God will bless America again.”

“Religion and Christianity are the biggest things missing from this country,” Trump stated. “It’s one of the biggest problems we have. That’s why our country is going haywire.”

“This Bible is a reminder that the biggest thing we have to bring back to America and to make America great again is our religion,” he repeated.

Needed and ‘heartfelt’ message

“We need more politicians promoting the Bible and our founding principles,” commented Brent Bozell, founder of the Media Research Center and author of “Stops Along the Way: A Catholic Soul, a Conservative Heart, an Irish Temper, and a Love of Life.”

“Good for Donald Trump actually promoting religion,” he added.

CatholicVote President Brian Burch seconded Bozell, saying: “It’s refreshing to hear a presidential candidate talk this way.”

In contrast, Burch said, the administration of incumbent President Joe Biden “has put our churches under surveillance, refused to prosecute violence against our churches, and decimated religious freedom protections.”

For his part, Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, told CNA he also welcomed the message. 

“His belief in God, his belief in the importance of Christianity, going to the core of his message [of] the intertwining of religion and the fate of this country — are all heartfelt,” Roberts said. 

“I think it’s important we not overthink this, or over-scrutinize it, but to see it for what it is, which is a great witness by a political leader who has not always spoken about his faith,” he said.

Roberts argued that critics of Trump could learn from the parable of the prodigal son. “When any man or woman maybe has not been the greatest witness of God’s truth decides that he or she wants to speak up, let’s welcome him or her with open arms,” he said.

‘Potentially dangerous misunderstanding’

Bradley Gregory, an associate professor of biblical studies at Catholic University of America (CUA), on the other hand, argued that Trump’s Bible marketing “reflects a basic, potentially dangerous misunderstanding of how our Christian faith should relate to our politics.” 

Gregory, who also serves as associate dean for graduate studies at CUA’s School of Theology and Religious Studies, said that it’s “often underappreciated just how much our understanding of Scripture is affected by what we ‘pair’ with it, either mentally or in this case physically within the same book.” 

“Whenever Scripture and something political are implied to be on the same level, even subconsciously, it makes it that much harder for the Church to see and challenge things that might be in conflict with the Gospel,” Gregory said. 

“And worse, one of the sad patterns of Church history is that when Christians do this and invest political causes with a kind of religious devotion, compromises that betray the heart of the Gospel are usually not far behind,” he said.

Roberts noted that for Catholics, Trump’s promotion of the King James Bible left something to be desired. That version has traditionally been used by Anglicans and other Protestant denominations; it is distinct from the version of the Bible approved by the Catholic Church, which in the U.S. includes the New American Bible among other approved translations.

“It’d be nice if [the God Bless the USA] Bible had all the books in it,” Roberts said. “As a serious Catholic, I’m going to read one version of the Bible,” he said. “The entire Bible. It’s not going to have anything additional in it."

Matthew Bunson, vice president of EWTN News, made similar observations in an interview on the subject with “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Tracy Sabol on Wednesday.

Trump is tapping, Bunson said, "into what is a wider concern in the United States for decline in religiosity, a decline, as he puts it, in prayer,” he continued. “It’s captured all, I think, by the phrase that he uses in his social media blasts [Wednesday], that he wants to ‘make America pray again.’”

Bunson’s full interview with Sabol can be viewed below.

New Hampshire legislators reconsider ‘medical aid in dying’ legislation

The state capitol building of New Hampshire in Concord, New Hampshire. / Credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Baltimore, Md., Mar 28, 2024 / 11:30 am (CNA).

The New Hampshire House of Representatives is poised to reconsider its narrow passage of a bill that would legalize assisted suicide in the “Live Free or Die” state.

Last week, New Hampshire state representatives passed HB 1273 by a margin of just three votes, 179-176. Twenty-four representatives abstained during the vote. However, the bill has not been advanced to the New Hampshire Senate, as one member of the slim majority, Rep. Mike Ouellet, filed a motion to reconsider. 

The Republican politician had initially voted in favor of the proposed law. However, the following day, Ouellet revealed that he wanted to change his vote due to his faith.

“I’ve been a practicing Catholic my whole life,” the lawmaker told the New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism. The Republican politician felt “torn because the bill would conflict with his faith.”

HB 1273 has nine co-sponsors in the lower house (six Democrats and three Republicans) but only one co-sponsor (Debra Altschiller, a Democrat) in the state Senate.

The measure would allow health care providers to “provide a prescription for medical-assistance-in-dying medications to an individual” after determining that individuals have “mental capacity; terminal condition; [a] prognosis of six months or less, or is enrolled in Medicare-certified hospice; voluntarily made the request for medical assistance in dying; and the ability to self-administer the medical assistance in dying medications.”

If the New Hampshire House of Representatives confirms the vote in favor of HB 1273, the state Senate will then take up the bill. The upper chamber is comprised of 24 members (14 Republicans and 10 Democrats); but since the 179-176 vote in the lower house was not along party lines, it is unclear how the Senate would line up on the controversial issue.

Whither Sununu?

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu has also not disclosed whether he supports or opposes HB 1273. The Republican politician, who decided not to run for reelection in 2024, has both Catholic and Greek Orthodox ancestry. He was sworn in on a Greek Orthodox Bible that belonged to his great-great-grandfather. 

However, in a March 10 interview with Manchester-based WMUR-TV, Sununu expressed that he was open to considering the proposed law: “I don’t want to say it’s absolutely dead on arrival.” 

New Hampshire would join neighboring Maine and Vermont if HB 1273 passes the state Senate and is signed into law by the governor. It would also become the 11th state to legalize physician-assisted suicide.

The Diocese of Manchester, which takes up the entire state of New Hampshire, has rallied opposition to the bill. Bishop Peter Libasci issued a document on end-of-life issues in April 2022, mere months before the introduction of the legislation.

Rationale for opposition to bill

The document, titled “Three Beliefs: A Guide for New Hampshire Catholics on End-of-Life Decisions,” indicated that the faithful “should avoid the opposite extremes of the deliberate hastening of death on the one hand and the overzealous use of treatment or care to artificially extend life and prolong the dying process on the other.”

The diocesan guide also made it clear that “assisted suicide (or ‘euthanasia’) is a grave evil. It is always morally wrong. In the Catholic view, there is never a situation where it is right to either assist in someone else’s suicide or to arrange for it on one’s own behalf.”

An update on the Manchester Diocese’s “Catholic Citizenship News” website, posted after the House’s initial vote, disclosed that “the diocese is working alongside the NH Coalition for Suicide Prevention, a diverse group that includes health care providers, veterans, and people with disabilities and their advocates. The Church teaches that suicide is always a tragedy and that a caring community should respond with hospice and palliative care to better meet the needs of those facing the end of life.”

Rather than Void

Rather than Void

In mid-March, four months after my father died, my son got married. My father had been in declining health for a few years, during which time my mother took on the role of full-time caretaker (as a lifelong partner might be expected to). Resisting entreaties to accept regular outside help, she also stubbornly and preemptively ruled out any kind of travel, even for a grandson’s wedding. That she was able to be present after all made everyone happy, including her. The ceremony was joyous, the reception a party for the ages: a happy marriage, if you will, of Russian-Jewish and Italian-Catholic tradition. But the reality of what allowed my mother to be in attendance—and the fact that she was attending on her own—was never far from the surface of things.  

“May his memory be a blessing,” my son’s soon-to-be in-laws said to me in the days and weeks following my father’s death, as together we helped plan the wedding. It’s hard to express the comfort that their words—the English translation of the traditional Hebrew zichrona livricha—brought me. “A Blessing too Good for Jews Alone,” as a headline at the Tablet once memorably put it, and I can now personally attest to that. “It wishes not only that when the living think about those who have died, they do so with warmth and joy,” the article’s author wrote. “It also [marks] the ways those lives have mattered and continue to matter in this world, even if they are no longer in it.” At the reception, when it came time for toasts, my son’s new mother-in-law asked guests to remember family members who’d recently died. She spoke of the “void” the departed leave in the lives of those still living. Until then, I’d experienced my father’s death more as an absence than a void—a difference of degree, not of category, but still a difference. Yet what, if not “void,” best describes that state when someone who was so much a part of this world is no longer in it?

By coincidence, the wedding took place in a part of New Jersey where I’d lived as a child. It’s a densely populated conglomeration of suburban towns and small cities linked by a network of highways, state roads, and commercial strips as tangled and complex as the circulatory system. I feel as if I spent most of that childhood in the car with my parents and brothers traveling these roads—trips to visit family and to see New York City; to gas stations and furniture outlets and appliance stores. Over the course of the wedding weekend’s mandated journeys—airport, bakery, reception hall, hotel—I got to relive some of those earlier drives. The roads still hew to their long-ago plotted routes. Even some of the old landmarks remain, stores and restaurants and malls that have withstood the passage of years.    

This includes a roadside diner we always used to pass without ever stopping to eat at. But once it offered a place of rest. Late on the night of Holy Thursday in 1982, I accompanied my father to our parish church to sit vigil before the stripped and barren altar, one shift in the long line that would carry on through the next afternoon. We stayed for our assigned hour until being relieved by the next parishioner. But our night wasn’t over. Out in the station wagon were boxes of donated food to deliver to a sister parish several towns away in time for Easter weekend. It was getting late by the time we arrived at that church and began to unpack the car. We left the boxes near a row of refrigerators beneath the basketball nets in the gym, as instructed by the parish priest. Then we began the ride home. At that hour traffic was light, but it still felt like a long drive. I’d been in school all day, and my father had been at work. Usually one to push all the way through, he uncharacteristically this night pulled off the road and into the parking lot of that diner we’d always sped right by. I thought he wanted coffee, but he said he just needed to sleep for a few minutes. I sat there watching people go in and out of the diner while my father dozed. The clock ticked past midnight into Good Friday, and a few minutes later, he was awake and ready to drive on.

I’ve often thought about that night, sitting by my father on a hard pew bench in the empty church and, later, in the car while he slept. But it wasn’t until the weekend of my son’s wedding that I actually saw that diner again. I was sixteen in 1982, a junior in high school. My father was forty-six: old to me then, enviably and unimaginably young from where I stand now. Other well-wishers in the months since he died have used the word “imprint” in describing a parent’s lasting, indelible mark on a child. This image, too, has caused me to think. Photos of me from the wedding capture a man bearing unmistakable and not entirely welcome resemblance to his late father—don’t we all want to escape such easy and reductive linkage, so obvious an “imprint”? And yet, beyond what’s visible within the borders of a photograph, there is other evidence of his imprint, perhaps known only to me, that I’m not always so hesitant to acknowledge.

“The mystery / that there is anything, anything at all, / let alone cosmos, joy, memory, everything, / rather than void,” Denise Levertov writes in her poem “Primary Wonder.” There are days that force us to contemplate the void more directly than we might like to. We cannot be sure that the emptiness will be filled; we understandably doubt the very possibility of it. But if a memory can bring blessings, and if we bear the imprint of those who preceded us, it’s a little easier to imagine emptiness becoming fullness, absence becoming abundance, life being renewed. It might even stir that joyful hope: that there is not just anything, but everything, rather than void.

Dominic Preziosi

ACLU sues Ohio over law banning transgender treatments for minors

null / Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 28, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio filed a lawsuit against the state of Ohio that challenges the constitutionality of the statewide ban on doctors providing sex change drugs and operations to children.

In a lawsuit filed in the Court of Common Pleas for Franklin County, the ACLU alleges that the state’s prohibition on minors receiving transgender drugs and surgeries violates several parts of the Ohio Constitution, including the health care provision and the equal protection clause. It seeks to overturn the statewide restrictions that would otherwise go into effect on April 24 and asks the court to declare the law unconstitutional. 

The ACLU is further challenging another provision of the law that requires that only biological girls can participate in high school and college female athletics. The ACLU claims the rules are discriminatory against youths who identify as transgender.

“The ban on gender-affirming care will cause severe harm to transgender youth,” Freda Levenson, the legal director at the ACLU of Ohio, said in a statement

“These personal, private medical decisions should remain between families and doctors; they don’t belong to politicians,” Levenson said. “[This law] violates the Ohio Constitution in multiple ways. We will fight in court to ensure that trans youth and their parents can access critically important, lifesaving health care without government intrusion.”

The law was enacted on Jan. 24 of this year when Republican lawmakers voted to override a veto from fellow Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, another Republican, indicated that he will defend the state law in court. 

“We protect children with various restrictions that do not apply to adults — from signing legal contracts to buying alcohol and tobacco and more,” Yost said in a post on X, formerly called Twitter. 

“As I promised during the veto override, my office will defend this constitutional statute,” Yost added.

The law prohibits doctors from removing a child’s genitals or performing surgery to sterilize the child if those surgeries are intended to facilitate a sex change. It also prohibits doctors from removing healthy female breasts or altering the child’s genitals, chest, or any other part of the body to make them appear like that of the opposite sex. 

Under the law, doctors could also not provide puberty-blocking drugs or any other drugs or hormone treatments that are meant to facilitate a gender transition in children.

What the lawsuit argues

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of two families who have children who identify as transgender as plaintiffs, states that “gender dysphoria is a serious medical condition” and claims that the law “prohibits the use of well-established treatments for gender dysphoria in transgender adolescents.” 

“Withholding gender-affirming medical treatment from adolescents with gender dysphoria when it is medically indicated puts them at risk of severe and irreversible harm to their health and well-being,” the lawsuit argues.

The lawsuit claims that the law violates the health care provision in Article 1, Section 21 of the Ohio Constitution, which states “no federal, state, or local law or rule shall prohibit the purchase or sale of health care or health insurance.” It also alleges that the law violates the equal protection clause in the state’s constitution, which declares that “all political power is inherent in the people [and] government is instituted for their equal protection and benefit.”

The lawsuit further alleges that the law violates the due process rights of the parents because it prevents them from providing certain medical care to their children in violation of their rights. 

“By preventing Ohio physicians from prescribing medication to treat gender dysphoria in adolescents, the health care ban poses an enormous threat to transgender adolescents and their families, now and in the future,” the lawsuit claims.

The ACLU is asking the court to issue a temporary restraining order, which would prevent the law from going into effect while the court considers arguments about the constitutionality of the legislation.

Singing this song on Holy Thursday can purify your soul

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CNA Staff, Mar 28, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Did you know that it is possible to sing a special song of adoration on Holy Thursday and have your soul purified?

It’s true, and the song is “Tantum Ergo.”

First, some background...

A plenary indulgence is a grace granted by the Catholic Church through the merits of Jesus Christ to remove all temporal punishment due to sin.

What does this mean?

“An indulgence does not confer grace. An indulgence is not a remission of the guilt due to sin. The guilt due to sin is ordinarily taken away by the sacraments of baptism and penance (confession), in which we receive forgiveness for sins through Jesus Christ,” the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) explains in this helpful Q&A.

“Although guilt is taken away, and with it the eternal penalty that is due to sin, namely, damnation, the eternal loss of the presence of God, there remain consequences for sins that those who have committed them must bear. There is what is traditionally called the temporal punishment for sin.”

What is temporal punishment?

As the USCCB explains: “Every sinful act creates a disorder within the soul of the human person; it distorts our desires and affections, leaving us with ‘an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth or after death in the state called purgatory.’”

For this reason, the USCCB continues: “Those who have received forgiveness for their sins still have an obligation to undergo a difficult and painful process (the temporal penalty for sin) to be purified of the consequences of their sins and to restore the disrupted relationships.”

Through a plenary indulgence, we can be spared this purification process. As the USCCB explains it: “By God’s grace, participation in a prayer or action that has an indulgence attached to it brings about the necessary restoration and reparation without the suffering that would normally accompany it.”

On Holy Thursday, you can receive this special gift, resulting in the purification of your soul, by singing the “Tantum Ergo.” If you aren’t familiar with this beautiful hymn, watch this short video.

The “Tantum Ergo” is the last two verses of “Pange Lingua,” a Latin hymn written by St. Thomas Aquinas. “Tantum Ergo” is short for the first words of the hymn’s second-to-last verse, “Tantum ergo Sacramentum,” which in Latin simply means “Therefore, so greatly the Sacrament.”

These magnificent verses are an expression of adoration of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. For this reason, it is usually sung before the benediction when the priest blesses those gathered with the monstrance. 

After Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, the faithful are invited to participate in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament throughout the night. This represents the disciples who were invited to stay up throughout the night with the Lord during his agony in the garden before his betrayal by Judas. Singing the “Tantum Ergo” at this time is how you obtain the plenary indulgence.

As always the case with plenary indulgences, certain conditions must be satisfied to receive the grace. According to the USCCB, these conditions are: sacramental confession, reception of holy Communion; prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father; and complete detachment from all sin, even venial sin.

The first three conditions (confession, Communion, and prayers for the pope’s intentions) can be fulfilled a few days before or after performing the works to gain the indulgence (in this case, singing the “Tantum Ergo” during adoration), but it is appropriate that Communion and the prayer take place on the same day that the work is completed.

Here are words to the “Tantum Ergo”:

Tantum ergo Sacramentum

Veneremur cernui:

Et antiquum documentum

Novo cedat ritui:

Praestet fides supplementum

Sensuum defectui.

Genitori, Genitoque

Laus et iubilatio,

Salus, honor, virtus quoque

Sit et benedictio

Procedenti ab utroque

Compar sit laudatio.

Amen.

And here’s the English version:

Down in adoration falling,
Lo! the sacred Host we hail,
Lo! oe’r ancient forms departing
Newer rites of grace prevail;
Faith for all defects supplying,
Where the feeble senses fail.

To the everlasting Father,
And the Son Who reigns on high
With the Holy Spirit proceeding
Forth from each eternally,
Be salvation, honor, blessing,
Might and endless majesty.
Amen.

This story was originally posted on CNA on April 13, 2022, and has been updated.

What is the ‘sacred triduum’? A CNA explainer

A stripped altar on Holy Thursday 2015 at Mater Dei Parish in Irving, Texas. / Credit: Mater Dei Latin Mass parish via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Denver, Colo., Mar 28, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).

At the end of the season of Lent — and right before Easter — the Catholic Church observes the “sacred triduum.” Many Catholics have questions about what happens during the Triduum and how they should observe this time.

What is the triduum?

The triduum is a period that begins on Holy Thursday and ends at the conclusion of Easter Sunday.

It encompasses the evening of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday.

The term “triduum” means “three days” and refers to any three-day observance. Technically, the triduum during Holy Week is known as the “paschal triduum” or “Easter triduum.”

The word “paschal,” which is used to refer to Easter, comes from the Greek word “pascha,” which comes from the Hebrew word “pesach,” which means Passover. Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection, which is connected theologically to the Passover feast, is referred to as the paschal mystery.

What happens on Holy Thursday?

On the evening of Holy Thursday, the Church celebrates the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, which commemorates Christ’s Passover meal with his apostles the night before he died. The Mass of the Lord’s Supper most especially remembers the institution of the Eucharist — the sacramental gift to the Church of Christ’s body and blood, given in the transformation of bread and wine.

Often, at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the priest washes the feet of some members of the congregation, recalling Christ’s washing of feet at the Last Supper. “If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do,” Christ told his apostles.

Why is it called ‘Maundy Thursday?’

Holy Thursday is sometimes called “Maundy Thursday.” The word “maundy” comes from the Latin word “mandatum,” which means mandate.

On Maundy Thursday, Christ gave us a mandate: “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.”

Is Holy Thursday a holy day of obligation?

No. And people may not be able to attend the Mass of the Lord’s Supper for a variety of reasons: their family needs, work schedule, or health. But it’s a beautiful Mass. You should go if you can!

Is there Mass on Good Friday?

No, there’s no Mass on Good Friday.

In fact, after Mass on Holy Thursday, the altar is stripped of its cloth. Crosses are removed from the Church or covered. No candles burn in the church.

The Blessed Sacrament is not reposed in the church’s tabernacle but in another small chapel.

On Good Friday, the church is empty of many of its symbols. It is adorned like a church in mourning. And, at 3 p.m., the Church offers the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion.

At this celebration, Scripture is read that recounts the prophetic anticipation of Christ’s passion and recounts the passion narrative itself. Communion is distributed. Believers are invited to venerate the cross — to come forward and kiss or reverence a cross.

“Behold the wood of the cross,” the priest proclaims.

I know that Good Friday is a solemn day, but what should we do all day?

Good Friday is a day of fasting and abstaining from meat. You can read more about that here.

On Good Friday, families should try to observe a quiet day of simplicity in addition to attending the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion.

This might mean praying the rosary together or reading Scripture together. It might mean keeping the TV off or going for a family hike. The idea is that it should be a day of reflection and should be noticeably different from other days of the year.

If you haven’t yet gone to confession during Lent, Good Friday is also an excellent day to go to confession — and take your family.

What does one do on Holy Saturday?

The culmination of Holy Saturday is the Easter Vigil. But it’s a long day, and people often ask what they should do with the rest of it.

Many families use Holy Saturday as a day for spring cleaning or garden planting. Some spend the day outdoors, and some spend the day preparing for an Easter feast. All the better if Holy Saturday is a day of prayer.

And some people dye Easter eggs!

And the Easter Vigil?

The Easter Vigil is one of the most beautiful liturgies in the Church’s calendar. It is spectacular and full of beautiful Catholic symbolism.

The vigil begins at night. It starts with a fire, which is blessed, and from which is lit the paschal candle. The whole of salvation history is proclaimed during the readings.

A beautiful Easter proclamation, called the Exsultet, is sung, usually by a deacon. (Done well, this is, in my humble opinion, one of the most beautiful things the Church does in a liturgy.) Men and women are welcomed into the Church: Some will be baptized and confirmed, and others, already baptized, will receive confirmation.

The Easter Vigil is awesome. Fair warning: It’s also long. And a lot of readings take place with the lights off. Some parents decide it is too much for children, while others bring their kids in pajamas and let them sleep in the pews. At the Easter Vigil, that’s perfectly understandable. A scan of your local parish church suggests that kids aren’t the only ones who sometimes fall asleep during the readings. It’s all part of the experience.

So, after that ends, is it Easter?

It sure is. If you go to the Easter Vigil, you may want to stay up and celebrate. The Lord’s resurrection is what Easter is all about. Some people will, of course, go to Easter Sunday Mass and then spend the day feasting with family and friends.

One piece of advice for celebrating Easter: Remember the poor, the lonely, the outcasts. If you really want to celebrate Easter, invite someone to your table who might have nowhere else to go. You’ll be glad you did.

And then Easter is over?

The triduum ends on the evening of Easter Sunday. But the “octave” of Easter lasts for eight days. And the liturgical season of Easter lasts for 50 days, all the way to Pentecost.

What does this mean? It means it’ll soon be time to celebrate Christ’s resurrection. Get ready for it!

This article was first published in April 2016 and has been updated.