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Invitation to
Chrism Mass
Dear Friends in Christ:
I cordially invite you to participate, along with your Pastor and all the priests of the Diocese, in the Mass of Chrism on Tuesday evening, April 15, 2003, at 7:30 p.m. at Saint Raphael Cathedral. As a Catholic in the Diocese of Madison, I ask that you please try to participate in this special sign of unity for our Diocese and universal Church. As priests and people we commit ourselves to become living worshippers.
Our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, has, time and again, emphasized the new millennium as a ripe time for new evangelization. All baptized persons have a responsibility to take part in and to promote the growth of the Church in the spread of the Gospel and the renewal of each one's faith to follow more closely in the footsteps of Jesus.
If it is not possible for you to come to the Cathedral for the Mass of Chrism, please join us in spirit and in prayer as we bless the Sacred Oils and pray for those who will receive them.
Grace, Mercy, and Peace,
Most Reverend William H. Bullock
Bishop of Madison
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Bishops' Schedules:
Schedule of Bishop William H. Bullock
Thursday, April 3, 2003
6:30 p.m. -- Guest Speaker, Father Marquette Lecture Series, Father Marquette Spiritual Life Center, Montello
Saturday, April 5, 2003
9:00 a.m. -- Preside at Lenten Communal Penance Service, St. Raphael Cathedral, Madison
Tuesday, April 8, 2003
10:15 a.m. -- Preside at Morning Prayer, Clergy Day of Sanctification, Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, Madison
7:00 p.m. -- Preside at Lenten Communal Penance Service, St. Andrew Parish, Verona
Wednesday, April 9, 2003
10:00 a.m. -- Preside at Lenten Communal Penance Service, Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, Madison
7:00 p.m. -- Preside at Evening Prayer, Madison Downtown Catholic Parishes Lenten Series, St. Raphael Cathedral, Madison
Thursday, April 10, 2003
6:00 p.m. -- Preside and Preach at Celebration of the Eucharist, University of Notre Dame Alumni Club, Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, Madison
Schedule of Bishop George O. Wirz
Saturday, April 5, 2003
9:30 a.m. -- Preside at Morning Prayer, Office of Worship Day of Reflection, Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, Madison
Tuesday, April 8, 2003
10:00 a.m. -- Attend Clergy Day of Sanctification, Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, Madison
Wednesday, April 9, 2003
10:00 a.m. -- Participate at Lenten Communal Penance Service, Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, Madison
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Live the Mystery: Suffer, Die, and Rise
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The Bishop:
A Herald of Faith
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This past week, with the celebration of Laetare Sunday, we rejoiced in the Lord as we stepped lively on our way to Easter.
Through fasting, prayer, and almsgiving we have had a spiritually invigorating Lenten season. We have drawn closer to the Lord.
Perhaps many of you, through these penitential practices, have reassessed your life and reformed it in lasting ways. That is wonderful progress.
"Jesus leads us through suffering and death to newness of life. There is no other way."
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A tough Lent
It has been a tough Lent for us with the war in Iraq, a staggering economy, job lay offs, terrorist threats, people starving, drug abuse, sexual abuse by clergy, deaths of military personnel - all of which are daily paraded before us on radio, T.V., Internet, and in newspapers.
There are many sources of suffering in our time of history, yet we are called by God to embrace the suffering and uncertainty as part of the mystery of our salvation in Christ.
The spirituality given us by Christ in his Paschal Mystery shows suffering, death, and resurrection to a new life. Christ leads us through suffering and death to salvation.
Creation
In the full history of salvation we are first shown the mystery of God's creation - we are shown how God created from nothing all that is ours in the universe. He also capped his creation by sending his only begotten Son, Jesus, God-made-man. What a powerful mystery.
Redemption
The second phase of the full history of our salvation in Christ centers on our redemption, our way back to God through Christ who took our sins upon himself, suffered, died, and rose from the dead. We call this Christ's Paschal Mystery.
Regeneration
The third phase in the full history of our salvation centers on the mystery of regeneration. That power to regenerate life here on earth begins with the Resurrection and will be fully realized when Christ comes again and presents us to the Father. Thus we sing at Mass, "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again."
Creation, redemption, and regeneration are three mysteries central to our faith. We are called by God to live them deeply and daily.
When we suffer physical or psychological pain, it can be intense. It can cause serious questions, doubts, and uncertainty about a God who is so powerful that he can, if he willed to, change our pain and suffering into joy and ease.
But we, by wrong choices, have sinned and thus brought all this on ourselves. God, in sending us Jesus, gives us a way back.
Jesus leads us
Such is our God. Such is his love. He sent his only begotten Son, Jesus, to redeem us by suffering and dying for our sins and by rising from the dead, in order to confer new and everlasting life upon us. A simple way to understand it all is - Jesus leads us through suffering and death to newness of life. There is no other way.
The war remains; uncertainty and death surround us. Needless poverty, betrayals, broken friendships and marriages all cause pain and suffering in humankind.
Through it all our faith is deeply rooted in mystery, rooted in a God who seems to allow all this to happen. But the Lord is a God who loves us and has made a promise to us: Keep my commandments, live in my love, suffer and die, live the Paschal Mystery, and you are part of my Kingdom forever.
Phrases of yesteryear come to mind such as, "There is no Easter Sunday without Good Friday." Our faith is our ray of hope and our trust in the promise of Easter is what spurs us on.
Let's bear down in these final weeks of Lent and pray for our new converts to our Catholic faith at the Easter Vigil. Let's lay down our lives for Christ.
Process of forgiveness:
Bishop speaks at cathedral
MADISON -- If we do not forgive, we hold others in our debt to pay it off fully, said Bishop William H. Bullock in a talk highlighting the "Process of Forgiveness" March 26.
The presentation was part of St. Raphael Cathedral's Lenten Series on Forgiveness.
"We forgive others because Jesus calls us to treat others as we would like to be treated. We forgive others because we have a genuine human need to forgive others. We forgive others because it's necessary for our own happiness," he said.
Yet, it's not easy to forgive, said the bishop.
What is forgiveness?
Forgiving is not forgetting, not condoning what happened, nor is it a form of absolution, he explained.
He noted that forgiveness is not a sign of weakness, either, because it takes strength to forgive.
"Forgiveness is a form of realism. It's to see life as the horror that it sometimes really is. It's to see our wounds and scars as they really are," said Bullock.
"Forgiveness is to grow in power over ourselves and over others. Forgiveness is to no longer hide, suffer or hate. It's to walk in the freedom of a child of God - free from the barnacles of resentment, anger."
We often carry pain from disappointments, rejections, betrayals, abandonment, ridicule, humiliation, deception, and abuse like a bag of garbage, said the bishop.
Process of forgiving
Forgiveness is a process, he said.
"Our first step on that process is to claim the hurt. You name your injury and who it was that inflicted it," he said. "Because claiming the hurt is difficult, one way to get started is to write a letter to the one who hurt you, expressing what they did and the depth of your feelings and pain, the extent of the harm done and that you are open to further communication. You don't even need to send that letter. Also, pray."
The second step is to claim the guilt, he said. "We have a tendency to blame ourselves when someone transgresses against us. But the fact is that we were not to blame. Somebody else is: the person who hurt you."
Realizing that you were a victim is the next step.
In this step, "A good place to go is to a support group or a trusted friend or a counselor or a priest. You need a forum where you can openly talk about your pain in a supportive environment," he said.
"The sense of being a victim moves one to anger," said Bullock, pointing out that "Anger itself isn't a sin; it's what you do with it. It's better to express it than it is to repress it. For you to be able to progress on the way to wholeness, you must express this anger."
In the final step of the process, forgiveness occurs.
"Now, when feelings of hurt re-surface, you're able to acknowledge them and move on," he said. "This final step is where you can finally move on in life. Do positive things in your life, care for others, serve others, make changes, improve your health, work on your well-being, and live in a wonderful world of your own making."
Reward in heaven
"It cost our precious Lord Jesus immensely to bear the burden for our sins, to enter into the process of the forgiveness for all the sins of all people who will ever live," he said. "It can cost us immensely, as well, to enter into the process of forgiving just one sin of just one person. But when we have truly forgiven them, there will be great joy and reward forever in heaven."
Bullock recommended Fr. William A. Meninger's book, The Process of Forgiveness, on which he based his talk.
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