The other event isn’t quite as obvious, and is only reported in Luke. It’s the small exchange between Christ and the good thief. Where the first one relates to man’s relationship with God, this one relates to man’s relationship with man.

It’s easy to see the connection to Christ’s parable of the “Prodigal Son”. The thief asks Christ to remember him when He comes into His kingdom. Christ tells hime that “on this day, you will be with me in paradise.”

When the thief utters his acceptance of guilt and pleads for mercy, Christ breaks all precedence. At the thief’s last hour, he becomes one of the few men we know for certain is in heaven. But looking at it from a more personal level, it’s about more than just mercy. It’s about companionship.

I’ll never forget my childhood school days. Sadly, I spent much of it sitting outside the principal’s office anticipating a punishment. The list of my offenses is long, and I won’t begin to mention them. Most of the time, I was waiting out in that hallway alone. But every now and then, there was someone to share my state of dread.

In short, misery loves company. No one wants to go through something alone…and Christ was no exception. His punishment was different from the thief’s because Christ hadn’t actually committed a crime. But when the thief asked to be remembered, it was more than a petition. It was “We’re in this together…even though I deserve it and you don’t.” So it’s no wonder that Christ promised to take him the whole way, even after death.

While we’re going through pain and suffering in life, it helps to remember that we’re sharing something with Christ. Offer your pain to Him as sign of your commitment. “I’m here for you…be there with me at the hour of death.” Remember that every one shares Christ’s joy and gladness. But suffering connects us to Christ at His hour of fulfillment in a deep, personal way. And the second person of the Trinity still finds satisfaction from this personal connection

Written By Eric Engel, chief editor of The Catholic Letter at http://thecatholicletter.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eric_Engel
http://EzineArticles.com/?Connecting-To-Christ-through-Pain-and-Suffering&id=113668

On each side of the foyer in Lyons Hall is a new mosaic, one depicting Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic worker movement, and the other Pedro Arrupe, a former superior general of the Jesuit order.

And suddenly, in all 151 classrooms, there is a Catholic icon, in most cases, a crucifix above the lintel.

Students and faculty returned to campus after winter break to find that Boston College had quietly completed, without announcement or fanfare, an eight-year project to dramatically increase the presence of Roman Catholic religious symbols on campus. The additions are subtle but significant, as the university joins other Catholic institutions around the nation in visibly reclaiming its Catholic identity.

“The Christian art reflects our pride in and commitment to our religious heritage,” said Jack Dunn, BC’s spokesman.

Student reaction has been generally supportive, but among faculty, there is division over the appropriateness of the step. A meeting last month of arts and sciences department chairs turned into a heated argument over the classroom icons; a handful of faculty have written to the administration to protest, and some unsuccessfully circulated a petition asking to have crucifixes removed.

“I believe that the display of religious signs and symbols, such as the crucifix, in the classroom is contrary to the letter and spirt of open intellectual discourse that makes education worthwhile and distinguishes first-rate universities from mediocre and provincial ones,” Maxim D. Shrayer, chairman of the department of Slavic and Eastern languages and literatures, said in an interview.

But other faculty are delighted.

“Christian iconography and symbols permeate this place and always have,” said the Rev. John Paris, a Jesuit priest who teaches bioethics at BC. Paris said he finds “offensive” the notion that a crucifix impedes the ability of students or faculty to think critically in a classroom and called the criticism “the narrow and bizarre musings of a few disgruntled folks.”

“This is a small problem for those with small minds,” Paris added. “This is not a serious controversy.”

The crucifixes and statuary are also being lauded by conservative critics of Catholic academia. An organization called the Cardinal Newman Society, which routinely bashes Catholic colleges for straying from orthodoxy, praised BC, while the National Catholic Register, a right-wing newspaper, called the crucifixes “an unexpected move at Boston College.”

A variety of conservative Catholic bloggers are suddenly thrilled with an institution they often deride. “Hope for Boston College,” was the headline used by Kelly Clark, who blogs under the name “The Lady in the Pew.” And Thomas Peters, who blogs as “the American Papist,” wrote “Catholic stuff in a Catholic school?! What a radical concept . . . Now wait for the protest.”

The subject of Catholic identity on Catholic campuses has been a contested issue for the last several decades, and many campuses, most notably Georgetown University, have launched public efforts in recent years to increase the presence of Catholic symbols on campus.

During the tenure of the current BC president, the Rev. William P. Leahy, the university has taken multiple steps that emphasize its Catholicness, strengthening its relationship with the Archdiocese of Boston, creating a new institute studying Catholicism in the 21st century, absorbing the Weston Jesuit School of Theology, and even canceling classes once each fall for a campuswide open-air Mass.

But the school has also emphasized its diversity, establishing minors in Jewish and Islamic studies.

About 70 percent of the student body at BC is Catholic. Student leaders interviewed were uniformly supportive of the new emphasis on symbols, and Dunn said he has heard no complaints from students.

“The university has the prerogative to add the crosses, and I don’t feel it should be a point of contention for people,” said Christopher Denice, president of the undergraduate government. “Everyone here knows and understands that BC is a Jesuit, Catholic school. The addition of crucifixes does not change anything.”

Patrick Fouhy - a former editor of The Heights, the BC newspaper - said he noticed the new crucifixes when he got back from winter break this year. He was pleased, saying that the university’s Catholic identity was one of the reasons he chose to attend.

“Personally, I’m glad that the university decided to increase the number of crucifixes in classrooms on campus,” he said. “Boston College welcomes students, faculty, and staff of all religious persuasions, but at the end of the day it is a Jesuit, Catholic institution and the crucifixes are a nice reminder of that.”

And Elissa Klein, director of Jewish life at Boston College, said: “I spoke to several Jewish undergraduates tonight, who were all apathetic about the new religious art. It seems that many failed to notice it entirely. Others found it a minor change.”

Michael Paulson can be reached at mpaulson@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.

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“Remember, man, that you are dust and unto dust you shall return”.

These are the words the priest recites to each and every person who receives ashes on Ash Wednesday.

Ash Wednesday is the official first day of Lent and starts 46 days of preparation for the passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ at Easter.  On this first day, Catholic faithful confess and repent for their sins and receive the sign of the cross upon their foreheads as a symbol of penance and mourning.  The priest places the sign of the cross using a mixture of blessed ashes and holy water.

These ashes are made by burning leftover palm plants from the previous year’s Palm Sunday and mixed with water and incense.  The receiving of ashes on Ash Wednesday dates back to the 900’s AD.

Tradition has it that once these ashes are placed on the forehead they are not washed off until after sundown.  This is a profession of faith to others.

The day is also observed by fasting or abstaining from meat.  In 2009, Ash Wednesday will be celebrated on February 25th.

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Parvuli Dei means “Children of God” and is an award established by the National Catholic Committee on Scouting to foster family and church values in young Catholic boys.

The award was first conceived by the Rev Gerard A McWilliams, a priest at Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Bethesda, Maryland.  The first recipient was cub scout Patrick Bell of Pack 300 on February 8, 1953.  The idea spread rapidly to other parishes and it officially became a National Award in 1956.

The program to achieve the award has been appropriately updated throughout the years and is now organized around the seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church.

Nearly half a million Cub Scouts have earned the Parvuli Dei emblem since it was made available.

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The late Pope John Paul II was one of Poland’s most famous exports.

In fact, Polish Catholic priests used to go on missions all over the world.

But the church in Poland is reporting a decline in the number of people turning to priesthood, as Nadim Baba reports now from Krakow.

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