WWW.THEFLORIDACATHOLIC.ORG | March 16-29, 2018 | Volume 79, Number 9 Embarking on the Lenten journey • Holy Week Mass schedules • • Jubilarian profiles • • Hosanna to the Son of David • Five years of wit and wonder CAROL GLATZ To explain the kind of “terrible anxiety” that results from a Catholic News Service life of vanity built on lies and fantasy, the pope said, “It’s like those people who put on too much makeup and then they’re VATICAN CITY | A native-Spanish speaker who grew up afraid of getting rained on and all the makeup running down with Italian-speaking relatives in Argentina, Pope Francis has their face.” a striking way with words. Pope Francis does not shy away from the gory or gross, call- Bringing a background in literary themes and devices with ing money -- when it becomes an idol -- the “devil’s dung” and him to the papacy five years ago, the pope has shown himself saying the lives of the corrupt are “varnished putrefaction” be- to be a master of metaphor and allegory. cause, like whitewashed tombs, they appear beautiful on the His cross-cultural and eclectic knowledge of literature and outside, but inside they are full of dead bones. cinema has supplied him with numerous visual elements that For the pope, who sees Christ as a “true physician of bodies he mixes and matches with a religious message, creating such and souls,” there is no shortage of medical metaphors. compound concoctions as “the babysitter church” to describe Of the most well-known, the pope pines for “the church as a parish that doesn’t encourage active evangelizers but only a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously in- worries about keeping parishioners inside, out of trouble. jured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of “Armchair Catholics,” meanwhile, don’t let the Holy Spirit his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds.” lead their lives. They would rather stay put, safely reciting a Speaking elsewhere about people who have done evil and “cold morality” without letting the Spirit push them out of the know it, Pope Francis said, they live “with a constant itch, with house to bring Jesus to others. hives that don’t leave them in peace.” The Ignatian spirituality that formed him as a Jesuit also The consequence of pride or vanity, he warned on anoth- comes through many of his turns of phrase. Just as a Jesuit er occasion, “is like an osteoporosis of the soul: The bones seeks to use all five senses to find and experience God, the seem good from the outside, but on the inside they are all pope does not hesitate to use language that involves sight, ruined.” sound, taste, touch and smell. Another medical problem afflicting souls diagnosed by And so he urges the world’s priests to be “shepherds living Pope Francis is “spiritual Alzheimer’s,” a condition that ren- with the smell of sheep” by living with and among the people ders some people incapable of remembering God’s love and in order to share Christ with them, and he tells his cardinals mercy for them and, therefore, unable to show mercy to others. that all Catholic elders need to share with the young their in- If people were to get a “spiritual electrocardiogram,” he sight and wisdom, which become like “fine wine that tastes pickled vegetables. And, in the evening, a nice glass of lemon once asked, would it be flatlined because the heart is hard- better with age.” juice.” ened, unmoved and emotionless or would it be pulsating with No chorus is as wonderful as the squeaks, squeals and ban- Christians must not be boastful and shallow like a special the prompting and prods of the Holy Spirit? ter of children, he once said before baptizing 32 babies in the sweet his Italian grandmother would prepare for Fat Tuesday, And whether people recognize it or not, God is their true Sistine Chapel, assuring the parents that the commotion and he has said. Explaining how it is made from a very thin strip of father, he has said. “First of all, he gave us his DNA, that is, he chaos of new life was not only welcome, but wonderful. pastry, the crunchy dessert bloats and swells in a pan of hot oil. made us his children; he created us in his image, in his image The pope’s visual vocabulary dips into the everyday with They are called “bugie” or “little lies,” he said, because “they and likeness, like him.” sayings and scenarios from daily routines: like sin being more seem big, but they have nothing inside, there’s no truth, no Meeting with cardinals and the heads of Vatican offices for than a stain; it is a rebellious act against God that requires substance.” an annual Christmas greeting, the pope explained the reform more than just a trip “to the laundromat and have it cleaned.” Pope Francis’ frequent focus on the evils of living a hypo- of the Roman Curia as more than just a face-lift to rejuvenate Food and drink hold numerous lessons. For example, to critical or superficial life has meant employing descriptions or beautify an aging body, but a process of deep, personal con- convey the corrosive atmosphere a bitter, angry priest can such as showy as peacocks, frivolous as an over-primped star version. bring to his community, the pope said such priests make one and fleeting as soap bubbles. “A soap bubble is beautiful! It has Sometimes, he said the next Christmas, reform “is like think, “This man drinks vinegar for breakfast. Then, for lunch, so many colors! But it lasts one second and then what?” cleaning an Egyptian Sphinx with a toothbrush.” n ORLANDO DIOCESE PALM BEACH DIOCESE VENICE DIOCESE Sister finds High school’s Faithful prepare peace in long journey is as Holy Week cloistered living big celebration nears WWW.THEFLORIDACATHOLIC.ORG | March 16-29, 2018 FLORIDACatholic ORLANDO DIOCESE Sister finds peace in cloistered living GLENDA MEEKINS of the Florida Catholic staff ‘When I discovered this beautiful prayer of the ORLANDO | Born Elizabeth Anne Johnson, Sister Lucia Ma- Church, which priests rie grew up in Lakeland attending and religious pray at Resurrection Parish. Through the faithful example of her parents and set times throughout involvement in youth group and the day, I was extremely Catholic Heart Work Camps, her love of Christ took root. But it was attracted to it. I started spending time before the Blessed to realize the value of Sacrament that attracted her most of all, flourishing into a vocation a whole life given over to religious life with the Passion- ist nuns of St. Joseph Monastery in to prayer for the Church Kentucky. It was in that silence that and the world. ‘ she could hear God’s gentle voice, instilling within her a desire “to be — Sister Lucia Marie totally his.” She was 17 years old when she began to discern her vocation. Be- pated in the “Nun Run,” a day of ing organized by nature and know- visiting active religious communi- ing nothing about nuns, she said ties within the Diocese of Orlando. she approached vocation discern- “Seeing all the beautiful ways ment like she would a job search. those sisters were serving just in- “I took stock of my gifts and tal- spired me with a greater longing to ents and tried to find something support their works with the power Sister Lucia Marie, second from left, the former Elizabeth Anne Johnson, is seen here as a novice with to match those,” she recalled. “I of a life of prayer,” she said. other Passionist nuns of St. Joseph Monastery in Kentucky. (COURTESY PHOTOS) thought I would join an active com- A semester away from finishing munity, teaching, working with the her degree in anthropology, she ago. We have to say our goodbyes youths or doing mission work, be- completed it and then participated the night before we leave to return cause I had a lot of gifts and inter- in the aspirancy program, a three- home, but typically we do not actu- ests that would lend themselves to month deeper discernment experi- ally leave until after morning Mass these forms of service. Yet in look- ence. The stay convinced her that the next day. At that time we see her ing at these kinds of communities, she had found her new home. Six on the cloistered side of the chapel, I never was quite at peace. I knew weeks later, on Jan. 5, 2014, she en- but we cannot give her a last hug that I could do any of these things, tered the monastery and is current- before we leave. This is hard for us and that they were very good and ly a junior professed nun, meaning because we are huggers. This has holy things, but I felt like God was she has professed temporary vows gotten a bit better now that we have asking me to give him something for a period of three years and is found that we can smile and wave different and something more.” still in initial formation. She hopes to each other as we leave the cha- It was during the Liturgy of the to make her final, perpetual profes- pel.” Hours on a retreat that Sister Lucia sion of vows in 2023. “My only regret is that I couldn’t Marie came to a turning point in While her family has supported process the whole idea fast enough her discernment. her each step of the way, the journey to keep up with how quickly things “When I discovered this beau- for them has not always been easy.