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Sunday Soundbite for All Saints
A Story of Real-Life Beatitudes
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Sunday, November 08, 2009

'Nation's Parish' Celebrates 50 Years of Prayer, Pilgrimage

WASHINGTON (CNS)—The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington—the largest Catholic church in North America and one of the 10 largest churches in the world—is a familiar place to U.S. Catholics who regard the immense structure as their own. The basilica, which marks the 50th ...
FULL STORY

The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in the late afternoon.

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John Duns Scotus: A humble man, John Duns Scotus has been one of the most influential Franciscans through the centuries.<p>Born at Duns in the county of Berwick, Scotland, John was descended from a wealthy farming family. In later years he was identified as John Duns Scotus to indicate the land of his birth; <I>Scotia</I> is the Latin name for Scotland.<p>John received the habit of the Friars Minor at Dumfries, where his uncle Elias Duns was superior. After novitiate John studied at Oxford and Paris and was ordained in 1291. More studies in Paris followed until 1297, when he returned to lecture at Oxford and Cambridge. Four years later he returned to Paris to teach and complete the requirements for the doctorate.<p>In an age when many people adopted whole systems of thought without qualification, John pointed out the richness of the Augustinian-Franciscan tradition, appreciated the wisdom of Aquinas, Aristotle and the Muslim philosophersand still managed to be an independent thinker. That quality was proven in 1303 when King Philip the Fair tried to enlist the University of Paris on his side in a dispute with Pope Boniface VIII. John Duns Scotus dissented and was given three days to leave France.<p>In Scotuss time, some philosophers held that people are basically determined by forces outside themselves. Free will is an illusion, they argued. An ever practical man, Scotus said that if he started beating someone who denied free will, the person would immediately tell him to stop. But if Scotus didnt really have a free will, how could he stop? John had a knack for finding illustrations his students could remember!<p>After a short stay in Oxford he returned to Paris, where he received the doctorate in 1305. He continued teaching there and in 1307 so ably defended the Immaculate Conception of Mary that the university officially adopted his position. That same year the minister general assigned him to the Franciscan school in Cologne where John died in 1308. He is buried in the Franciscan church near the famous Cologne cathedral.<p>Drawing on the work of John Duns Scotus, Pope Pius IX solemnly defined the Immaculate Conception of Mary in 1854. John Duns Scotus, the "Subtle Doctor," was beatified in 1993.

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Transformation is the purpose of our lives—to change and be changed until the Christ consciousness is fully developed and the ego sufficiently starved so that it becomes too weak to influence our behavior and choices.

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