Keep
your eyes open!...
July 31, 2007
(Mat 10:22) And you shall be hated by all men for my name's sake: but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved.
IRAQ: BAGHDAD BISHOP TELLS OF WORSENING SECURITY CRISIS FOR CHRISTIANS
Baghdad's Church leaders have joined forces in a desperate bid to
protect their people from persecution – according to a bishop who
has dared to speak out on the growing crisis engulfing the city’s
Christians. Amid signs of worsening oppression against Baghdad’s Christian
community, Bishop Andeas Abouna said Church leaders from a number of
different rites were now rolling out plans to find the faithful homes
in safe places away from known hot-spots of extremism.
Speaking during a visit to London, the Auxiliary Bishop of Baghdad said
that his Chaldean community had linked up with Syriac Catholic and
Armenian hierarchy in a rescue mission for thousands of displaced
people. During the interview, given to Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Abouna
said: “It is not easy for our people – they are in need of
everything. The Church is helping in any way it can.” Describing
the co-operation between the bishops as unprecedented, Bishop Abouna
said the initiative was aimed at providing housing and emergency aid
for more than 6,000 Christians forced onto the streets and in grave
risk of kidnap or murder in a country with huge security problems.
He explained that the Christians had sought sanctuary in central
Baghdad’s Al Jadida region having escaped Al Dora, in south west
Baghdad, where militant Muslims had put an ultimatum to Christians
demanding that they convert to Islam or face eviction from their homes.
The crisis, he said, explained why the exodus of Christians from
Baghdad and other parts of Iraq was still high. He said the mass
movement of people meant reliable statistics were no
longer available. Reports show at least half of the 1.2 million
Christians in Iraq before the fall of Saddam Hussein have now fled
their homes.
The bishop described how the high risk of kidnappings and killings
meant people were afraid to leave their homes. But determined to strike
a positive note, the bishop went on:
“This is not the first time Christians in the ancient land of
Mesopotamia have suffered. Despite all the difficulties of the past,
Christians somehow remained in our country.”
He described making morale-boosting pastoral visits to Mansour, the
region of south-west Baghdad where he is based. “The families are
very sad and upset,” he said. “They were promised freedom
and democracy but nothing like that is happening.” The bishop
said: “In spite of the situation, we still hope that peace will
come.”
HEADLINE: Papal aide warns of 'Islamisation of Europe'
FULL TEXT: Interview with Pope Benedict XVI's personal secretary
SEE ALSO: Pope appeals for Taliban release of Korean church group
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
48. Syncletica of blessed memory said, 'A ship cannot be built without nails and no one can be saved without humility.'
July 26, 2007
THE TRIB TIMES WILL RETURN NEXT
WEEK, GOD WILLING (James 4:15).
(Luke 11:11-13) And
which of you, if he ask his father bread, will he give him a stone? Or
a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an
egg, will he reach him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to
give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from
heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask him?
FROM THE MAILBAG
Reflection by Father Ted – July 23, 2007
My dearest Lord Jesus, in this coming Sunday’s Gospel, You exhort
us not only to pray to the Father, but to pray to Him in a very special
way. You want us to ask Him for the gift of the Holy Spirit.
You want us to receive the Holy Spirit in His fullness, just as You did
on the day that You were baptized by Your cousin John in the Jordan
River.
You want us to receive the Holy Spirit in His fullness, just as You and
Your Father sent Him to Your disciples – united with Mary –
on Pentecost.
You want us to receive the Holy Spirit in His fullness so that He will
teach us everything that You taught Your disciples – especially
the Apostles – during Your Public Life.
You want us to receive the Holy Spirit in His fullness so that we can
perfectly love God with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all
our minds, and with all our strength.
You want us to receive the Holy Spirit in His fullness so that we can truly love one another as You love each one of us.
You want us to receive the Holy Spirit in His fullness so that each day
we can know what the Father wants us to do; so that we can do what the
Father wants us to do; so that we will do what the Father wants us to
do in the way that He wants us to do His Will.
You want us to receive the Holy Spirit in His fullness so that we can
truly imitate You and can truly imitate Your Mother, our Mother.
So my dearest Jesus, this evening, on this feast of Saint Bridget of Sweden, I ask the Father to give to me the Holy Spirit.
I need the Holy Spirit.
I want the Holy Spirit.
Father, Holy Father, send Your Holy Spirit upon me. Enkindle within me
the fire of Your Divine Love. Teach me what You want me to do –
in the way that You want me to do everything.
I need Your Holy Spirit.
Teach me, through the Holy Spirit, how to use the gifts – both natural and supernatural – that You have given to me.
Teach me, through the Holy Spirit, to know myself better – especially my weaknesses.
For only when I know my weaknesses, only when I know the depth of Your
love for me, will I be able to ask You for the help of the Holy Spirit
to resist the numerous temptations that I experience – and with
His help, will I be able to resist these numerous temptations –
and thereby grow in virtue and become the saint that You desire me to
be.
Thank You Jesus for exhorting me to ask the Father for the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Thank You Father for having sent to me in the past the Holy Spirit.
Thank You Holy Spirit for coming to me – for enkindling within me
the fire of Your Divine Love – for enabling me to do the Will of
the Father.
All glory and praise to the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit – now and forever. Amen.
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
45. The same brother asked him, 'Do you think Satan persecuted the men
of old as he persecutes us?' Sisois said, 'More, for now his doom has
drawn nearer, and he is weakened.'"
July 26, 2007
(Mat 5:48) Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.
FROM THE MAILBAG VIA Nadine:
You Must Really Desire Perfection!
By the late Father Kilian McGowan, C.P.
Why do most Christians fail to achieve familiar friendship with our
Blessed Lord? I think the answer is obvious. They never effectively
desire it. Desire is always the first movement of the soul towards
union with God. The desire for Christian perfection is a movement of
our wills, spurred on by the grace of God, causing us to seek union
with Him. This desire should be fervent and constant.
In the first chapter of the Gospel of Saint John, we read an incident
that traces the beginnings of this desire for perfection...
John and Andrew, those young Galilean fishermen, often slipped away
from their nets to listen to the preaching of John the Baptist. One
day, following on of the Baptist's stirring talks, a young stranger
passed by. The Precursor looked up and said: "Behold, the Lamb of God."
His words pierced the heart of John like a fiery dart, but he did
nothing.
The next day the incident was repeated. On both occasions the stranger
had said nothing; but this time, John and Andrew stumbled after Him.
After a short distance, the stranger turned about: "Whom do you seek?"
Like youngsters caught tin a childish prank, they muttered: "Master,
where dost thou dwell?" Our Blessed Lord-for He was the
stranger-answered: "Come and see."
Our Blessed Lord "looks" upon every soul-and this look is a
grace-filled invitation to follow Him. Unfortunately, not every soul
imitates John and Andrew. They hesitate-or they refuse the invitation.
Thus, they neglect to stir up their desire for the perfection of their
Heavenly Father.
Studying this Gospel incident, we find three stages in the Apostles' following of Christ:
The first was their discovery of Christ. It is true that the Prophet
John pointed out this divine model of perfection. But not before John
and Andrew had placed themselves in the occasion of grace by listening
to the Baptist's words so filled with unction and inspiration. Most
people fail to make real spiritual progress because they fail to place
themselves in the occasions of grace. Prayerfully to meditate on a life
of Christ, or to read the Gospels with simplicity and piety is always
such and occasion.
The second stage is to take the first steps. Many souls thrill at the
beauty of Christ. Their first realization of the attractiveness of His
Personality awakens a desire in their hearts to follow Him. But they
neglect to fan the sparks of their desire into the fires of fervor.
They fear the difficulties, or are unwilling to pay the price of the
effort involved.
The final stage is to "go and see" what God is like. John and Andrew
spent that entire day in the company of Christ. Later on, they
dedicated their whole lives to Him. They teach us that the quest for
God takes constant and energetic effort. We need more than a
wishy-washy hope of union with God; we must be willing to bulldoze away
any obstacle that stands in the way of its fulfillment.
Saint Teresa of Avila for years had led a mediocre life in the convent
as she served God only half-heartedly. Only when she took the plunge
and broke with her attachments did she begin to make progress. She
wrote from her own experience when she said: "Let us believe that with
the divine help and our own efforts we, too, can in the course of time
obtain what many saints aided by God finally obtained."
Remember, your will is the master of your destiny and nothing
worthwhile in this life is ever achieved unless it is at first willed.
God's love will draw you, and His grace will carry you on, but never
against your own will. Like John and Andrew, you have to discover
Christ-then take the first steps-and finally "go and see" what your God
is like. He'll be waiting to teach you!
In fact, He will even accompany you!
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
44. 'A brother once came to Sisois on the mountain of Antony, and as
they were talking he said to Sisois, 'Have you reached the stature of
Antony yet, abba?' He answered, 'If I had a single thought like Antony,
I should leap toward heaven like a flame. But I know myself to be
someone who can only with an effort keep his thoughts in check.'
July 25, 2007
(Act
19:13-17) Now some also of the Jewish exorcists, who went about,
attempted to invoke over them that had evil spirits the name of the
Lord Jesus, saying: I conjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preacheth. And
there were certain men, seven sons of Sceva, a Jew, a chief priest,
that did this. But the wicked spirit, answering, said to them: Jesus I
know: and Paul I know. But who are you? And the man in whom the wicked
spirit was, leaping upon them and mastering them both, prevailed
against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
And this became known to all the Jews and the Gentiles that dwelt a
Ephesus. And fear fell on them all: and the name of the Lord Jesus was
magnified.
MEXICAN EXORCIST CRITICIZES PRIESTS WHO DO NOT BELIEVE IN THE DEVIL
The coordinator of exorcists of the Archdiocese of Mexico City, Father
Pedro Mendoza, criticized the skepticism of some priests about the
existence of the Devil and said that although there are not many cases
of possession, there are many who suffer from demonic attraction, which
is the result of man’s estrangement from God.
At the conclusion of the 3rd National Congress of Exorcists, Father
Mendoza warned that those who do not believe in the existence of the
Devil forget that it is a dogma of the faith, “no matter how much
they want to explain (these phenomenon) as psychological or something
else.”
Speaking to reporters, Father Mendoza said there are seven exorcists in
the archdiocese and that the number is low because of the few cases of
possession. But, he warned, there are many cases of individuals who
suffer from demonic attraction as a result of estrangement from the
faith, “which leads them to be interested in magic, witchcraft,
spells, horoscopes and even death, and priests are not helping them
because they don’t know how.”
He said the congress was a success as bishops were encouraged to
address this issue in seminaries and thus train more priests to be
exorcists.
RELATED: Mexican priest- Potter may help the devil
REVIEW: Father Pedro Barrajon- Demons and the Nature of Evil
PETER KREEFT: Hell
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
42. 'Once Theophilus of holy memory, the archbishop of Alexandria, came
to Scetis. The brothers gathered together and said to Pambo, 'Speak to
the bishop, that he may be edified.' Pambo replied, 'If he is not
edified by my silence, my speech certainly will not edify him."'
July 24, 2007
(Mat
9:36-38) And seeing the multitudes, he had compassion on them: because
they were distressed, and lying like sheep that have no shepherd. Then
he saith to his disciples, The harvest indeed is great, but the
labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he
send forth labourers into his harvest.
DEAF SEMINARIAN HAS VISUAL SENSE OF RELIGION
While on retreat at his
California seminary, Shawn Carey found himself in a bind when the
leader turned on some music. "Please focus on the music," the leader
instructed, "and think about what words in the music impact you."
Carey's face crumples in a mock cry at the memory. "How? How?" he
pleads, using sign language interpreted by the Rev. Jeremy St. Martin,
director of Deaf Catholic Ministries for the Archdiocese of Boston.
"That bothered me a lot."
It was a rare instance of his disability (that's society's word; Carey
calls it a gift from God) impeding his worship. Deaf from birth,
cocooned in eternal silence, Carey may not be able to savor the
majestic hymns that his fellow Catholics raise to their God. Instead,
he taps into inaudible pathways to the divine.
"The deaf, we're very visual people," said the 34-year-old seminarian.
"We depend on [vision] for learning; we can't hear. Whenever I see the
Blessed Sacrament at adoration, the Eucharist, I see Christ there. I
use visual imagination [to see] how Christ suffered and died. There's a
picture inside my brain, like a movie. That's my spirituality. That's
how I communicate with God."
The thought of becoming a priest first flickered for Carey when he was
a freshman in his Catholic high school, when one of his teachers, who
was a priest, impressed him.
That interest subsided for a time, as he took a job after college with
an investment firm. He enjoyed the job but felt he was held back,
perhaps unintentionally, for his deafness. "It's hard to receive a
promotion," he said. He was told that his inability to participate in
phone calls was an issue.
More important, he said, "the hound of heaven was following me." (The
reference is to a poem by Francis Thompson: "I fled him, down the
nights and down the days . . . From those strong Feet that followed,
followed after.")
NUMBER OF U.S. CATHOLIC PRIESTS DWINDLES
The number of priests in the United States has shrunk considerably
since the 1960s, and young priests are increasingly hard to come by.
One young North Carolina man, however, has impressed his elders with
his devotion to his faith. Michael Burbeck, 23, begins six years of
training next month to become a Catholic priest, The Raleigh News &
Observer reported Sunday.
Unlike many priests, Burbeck will be only 29 when he is ordained.
Church authorities say that in a culture that promotes material
possessions, sex and self-promotion young people are increasingly
turned off by the relatively quiet life of the priesthood.
In the United States, the number of priests has shrunk from 58,632 in
1965 to 41,794, the News & Observer said. Bishops are struggling to
recruit priests -- particularly young men -- and several parishes have
had to close.
Meanwhile, the Catholic population burgeons.
MORE: Boston Catholic Archdiocese facing priest shortage
RESOLUTIONS FROM ANNUAL CONVOCATION: Confraternity of Catholic Clergy press release
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
41. 'They said of Poemen that he never wanted to cap the saying of others, but always praised what had been said.'
July 21, 2007
THE TRIB TIMES WILL RETURN NEXT
WEEK, GOD WILLING (James 4:15).
(Heb 10:23-25) Let
us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering (for he is
faithful that hath promised): And let us consider one another, to
provoke unto charity and to good works: Not forsaking our assembly, as
some are accustomed: but comforting one anther, and so much the more as
you see the day approaching.
BRINGING BACK BEST OF OLD MASS CAN BRING OUT BETTER IN THE NEW
In the discussion over Pope Benedict XVI's liberalization of the rules
permitting the celebration of the "old Mass," i.e., the form of the
Mass celebrated before - and during - Vatican II, much has been made of
its goal of reunifying Traditionalist groups with the Catholic Church.
What's been overlooked is the extent to which the Holy Father hopes
this liberalization will reform the celebration of the "new Mass" that
followed, but is distinct from, Vatican II. As Benedict writes in the
letter announcing the change, "in many places celebrations were not
faithful to the prescriptions of the new Missal, but the latter
actually was understood as authorizing or even requiring creativity,
which frequently led to deformations of the liturgy which were hard to
bear."
Those "deformations" undoubtedly contributed to plummeting rates of
Mass attendance. From a high of 75 percent of Catholics in the early
1960s, attendance rates have sunk to a national average of around 25
percent.
In defiance of the decrees of Vatican II, which call for
solemnity-inspiring things like the retention of Latin and the singing
of Gregorian Chant, celebrations of the new form of the Mass have all
too often become lazy, careless affairs subject to the whims of local
worship committees.
Benedict seeks something better. "The celebration of the Mass according
to the Missal of Paul VI [the new form of the Mass] will be able to
demonstrate, more powerfully than has been the case hitherto, the
sacrality which attracts many people to the former usage."
In other words, exposure to the dignity, solemnity and contemplation
that characterize the "old" form of the Mass might inspire similar
sensibilities in the celebration of the new.
What can be done to encourage these sensibilities? Benedict reminds
pastors and those charged with the celebration of Mass that "[t]he most
sure guarantee that the Missal of Paul VI can unite parish communities
and be loved by them consists in its being celebrated with great
reverence in harmony with the liturgical directives. This will bring
out the spiritual richness and the theological depth of this Missal."
OPINION: The Mass of All Time will outlive the Sixties revolutionaries
MARK MALLET: Pope Benedict and the Two Columns
OF INTEREST
Local Catholics say many Protestants misunderstand recent Vatican document
The Tide Is Turning Toward Catholicism: The Converts
From Jew to Catholic, author finds his path a natural one
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
40. Joseph told this story: Once when we were sitting with
Poemen, he talked about 'abba' Agatho. We said to him: 'He is a
young man, why do you call him abba?' Poemen said, 'His speech is
such that we must call him "abba".'
July 20, 2007
(Rev 12:12-13) Therefore,
rejoice, O heavens, and you that dwell therein. Woe to the earth and to
the sea, because the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath,
knowing that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he
was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman who brought forth the
man child.
THREATENED, CHRISTIANS FLEE THE MIDEAST
He
refused to leave Baghdad, even after the day last year when masked
Sunni gunmen forced him and eight co-workers to line up against a wall
and said, "Say your prayers." An Assyrian Christian, Rayid Albert
closed his eyes and prayed to Jesus as the killers opened fire. He
alone survived, shot seven times. But a month ago a note was left at
his front door, warning, "You have three choices: change your religion,
leave or pay the jeziya"--a tax on Christians levied by ancient Islamic
rulers. It was signed "The Islamic Emirate of Iraq," a Qaeda pseudonym.
That was the day Albert decided to get out immediately. He and the
other 10 members of his household are now living as refugees in
Kurdistan.
Across the lands of the Bible, Christians like Albert
and his family are abandoning their homes. According to the World
Council of Churches, the region's Christian population has plunged from
12 million to 2 million in the past 10 years. Lebanon, until recently a
majority Christian country--the only one in the Mideast--has become
two-thirds Muslim. The Greek Orthodox archbishop in Jerusalem, where
only 12,000 Christians remain, is pleading with his followers not to
leave. "We have to persevere," says Theodosios Atallah Hanna. "How can
the land of Jesus Christ stay without Christians?" The proportion of
Christians in Bethlehem, once 85 percent, is now 20 percent. Egypt's
Coptic Christians, who trace the roots of their faith back to Saint
Mark's preaching in the first century, used to account for 10 percent
of their country's population. Now they've dwindled to an estimated 6
percent. "The flight of Christians out of these areas is similar to the
hunt for Jews," says Magdi Allam, an Egyptian-Italian author and expert
on Islam, himself a Muslim. "There is no better example of what will
happen if this human tragedy in the Arab-Muslim world is allowed to
continue."
Nowhere is the exodus more extreme than in Iraq.
Before the war, members of the Assyrian and Chaldean rites, along with
smaller numbers of Armenians and others, constituted roughly 1.2
million of the country's 25 million people. Most sources agree that
well over half of those Christians have fled the country now, and many
or most of the rest have been internally displaced, but some estimates
are far more drastic. According to the Roman Catholic relief
organization Caritas, the number of Christians in Iraq had plummeted to
25,000 by last year. Of the 1.7 million Iraqi refugees in Jordan and
Syria, half are Christians, says Father Raymond Moussalli, a Chaldean
vicar who now says mass every night in a basement in Amman. "The
government of Saddam used to protect us," he says. "Mr. Bush doesn't
protect us. The Shia don't protect us. No Christian was persecuted
under Saddam for being Christian."
NATIONAL CATHOLIC REGISTER: Iraq: Land of Martyrs Christians Feeling Brunt Of Wrath in War Iraq
Ahmadinejad: It will be a 'hot' summer
It's
going to be a "hot" summer in the Middle East, said Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad following a surprise meeting with Hizbullah leader
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah in Damascus on Thursday evening, Channel 10
reported.
Nasrallah allegedly entered Syria via an underground tunnel, the television channel said.
"We
hope that the hot weather of this summer will coincide with similar
victories for the region's peoples, and with consequent defeat for the
region's enemies," Ahmadinejad added, in an apparent reference to
Israel.
During his one-day trip to Damascus, Ahmadinejad held
talks with counterpart Bashar Assad which focused on the Iraq
situation, Palestinian territories and Lebanon, where both Teheran and
Damascus wield influence.
"The enemies of the region should
abandon plans to attack the interests of this region, or they would be
burned by the wrath of the region's peoples," the hardline Iranian
leader said at a joint press conference with Assad.
RELATED: Cheney pushes Bush to act on Iran · Military solution back in favour as Rice loses out
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
39. 'He also said, 'Once when the monks were sitting down to eat,
Alonius stood and waited on them: and when they saw it, they praised
him. But he said not a word. So one of them whispered to
him, "Why do you not answer when the brothers praise you?"
Alonius said, "If I answer them, I will be pleased that I have
been praised."'
July 18, 2007
(Mat
18:6) But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that
believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged
about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea.
CARDINAL MAHONY'S FATE DEBATED
With the historic $660 million settlement Monday ending the clergy
sexual-abuse scandal against the Los Angeles Roman Catholic
Archdiocese, attention turned to the future of the central figure in
the case - a man who never molested children nor was charged with a
crime.
But Cardinal Roger Mahony may forever be linked to the scandal, which
he tried to cover up by first transferring known molesters from parish
to parish, then fighting prosecutors - all the way to the Supreme Court
- to keep church records of the abuse a secret.
For several years, Los Angeles businessman Armando Soto Mayor has kept
a watchful eye over the church's pedophile-priest revelations for deep
personal reasons. He was an altar boy and considered becoming a priest.
Now, the man whose family has been part of the Catholic Church for
centuries refuses to have his 1-year-old son baptized.
"A person who abuses a child is sick," he said. "However, the man who
covers it up is a criminal. ... That's why I believe that Cardinal
Mahony is the worst thing that could have happened to the Catholic
Church.
"Cardinal Mahony's legacy? He has no legacy."
It's a question that, with the litigation finally over, is now up for
debate in ongoing assessments of Mahony's administration as the fourth
archbishop of Los Angeles - a period of record growth in the country's
largest archdiocese but also an era marked by one of the ugliest
chapters in the church's long history.
With the scandal now a stain on his record, is there time for the
71-year-old cardinal to carve out a new legacy and does he have time to
silence his critics? Or, perhaps the more pressing question is, should
he resign?
CATHOLIC NEWS EDITOR: To Restore Credibility, Cardinal Mahony Should Resign
RELATED: Vatican pledges to fight pedophilia following LA abuse settlement
TIMELINE: US Church sex scandal
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
38. He also said, 'If a man stays in his own place, he will not be troubled.'
July 14, 2007
THE TRIB TIMES WILL RETURN NEXT
WEEK, GOD WILLING (James 4:15).
LINKS OF INTEREST
Comportment at Holy Mass and Afterwards A Letter from St. Padre Pio to Annita Rodote Pietrelcina, July 25, 1915
Our Lady of America - Canonically Approved!
In Memory of His Holiness Pope John Paul II
FROM THE MAILBAG
Reflection by Father Ted – July 6, 2007
My dearest Lord Jesus, through the intercession of Saint Maria Goretti
and through the intercession of Saint Dominic Savio, I ask You to help
our children and our youth to be pure and to be holy.
You know them and You love them. You created them in Your image and likeness. You want them to be like You.
You gave to us the privilege and the responsibility to teach them how
to know You and how to love You as well as how to receive Your love.
You gave to us this privilege and responsibility just as You gave to
the parents and clergy of Maria Goretti and Dominic Savio this
privilege and responsibility.
The parents and the priests of these two children did teach them.
By their example they taught them.
Both of these youngsters responded to what their elders taught them.
They knew You and they loved You – just as they knew and loved Your Father and Your Holy Spirit.
But do our children and our youth know You?
Do our children and our youth love You?
Would that they did!
Lord Jesus, help us now to teach them – so that they, like Maria
Goretti and like Dominic Savio, will become the holy children, the
happy children, the joyful children and youths that You desire them to
be.
Today, so many of them are victims of the seductive influences of our hedonistic society.
They do not know how to resist the false allurements of our pagan world.
So many of them are falling into these traps because no one, or should
I say, hardly no one is there to warn them and to show them how to
resist these destructive life-styles.
Oh Jesus, encourage us to show them how to live Your joy-filled and peaceful life.
Make us the witnesses to them of the peace of being a child of God.
May we pray for them and sacrifice for them so that they will respond
to Your love and to Your call – to become like Maria and Dominic
saints.
Saint Maria Goretti, pray for them. Saint Dominic Savio, pray for them.
All you holy ones in heaven, pray for them – now and at the hour of their deaths.
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
37. He also said, 'Humility is the ground on which the Lord ordered the sacrifice to be offered.'
July 13, 2007
(John 15:20) Remember my word that I said to
you: The servant is not greater than his master. If they have
persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my word,
they will keep yours also.
VIA Denver Catholic Register:
Martyrdom and the Christian future in Iraq By George Weigel
In early June, I received a forwarded
e-mail from a correspondent who’s done several tours in Iraq. He,
in turn, had just heard from an Iraqi fellow-Catholic, a former
translator for U.S. forces there, of the death of Father Raheed Ganni.
The broken English of the Iraqi’s e-mail conveys the force of the
scene better than I ever could:
“Today 3 June, Sunday morning
and after he did Sunday service in his church (The Holy Spirit) in
Al-Nour neighborhood in Mosul, and while he and three of the [deacons]
of his church were leaving the church, stooped them a group of
criminals of the Jehadists of Muslims extremist who call themselves
members of Iraqi Islamic State and very close to the church, because
they were waiting them outside the church and asked them to get out of
the car and at the wall of the church they shooted them and kill all
them, in the same time they planted some IEDs close to their dead
bodies to make more hurt and damage happen when peoples come to
evacuate them. Their dead bodies stayed out side the church many hours
in the street...Actually I know this priest since 2 years ago. He is a
very nice guy, respectable man, kind, love the others, always like
visit and help the poor peoples. After his graduation from Rome, he was
able to find him a church outside Iraq and stay there to do service for
the expatriate of Iraqis, but he preferred to come back to Iraq to
serve his own peoples. He was always praying to stop this violence in
Iraq. I ask God the mercy for him and for the other
martyrs.”
Subsequent traffic on the Catholic
Internet circuit revealed a remarkable man. At his ordination in 2004,
Father Raheed had evidently told a friend that he didn’t expect
to live more than two more years; God gave him three. Father Raheed was
martyred soon after receiving word that he had been accepted for
doctoral studies in Rome, and as suggested above, his death had a
biblical aura to it: like great Christian witnesses in the Book of
Revelation, Father Raheed Ganni’s body and the bodies of his
three deacon-companions were left in the street, unattended, until the
IEDs could be disarmed and the remains of the saints taken into Father
Raheed’s church.
I say “saints” with confidence, for there is no doubt that
Father Raheed Ganni and his deacons are martyrs, killed “in
hatred of the faith” by the haters who have created the current
chaos in parts of long-suffering Iraq. We may, rightly, rejoice at the
triumph of the martyrs. But we must also ask, now what?
The Holy See’s opposition to the use of force in Iraq in March
2003 is well known. Perhaps less well known is the widespread
conviction in the Vatican today that a precipitous American withdrawal
from Iraq would be the worst possible option from every point of view,
including that of morality. Senior officials of the Holy See with whom
I discussed the issue in May share the view of American analysts who
are convinced that a premature American disengagement from Iraq would
lead to genocidal violence, Iraq’s collapse into a failed state,
chaos throughout the Middle East, and a new haven for international
terrorists. That all of this would make life intolerable for
Iraq’s remaining Christians is pluperfectly obvious.
The question of Iraq’s Christians was discussed during June 9
meetings involving President Bush, Pope Benedict, and senior Vatican
diplomatic officials. U.S. Catholics and all those committed to
religious liberty must urge the U.S. government to bring every possible
lever into play to ensure that the Maliki government in Iraq takes
seriously the religious freedom provisions of Iraq’s
democratically ratified constitution, and moves to redress the plight
of Chaldean Catholics and other Iraqi Christians who, too often, are
being given three unacceptable choices: convert to Islam; face
sometimes-lethal pressures to convert; or emigrate.
May the intercession of Father Raheed Ganni and his Companions hasten the day of peace with freedom and justice in Iraq.
RELATED LINKS
Rally to Save Mideast Christians Draws Support from Vatican, Holocaust Survivor, Politicians
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Iraqi church leaders : Iraqi government failing nation’s Christians
Islam's Global War against Christianity
MUST READ!: The Knights of Saint John and History's Bloodiest Siege
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
36. He also said, 'A brother asked Alonius, "What is humility?" The
hermit said, "to be lower than brute beasts and to know that they are
not condemned."'
July 11, 2007
(Eph 4:1-6) I therefore, a prisoner
in the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation in which
you are called: With all humility and mildness, with patience,
supporting one another in charity. Careful to keep the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace. One body and one Spirit: as you are called
in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God
and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all.
VATICAN CONGREGATION REAFFIRMS TRUTH, ONENESS OF CATHOLIC CHURCH
VATICAN CITY (CNS). In a brief
document, the Vatican's doctrinal congregation reaffirmed that the
Catholic Church is the one, true church, even if elements of truth can
be found in separated churches and communities.
Touching an ecumenical sore point, the document said some of the
separated Christian communities, such as Protestant communities, should
not properly be called "churches" according to Catholic doctrine
because of major differences over the ordained priesthood and the
Eucharist.
The Vatican released the text July 10. Titled "Responses to Some
Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church," it
was signed by U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada, prefect of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and approved by Pope
Benedict XVI before publication.
In a cover letter, Cardinal Levada asked the world's bishops to do all
they can to promote and present the document to the wider public.
The text was the latest chapter in a long-simmering discussion on what
the Second Vatican Council intended when it stated that the church
founded by Christ "subsists in the Catholic Church," but that elements
of "sanctification and truth" are found outside the Catholic Church's
visible confines.
The related discussion over the term "churches" surfaced publicly in
2000, when the doctrinal congregation -- then headed by Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict -- said the term "sister churches" was
being misused in ecumenical dialogue.
In a format of five questions and answers, the new document stated that
Vatican II did not change Catholic doctrine on the church. It said use
of the phrase "subsists in" was intended to show that all the elements
instituted by Christ endure in the Catholic Church.
The sanctifying elements that exist outside the structure of the
Catholic Church can be used as instruments of salvation, but their
value derives from the "fullness of grace and truth which has been
entrusted to the Catholic Church," it said, quoting from Vatican II's
"Decree on Ecumenism."
COMMENTARY BY Sandro Magister: http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=154889&eng=y
COMMENTARY VIA CATHOLICNEWSAGENCY: Reaffirmation of doctrine on salvation in the Church related to St. Pius X Society?
LINK TO RESPONSES TO SOME QUESTIONS REGARDING CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE DOCTRINE ON THE CHURCH: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20070629_responsa-quaestiones_en.html
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
35. He also said, 'Do not be proud of yourself, but stay with anyone who is living a good life.'
July 10, 2007
EXCERPT ESSAY VIA FIRST THINGS:
The Pope’s Liturgical Liberalism
By Richard John Neuhaus
One of the more deft moves in
Benedict’s apostolic letter motu proprio, titled “Summorum
Pontificum,” is in referring to the 1962 form of the Roman Rite
as the Mass of Blessed John XXIII. It is not the Tridentine Mass or the
Mass of Pius V but the Mass of John XXIII. It is the form of the Mass
that was celebrated daily at the Second Vatican Council.
Benedict notes that, over the many centuries of the Roman Rite, popes
have from time to time made modest changes. Pius V did so in 1570, John
XXIII did so in 1962, and Paul VI did so in 1970, the last producing
what is called the Novus Ordo. Benedict notes that John Paul II also
made small but important emendations regarding references to the Jews
in the Good Friday Liturgy. (More on that below.)
By associating the Latin Mass that is now universally approved with
John XXIII, Benedict steals a card from the deck of liberals and
progressives, for whom John XXIII is always “good Pope
John,” in contrast to his successors. But this is much more than
a deft rhetorical move. “Summorum Pontificum” is a
thoroughly liberal document in substance and spirit, remembering that
liberal means, as once was more commonly understood, generosity of
spirit.
In his letter to the bishops, Benedict
is directing them to be generous in embracing the fullness of the
Catholic tradition and responding to the desires of the Catholic
faithful. This is proposed in contrast to the rigidity, bordering
sometimes on tyranny, of a liturgical guild that mistakenly thought
that the Second Vatican Council gave them a mandate to impose their
ideas of liturgical reform on the entire Church.
ENTIRE ESSAY (highly recommended!): http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=796
TRADITIONALIST BLOG COMMENTS:
Dear Priests of the entire world, cherish and make full and good use of
this document: it is not the property of "estranged minorities"; it is
not the domain of "nostalgic clerics"; it belongs to all of you, it is
your charter of liturgical freedom.
VIA INSIDE THE VATICAN: "Not a Rejection of the Council"
VIA CNS: At a glance: Differences between Tridentine Mass, Mass said today
FULL TEXT OF "SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM": http://www.zenit.org/article-20071?l=english
EXPLANATORY LETTER LINK: http://www.zenit.org/article-20070?l=english
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
34. He also said, 'The tools of the soul are these: to cast oneself
down in God's sight; not to lift oneself up; and to put self-will
behind one.'
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