2lent

Reading I: Acts 13:14, 43-52
Responsorial Psalm: 100:1-2, 3, 5
Reading II: Revelation 7:9, 14b-17
Gospel: John 10:27-30

them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
No one can take them out of my hand. (Gospel)

The Resurrection

1lent

Reading I: Acts 13:14, 43-52
Responsorial Psalm: 100:1-2, 3, 5
Reading II: Revelation 7:9, 14b-17
Gospel: John 10:27-30

them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
No one can take them out of my hand. (Gospel)

The Resurrection

5c

Reading I: Acts 13:14, 43-52
Responsorial Psalm: 100:1-2, 3, 5
Reading II: Revelation 7:9, 14b-17
Gospel: John 10:27-30

them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
No one can take them out of my hand. (Gospel)

The Resurrection

4c

Reading I: Acts 13:14, 43-52
Responsorial Psalm: 100:1-2, 3, 5
Reading II: Revelation 7:9, 14b-17
Gospel: John 10:27-30

them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
No one can take them out of my hand. (Gospel)

The Resurrection

3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time C

Reading I: Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10
Responsorial Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 15
Reading II: 1 Corinthians 12:12-30 or 12:12-14, 27
Gospel: Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. (Gospel) 

Living in the Holy Spirit

Few expressions so succinctly summarize what is asked of us as Christians as does the expression: “to live in the Spirit.” Too often, however, this phrase is used in a way that is too pious, too over-charged with charismatic fervour, or too theologically abstract to have much meaning for ordinary people. It may well summarize Christian life, but it can also be little more than a very vague platitude. What does it mean “to live in the Spirit?”

St. Paul, in attempting to specify this, is anything but piously deluded or theologically abstract. Rather he speaks with a clarity that leaves almost no room for vagueness or false sentiment. He begins by a certain via negativa, telling us that, if in our lives there is

lewd conduct, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, bickering, jealousy, outbursts of rage, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factionalism, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like”, then we are not living in the spirit, pure and simple. Conversely, we are living in the spirit when, in our lives, there is “charity, joy, peace, patience, endurance, kindness, generosity, faith, mildness, and chastity.
(Galatians 5)

This is a valuable insight because, if we take Paul’s word’s seriously, we can never delude ourselves into identifying true life in the Spirit with what it is so often confused with, namely, false piety and over-privatized sentiment (in pious circles) and confrontation out of hurt, paranoia, and narrow loyalties (in both liberal and conservative circles). When the fruits of the Spirit are absent, irrespective of how spiritually confident and self-righteous we might feel or how right our cause might seem, then the Spirit too is absent. We must be clear about this. 

2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time C

Reading I: Isaiah 62:1-5
Responsorial Psalm 96:1-2, 2-3, 7-8, 9-10
Reading II: 1 Corinthians 12:4-11
Gospel: John 2:1-11

“You have kept the good wine until now.” (Gospel) 

The God of Our Desires

What lies deepest inside authentic faith is the truth that God is the object of all human desire, no matter how earthy and unholy that desire might seem at times. This implies that everything we desire is contained in God. We see this expressed in the Psalms, which tell us that God is the object of our desires, and in Jesus, who tells us that it is in God that our deepest hungers and thirsts will be satiated. And so we pray, without perhaps ever really being conscious of what we are saying: My soul longs for you in the night. You, Lord, alone, can fill my heart. You, O Lord, are my all. But is it really God that we are longing for in the night and aching for in our desires?

Do we really believe that God is the real object of our desires? When we look at all that is beautiful, full of life, attractive, sexually alluring, and pleasurable on earth, do we really think and believe that this is contained in an infinitely richer way inside of God and inside the life into which God invites us? Do we really believe that the joys of heaven will surpass the pleasures of earth and that, already in this world, the pleasures of virtue trump the sensations of sin?  Do we really believe that faith will give us what we desire?

It would seem not. We, and most everyone else, struggle to turn our attention towards God. We find religious practice and prayer more of a disruption to life than an entry into it, more a duty than an offer, more an asceticism than a joy, and more as something that has us missing out on life than entering into its depths. In most of us, if we are honest, there is a secret envy of those who recklessly plumb sacred energy for their own pleasure, that is, we doggedly do our duty in committing ourselves to something higher, but, like the Older Brother of the Prodigal Son, we mostly serve God out of obligation and are bitter about the fact that many others do not. This side of eternity, virtue often envies sin and, truth be told, this is particularly true regarding sexuality.

Pope Francis’ geopolitics of mercy and realism

In his speech to diplomats accredited to the Holy See, the Bishop of Rome spoke about how the Church has presented the world with the perfect occasion – the year-long Jubilee – to deal together with the global emergencies facing us

Francis’ Holy Year of Mercy has a geopolitical goal as well. The Church is offering the Jubilee as a propitious time to defuse conflicts, stop the scourge of war and address global emergencies together. Pope Francis gave a concrete and direct description of this opportunity in his traditional beginning-of-the year speech to diplomatic representatives accredited to the Holy See. In his address, he reiterated “the complete readiness of the Secretariat of State to cooperate with you in favouring constant dialogue between the Apostolic See and the countries which you represent”, stressing: “I am certain that this Jubilee year (which was intentionally pre-inaugurated in Bangui, “in a country sorely tried by hunger, poverty and conflict”) will be a favourable occasion for the cold indifference of so many hearts to be won over by the warmth of mercy, that precious gift of God which turns fear into love and makes us artisans of peace”.

In the Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Year of Mercy Misericordiae Vultus, Pope Francis made it clear that he did not wish to turn the Holy Year into a “propitious time” exclusively for faithful of Catholics active in the faith, he intended it as an opportunity for reconciliation for non-Christians too, starting with Jews and Muslims. A time that does not exclude the possibility of taking into account the dynamics of the Jubilee in scrapping scores that need to be settled and in reconciliation between enemies, right from the outset, including when seeking solutions to the conflicts and international crises that are tormenting peoples and nations.

The Baptism of the Lord C

Reading I: Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7 or 40:1-5, 9-11
Responsorial Psalm 29:1-4, 9-10 or 104:1b-2, 3-4, 24-25, 27-30
Reading II: Acts 10:34-38 or Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7
Gospel: Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

“You are my beloved Son;
with you I am well pleased.” (Gospel)

God’s Unconditional Love

Recently I had lunch with a former student of mine, a very idealistic young man who teaches religion in a Catholic High School. He shared with me about his struggles in trying to teach young people about God. One of the major problems, as he sees it, is that his students’ idea of God invariably contains too much of the notion that God is a petty tyrant, that God can easily be offended, that God is threatened by our joys and successes, and especially that somehow we have to earn God’s love by being good.

He, for his part, tries to correct these notions by presenting a picture of God as a God whose essential countenance is that of blessing and not of frowning, a God who is an extravagant, unconditional lover, the father of prodigal son, who cannot be put off by human infidelity. Among other things, he likes presenting Julian of Norwich’s picture of God as “sitting in heaven, smiling, completely relaxed, his face looking like a marvelous symphony.” However, when he tries to present this idea of God, the response of his students is inevitably something to this effect: “Then why be good? If God loves us no matter what we do, then why keep the commandments? If we are not to be punished or rewarded for our efforts, then why make sacrifices?”

Why indeed? Why be good and try to keep the commandments if God loves us anyway? Simply put, we don’t try to be good so that God loves and rewards us. God loves us no matter what we do and heaven is never a reward for a good life. Are these glib statements? No. God’s love, as Jesus assures us, is always both unmerited and unconditional, nothing we do can ever make God love us, just as nothing we do can ever stop God from loving us. God loves just as God does everything else, perfectly. God loves everything and everybody perfectly. In fact, part of Christian belief (a dogma, in fact) is that God’s love is what keeps everything in existence. If God stopped loving anything, it would cease to be. This (as the American theologian, Michael Hines, is fond of pointing out) raises an interesting question: If God loves everything and everyone perfectly, does God then also love Satan? Indeed, does God love Satan as much as he loves Jesus’ mother, Mary?

L’Osservatore Romano accuses Charlie Hebdo of “distorting faith”

The Vatican newspaper speaks out against the cover of the French satirical weekly, which marks the first anniversary of the attacks on its offices in Paris

The Holy See has strongly criticised the illustration on the special issue of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, which depicts God carrying a machine gun. Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano said the image “illustrates the sad paradox of a world that is becoming so sensitive to political correctness it is verging on the ridiculous”. The special issue marks a year since the attack by Islamist radicals on the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris. L’Osservatore Romano says the French daily’s gesture dismissed and disrespects “all believers’ faith in God , whatever their credo”.

“This episode is nothing new because behind the deceitful flag of an “uncompromising secularism”, the French weekly has once again forgotten what all religious leaders have been repeating for some time now, rejecting violence in the name of religion: using God to justify hatred constitutes real “blasphemy”, as Pope Francis has said on so many occasions.”

Russian Orthodox leader expresses concern that Montenegro may join NATO

 

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church received Serbia’s justice minister in audience on December 28 and expressed concern that Montenegro—which became independent from Serbia in 2006—may accept an invitation to join NATO.

“I wholeheartedly wish the Serbian people God’s help, spiritual and physical fortitude, and wisdom for preserving the sovereignty of our fraternal Serbia,” said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. “We worry about the events in Montenegro as we see that people are against the plans of joining.”

“Russia today is a sovereign state in full measure and uses the sovereignty for its own defense and for defense of its friends,” he added.

Hilary Clinton: Islamic State’s killing of Christians should be labeled genocide

 

Distancing herself from Obama administration policy, presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said that she now believes that the Islamic State’s killing of Christians in Syria and Iraq should be labeled a genocide.

The Islamic State “deliberately aimed at destroying not only the lives, but wiping out the existence of Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East in territory controlled by ISIS,” she said on December 29, according to a Politico report.

Epiphany of the Lord C

Reading I: Isaiah 60:1-6
Responsorial Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13
Reading II: Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6
Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12

When King Herod heard this,
he was greatly troubled (Gospel)

King Herod and the Wise Men—A Christmas Challenge

The Christmas story is surely one of the greatest stories ever told. It chronicles a birth from which the world records time as before or after. Moreover, it is written in a way that has inflamed the romantic imagination for 2000 years. This hasn’t always been for the good. Beyond spawning every kind of legend imaginable, the story of Christmas has, in the Christian imagination, too often taken on a centrality not accorded to it in the Gospels themselves. This is not surprising, given its richness.

Inside its great narrative there are multiple mini-narratives, each of which comes laden with its own archetypal symbols. One of these mini-narratives, rich in archetypal imagery, is the story King Herod and the wise men.

We see this in the Gospel of Matthew when he tells us how various people reacted to the announcement of Jesus’ birth. Matthew sets up a powerful archetypal contrast, blessing and curse, between the reaction of the wise men, who bring their gifts and place them at the feet of the new king, and King Herod, who tries to kill him.

We are all familiar with this story since it has been much celebrated in song, icon, and legend. Jesus is born inside of a religious tradition, Judaism, and his birth is announced to that faith-community in a manner that befits religion, namely, by the angels, by supernatural revelation. But those outside of that faith-tradition need another way to get to know of his birth, and so his birth is announced to them though nature, astrology, through the stars. The wise men see a special star appear in the sky and begin to follow it, not knowing exactly to where or to what it will lead.

Pope Francis: Angelus appeal for peace

  

Pope Francis renewed his calls for peace and goodwill throughout the Earth on Friday, New Year’s Day, the Solemnity of the Mother of God and the World Day of Peace. The Holy Father’s appeal came at the Angelus prayer with pilgrims and visitors gathered in St. Peter’s Square after Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. “Today we celebrate the World Day of Peace, whose theme is: ‘Overcome Indifference and win Peace’,” said Pope Francis. “That peace, which God the Father wants to sow in the world, must be cultivated by us,” he continued. “Not only: it must also be ‘conquered’. This involves a real struggle, a spiritual battle that takes place in our hearts, for the enemy of peace is not only war, but also indifference, which makes us think only of ourselves and creates barriers, suspicions, fears and closures [of mind and heart].”

Pope Francis went on to say, “We have, thank God, much information; but sometimes we are so inundated with news that we are distracted from reality, from the brother and sister who needs us: let us begin to open our hearts, awakening attention to the next.”
“This,” said Pope Francis, “is the way to win the peace.”

After the traditional prayer of Marian devotion, Pope Francis returned the New Year’s greetings he received the evening before from the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, and offered thanks to all those involved in peace initiatives in Rome, throughout Italy and in all the world.

Pope’s Prayer Intentions for January 2016

 

At the start of the new year, Pope Francis will be praying that interreligious dialogue will produce fruits of peace.

The Apostleship of Prayer announced the intentions chosen by the Pope for January 2016.

His universal prayer intention is: “That sincere dialogue among men and women of different faiths may produce the fruits of peace and justice.”

Wishing you a Prosperous New Year

The Pope’s Te Deum for the end of the year: Rome needs to revive honesty and solidarity

 

From St. Peter’s Basilica, the Pope denounces the “grave uncertainties that have dominated the world scene over the past year and are symptoms of a lack of commitment to the common good”

‘

In the Te Deum, the traditional end-of-year hymn of thanksgiving, pronounced in St. Peter’s, the Pope invited all inhabitants of “our city of Rome” to “overcome the difficulties of the present”. He expressed the hope that “a commitment to revive the fundamental values of service, honesty and solidarity may allow “the grave uncertainties that have dominated the world scene over the past year to be overcome, these being symptoms of a lack of commitment to the common good”.

“How meaningful it is to be gathered together to give praise to the Lord at the end of the year! The Church on so many occasions feels the joy and the duty of lifting up her song to God with these words of praise, which ever since the 4th century, have been an accompaniment to prayer during important moments of her earthly pilgrimage. The joy of thanksgiving emanates from our prayer almost spontaneously, in recognition of God’s loving presence in the events that take place during the course of our history. As is often the case though, we feel that in prayer, our voice alone is not enough. It needs to be reinforced with the accompaniment of God’s entire people, which expresses its thanks in unison. Hence, in the Te Deum we ask the Angels, the Prophets and all creation for their help in giving praise to the Lord. In this hymn, we retrace the history of salvation, which includes and encapsulates  – as part of God’s mysterious plan – the various events that took place in our lives over the past year.”

Mary Mother of God

Reading I: Numbers 6:22-27
Reading II: Galatians 4:4-7
Gospel: Luke 2:16-21

New Year Resolution with Mary

The name “January” comes from the Roman god Janus, the god with two faces, one looking to the past and the other looking to the future. This is indeed a time to look back at the year that has just ended and to look forward to the new year ahead of us. How did I spend this one year of my life that has just passed? Did I use it to advance my goals and objectives in life? Did I use it to enhance the purpose of my existence? Could I have done better last year in the way I invested my time between the demands of work, family, friends and society, and the demands of my spiritual life? What things did I achieve last year and what did I fail to achieve? How can I consolidate the achievements of last year while reversing the failures and losses in this new year? Through soul searching questions like these we find that a review of the past year naturally leads to setting goals and resolutions for the new year.

There are people who tell you that there is no point making new year resolutions. Do not believe them. We must set goals and make resolutions as a necessary conclusion to our review of the past year. And we do need to review our lives from year to year because, as Socrates says, the unexamined life is not worth living.

Today’s newspapers are full of individual and collective new year resolutions. Most of those, however, are not resolutions at all but only wishes. What is the difference between a resolution and a wish? A wish identifies a goal one wants to reach, a resolution specifies the steps one will take to reach it. A wish says this is where I want to be, a resolution says this is the road I will take, this is what I will do to get there. The wishful person says “I want to pass my exams this year” and the resolved person says “I will devote an extra hour to my studies everyday in order to pass my exams.” The wishful person says “I will have more peace and love in my family this year” and the resolved person says “I will spend more time with my family at table instead of rushing off to the TV, so that we get to know and understand ourselves better.” The wishful person says “I will live a life of union with God this year” and the resolved person says “I will set aside this time everyday to pray and hear God’s word.” The difference between wishing and resolving is: are we prepared to do what it takes to make our dreams come true, are we prepared to pay the price?

Over 3 million saw Pope at Vatican events in 2015

 

Over 3 million people attended public appearances by Pope Francis in 2015, the Vatican has announced.

On December 30, as the Holy Father held his final weekly public audience of the year, the Prefecture of the Papal Household released figures for attendance at the Pope’s audiences and liturgical celebrations.

The Pope’s general audiences, held on Wednesdays, drew 704,100 people. Special audiences attracted another 408,760. Midday audiences on Sundays and feast days added another 1,585,000. And the congregations at liturgical ceremonies in St. Peter’s basilica and St. Peter’s Square came to 513,000.

These figures cover only the Pope’s appearances at the Vatican. Not included are the crowds that saw him during his trips. In 2015, he traveled to Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Cuba, the United States, Kenya, Uganda ,and the Central African Republic. Also not included are papal trips to parishes in the Rome diocese, or to other dioceses in Italy.

22 mission workers died violently in 2015

 

In the course of the year 2015, 22 Catholic pastoral workers have been killed, the Fides news service reports.

The victims of violence include thirteen priests, four women religious, and five lay Church workers. Most died in incidents that were described as robberies or attempted robberies. Some were murdered intentionally, and several were killed by the people they were trying to help.

The Fides report notes that the number of pastoral workers killed has climbed each year—a trend that reflects the danger of work in impoverished areas, as well as the rising tide of anti-Christian violence.

Francis: We can learn from the Child Jesus by observing children

 

At the last General Audience of the year that is about to close, the Pope started by speaking about the Nativity Scene: God is humble, he made himself small for us, we have a responsibility to protect him and must cease seeking self-reliance

Jesus Christ’s entire earthly life is a “revelation and teaching” but “we know little about the Child Jesus”. At the final General Audience of 2015, held in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis took his cue from the Nativity Scene created by St. Francis of Assisi to underline the importance of the Child Jesus, as a figure, for believers’ faith and to suggest how we may learn from this figure: “We can learn a great deal about him by observing the life of children,” Francis said, highlighting the “responsibility” we have “to protect him” and the need for us to “cease seeking self-reliance”, in order to imitate the “mystery” of God’s humility.

“Brothers and sisters good morning! It’s a bit cold today,” the Pope started off by saying. Having recently come down with a cold, Francis appeared with a white scarf wrapped around his neck to keep him warm. “During the Christmas period, the figure of the Child Jesus comes before us. I am sure that there are still many families who make a Nativity Scene at home, continuing this beautiful tradition that dates back to the days of St. Francis of Assisi and keeps the mystery of God who becomes man, alive in our hearts,” Francis continued. Addressing the thousands of faithful present in St. Peter’s Square, some sections of which were empty today, the Pope said that there is a widespread devotion to the Child Jesus. Many male and female saints nurtured a devotion to him in their daily prayers and chose to model their lives on that of the Child Jesus. I am thinking of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, who as a Carmelite nun took the name of Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. She – a Doctor of the Church – knew how to live and testify that “spiritual childhood” one assimilates through meditation, learning from the Virgin Mary and the humility of God who made himself small for us. And this is a great mystery: God is humble, we, who are proud and full of vanity, think we are quite something and yet we are nothing. He, however, is great, he is humble and he becomes a child. This is a true mystery, God is humble.”