October 22, 2008
Encountering Mary turns our gaze upon Jesus our light, Pope Benedict
CNA Home
——————————————————————————–
——————————————————————————–
Encountering Mary turns our gaze upon Jesus our light, Pope Benedict
teaches
Lourdes, Sep 14, 2008 / 01:10 pm (CNA) .- Pope Benedict XVI’s
helicopter touched down in Lourdes on Saturday evening to the sight of
a multitude of pilgrims waiting to begin the Jubilee Way. After a
torchlight procession, the Holy Father spoke to the pilgrims about how
at Lourdes, Mary invites everyone to enter into God’s dialogue of love
with man, a dialogue that finds physical expression at Lourdes.
The pilgrimage designed for the 150th anniversary celebration of the
apparitions of the Virgin Mary to St. Bernadette is known as the
Jubilee Way and is comprised of four places associated with the French
saint’s life. Seated in his popemobile, the Pope visited the first
three stages of the Jubilee Way and paused to pray at each place.
The Way encompasses four places associated with the life of
Bernadette: the font where she received Baptism; the ‘Cachot,’ the
house where her family lived; the Grotto of Massabielle, site of the
apparitions of the Virgin and the heart of the Marian shrine; and the
chapel in which she received First Communion. As the Pope arrived at
the grotto, a child gave him a glass of water from the spring. The
Holy Father then lit a candle and paused a moment to pray in silence
before reading the prayer for this stage of the Jubilee Way.
After having dinner at St. Joseph’s Hermitage nearby, Benedict XVI
appeared at the lower terrace of the basilica and watched the closing
stages of the torchlight procession from the Grotto of the Apparitions
to the basilica.
Night was fully upon the crowd of pilgrims as Pope Benedict began
recounting the miraculous encounter of Bernadette of Soubirous with
the Blessed Mother 150 years ago.
"On February 11, 1858, in this place known as the Grotto of
Massabielle, away from the town, a simple young girl from Lourdes,
Bernadette Soubirous, saw a light, and in this light she saw a young
lady who was ‘beautiful, more beautiful than any other’. … It was in
this conversation, in this dialogue marked by such delicacy, that the
Lady instructed her to deliver certain very simple messages on prayer,
penance and conversion," the Pope said.
"Lourdes is one of the places chosen by God for His beauty to be
reflected with particular brightness, hence the importance here of the
symbol of light.”
The Pope found the grotto, which is continually awash with the light
of hundreds of candles, an even more apparent sign of the glorious
light of God. “Before the grotto, night and day, summer and winter, a
burning bush shines out, aflame with the prayers of pilgrims and the
sick, who bring their concerns and their needs, but above all their
faith and their hope."
Benedict XVI indicated that "by coming here to Lourdes on pilgrimage
we wish to enter, following in Bernadette’s footsteps, into this
extraordinary closeness between heaven and earth, which never fails
and never ceases to grow.”
It is important to note that, while Mary is the one who appeared to
St. Bernadette, Mary continually pointed the young girl to contemplate
God through the Rosary, the Pope underscored.
“In the course of the apparitions, it is notable that Bernadette prays
the Rosary under the gaze of Mary, who unites herself to her at the
moment of the doxology. This fact confirms the profoundly theocentric
character of the prayer of the Rosary. When we pray it, Mary offers us
her heart and her gaze in order to contemplate the life of her Son,
Jesus Christ."
The theme a light appeared once again as Benedict XVI pointed out that
John Paul II visited Lourdes on two occasions and "keenly encouraged
the prayer of the Rosary." In fact, the Pope noted, his predecessor
enriched the Rosary "with the meditation of the Mysteries of Light."
"The torchlight procession expresses the mystery of prayer in a form
that our eyes of flesh can grasp: in the communion of the Church,
which unites the elect in heaven with pilgrims on earth, the light of
dialogue between man and his Lord blazes forth and a luminous path
opens up in human history, even in its darkest moments," the Pontiff
assured.
Reflecting on the procession, Pope Benedict explored the different
dimensions it carries. The procession "is a time of great ecclesial
joy, but also a time of seriousness: the intentions we bring emphasize
our profound communion with all those who suffer. We think of innocent
victims who suffer from violence, war, terrorism, and famine; those
who bear the consequences of injustices, scourges and disasters,
hatred and oppression; of attacks on their human dignity and
fundamental rights; on their freedom to act and think. We also think
of those undergoing family problems or the suffering caused by
unemployment, illness, infirmity, loneliness, or their situation as
immigrants. Nor must we forget those who suffer for the name of Christ
and die for Him.”
With these intentions in mind, the Holy Father turned to Mary’s
example. "Mary," he said, "teaches us to pray, to make of our prayer
an act of love for God and an act of fraternal charity. By praying
with Mary, our heart welcomes those who suffer. … Lourdes is a place
of light because it is a place of communion, hope and conversion."
Sin, by contrast, "makes us blind, it prevents us from putting
ourselves forward as guides for our brothers and sisters, and it makes
us unwilling to trust them to guide us. We need to be enlightened."
"In this shrine at Lourdes, to which the Christians of the whole world
have turned their gaze since the Virgin Mary caused hope and love to
shine here by giving pride of place to the sick, the poor and the
little ones, we are invited to discover the simplicity of our
vocation: it is enough to love."
"How many come here with the hope – secretly perhaps – of receiving
some miracle; then, on the return journey, having had a spiritual
experience of life in the Church, they change their outlook upon God,
upon others and upon themselves," said the Pope in conclusion.
"A small flame called hope, compassion, tenderness now dwells within
them. A quiet encounter with Bernadette and the Virgin Mary can change
a person’s life, for they are here, in Massabielle, to lead us to
Christ Who is our life, our strength and our light."
http://catholicnewsagency.com/lourdes08/new.php?not_id=13796
Christianity at a glance
Christianity at a glance
Christianity is the most popular religion in the world with over 2
billion adherents. 42 million Britons see themselves as nominally
Christian, and there are 6 million who are actively practising.
•Christians believe that Jesus was the Messiah promised in the Old
Testament.
• Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
• Christians believe that God sent his Son to earth to save humanity
from the consequences of its sins.
• One of the most important concepts in Christianity is that of Jesus
giving his life on the Cross (the Crucifixion) and rising from the
dead after the third day (the Resurrection).
• Christians believe that there is only one God, but that there are
three elements to this one God:
God the Father
God the Son
The Holy Spirit
• Christians worship in churches.
• Their spiritual leaders are called priests or ministers.
• The Christian holy book is the Bible, and consists of the Old and
New Testaments.
• Christian holy days such as Easter and Christmas are important
milestones in the Western secular calendar.
Christian history – the basics
This history of Christianity is focussed on the life, death and
resurrection of one person, Jesus Christ, the son of God.
Background to the life and death of Jesus Christ
The traditional story of Jesus tells of his birth in a stable in
Bethlehem in the Holy Land, to a young virgin called Mary who had
become pregnant with the son of God through the action of the Holy
Spirit.
The story of Jesus’ birth is told in the writings of Matthew and Luke
in the New Testament of the Bible.
His birth is believed by Christians to be the fulfilment of prophecies
in the Jewish Old Testament which claimed that a Messiah would deliver
the Jewish people from captivity.
Jesus’ ministry
After the story of his birth, little is known about Jesus until he
began his ministry at the age of about 30.
He then spent three years teaching, healing and working miracles.
He taught in parables – everyday stories which had divine messages for
those who would hear it.
He had twelve disciples whom he called to follow him and help him in
his work.
Persecution and death
Jesus stated publicly that he spoke with the authority of God.
This claim angered the religious authorities in Palestine and they
handed Jesus over to the Roman authorities as a revolutionary.
He was tried for heresy, condemned and put to death by means of
crucifixion.
Resurrection
On the Sunday following his execution, some of his women followers
discovered that the tomb into which his body had been placed was
empty.
Jesus then appeared to them, alive, as the Jesus they had known prior
to his death. His followers realised that God had raised Jesus from
the dead.
Jesus was seen by many of his disciples and followers over the next
few days before, according to the Gospel accounts, he was taken up
into heaven.
Saint Paul and the early Church
It has been suggested that the work of Jesus Christ and the impact of
his death and resurrection would not have made any lasting impact on
the world were it not for the missionary work of Paul.
The account of Paul’s conversion to Christianity is contained in the
New Testament book, the Acts of the Apostles.
Before his conversion Paul had been known as Saul and had been
violently opposed to the Christian faith as taught by Jesus and after
his death, by his disciples.
Saul experienced a dramatic conversion, known as the Damascus Road
conversion, when he was temporarily blinded.
He found himself filled with the Holy Spirit and immediately began
preaching the Christian gospel.
Paul’s concept of Christianity
Paul’s teaching centred on understanding the death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ as a central turning point in history.
He understood the resurrection to signal the end of the need to live
under Jewish law.
Instead Paul taught of living in the Spirit in which the power of God
was made to work through human flesh.
Some of his letters to fledgling churches throughout the Roman Empire
are contained in the New Testament and outline Paul’s theology.
He insisted that Gentiles had as much access to the faith as Jews and
that freedom from the Law set everyone free.
It was this teaching which was essential for the development and
success of the early church which would otherwise have remained
nothing more than another Jewish sect.
Constantine and the Holy Roman Empire
Paul established Christian churches throughout the Roman Empire,
including Europe, and beyond – even into Africa.
Persecution
However, in all cases, the church remained small and was persecuted,
particularly under tyrannical Roman emperors like Nero (54-68),
Domitian (81-96), under whom being a Christian was an illegal act, and
Diocletian (284-305).
Many Christian believers died for their faith and became martyrs for
the church (Bishop Polycarp and St Alban amongst others).
Constantine turns the tide
When a Roman soldier, Constantine, won victory over his rival in
battle to become the Roman emperor, he attributed his success to the
Christian God and immediately proclaimed his conversion to
Christianity.
Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.
Constantine then needed to establish exactly what the Christian faith
was and called the First Council of Nicea in 325 AD which formulated
and codified the faith.
Formulating the faith
Over the next few centuries, there were debates and controversies
about the precise interpretation of the faith, as ideas were
formulated and discussed.
The Council of Chalcedon held in 451 was the last council held whilst
the Roman Empire was intact. It gave rise to the Nicene Creed which
Christians still say today to affirm their belief in God, Christ and
his church.
When Rome fell in 476, it meant that Western and Eastern Christians
were no longer under the same political rule and differences in belief
and practice arose between them.
The Great Schism
The differences between Eastern and Western Christianity culminated in
what has been called the Great Schism, in 1054, when the patriarchs of
the Eastern and Western division (of Constantinople and Rome
respectively) were unable to resolve their differences.
The split led to the Orthodox church and the Roman Catholic church.
The Orthodox church does not recognise the authority of the Roman
papacy and claims a Christian heritage in direct descent from the
Christian church of Christ’s believers.
Am I not free to do as I wish with my own money
Commentary of the day : Saint Ephrem
"Am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?"
"Am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?"
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 20,1-16.
The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire
laborers for his vineyard.
After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into
his vineyard.
Going out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the
marketplace,
and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you
what is just.’
So they went off. (And) he went out again around noon, and around
three o’clock, and did likewise.
Going out about five o’clock, he found others standing around, and
said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’
They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You
too go into my vineyard.’
When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman,
‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last
and ending with the first.’
When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the
usual daily wage.
So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but
each of them also got the usual wage.
And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner,
saying, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them
equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’
He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you.
Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?
Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the
same as you?
(Or) am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious
because I am generous?’
Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."
Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB
http://www.dailygospel.org/www/main.php?language=AM&localTime=09/21/2008
The Call of Matthew-Gospel of Mark : 2, 13-22
The Call of Matthew
Gospel of Mark : 2, 13-22
13
7 Once again he went out along the sea. All the crowd came to him and
he taught them.
14
As he passed by, 8 he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the
customs post. He said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed
him.
15
While he was at table in his house, 9 many tax collectors and sinners
sat with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed
him.
16
10 Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners
and tax collectors and said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with
tax collectors and sinners?"
17
Jesus heard this and said to them (that), "Those who are well do not
need a physician, 11 but the sick do. I did not come to call the
righteous but sinners."
18
12 The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast.
People came to him and objected, "Why do the disciples of John and the
disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?"
19
Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests fast 13 while the
bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them
they cannot fast.
20
But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast on that day.
21
No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does,
its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets
worse.
22
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the
wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined.
Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins."
CONTEMPLATING THE CALL OF MATTHEW
CONTEMPLATING THE CALL OF MATTHEW
Inspired by:
The Gospel According to Matthew 9:9-13
“Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When
Jesus saw Matthew, sitting at his customs table, Jesus must have seen
how the people despised this tax collector. Jesus had to sense that
this kind of resentment and rejection did things to a tax collector.
He had to immediately feel compassion on Matthew and what it had done
to him. Had it made him defensive and thick skinned? Had he become
gruff and insensitive to others? Did he bark and push others away?
I imagine that the first thing Matthew noticed was how Jesus was
looking at him. Could it have been that the first experience Matthew
had of Jesus was that Jesus was simply looking at him in a way no one
had ever looked at him? When their eyes met, Matthew must have seen
love and compassion, not blame and judgment. Jesus did not look on him
with hate and contempt. Jesus simply looked at him with care.
As I picture the scene, Matthew immediately sensed that Jesus somehow
understood the predicament he was in. He got himself into this and
he’d not been an attractive character at all. He played the role
people had put him in. But, Jesus didn’t fix him in that role somehow.
Before he uttered a word, Jesus’ eyes must have said to Matthew, "I
know this isn’t really you. I understand how much playing this role is
distorting you, souring you, hardening you." It was as though Jesus’
face, and the sadness it revealed, reflected the sadness in Matthew’s
heart.
"Follow me." The words must have made their ways straight to Matthew’s
heart. Never had his heart been so opened by such understanding,
compassion and loving acceptance. For a moment, he must have thought,
"Me? I’m just a … I can’t change … I’m stuck here … And, what’ll
they say about …" But, those protests surely were replaced with
something responding from deep inside that welcomed this call, this
liberation, this vote of confidence more than anything in the world.
Without a word, with their eyes still locked in that communication of
intimacy, Matthew’s heart said, "Yes! Amen! I’m yours!" Nothing else
had a hold on him. There were no excuses, doubts or fears. Matthew had
been healed as he had been called. His yes was his surrender to being
loved.
Can we look up from our own custom table today and see Jesus looking
at us with compassion and love? He knows and understands whatever has
us locked into roles, images, patterns that aren’t very attractive and
that we don’t really like about ourselves. Can we let ourselves
experience and feel his love? On the other side of that loving
acceptance, there’s a freedom to imagine him calling us today, in our
situation, and say "Follow me."
Praying with Imagination Home Page | Creighton Online Ministries Home
Page
Collaborative Ministry Office Guestbook
http://www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/Imagination/cp-matthew.html
Russia rejects ‘tendentious’ US religion report
ORTHODOX NEWS
Ecumenical News International News Highlights
7 October 2008
Ecumenical News International News Highlights
7 October 2008
Russia rejects ‘tendentious’ US religion report
Warsaw (ENI). Russia’s foreign ministry has rejected a U.S.
government
report on religious freedom, and dismissed its claim that the country
treats
minority faiths unfairly. "The latest report published on their Web
site
shows a traditionally tendentious approach to Russia," the ministry
said in
a statement about the 2008 edition of the annual International
Religious
Freedom Report, released by the U.S. State Department in September.
"The
thesis about the privileged status of the Russian Orthodox Church is
again
exaggerated in the report. The fact that Orthodox Christmas is a
holiday in
Russia is used as ‘proof’ of this, as if the multinational U.S. does
not
officially celebrate the Catholic Christmas," the Russian foreign
ministry
said in its response to the U.S. report. [449 words, ENI-08-0804]
ENI Online – www.eni.ch
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.religion.christian.east-orthodox/browse_frm/thread/40e26a0b2267bfd0?hl=it#
We preach Christ crucified
GEORGE
“but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly
to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ
the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
-1 Corinthians 1:23-24 ESV
“but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly
to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ
the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
-1 Corinthians 1:23-24 ESV
The Apostle Paul in a narrative that actually begins in verse 18, is
talking about preaching, and what he considers to be the central
theme
of his message, The Cross of our Lord. In verse 18 he states:
"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but
to
us who are being saved it is the power of God."
The cross of our Lord is indeed a stumbling block and folly. the
world
does not understand it, however to a christian, it is the point in
time when God’s promise of redemption was fulfilled. Our debt is
paid,
and we have the means of the righteousness of Christ imputed to us.
This is the dual transaction of our Justification, ratified and
confirmed by the resurrection of our Lord.
The cross was a symbol of the worst kind of punishment that could be
exacted on the worst criminals in society. Even to this day the cross
if offemsive to the world. It is the only religious symbol that our
government choses to ban from the public square, but WHY?
I would like to read your comments about the cross, and preaching the
cross of Christ, and what does it mean to us who are CALLED (verse
24).
http://groups.google.com/group/Christian-Answers/browse_frm/thread/afe9a23fcdd0f139?hl=it#
CALM BEFORE THE STORM…. VISIBLE APPEARANCE OF THE LORD….
INGO
Word of God
Word of God
CALM BEFORE THE STORM…. VISIBLE APPEARANCE OF THE LORD….
A time of anxious misery and suffering lies before you and you can
regard the time prior to this, the time in which you presently live,
as the calm before the storm, during which you can still live your
life within the scope of tradition, during which you can still speak
of a certain extent of prosperity compared to the poverty and the
deprivation which await you afterwards. And yet it will be a time of
grace, a time when I will be clearly recognisable, when life will
only
be bearable if you deeply unite yourselves with Me in your thoughts,
since then you will never be alone but will always be able to have Me
as your protection.
And I will also manifestly reveal Myself to you, I will approach
individual people in the shape of the One Who harboured Me in all
fullness within Himself. And I will be recognised wherever people’s
love for Me is strong, even if I dwell as a human being amongst
people, for My eyes will tell them who I AM, and their hearts will
come aglow with such burning love for Me as they would never be able
to offer to a fellow human being. I will come to meet them with
ardent
love, I will illuminate them where they lack knowledge and comfort
them in hours of distress and they will be able to overcome the most
difficult situations and not despair, for they will sense My help,
and
wherever I visibly approach them they will be full of strength and
profound faith.
And once this fills a human heart no oppressive adversity will be
able
to exist anymore, for then they will only utterly rely on Me and I
will truly not disappoint their faith. Yet anyone who lives without
Me
will hardly be able to endure this time. I cannot leave him in his
spiritual adversity and will therefore have to sorely strike him with
earthly adversity until his opposition against Me slackens, until he
starts to believe and expects help from Me….
Thus all of you will be subjected to anxious distress and suffering
through which I want to win you over completely. Nevertheless, you
also have abundant strength and grace at your disposal which will
help
you to gain Me. I only want your love and once I own it I will come
to
meet you…. in the last days even visibly in order to strengthen
your
and other people’s faith, because you are in need of extraordinary
strengthening and consolation. Consequently, you won’t need to fear
the difficult time ahead of you either, for you will survive it with
My help.
Nevertheless, it will remain a time of grace, and the yoke I impose
upon you will be an easy one if only you make correct use of the gift
of grace. To be allowed to behold Me with your physical eyes is truly
worth the cross you will have to bear until the end. Yet I will also
offer Myself as a bearer of the cross to those who take refuge in Me
and appeal to Me for My help…. And for their sake I will shorten the
days until the end. I know every individual person’s problems, and
those who are faithful to Me are My true children who will really not
call upon Me in vain for help.
Therefore don’t let My announcement frighten you, approach the coming
events determinedly and calmly, detach yourselves from the world and
wait for Me…. And I will come…. at first appearing to individual
people, in order to then fetch My Own into My kingdom…. in order to
lead them away from the place of perdition into to the kingdom of
peace, where their life will be as blissful as in paradise…. Amen
