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MIRROR GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE
The Ways of Mercy
THE WAYS OF MERCY
Aid to the Church in Need
MIRROR GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE
CONTENTS PAGE The Ways of Mercy.................................................... J F Declan Quinn...............................1 The Cross of Joy........................................................ Cardinal Mauro Piacenza..................2 The Church teaches the Ways of Mercy............ Pope Francis......................................4 Mercy is something more than Charity............... Pastor Juventus.................................8 The Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy................................................................. 10 Sharing the little they have................................................................................................ 12 On Prayer..................................................................... Cardinal Robert Sarah................... 14 Building in total trust in God’s providence................................................................... 17 On Contemplation .................................................... Cardinal Robert Sarah................... 18 Why the works of mercy are important............... Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.R............ 22 Bearers of hope in the midst of suffering..................................................................... 28 Teaching – a Work of Mercy............................................................................................. 30 Showing God’s love for the little children..................................................................... 31 A ‘bridgehead’ in Asia.............................................. Johannes Freiherr Heereman........ 32
Editor: Jürgen Liminski. Publisher: Kirche in Not / Ostpriesterhilfe, Postfach 1209, 61452 Königstein, Germany. De licentia competentis auctoritatis ecclesiasticae. Printed in Ireland - ISSN 0252-2535. www.acn-intl.org
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THE WAYS OF MERCY Dear Friends, on’t be deceived by the ugly headlines that dominate the news and the social media. Yes there is tremendous evil in the world and yes there is reason to believe that not only is evil widespread in the world but it is it growing and is growing exponentially.
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Also under-reported is that fact that we are all flawed, all sinners and all in need of God’s mercy. Even more under-reported is the fact that every one of us by our baptism has been chosen by God to be His instruments of Mercy to everyone we meet who are in need of His mercy.
The simple truth however is that reporting on evil and scandal is more ‘newsworthy’ than is reporting upon the great but ‘boring’ good that
Each of us has been called by God to do God’s work, to do Him some ‘definite service’, to undertake some special works of Mercy.
our nurses / medical professionals are doing in our hospitals, our teachers are doing in our schools, our gardai are doing in our communities, our public service workers are doing all over the country, our neighbours are doing in our localities, our priests are doing in our parishes and parents are doing in our homes.
To find out what we are supposed to do and to obtain the strength we need to carry them out we need to talk to God and need to listen to His whispered replies.
Everyday the world over, countless ordinary people are doing extraordinary things as mothers, fathers, sons and daughters as they go about living lives befitting our humanity. Such truth however is insufficiently sensational to attract people’s attention, it is simply not ‘newsworthy’ and therefore goes under-reported.
Hopefully the following reflections will be of some assistance to you in this Holy endeavour.
Beir Beannacht
J F Declan Quinn Director, Aid to the Church in Need (Ire)
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8th December 2015 - 20th November 2016
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THE CROSS OF JOY Dear Friends, s we begin this Lent in the Holy Year of Mercy, I would like to share a personal thought with you. It is about the adoration of the Holy Cross. From this Cross, and with the Precious Blood of our Redeemer, the healing balm of Divine Mercy is poured out upon us.
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By this means we are totally renewed, above all when, following a sincere confession, we have received the priestly absolution. For the Cross bears witness to the tragedy of sin and yet at the same time brings us the inextinguishable joy of forgiveness that makes us new.
gate Jesus. Their minds are closed to the truth because they are too deeply entrenched in their own prejudices. Then there is Pilate too, for whom the truth must be subordinated to his career ambitions. There also are the ‘friends by night’, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, honourable and well-disposed and genuinely interested in Jesus; yet at the same time they are fearful he will involve them in something risky, so they remain in the background.
The Cross brings us the joy of forgiveness!
When we look at the various characters who play a role during the days of the Passion, we see a sort of representative sample of all humanity. There is Judas, creeping about in the darkness with his hard-to-fathom act of betrayal. Then there is Peter, at once the most reckless and yet at the same time most cowardly of all the disciples.
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e was so reckless as to attack the servant of the high priest, and then so cowardly as to deny his association with Jesus in response to the questioning of a serving maid. Then there are the priests of the Sanhedrin, who harangue and interro2
They would like to be on the side of truth, only they do not feel brave enough to accept the consequences. For in a world where truth is not ‘fashionable’, it takes a lot of courage – then as now. We meet all these people on the road that leads from Gethsemane to Golgotha, the hill of the Cross. But despite all the bleakness and darkness, we do find a ray of light. It shines out in the women, the ‘pious women’ in whom a pure and selfless love over-
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comes all fear. This love flows into their human frailty, bringing strength and making their fidelity in a time of fear unshakeable. ow moving it is then, in this sense, to see Mary, the Mother, the New Eve, the First of the People of the Redeemed, who through the suffering of her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart wonderfully unites herself with the New Adam in the work of our liberation and the renewal of the world.
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Mary takes us all to herself, like children whom she wishes to shield from every danger. She is the perfect pattern of motherhood, including the spiritual motherhood of consecrated souls who have dedicated themselves to contemplation and to the works of mercy. Mary stood beneath the Cross. Let us turn to her, asking her to help us during this Lenten season to seek forgiveness, and also to forgive in our turn.
My grateful blessing on you all.
Cardinal Mauro Piacenza,, President of ACN
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THE CHURCH TEACHES US THE WAY OF MERCY - POPE FRANCIS 1
good educator focuses on the essential. She doesn’t get lost in details, but passes on what really matters so the child or the student can find the meaning and the joy of life. It’s the truth.
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In the Gospel the essential thing is mercy. God sent his Son, God made himself man in order to save us, that is, in order to grant us his mercy. Jesus says this clearly, summarising his teaching for the disciples: ‘Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful’ (Lk 6:36). Can there be a Christian who isn’t merciful? No. A Christian must necessarily be merciful, because this is the centre of the Gospel.
And faithful to this teaching, the Church can only repeat the same thing to her children: ‘Be merciful’, as the Father is, and as Jesus was. Mercy. And thus the Church conducts herself like Jesus. She does not teach theoretical lessons on love, on mercy. She does not spread to the world a philosophy, a way of wisdom.... Of course, Christianity is also all of this, but as an effect, by reflex. Mother Church, like Jesus, teaches by example, and the words serve to illuminate the meaning of her actions.
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other Church teaches us to give food and drink to those who are hungry and thirsty, to clothe those who are naked. And how does she do this? She does it through the example of so many saints, men and women, who did this in an exemplary fashion; but she does it also through the example of so many dads and mamas, who teach their children that what we have extra is for those who lack the basic necessities. It is important to know this. The rule of hospitality has always been sacred in the simplest Christian families: there is always a plate and a bed for the one in need. 1 Adapted from Pope Francis’ General Audience of 10 September 2014
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Read Pope Francis’
MISERICORDIAE VULTUS THE FACE OF MERCY on acnireland.org
MISERICORDIAE VULTUS THE FACE OF MERCY
by Pope Francis
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mother once told me that she wanted to teach this to her children and she told them to help and feed those who were hungry. She had three. And one day at lunch, the dad was out working, she was there with her three young children, 7, 5 and 4 years old, more or less, and there came a knock at the door: there was a man who asked for something to eat. And the mama told him: ‘Wait a moment’. She went back inside and told her children: ‘There’s a man there asking for something to eat, what can we do?’ ‘Let’s give him something, Mama, let’s give him something!’ Each of them had a beefsteak and fried potatoes on their plate. ‘Very well’ — the mother said — ‘let’s take half from each of you, and we’ll give him half of the beefsteak from each of you’. ‘Oh, no, Mom, that’s not right!’ ‘That’s how it is, you have to give some of yours’. And this is how this mom taught her children to give food from their own plate. This is a fine example that really helped me. ‘But I don’t have any leftovers...’ ‘Give some of your own!’ This is what Mother Church teaches us. Mother Church teaches us to be close to those who are sick. So many saints served Jesus in this manner. And so many simple men and women, every day, practice this work of mercy in a hospital ward, or in a rest home, or in their own home, assisting a sick person. 5
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other Church teaches us to be close to those who are in prison. ‘But no Father, this is dangerous, those are bad people’. But each of us is capable is capable of doing the same thing that that man or that woman in prison did. All of us have the capacity to sin and to do the same, to make mistakes in life. They are no worse than you and me. Mercy overcomes every wall, every barrier, and leads you to always seek the face of the man, of the person. And it is mercy which changes the heart and the life, which can regenerate a person and allow him or her to integrate into society in a new way. Mother Church teaches us to be close to those who are neglected and die alone.
That is what the blessed Teresa did on the streets of Calcutta; that is what has been and is done by many Christians who are not afraid to hold the hand of someone who is about to leave this world. And here too, mercy gives peace to those who pass away and those who remain, allowing them to feel that God is greater than death, and that abiding in Him even the last parting is a ‘see you again’....
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he Blessed Teresa understood this well. They told her: ‘Mother, this is a waste of time’. She found people dying on the street, people whose bodies were being eaten by mice on the street, and she took them home so they could die clean, calm, touched gently, in peace. She gave them a ‘see you again’, to all of
Mercy is the path uniting God with man, for it opens the heart to the hope of an eternal love.
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Joy is prayer; joy is strength: joy is love; joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.
them.... And so many men and women like her have done this. And they are awaiting them, up there, at the gate, to open the gate of Heaven to them. Help people die serenely, in peace. This is how the Church is Mother, she teaches her children works of mercy. She learned this manner from Jesus, she learned that this is what’s essential for salvation. It’s not enough to love those who love us. Jesus says that pagans do this. It’s not enough to do good to those who do good to us. To change the world for the better it is necessary to do good to those who are not able to return the favour, as the Father has done with us, by giving us Jesus. ow much have we paid for our redemption? Nothing, totally free. Doing good without expecting anything in return. This is what the Father did with us and we must do the same. Do good and carry on!
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How beautiful it is to live in the Church, in our Mother Church who teaches us these things which Jesus taught us. Let us thank the Lord, who has given us the grace of having the Church as Mother, she who teaches us the way of mercy, which is the way of life. Let us thank the Lord. • 7
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MERCY IS SOMETHING MORE THAN CHARITY - Pastor Iuventus2
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have heard Catholics of a certain age lament the Catechism as an instrument of oppression and indoctrination for its temerity in teaching the content of faith as fact rather than opinion, coupled with a perverse pedagogical obsession that a right answer was the desired outcome, rather than a creative or subjectively meaningful one.
charity so that the compassion for others and desire to alleviate their distress is also the graced response of one who loves God and sees Christ in his brother and sisters.
The regrettable consequence of this tyranny is that with the opening of the Year of Mercy, I know what the corporal and spiritual works of mercy are without having to look them up. Learning things ‘‘parrot fashion’’ stays the distance, and attests to the desire on the part of my teachers to instruct the ignorant, which, as any smug parrot knows, is one of the spiritual works of mercy.
The desire to alleviate the suffering of another, especially when the condition of the other is in some sense involuntary, relates to the virtue of justice which regulates the relationship of people to each other and to their own dignity.
It seems axiomatic that if the Year of Mercy is to be effective, one needs a sense of what that mercy is. In a Church, large parts of which are suffering from the collapse of systematic or effective catechesis, the concept is open to misinterpretation.
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o is mercy just love in action? … practical love? Not according to St. Thomas Aquinas, for whom mercy is something more than charity.
The difference might be expressed in the terms of the saying: love might give a man a fish so he can eat for a day; justice would teach him how to fish so he can always feed himself.
The corporal works of mercy seem straightforward enough. These are practical and start from the natural law, that one should do to others as one wishes to be done to. This, in the Christian, is informed by supernatural 2 Pastor Iuventus is a Catholic priest in London. This article was adapted from an article which first appeared in the Catholic Herald magazine (11/12/15) http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/ issues/december-11th-2015/what-mercy-actually-means/
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Saint Thomas Aquinas.
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The works of mercy have as much to do with justice as with charity. In practice we make this distinction habitually. When someone knocks at the presbytery door asking for money for food and smelling of alcohol, mercy does not give him money, but offers to make him a sandwich. This distinction becomes even more important when dealing with the spiritual works of mercy. he Catholic Encyclopaedia reminds us that spiritual works of mercy ‘deal with a distress whose relief is even more imperative as well as more effective for the grand purpose of man’s creation,’ than the more obvious and tangible corporal works.
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There is, I think, in an un-catechised age, a danger that the spiritual works get forgotten, in particular, the first three spiritual works of mercy, namely to
out of a misplaced belief that mercy is acquiescence to any expressed need. One cannot make weakness the criterion of morality. Such ‘mercy’ would become the virtue of treating every sincerely held view and lifestyle as of equal benefit to human flourishing. St. John Paul II puts it thus: ‘From the very first proclamation of Jesus, Christians realise that there is a disproportion between the moral law and human capacity. They equally understand that the recognition of their own weakness is the necessary and secure method by which the door of God’s mercy may be opened.’ At the end of our lives, we hope God’s mercy will save us by not by indulging what we thought we wanted, but by giving us what God knows we need. In that way God’s mercy fulfils the requirements of divine justice. •
instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful and admonish sinners. Or worse, they will come to be regarded as incompatible with a new kind of relativist sentiment mistakenly called mercy, which is moved less by compassion for another’s weakness or error than by the desire to indulge it for the sake of one’s own self-image and a quiet life, in the same way that one might give an alcoholic money
Saint Pope John Paull II.
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THE SPIRITUAL WORKS OF MERCY The Spiritual Works of Mercy entail caring for the souls of others.
I. To Admonish Sinners:
II. To Teach the Ignorant:
Jesus commanded, ‘If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector.’ (Mt 18:15-17).
Jesus commanded, ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ (Mt 28:19-20).
III. To Counsel the Doubtful: Jesus commanded, ‘Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea”, and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.’ (Mk 11:22-24)
THE CORPORAL WORKS OF MERCY
The Corporal Works of Mercy entails caring for the bodies of others. They are rooted in the command of Jesus Christ.
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To feed the hungry:
‘For I was hungry and you gave me to eat.’ Mt. 25:35
II. To give drink to the thirsty:
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‘...I was thirsty and you gave me to drink...’ Mt. 25:35
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IV. To Comfort the Afflicted: Jesus commanded, ‘Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.’ (Mt 11:29)
V. To Bear Wrongs Patiently: Jesus commanded, ‘You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also’ (Mt 5:38- 39)
VI. To Forgive Offences Willingly: Jesus commanded, ‘Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses’ (Mk 11:25-26.
VII. To Pray For the Living and the Dead: Jesus commanded, ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.’ (Mt 7:7)
III. To clothe the naked:
VI. To visit the sick:
‘I was...naked and you clothed me...’ Mt. 25:36
‘...I was sick and you cared for me...’ Mt. 25:36
IV. To visit the imprisoned:
VII. To bury the dead:
‘I was in prison and you came to me.’ Mt. 25:36
V. To shelter the homeless:
‘Insofar as you did it for one of these least of my brothers, you did it for me.’ Mt. 25:40
‘...I was a stranger and you took me in...’ Mt. 25:35
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SHARING THE LITTLE THEY HAVE hey are living on the ‘upper margins’ of society – at an altitude of 13,000 feet among the poor and underprivileged. Here in the cold air of the Andes the Sisters of Merciful Jesus bring the warmth of faith, and with it love and hope.
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The financial support we are being asked for by their bishop, Bishop Krzysztof Bialasik of the diocese of Oruru, in Bolivia, is not much, yet they still will share it with the families, however little, and even if it is barely enough for themselves. For they share everything. Above all with the children. For as Sister Victoria Edyta explains, ‘These are children who have never experienced any joy in their lives, nor any
tenderness, least of all any selfless love. Their family life is deeply shattered; everywhere there is an absence of hope.’ The sisters take these children on little outings, give them blankets and bread and tell them about Jesus, Mary and Joseph and their simple home in Nazareth. Their merciful tenderness helps ease the children’s hunger for love and gives them fresh hope. Along with 22 other religious sisters from eight different congregations the sisters fulfil the duties of their mission, which their bishop summarises like this: ‘They make up, as far as possible, for the lack of priests – leading the pastoral work in the parishes, training lay catechists and preparing the people for the reception of the Sacraments. They visit the families of the poor, and the lonely and elderly. They organise meals for the homeless, retreat days for young people, women and men.
Comforting the elderly and lonely – merciful love at 14,000 feet.
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They care for homeless migrants, the lonely and abandoned. They go into the prisons, taking the message of salvation there too – and especially to the children living in the prisons with their mothers. In a word, they go out to the margins of society, just as Pope Francis says.’
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of the desire to nurture young girls in the human virtues and a Christian spirit, though not specifically in view of a religious vocation. By now there are five sisters with permanent vows, 34 with temporary vows and another 21 novices preparing for a life in the service of others. But for all their selfless love, the younger sisters and novices still need a roof over their heads and a place to pray and study.
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ife on these margins is harsh and full of privations. It is not only running water and electricity they lack. The challenges, both spiritual and physical, are hard. Yet they still share everything. For the love that drives them is a wellspring that does not dry up. We have promised them our support for each of the 23 sisters.
The remarkable surge in vocations has made the building of a separate house essential. We have promised to help, for this is a form of support that looks to the future and at the same time an appeal to selfless generosity on our own part. •
Going out to the margins involves a high degree of selflessness. For these margins will always exist (‘You will have the poor with you always...’ Mk 14:7; Mt 26:10), but not necessarily these selfless sisters. Fortunately, though, the Spirit is also blowing in Cochabamba (likewise in Bolivia) and here too such sisters are to be found, caring for the Church of the poor. In the last 10 years a new community of missionary Salesian Sisters has been formed, born
The joy of self-giving – novices in Cochabamba.
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ON PRAYER - Cardinal Robert Sarah ‘Let nothing disturb you; Let nothing dismay you: All thing pass; God never changes. Patience attains All that it strives for. He who has God Finds he lacks nothing: God alone suffices.’ St. Teresa of Avila4
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uns, by their pure, demanding way of life, show an everlasting hope in the Word of God. They possess abundantly the simple, beautiful, exemplary confidence of little children. They have confidence because God alone truly suffices for them. They know that God will not deceive them. The key to such great self-denial in everyday life is confidence, prayer, and absolute love for God. Love is a fire; this blaze inflames them with a desire that is not immediately directed toward action but, rather, toward God alone: The entire life of nuns is dedicated to prayer.
‘The key that opens the door to the faith is prayer’ POPE FRANCIS 3 Adapted and edited from Robert Cardinal Sarah ‘God or Nothing – A Conversation on Faith’ Ignatius Press 2015 Pp. 206-208. 4 ‘Efficacy of Patience’ in St. Teresa of Avila, The Collected Works’, trans. Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D., and Otilio Rodriquez, O.C.D., vol. 3,Washington, D.C., ICS Publications, Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1985, p.386
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DEFINING PRAYER If man does not have a well, he cannot draw water. Similarly, without prayer, man becomes arid, because he no longer has depth or an interior life or a fountain to irrigate his soul. Prayer opens on to a limitless oasis. It does not consist fundamentally of speaking with God. Of course, it is normal that two friends should want to talk so as to get to know each other… (but) we cannot really meet God without His light shining upon us. Through prayer we allow God to engrave on our face the splendour of His Face.
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n fact, prayer ultimately consists of being silent
so as to listen to God, who speaks to us, and so as to hear the Holy Spirit, who speaks in us. I think it is important to say that we do not know how to pray alone and cannot do so: the Holy Spirit is the one who prays in us and for us. St. Paul tells us ‘it is the Spirit Himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.’
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He continues: ‘Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words’ (Rom 8:16,26). Of course, there is no doubt that men must speak to God, but true prayer leaves God free to come to us according to His will. We must know how to wait for Him in silence. It is necessary to go on in silence, in resignation, and in confidence. o pray is to be able to be quiet for a long time; we are so often deaf, distracted by our words…. Unfortunately, we cannot take it for granted that we know how to listen to the Holy Spirit who prays in us.
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The more we persevere in silence, the greater chance we will have of hearing God’s whisper. Recall that for a long time the prophet Elijah remained hidden in a cave before hearing the soft whispering of heaven. Yes, prayer consists in the first place of remaining silent for a long time. We must nestle close to the Virgin of silence to ask her to obtain for us the grace of loving silence and on interior virginity, in other words, a purity of heart and a willingness to listen that banishes any presence except God’s. The Holy Spirit is in us, but we are often filled with orchestras that drown out His voice…. 15
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rayer is a long time of desert and aridity when we want to go back to the easy joys of the world instead of waiting for God. When thoughts distract us from God, it is important not to forget that the Holy Spirit is still present. The greatest saints themselves had doubts about their own prayer life: …Saint Therese of Lisieux even wondered whether she believed in the words that she recited in her daily prayers. I think that prayer calls somehow for an absence of words, because the only language that God really hears is the silence of love. The contemplation of the saints is nourished exclusively by a face-toface encounter with God in abandonment. There is no spiritual fruitfulness except in a virginal silence that is not mixed with too many words and interior noise. …. True prayer leads to a sort of disappearance of our personal clutter. When John Paul II prayed, he was submerged in God and seized by an invisible presence, like a rock that seemed totally foreign to what was going on around him. Karol Wojtyla was always on his knees before the majesty of his Father. In thinking of that saintly successor of Peter. I often recall the remark by John of the Cross in the Ascent of Mount Carmel, ‘All objects living in the soul, whether they be many or few, large or small, must die in order that the soul enter divine union.’ 5 16
God never communicate Himself fully except to a heart that resembles the pure light of a summer morning full of beautiful promises. I am not unaware of the fact that the body constantly draws us out of prayer. Man consists of imagination, too, which is skilful at taking us on long voyages far from God. …
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nd so, for a long time I have thought that prayer can take shape only in the night. In darkness, we are illumined only by God. Like Jacob, and after the example of monks, it is important to learn to pray in the middle of the night, while all creation is seeking sleep. Prayer at night plunges us back into the darkness of the death of Jesus Christ, which we commemorate during the ceremonies of the Paschal Vigil. Through prayer, man is recreated in the immensity of God; it is a small anticipation of eternity. Through prayer we resemble Christ, who loved to be recollected all night: ‘In these days he went out to the hills to pray; and all night he continued in prayer to God’ (Lk 6:12). • How powerful prayer is! May we never lose the courage to say: Lord, give us your peace. POPE FRANCIS 5 Ascent of Mount Carmel, in The Collected Works of St John of the Cross’, trans. Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D. , and Otilio Rodriguez, O.C.D. Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications, Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1979, p.99
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BUILDING IN TOTAL TRUST IN GOD’S PROVIDENCE
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he seclusion in the hermitage lasts from Sunday evening to Saturday noon – five and a half days of intensive prayer. The ‘Hermits of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus’ in the diocese of Merida, in Venezuela, entrust themselves totally to divine providence – that is to say they rely on charity and on whatever they can earn from their own handiwork. They restore icons and religious images. Their apostolate is one of prayer for others. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is for them the expression and the very centre of the love of God for man. They meditate upon this Heart while they work, and place themselves totally in God’s hands.
They ask no specific price for their work; this is entirely up to the discretion of those of for whom they do it. Thus they live a life of poverty and devotion to God, which is the very foundation of their contemplative life. At present they are praying for donations, so that their convent can be built, together with its attached hermit cells, and so that they can take in the young women who are waiting to join them. In fact the foundations of the convent are already laid – but time is short, and in Venezuela building materials are hard to come by. It was through providence that their needs were brought to our attention. Venezuela needs the prayers of these hermits. For prayer, as Pope Francis says, is ‘the most • powerful weapon of Christians’. Firm foundations: built on prayer; now the building work begins.
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ON CONTEMPLATION - Cardinal Robert Sarah
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or Aristotle, contemplative activity is in itself the most exalted action of man on this earth. Thus contemplation is the exact opposite of practical activity, by definition, it is the most important moment in human life. Aristotle explains that the wisdom of a contemplative person includes marvellous pleasures both by its purity and by its firmness. The wise man, even when left completely alone, can still devote himself to contemplation. Aristotle explains that the wise man has the duty to lead other persons to contemplative activity. He anticipates the Desert Fathers and all the contemplatives who decided to devote their lives to God, who is Wisdom and the source of all wisdom. Of course, the divine realities of which Aristotle speaks are quite far from our God and Christ. The philosopher merely calls his contemporaries to lift up their minds and their hearts. Indeed, there is in man a sort of nostalgia for God’s company. We have within us a profound desire and a will to be face to face with divinity.
6 Adapted and edited from Robert Cardinal Sarah ‘God or Nothing – A Conversation on Faith’ Ignatius Press 2015 Pp. 208-210.
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On the Christian level, contemplation is actually an intimate conversation with God in silence and solitude. It is impossible in the agitation of the world, but even more so in the distractions of interior noise. The tumults that are most difficult to contain are still our own interior storms. With Christ, contemplation resembles the joy of two lovers who look silently at each other. I often think of the little peasant who used to come each day to the church in Ars. He remained for a long time absolutely immobile in front of the tabernacle. One day, the saintly Curé asked him, ‘What are you doing there, dear friend?’ He replied ‘I look at Him and He looks at me.’ he little peasant said nothing because he knew that he had no need to speak of any sign from the Son of God, because he knew that he was truly loved. In love words are not necessary. The more dense the life of silence, the more alone the soul is with God. And the more virginal the soul, the more it withdraws from the agitated world.
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Nevertheless, we must not think that it is possible to contemplate God only in the silence of a monastery, a church, or in the solitude of the desert. John Paul II exhorted Christians to be ‘contemplative in action’.
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In the commentary on the Gospel of John by Saint Thomas Aquinas, there is a particularly illuminating passage. Jesus turns to Andrew and John, who have asked him: ‘Rabbi (which means teacher), where are you staying?’ And he answers: ‘Come and see.’
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aint Thomas thus gives a mystical sense to words that actually mean that only an encounter and personal experience can enable us to know Christ. This experiential knowledge of God in us is the heart of contemplation. Christ’s sacred humanity is always the way by which to arrive at God: to allow him to speak in the silence, before the blessed sacrament, looking at a crucifix, in the presence of a sick person who is another Christ, Christ Himself. Each soul, of course, has its path. John Paul II used to say that although sometimes he felt that the time was ripe for him to ask God for things, on other occasions that was not the case.
For Saint Thomas, practically speaking, there is no contradiction between contemplation and activity. Thus a monk can brave a spiritual storm in his cell or in the monastery church and find God again after working in the fields. …Sacrifice, obedience, mortification are capable of bringing him back to the Father. Intense intellectual or manual work purifies the mind of preoccupations that make conscious union with God impossible. ‘Ora et labor’ sums up the two paths to contemplation offered not only to monks but to all disciples of Christ. Contemplation leads us toward the divine in an irreversible movement. The man who contemplates and encounters his Creator will never be the same again; he may fall a hundred times, sin a hundred times, deny God a hundred times, but a part of his soul has already arrived in heaven definitively. It would be regrettable if prayer turned into long, vague chatter that led us away from authentic contemplation. Garrulous prayer does not allow the soul to hear God. This is a danger of modern life, in which silence sometimes becomes disturbing. We ceaselessly need to hear the noise of the world: today logorrhea is a sort of imperative, and silence is considered a failure. …
Cardinal Robert Sarah.
Contemplation is a precious moment in the encounter between man and God. • 19
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CALLED BY GOD TO SERVE hen priests and religious no longer weep, something is wrong. We need to weep for our infidelity, to weep for the all the pain in our world, to weep for all those people who are cast aside, to weep for the elderly who are abandoned, for children who are killed, for the things we don’t understand.
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We need to weep when people ask us: ‘why?’. None of us has all the answers to all those questions ‘why?’. […] And I don’t have an answer. This is what Pope Francis told the religious during his Africa trip. They were words addressed to the religious orders throughout the world. And in fact he does suggest a provisional answer: ‘I just look to Jesus on the cross.’
God weeps also, and many religious sisters are striving to dry his tears in silent prayer before their crucified Lord, or in praying and singing together in their chapel – assuming they have one. Where not, then perhaps we should say, ‘not yet’. In Albania, where the consequences of communism are still visible today, we are helping the Carmelite sisters to build the choir enclosure within their convent chapel. As for the discalced Carmelite sisters in Florida, Uruguay, the wind and rain have reduced their old convent roof to tatters. We are supporting them so that they will not have to pray in the rain. In Ludza, in Latvia, the little convent of the Sisters of the Eucharistic Jesus, with its couple of rooms and small chapel, has now become
Open to the call of Jesus – sisters and postulants in Ukraine.
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too small for the six sisters and novices living there. Especially given that there are more young women knocking on the door and waiting.
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nd on top of this there are requests from outside for ‘time out’ in the convent and for various ongoing formation courses. Renovating the existing house is no longer an option. We have promised to help them build a new convent that will meet their still modest requirements. And again, the six contemplative ‘Handmaids of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara’
in Burshtyn, Ukraine would not be able to make ends meet without your help. One third of their day is devoted to communal prayer, on top of which there are specific prayer times within the enclosure when they play, study and read the Bible. They too have more young women knocking at the door, wanting to follow God’s call. And as we all know, being called by God means ‘allowing ourselves to be chosen by God, in order to serve, not to be served’ (Pope Francis). It is this work of • service that helps to dry tears.
SUPPORTING THE SISTERS he dioceses of Lodwar in northern Kenya is one of the largest and at the same time poorest in the country. It is here that the enclosed Augustinian Sisters have their apostolate.
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There are five of them, all from Mexico, who have been serving the Church here in Lodwar for some years now. They just about manage to support themselves by baking hosts, and the sewing and embroidery of liturgical vestments and furnishings. Thanks to your generosity they now have a new host baking machine, which will help to secure their life and ministry. It
also leaves them more time for prayer – not least for us all! ‘With all our hearts we thank the benefactors of ACN’, they write. You can count on their prayer, which is in turn their contribution to our spiritual wellbeing. •
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WHY THE WORKS OF MERCY ARE IMPORTANT - Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.R 7
any good Catholics do not realise how important the works of mercy are in the daily living of the Christian life. Let us begin, then, by looking at a number of reasons why the works of mercy help us to live the gospel more fully.
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debate focused on which of these was the most important.
I: LOVE DEMANDS THEM
Quoting one of them from the Book of Deuteronomy (6:5), he said: ‘You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment’ (Mt 22:37-38).
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he works of mercy are important because they connect the love of neighbour with the love of God.
In the Gospels, our Lord was asked the question, ‘What is the first of all the commandments?’ (Mk 12:28; Mt 22:34-40; Lk 10:25-28) This was apparently a major theological question of the day, one which was hotly debated! The rabbis (teachers) and the scribes (religious lawyers) had gone through the Old Testament writings and various other legislative documents and come up with 613 precepts that had to be obeyed. The
The various scribes who put this question to Jesus were looking for only one answer. Our Lord, however, gave two commandments.
That was the only answer the scribe was looking for, but our Lord went further. Quoting from Leviticus (19:18), he added: ‘And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets’ (Mt 22:39-40). What our Lord is teaching us here is that we cannot separate the love of God from the love of our neighbour. One without the other is incomplete. They must go together, as we shall see elsewhere in the New Testament. 7 From the Introduction to Fr. Andrew Apostoli C.F.R. ‘What to Do When Jesus Is Hungry: A Practical Guide to the Works of Mercy Ignatius Insight. Fr. Andrew, is a widely known and loved teacher and retreat master. A frequent presence on EWTN television, he is an expert on Our Lady of Fatima and Archbishop Fulton Sheen. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including Fatima for Today: The Urgent Marian Message of Hope (Ignatius, 2010).
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II. T HE EUCHARIST CALLS US TO CHARITY he second reason we must perform the works of mercy is because the Holy Eucharist, which is ‘the source and summit of the Christian life’ as the Second Vatican Council described it, moves us from sacramental union with Christ in his Eucharistic Body to union with Christ in his Mystical Body, in the least of his brothers and sisters.
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This two-fold love, stemming from the Eucharist, is the fulfilment of the love of God and neighbour mentioned above. This two-fold Eucharistic love becomes the basis upon which to live our new life in Christ. It is not enough to have mere piety. To live fully in communion with Christ, we must reach out to our neighbour as well. We find this two-fold love expressed so beautifully in the First Letter of John: ‘God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him’ (4:16). To share in this love of God, meaning that God loves us and we love him in return, is the very reason we were created. This love is the source of all our joy and happiness, both in time and in eternity.
Saint John.
Saint John continues: ‘If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom 23
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he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also’ (1 Jn 4:20-21). Once again we see that the love of God is completed in the love of our neighbour. Sacraments are ‘outward signs instituted by Christ to give grace’. The Church clearly teaches that we should receive Jesus in Holy Communion only when in the state of sanctifying grace, which means we have the Most Blessed Trinity spiritually living in us. Therefore, we receive an ‘increase’ of sanctifying grace each time we receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. The first effect of Holy Communion, then, is to deepen our personal union with Jesus. After all, through each reception of the Eucharist, we allow Jesus to live His life more fully in us if we respond properly to His love. There is a second effect of Holy Communion, which is that the love for Jesus must be extended now to our spiritual brothers and sisters. ‘Our Lord taught this in his allegory of the vine and the branches’ (cf. Jn 15:1). Jesus said that he is the vine and we are the branches. Just as branches draw their life-giving sustenance from the vine, so we spiritually draw life from Christ in the Eucharist. But because all the branches are directly connected to the same vine, which is Christ, then they are indirectly connected to each other.
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The life of Christ that is in one member of his Mystical Body is the same life of Christ that is in all the others. Therefore, the Eucharist compels us to love and serve one another as Christ taught us: ‘A new commandment I give you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another’ (Jn 13: 34). He also said to the apostles after he washed their feet at the Last Supper: ‘If I, then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you’ (Jn 13:14-15). A beautiful illustration of this two-fold Eucharistic love, namely, for Christ and for our neighbour, is seen in the life of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She was once asked, ‘From where do you find the strength to take care of all the difficult cases that you encounter each day? The dying destitute in the streets of Calcutta? The lepers? The abandoned babies? The AIDS victims? The homeless and the hungry?’ Mother answered with her simple yet profound wisdom, ‘I begin each day by going to Mass and receiving Jesus in Holy Communion, hidden under the simple form of bread. Then I go out into the streets and find the same Jesus hidden in the dying destitute people, in the lepers, in the abandoned babies, in the AIDS people, and in the homeless and the hungry. It is the same Jesus.’ So too for us, works of mercy must be the fruit of our Eucharistic love.
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III. M ERCY RECEIVED MUST BECOME MERCY GIVEN nother reason we need to practice the works of mercy toward our needy brothers and sisters in Christ is because God himself deals mercifully with us.
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In one of the weekday prefaces used at Mass, we proclaim: ‘In love You [God] created us; in justice You condemned us; but in mercy You redeemed us, through Jesus Christ our Lord.’ What this means is that God created our first parents out of pure love to have them (and every other man and woman as well) share His eternal happiness with Him. But when He put them to the test to see if they would accept His love, they sinned against Him by pride and disobedience. Therefore, in His justice which is as infinite as His love, He had to condemn them, barring the gates of Heaven from them.
Because of Original Sin, the consequences of which we all share, and because of our own personal sins, we all are under the same condemnation of God’s justice. But God was moved by His divine compassion to redeem us by His infinite mercy. As Saint Francis was known to say, ‘Everything God gave us before the Fall, He gave us out of love; everything God gives us after the Fall, He gives us out of His mercy!’ Mercy adds two qualities to love. First, mercy often involves a need for forgiveness. For God to show us mercy after we sinned against Him, He needed to forgive us our sins. When we, in turn, do a work of mercy for a needy brother or sister, there is often no sin on their part against us. But we must be ready to do these works of mercy for anyone who is in need, even someone who may have offended us. The unique love Jesus taught us to have for our neighbour includes reaching out to our enemies, to sinners, to strangers, and to the ‘poorest of the poor’, as Mother Teresa of Calcutta called them. The second quality mercy adds to love is compassion. Compassion comes from two Latin words meaning ‘to suffer with’ or ‘to feel the pain or deprivation that our neighbour feels’.
Saint Francis.
In the Gospels, Jesus gives us many examples of compassion. He felt pity when He preached at great length to the crowds, 25
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who were like ‘sheep without a shepherd’ (Mk 6:34). He multiplied the loaves and fishes because He was concerned that the crowd, who had been with Him for so long a time and were now quite hungry, would faint along their way home (cf. Mk 8:3; Mt 15:32). Jesus was likewise compassionate in His mercy toward sinners, in His miracles for the sick and infirm, and in His raising of the dead to console their grieving family members and friends. The Good Samaritan is one of the most beautiful images of Jesus’ compassion (cf. Lk 10:30-37). Moved by our helplessness after sin, much like the helplessness of the man who had fallen prey to thieves who beat him, robbed him and left him to die, Jesus cared for us in our needs when He went to the Cross.
Pope Paul VI, at the end of Vatican II, said that the Council’s deliberations and documents gave us the image of ‘the Church of the Good Samaritan’. In other words, the Holy Spirit spoke to the Church, calling her to give greater service to the poor. The Council declared that the Church must have a ‘preferential option for the poor’, thus fulfilling one of the desires of Pope John XXIII, who convoked the Council. Prior to opening the Council, Pope John XXIII made a pilgrimage to Assisi, where he placed the Council under Saint Francis’ special patronage and prayed that he who was called ‘the father of the poor’ in his own time would intercede for the Church so she would recognise herself once again as a Church ‘of the poor and for the poor’.
Like the Samaritan in the Gospel parable who set aside concerns for his own time, convenience and even safety, Jesus reached out and provided for us in all our needs without counting the cost to himself. By our very baptism which unites us to Christ and gives us a share in His own life, we are called to imitate His compassionate love and service. This calling is especially critical in our time if the Church is to fulfil her mission as God’s instrument of peace and unity in the world. 26
Pope John XXIII.
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IV: J ESUS IS STILL HUNGRY AND THIRSTY
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fourth reason for the works of mercy is quite simply that Jesus is still in need in the neediest of His brothers and sisters. He tells us that He is still hungry, thirsty, naked, homeless, sick, and in prison in His disciples. He suffered these things in His own lifetime on earth and continues to suffer them through the members of His Mystical Body. We need to reach out to alleviate the needs Jesus is still experiencing by ministering to His least brothers and sisters. Not only do they depend on us to relieve their needs of hunger and thirst and the like, but we depend on them for opportunities to serve. Without such opportunities, our lives would be the poorer spiritually. Mother Teresa of Calcutta once told me: ‘We will only know in Heaven how much good has come to us through all those who are in need, such as the sick, the hungry, and the homeless. This is because we cannot do anything for God in Heaven! In Heaven God is perfectly happy! He has everything he wants! So what did God do? God became man! Now we can do something for him because he said, “I was hungry and you fed me! I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink!”’
What Mother Teresa was saying in her profound simplicity and wisdom was that we have as much need to give to Jesus in the poor as the poor have need to receive from us as Jesus’ disciples! Mother Teresa frequently emphasised the sublime dignity we have of serving Jesus in the distressing disguise of the poorest of the poor through whom Jesus so often approaches us. As she once put it, ‘We should not serve the poor like they were Jesus. We should serve the poor because they are Jesus.’ The corporal and spiritual works of mercy are our ways to serve Jesus even now. •
Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
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BEARERS OF HOPE IN THE MIDST OF SUFFERING ‘Africa is a martyr. It is a martyr of exploitation over the course of history. I love Africa, because it has so often been a victim of other powers.’ he suffering of Africa is not the only reason why Pope Francis loves Africa. The vitality of the African people fills him with enthusiasm. Both these things – martyrdom and vitality – are present and indeed incarnate, so to speak, in the Daughters of the Resurrection.
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During the Rwandan genocide of 1994 many of them were murdered, while others were expelled, their convents looted and burned. In January 1998 six sisters of their
congregation were hacked to death with machetes, while a seventh survived with severe injuries. In August of the same year rebel fighters in Kasika, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo murdered three more sisters, along with a priest and over 70 parishioners. In August 2009, in the same region, the rebels murdered three sisters, a priest and 20 parishioners. Again and again the sisters were forced to flee, but each time they came back – ‘in order to be with our people’, says Mother Petronelle, their Superior.
From the heart of Africa: first-year novices.
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No other congregation is quite so African in its manner of suffering, helping and giving hope. The sisters embody the resurrection of Africa in love. They are showing the African people that their homeland does have a future. And they set an example with their hard work in the fields. They also help AIDS patients, work in the hospitals and bush clinics, instruct young mothers in hygiene and healthy nutrition, teach them sewing, and care for the little ones in their schools.
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n their soup kitchens they feed over 5,000 people daily, saving more than a few of them from starvation. They care for sick and elderly priests, give religious instruction and organise prayer groups. And they themselves pray a great deal – for how else could they be such a source of mercy to others?
activities, infuse this culture with a Christian spirit. This year the congregation will be celebrating its Golden Jubilee. The idea of establishing an authentically African religious community came from a Flemish missionary sister, Mother Hadewych, while Father Werenfried, the founder of ACN, helped them from the beginning and is remembered to this day by the Daughters as their ‘Papa Founder’. Without this constant support and help from ACN Africa would be deprived today of the presence of these more than 200 joyfilled bearers of hope. •
Christine, Antoinette, Marie-Josée, Immaculée, Bellancile, Marie-Claire and Léonie – those are the names of the newest novices. Soon they will join the over 200 already professed sisters of the congregation in four countries (Rwanda, Cameroon, DR Congo and Brazil). Many of them do not have any prior education. With the Daughters they learn a trade and practical skills. They come from the villages, and once a year they spend a few weeks with their families, so that they do not forget the deep roots of their African culture and can at the same time, through their
Sister Pétronelle, the Mother Superior of the congregation.
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TEACHING – A WORK OF MERCY hey are surely the‚ wise virgins’ of the Gospel. The Ursuline Sisters seek to ‘light our lamps from the love of Christ and so bring light to the lives of those around us’. They do this especially through teaching and education.
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So we read on the website of the congregation, which is now almost 500 years old. For the past 60 years it has also been present and active in India. Now the diocese of Meerut in the underdeveloped state of Uttar Pradesh is asking the sisters to perform similar works of mercy there through their teaching and educational work. ‘Instructing the ignorant’ – this, according to Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium, is indeed one of the most important of the spiritual works of mercy. Such education is an essential part of our Faith, and the two together lead inevitably to greater social justice and welfare. The sisters will be more than welcome in Meerut, where 70% of the menfolk and 80% of the women are illiterate. Many of them would love to be able to read the sacred Scriptures. But where and how are the sisters to live? Bishop Francis Kalist has promised to provide them with a small convent, but he is still short by a substantial amount. That is not much to ask to create the conditions for entire generations of children to benefit from this spiritual work of mercy. Who will help us to bring about this work? 30
In Rwanda the Pallottine Sisters are already teaching in the kindergartens. And they go out and bring in the children off the streets, children who no longer go to school because they have no homes anymore or cannot afford to pay even the modest school fees. In doing this they have already saved many children from going off the rails. But it is the religious education that they see as their great challenge. In all nine dioceses of Rwanda they go, in twos or threes, into the schools in order to awaken the children’s interest in the Faith and the Sacraments, and they have been ‘very astonished’ at just what fertile soil the seed of the Good News has fallen into. One of the fruits has been the new vocations. The number of their novices is growing. But all this work, and the many other works of mercy they perform, would not be possible without your generous help. •
Faith and knowledge go together: Pallottine-Novices studying.
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SHOWING GOD’S LOVE FOR THE LITTLE CHILDREN n the prelature of Ayaviri, in Peru one child in every five is chronically undernourished, while four out of five adults cannot read or write.
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The average monthly income here for a family of five children is around 45 Euros, while life expectancy is seven years less than in other regions of Peru. Such is the situation in the prelature of Ayaviri. But the Faith is growing. More and more people, including many young people, are coming to the Masses in the 32 parishes, and the number of vocations is also growing. These are the little children to whom God reveals what he hides from so many of the wise and prudent (Cf Mt 11:25 and Lk 10:21). Here, in the prelature of the little children, live the four sisters of the enclosed congrega-
tion of the Holy Trinity Sisters. Their prayer is like a spiritual wellspring, helping to render the prelature so fertile. They have another four younger sisters still undergoing their formation. They aim to support themselves through their ‘liturgical workshop’, in which they make vestments and other liturgical furnishings. One of the sisters does all the embroidery – all by hand. With the help of an embroidery machine things would be much quicker and the sisters would be able to better address the growing demands upon them resulting from these new vocations. The prelature itself is unable to help them purchase such a machine, since it is too poor. We have promised to help them – for the beauty of the Faith in Ayaviri. •
In the ‘liturgical workshop’: embroidering for the glory of God.
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A ‘BRIDGEHEAD’ IN ASIA Dear Friends,
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t the end of last year our foundation ACN officially opened its first national office in Asia, in South Korea. This means that our Foundation now has 21 national offices worldwide, actively fundraising on behalf of Christians in need throughout the world and helping to spread the message of Christian love. With this new ‘bridgehead’ in Asia we are truly seizing the moment. For in the coming decades the Church will grow above all in Asia and Africa. With the formal opening of our Korean office, in the presence of our President Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, and of Cardinal Yeom Soo-jung of South Korea, we are following in the footsteps of Pope Francis.
A year and a half earlier, during his visit to South Korea, he made it clear that Asia will be one of the priorities of his pontificate. This is a country that was evangelised by home-grown Korean laity. A number of them gave their lives as martyrs, and the Pope has beatified them. May this courageous witness of the first Christians of South Korea be an example to us, not of dying, but of the profound faith that animates this country, and the joyful faith that it can communicate to its fellow Christians. So our ‘family’ continues to grow – not least thanks to your faithful generosity.
Johannes Freiherr Heereman, Executive President of ACN International
WHERE TO SEND YOUR CONTRIBUTION FOR THE CHURCH IN NEED Please use the Freepost envelope. Aid to the Church in Need, 151 St. Mobhi Road, Glasnevin, Dublin 9. (01) 837 7516 info@acnireland.org www.acnireland.org
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IBAN IE32 BOFI 9005 7890 6993 28 BIC BOFI IE2D If you give by standing order, or have sent a donation recently, please accept our sincere thanks. This MIRROR is for your interest and information. Registered Charity Numbers: (RoI) 9492 (NI) XR96620.
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GIFTS FOR ETERNITY... For a good cause I had often thought of giving something for children in Iraq. Unfortunately, however, I was too selfish to part with my own hard-earned money. But I quickly repented and went to confession. The kindly priest told me about ACN and left the rest to me. And so I decided, from that day on, whenever I bought myself any item of clothing, to put aside five Euros for this donation. Now I’m sure I’ve used this money in a good cause. A young woman in Germany Thank God for ACN! I must tell you of the consolation I experienced through the Holy Mass celebrated in thanksgiving for the gift of my life and for my personal intentions. You speak of rewards?… The generosity you attributed to me is already the reward of God. What a consoling thought that is… Thank God for ACN! A benefactress in Portugal New strength and courage thanks to your help I have no words to express our gratitude to you! Your help will undoubtedly give us new strength and courage in the many apostolic challenges and sacrifices that are required of us in order to build this sanctuary of Divine Mercy. We have already been praying for you, and this prayer will only intensify in the Holy Eucharist and in our Rosary during this month of Our Lady. A priest in Argentina
...THANK YOU AMDG Dear Friends, Thanks to your help we are able to collaborate with thousands of others in consoling millions of souls in need. Thank you for being a , a Witness to Hope and a ‘little light’ in our dark world. Our world needs His merciful light, our families need His merciful light. May the Good Lord bless you and all who are dear to you for the mercy you are showing to all those in need. In Christ,
J F Declan Quinn Director, Aid to the Church in Need (Ire) PS. We are called to instruments of God’s mercy.
‘THE CROSS BRINGS US THE JOY OF FORGIVENESS!’ President of ACN
‘Let us bring to Christ’s Cross our joys, our sufferings and our failures. There we will find a Heart that is open to us and understands us, forgives us, loves us and calls us to bear this love in our lives, to love each person.’
Pope Francis, Stations of the Cross with the young people, 26 July 2013, Rio de Janeiro.
The confessional: place of light and forgiveness.
THE MIRROR IS AVAILABLE TO READ AT ACNIRELAND.ORG
Aid to the Church in Need
Aid to the Church in Need
Aid to the Church in Need
MIRROR
MIRROR
MIRROR
Merciful like the Father Comfort the afflicted
God’s Name is Mercy
God is only a prayer away
GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE
GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE
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GO REBUILD MY CHURCH
GO REBUILD MY CHURCH
GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE 15 - 6
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