Aid to the Church in Need
International Eucharistic Congress 2012 Edition
Christians in Syria are appealing to us:“Our Calvary is a long one. Pray to the Queen of Peace for an end to the violence!”
“Love of neighbour can exist only in the love of God and through it. It draws its strength from the fact that God’s Son, who in His sacred humanity is infinitely lovable, has identified Himself with the least of His brothers. They are worthy of our love, as He Himself is; they have a right to the love that we owe Him.” Fr. Werenfried (1913-2003), founder of Aid to the Church in Need.
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ACN’s The Four Gospels will be available at the International Eucharistic Congress 10th - 17th June 2012.
Communion with Christ and with One Another
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Aid to the Church in Need
Contents
Page
Introduction - Fr. Martin Maria Barta . . . . . . . . . . . . . ................................................ 2 A Letter of Introduction - Johannes Freiherr Heereman ................................... 3 Delivering the Gospel Message - Pastoral Transport ...................................... 4 A Garment of New Dignity - Refugees. . . . . . . . . . ................................................. 6 Via Crucis in Damascus
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“We Want to Stay in Our Homeland!”- Christians in Iraq ............................... 8 Father Werenfried - Hands Outstretched, and Joined in Prayer ................ 10
A LOOK IN THE
Introduction - ACN and the Eucharistic Congress ........................................... 12 Blessed Teresa of Calcutta - Spreading Light in the Darkness:
Fr Brian Kolodiejchuk MC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............................................... 14
‘The Conversion of St. Francis’ - Bill Evans
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‘When the Gospel comes Alive’ - A Poor Clare Sister ................................... 21 ‘St Clare of Assisi, A Chosen Soul from God’- Bill Evans .............................. 24 ‘The True Pilgrim Always Walks “with a Swift Pace, a Light Step and Unswerving Feet”’- A Poor Clare Sister. . . . .............................................. 26 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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Dear Friends, The month of May is especially dedicated to the Mother of God. In the Liturgy Our Lady is given a wonderful title that originates from the book of Ecclesiasticus (Sirach), namely “Mother of Fair Love”. Love is indeed fair when it comes from God and leads to God. This is the measure of its beauty. The more man stretches out towards the love of God, the more he radiates beauty and loving kindness. For the love of God is the root of his dignity; he is loved by God and thereby called to love as God loves. Only the love of God makes man capable of truly loving his neighbour and fully respecting his dignity. “As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”
up and said ‘But you, you too are sharing it by doing what you are doing.’ I said, ‘No, I am sharing with you the joy of loving, by loving Jesus Christ in you.’ Whereupon this Hindu gentleman said ‘Praised be Jesus Christ.’ He had discovered that he was someone; a person, and that he was loved.”
Every human being has Love is beautiful when a right to learn that he it comes from God and or she is loved by God. Blessed Mother Teresa With your help, and of Calcutta often leads to God. guided by this supersummed up her entire natural motivation, the work in these five words of Jesus: “You did it to me”. She Church’s missionaries willingly tackle tells how “One day they brought in a every journey, no matter how far or man off the streets. His body was half how strenuous, in order to bring Jesus eaten by worms. Nobody could stand to all people. In Him we can recognise next to him – the stench was so great. ourselves too as made in God’s image, an So I went in to clean him up. He looked image that predisposes us to imitate God at me, then asked, ‘Why are you doing in His love. No one is better able than this? Everyone has discarded me; why the Mother of God to teach us the secret are you doing this? Why do you come of “fair love”, the love that makes itself close to me?’ – ‘I love you’, I replied. ‘I entirely a gift, to God and our neighbour. love you; you are Jesus in the terrible The young Italian saint, Gabriele Possenti clothing of suffering. Jesus is sharing His (1838-1862) wrote in his Marian Confessufferings with you.’ And then he looked sion of Faith that even the angels learn
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from Mary how to love. “I believe, Mary, that you alone have perfectly fulfilled the commandment of the Lord: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…’ so that even the blessed Seraphim of heaven could have descended to earth, in order to learn in your heart how to love God.”
My grateful blessing
Fr. Martin Maria Barta Ecclesiastical Assistant
Dear Friends, From time to time I am asked the question, sometimes with a note of concern: What was the re-founding of ACN by the Holy Father all about? What were the causes and what are the consequences? ACN was steered for decades by Father Werenfried’s strong hand. The structures were of no great importance at first. In fact, in a certain sense he himself was the structure that held everything together. The previous canonical form – a universal association of pontifical right – is primarily intended for life in religious communities and not so much for an association that unites people in the pursuit of a common goal: in this case the support of our suffering sisters and brothers in the Faith through our prayers and financial offerings. Much better suited to this purpose is our new legal form as a pontifical foundation. It helps to strengthen the unity of our charity and
to make the decisionm a k i n g processes s i m p l e r, quicker and more efficient. ACN continues as before to be an independent charity, made up of Christians working together in solidarity with their suffering and persecuted fellow Christians – and it is made possible exclusively thanks to your help!
Johannes Freiherr Heereman,
Executive President of ACN International
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Delivering the Gospel Message Boats, landrovers, motorbikes, trucks, buses, cars, bicycles – through over 400 separate projects you helped to drive forward the Church’s pastoral apostolate in 2011 and mobilise the Good News. The great John Paul II was once asked what he would ask of God for mankind, if he were allowed only one request. He did not hesitate. “Mercy”,was his answer. And the greatest act of mercy, surely, is to lead men to God. To do so, one needs to fetch them from where they are, or go out to them where they are. A catechist in Nigeria can increase his range by 30 or 40 miles if he has a bicycle. A priest in East Ukraine cannot even begin to minister to his scattered communities, scores of
Pakistan. A blessing – for a good start with the new prayer group.
miles apart, unless he has a car. Without a vehicle, much of his flock will be deprived – no sick visits, little catechesis, few opportunities for Holy Mass. Even God’s mercy
God’s Mercy needs a suitable mode of transport.
Malawi. A blessing – for a safe journey to the confirmation candidates in the countryside.
requires a suitable mode of transport. Take the diocese of Itaituba, for example, in the vast Amazon region of Brazil – or the huge expanse of Sumbe diocese in Angola. A sturdy vehicle brings a dramatic rise in the number of baptisms, in the number of prayer groups. During the six-month rainy season in the Amazon, travel on the mud slides that pass for roads is impossible without a fourwheel-drive vehicle. Meanwhile, Father Alexandre José of the parish of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Marromeu, Mozambique, would be overjoyed to have 26 bicycles for his
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catechists and parish leaders. His parish covers an area of 7,300 square miles and includes over 60 smaller communities. Everything is done with bicycles – from ferrying the sick to the nearest doctor (often 30 miles or more away), accompanying the dead on their last journey to the cemetery, to bringing expectant mothers to give birth at the maternity clinic. Wherever the Church is alive and active, she is also on the move – whether on two wheels or four, by motor power or manpower, by canoe, by boat or by bus. For the pastoral outreach and the Gospel mission, inevitably involves travelling – travelling to build up churches. Even Saint Paul was well aware of this. The ancient car of Father Dainius, in Kietaviskes, Lithuania now has 275,000 miles on the clock – and many of the roads are not even tarred. So many times already at the garage they have warned that this will have to be the last repair. Now he is asking our help – for the sake of his Confirmation
Tanzania. A blessing – for the catechists on their two-wheeled mission.
classes, his First Holy Communion children, the sick and the elderly. They all need him, and he needs the car. It is the vital delivery system for his pastoral apostolate. We have promised to help.
Angola. Even a fourwheel drive struggles in conditions like these.
‘Put out into the deep!’ – Duc in altum! This is the motto on the coat of arms of the apostolic vicariate in the Comoros islands. Two years ago this group of islands was constituted as a vicariate. Some 99% of the population are Muslims, and the 1%of Christians live an almost virtual existence on the five islands. Any open and public parish life is impossible in this fiercely Islamic environment. So they meet in private, in prayer groups. The task of ministering to these people, of maintaining a sense of solidarity, giving regular instruction to the children and young people – all this involves a great deal of hard work, a great deal of travelling. In this situation Duc in altum! – has a quite literal meaning for the apostolic vicar here. We have promised him a car. Will you help to set the wheels rolling? •
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A Garment of New Dignity In the Our Father “we pray for our bread – and at the same time, for bread for others”, writes Pope Benedict XVI. Each of us, he adds, should become“a lover,whose heart is open to being torn by another’s need”. “You are not forgotten”, said the Nuncio in Bangkok to the Burmese refugees on the Thai border, his heart torn by their needs. And he quoted Pope Benedict: “Working on behalf of refugees is one of the essential duties of the Church.” There are 17,000 Catholics here, who fled or were forced here, among the 150,000+ refugees from the war and chaos in Burma. Six priests are ministering to them, materially and spiritually, in everything – from the medical care of the sick, of children, of expectant mothers, through the distribution of food supplies to the dispensing of
the Sacraments, catechesis, the organising of prayer groups, of basic schooling and vocational training. The plight of these refugees has indeed torn at the hearts of the bishops in Thailand and Burma. Their appeal has not gone unheard. Confident of your generous response, we have already promised them our support this year. Human dignity is every bit as important as our daily bread. This is a central concern of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Good Shepherd in Lebanon. For they know that when a person regains his sense of dignity he can then forgive others – and only through forgiveness, not revenge, can reconciliation be achieved. The sisters are helping women and girls who have been raped, rejected by their families or forced to flee. In their convent in Ain Saadé, in the Christian quarter, there is help and healing available, with every-
Waiting to return home – Burmese refugee children in Thailand.
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With the Good Shepherd Sisters – a refuge for abandoned women.
thing – from psychological counselling, through hygiene, to hair care – on the programme. Thus there is also a need for material things – for soap, face flannels, paper, books etc. The Word to nourish the soul, and a garment of new dignity. We want to support the Good Shepherd Sisters. Will you help them to provide this garment for those in their care? •
Via Crucis in Damascus Where can they go now? They have fled the violence in their Iraqi homeland; now in Syria the terror has caught up with them. Archbishop Samir Nassar, of the Maronite Catholics in Damascus, can remember a long way back – in 1920 it was the Armenians who came here, then in 1934 the Syrians, in 1948 the Palestinian Christians, and since 2003 the Christians from Iraq. They have fled here from the war and violence. And now these uprooted Christians are facing violence again, here in Damascus. More and more of them are coming to the tomb of the martyrs, desperate, with tears in their eye and rosaries in their hand. They have no bread left, no milk for their babies, no work, no prospects. They are ready to do anything – some of them even
Archbishop Nassar holds up the cross – sign of hope and redemptive suffering.
contemplate selling their virtue – simply in order to save their children from starvation. Naked, homeless, hungry, thirsty – for Archbishop Nassar they are indeed among ‘the least of his brothers’. But his hands are empty too; all he can do is to fold them in prayer before the Almighty – and appeal to us for support. •
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“We Want to Stay in Our Homeland!� Christians in Iraq Violence and terror are an everyday fact of life in Iraq. They can strike anyone, at any time. But above all they strike the Christians. For example, in late October 2010 masked men, heavily armed, stormed the Syrian Catholic Cathedral in Baghdad. There were roughly 100 Catholic faithful gathered there for Mass that Sunday evening. Shots rang through the cathedral, greFaith is also a matter of reason. nades exploded, screams and panic Archbishop Ephrem Yousif Abba talks everywhere. More than 50 people died, with youngsters in the classroom. among them children and young people, and two priests. Scores more were of Christians around the world. You too injured. This terrorist attack prompted are supporting these embattled, menworldwide horror. Iraqi Christians, includ- aced and persecuted sisters and brothers ing around 150,000 in Baghdad alone, are of ours. For example, at the request of fearful and unsettled. A Mar Ephrem Yousif Abba, The witness to peace new wave of emigration the Syrian Catholic Archis underway. bishop of Baghdad, you is indispensable. are helping to fund the And yet there cost of religious instruction for Chrisare many Chris- tian children in the state schools. As the tians who have archbishop explains, the government in chosen to stay Baghdad currently pays the salaries of on in their five teachers of religion. Four of them give homeland. They Islamic instruction and just one Christian are drawing new instruction. Moreover, the 150 boys and courage from girls from Christian families, aged between the knowledge 6 and 12, have just one hour of religious of the solidar- instruction, while the Muslims have two. ity, kindness and Since they would otherwise be obliged to Archbishop Bashar Warda from Erbil, Iraq on prayers of so spend the remaining hour attending the a visit to Ireland. many thousands Islamic instruction, the archbishop has
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engaged two additional teachers at the Church’s expense. The cost of their salaries together comes to around € 4,100 per year –money the diocese does not have. And so he has turned to ACN for help. Through this project, your generosity “is helping to educate children in the Christian faith and encouraging them to attend the Catholic Church”.We will of course help him. According to Archbishop Abba, Iraq needs the preaching of the Good News more urgently than ever. The witness to peace and reconciliation, and the commitment to the harmonious coexistence of different ethnic religious and denominational groups is indispensable. Many Catholics
Christian children in school. They want to hear about Jesus, Mary and Joseph and to learn something of the saints.
are committed to this, including the parishioners of the cathedral parish of Our Lady of Deliverance, which suffered the terrible attack in October 2010. Father Aysar Saaed has even broken off his studies in Rome and returned to Baghdad in order to help the wounded and traumatised. He is concerned above all with the pastoral care of the young and wants to strengthen them in their faith. On Fridays especially, the Muslim day of prayer, children and young people from all over Baghdad come into the parish. The problem is, however, that the public transport system is barely functional, while taxis and private firms are prohibitively expensive. And so the parish has purchased a school bus – with the help from ACN. The bus picks up the children and drops them home again. In this city of bombs and terrorism, that is by no means a luxury. • Reinhard Backes
After the terrorist attack – flowers for the victims in the cathedral.
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Father Werenfried – Hands Outstretched, and Joined in Prayer. Father Werenfried continues to be a gatherer. Speaking to commemorate the ninth anniversary of his death, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, the Archbishop of Cologne, gave a theological analysis of this gathering, under four headings. He spoke of his gathering of believers, of the lost and abandoned, of prayers and of gifts.
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In each of these areas of gathering, “Father Werenfried is at home”, the Cardinal observed. Right from the beginning, the Church has lived by the “regular gathering” of the faithful. The one who gathers, said Cardinal Meisner, “is in fact the Lord. The Eucharistic gathering is the highest form of assembly, for here we are gathered together in the teaching of the Apostles, in fraternal community, in the breaking of the bread, and in prayer”. In order to make this possible, Father Werenfried “energetically and substantially helped to support the training of future priests”. His creative imagination “never The ‘theology of the collection plate’ – Cardinal Meisner giving his homily in Cologne Cathedral.
A beggar for God – Father Werenfried with his ‘hat of millions’.
failed him in assisting the faithful to gather together in the Body of Christ, in church”.
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Similarly, in the search for the “lost sheep, the lost drachma, the lost son”, his imaginative approach knew no bounds. Said Cardinal Meisner, “In the past half-century, becoming lost has virtually developed into a mass movement. Father Werenfried was surely one of the most widely travelled of priests, in seeking out the lost ones, and in enlisting other helpers who, together with him, could go out to find these lost ones.” One of the means he used in this search was the newsletter, the Mirror. Through this regular letter to his benefactors he also called out to the “onlookers, the abandoned, the scattered and the newly arrived, telling them: ‘The Lord is waiting for you in the actual community of the local parish.’” For “the basic tenor of the Mirror was and is one of invitation: Come! Come
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to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
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Always, the Mirror contains a call to prayer. And to such “prayer in common, a special promise of the Lord is attached”, the Cardinal added. ‘If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven’ (Mt 18:19). Yet the members of the community must be of one mind among themselves, so that they can praise God “… and with one voice, as Saint Paul writes in his Epistle to the Romans”. We are accustomed to seeing the hands of Father Werenfried outstretched, to gather in donations. But before this, he joined these hands together in prayer for his countless benefactors. He gathered together all the many concerns, cares and desires of his benefactors and of all those in need, and placed them in the heart of the heavenly Father. For this reaFather Geoffrey Owacgiu was a young priest in the diocese of Nebbi, in Uganda when, thanks to your generosity, he was given a motorcycle for his pastoral work. That was 13 years ago. “You cannot imagine”, he now writes, “what a wonderful service you thereby performed for the people of God, or just how much you have helped me, through this means of transport, to save souls.” He uses it for his apostolate in the schools and in youth work. Five parishes benefit from it, and every day the motorbike still covers at least 10 miles – often on stony or sandy tracks – and is still going strong. Sometimes other
son, “the great community of the benefactors of ACN is, first and foremost, always a community of prayer”.
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The Church lives “in the midst of the world. It needs the things of this world, including money”. But the Church uses this money “not to hoard it up, but to give it out”. That is why ACN possesses “no plump reserves, but instead gathers in many small, medium and larger donations in order to give them out again wherever they are needed”. These gifts, the Cardinal told us, are “sacrifices pleasing to God” (cf Hebr. 13:16) and as such also a “help to the service of the Gospel”. Anyone who understands the church collection in this way “will not be stingy in his giving. ACN gathers together all people for the Lord, and all gifts for our sisters and brothers.” •
priests in the diocese also use it; without this vehicle many a Holy Mass and catechism class could not have taken place. Father Geoffrey simply wants “to say a heartfelt thank-you”. •
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A LOOK IN THE
Dear Friends,
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omewhat providentially, the 50 millionth copy of ACN’s Child’s bible ‘God speaks to his Children’ will be published in time for the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin (10-17 June). Meeting with ACN in March, Archbishop Piero Marini, President of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses stressed the central role which Eucharistic Congresses have played in helping the Church better appreciate the deeply personal nature of God who
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin with Donal O’Siochain, President of ACN Ireland presenting ACN ‘Youcats’ for the Eucharistic Congress 2012.
comes to meet us, who comes to speak to us and who makes Himself readily available to us in the Eucharist. The International Archbishop Eucharistic Congress Pierro Marini is indeed a great gift to the universal Church and to the Irish Church at this time of great need and ACN is committed to helping make the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin (IEC2012) fruitful. Mention was made in the last edition of the Mirror that ACN in association with the Eucharistic Congress will present to all congress pilgrims a copy of ‘The Four Gospels’. In his general audience address of 19/08/2009 Pope Benedict points out that “the saints are true interpreters of God’s Word.” Referring to this theme of sainthood, Archbishop Marini made mention of the fact that one of the great proclamations of the second Vatican Council was that all the faithful are called to be saints, are called to holiness, are called into ‘communion with Christ and with one another’ which is of course the theme of 2012 congress. Indeed as the YOUCAT (YOUth CATechism) puts it:
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“The purpose of our life is to be united with God in love and to correspond entirely to God’s wishes. We should allow God ‘to live his life in us’ (Mother Teresa) That is what it means to be holy: a ‘saint’ “. Question 342. In short we are expected to become saints and knowingly or unknowingly all of our lives have been and are being touched by them. The fact is that God speaks to us through the life, the witness and the words of His saints and does so with great effect. One need only consider Blessed Mother Teresa. Now as it happens, during the week of the congress, ACN will have a sizeable presence in the RDS and will host in association with Missionary of Charity (MC) sisters, brothers and priests a major exhibition on Mother’s life and work. MC sisters, brothers and priests will be on hand throughout the congress week. So please do come and meet with these wonderful ‘lights to the world’ and reflect with them upon the great gift which Mother Teresa was to Christ’s suffering and persecuted Church throughout her beloved India and throughout the entire world. Undoubtedly all would agree that Mother Teresa was a great and inspiring saint. 800 years ago this year, another great and inspiring saint, Clare of Assisi, established a wonderful order of contemplative nuns, the Poor Clare Sisters. Today around the world and around the A LOOK IN THE +e412ei_print.indd 17
clock some 18,000 Poor Clare sisters quietly and unseen are praying in their cloisters for God’s mercy to be made manifest in all of our lives. Since as cloistered contemplatives the Poor Clare Colletine sisters of Simmonscourt are unable to leave their convent to be present during the congress, ACN has the privilege of managing their RDS stand. On their strand will be exhibited for the first time two beautiful new icons, one of St Clare and the other of St Francis. Both these icons have been written by the Connermara-based Chilean, Lucho Alvarez, Ireland’s premier iconographer and Lucho will be visiting the stand throughout the week. Visiting with us also will be our great friend from Siberia, Fr. Michael Shields. So during the week of the Congress please try to drop by our stand and meet your ACN friends from Ireland and
Donal O’Siochain and Johannes Heereman, presenting a donation in support of the Eucharistic Congress to Fr. Kevin Doran (Secretary General).
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around the world, we will all be delighted to see you. Magadan
Fr. Michael Shields from Magadan, Russia, will be in attendance at the Eucharistic Congress.
God bless you and all your families, past and present, now and always,
J F Declan Quinn Director Aid to the Church in Need (Ireland)
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta - Spreading Light in the Darkness: Fr Brian Kolodiejchuk MC
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hroughout history, God has never ceased to raise up shining witnesses who eloquently convey the message of His love appropriate for that particular time and circumstance. In our own time, filled with the stark contrast between extreme affluence on the one hand and destitution on the other, material wealth and spiritual poverty, exterior glitter (often only a cloak over much inner darkness) and interior emptiness, God has given us Mother Teresa as a beacon of His light and love. She points to the values of love and compassion expressed in acts of caring and sharing: “love in living action”* that allows the giver to know “the joy of loving” even amid the sufferings of daily life. Her life, lived in the radical simplicity and humility of the Gospel, proclaims that even when many frantically run after happiness (or even after the chance to just kill some of
the inner pain) in varied yet futile ways, the primacy of love – God’s love for us and ours for Him - is still the only path that leads to personal fulfilment and ultimate happiness. Love Alone John Paul II asserted that “Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it” (John Paul II). The greatest revelation of love is Jesus Christ. By His life, suffering, death and resurrection Jesus enabled us to encounter love, find meaning and happiness now on
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this earth - suffering notwithstanding - and fully in the new heaven and new earth to come. Mother Teresa, the foundress of the Missionaries of Charity, is a compelling witness to this love revealed in God made man. “And today God keeps on loving the world. He keeps on sending you and me” she was known to add after quoting John’s startling declaration, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16). This was one of her favourite and often repeated Gospel verses. She thus points out to us our responsibility to be God’s extended heart and hands in a world thirsting to love and to be loved. “Come, be My light” The path that led Mother Teresa to be considered a symbol of God’s love and compassion for the downtrodden was both extraordinary and simple. On 10 September 1946, as she was travelling by train from Calcutta to Darjeeling for her annual retreat, she began to receive supernatural communications. These interior locutions were calling her out of her settled life as a teaching nun in the Bengali section of the influential St. Mary’s Loreto School, where she had been serving for about 20 years, to dedicate her life to the most marginalised members of society.
“Come, be My light. I cannot go alone. They [the poor] don’t know Me so they don’t want Me. You come, go amongst them. Carry Me with you into them. How I long to enter their hovels, their dark, unhappy homes.” “Be My fire of love” Mother Teresa heeded the divine call to leave the Loreto order, and after a time of discernment that lasted about two years, she gained the archbishop of Calcutta’s permission to plunge herself into the apostolate for the poorest in the slums of Calcutta. Jesus had asked her to start a new congregation whose members, as He told her,
Jesus revealed to her His Heart’s desire, His “thirst,” His infinite longing to love and to be loved by the most forgotten, abandoned and rejected among His children, the poorest of the poor. He spoke to her with great clarity and urgency about her new mission: A LOOK IN THE +e412ei_print.indd 19
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“Would be My fire of love amongst the very poor - the sick, the dying, the little street children. The poor I want you to bring to Me and the sisters that would offer their lives as victims of My love would bring these souls to Me.” That is what Mother Teresa endeavoured to do with every ounce of her energy. Once followers began joining her, she strove to imbibe in them the same zeal and love that moved her. She insisted that they become “so united to God so as to radiate Him” even in the midst of the greatest darkness. Her message of love and peace is welcome now not just in the slums of developing countries but also in the wealthy surroundings of affluent countries where human beings are equally in need of love and peace. Jesus in the Eucharist and the Poor A deeply Eucharistic spirituality proved to be the indispensable strength of Mother Teresa and her followers throughout the years of labour among the poorest. Frequently asked by curious journalists where she found the strength to do all she did, she would inevitably point to the tabernacle. She herself testified that from the time the community had decided to have a daily hour of Eucharistic adoration, “Our love for Jesus is much more intimate, our love for each other more understanding, our love for the poor [filled] with greater compassion; and also our vocations are twice, much more.”
Fr Brian Kolodiejchuk MC, Superior General of the Missionary of Charity Fathers and Postulator for the cause of canonising Blessed Theresa of Calcutta will be attending the Eucharistic Congress.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church asserts that “The Eucharist commits us to the poor. To receive in truth the Body and the Blood of Christ given up for us, we must recognise Christ in the poorest, His brethren.” Mother Teresa’s service to the poorest of the poor was directly related to her faith in the presence of Jesus in them, for He had spoken of service to the least ones as being expressions of love directly to Him: “You did it to Me” (Mt 25:40). Over and over she referred to Jesus’ identification with the poor and connected it with His presence in the Eucharist. “Keep the joy of loving Jesus in the poor and in the Eucharist and share this joy with all you meet.” “Never separate Jesus in the Eucharist and Jesus in the poor.”
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he for tta ss.
Jesus is present in the Eucharist under the appearance of bread and wine and He is present in the “distressing disguise” of the poorest of the poor. Though the presence of Christ in the Eucharist differs substantially from His presence in the poor, Mother Teresa connected the two, for in both Christ is present in “disguise.” The dynamic of her life was that from Jesus in the Eucharist she moved to Jesus in the poor.
good will throughout the world to do the same.
“I cannot go alone” God’s love is usually revealed, encountered and experienced through other human beings. Just as God sent Mother Teresa, He sends each one of us: “You come, go amongst them.” We too are to be carriers of His light, love and compassion to others. In our love of neighbour, people will be able to recognize Jesus, welcome Him into their lives and enjoy His love, joy and peace.
This love begins with those closest to us, in our own homes, for “the poor are in our own families.” The means with which we can express our love can be simple and are within the reach of everyone.
Mother Teresa was a “Good Samaritan” who, while ignoring her own wounds, bent down to bind the wounds of broken and suffering humanity. Her particular mission was not focused on resolving the issue of poverty and destitution on a global level, however (this she was convinced was the call of others, not hers). Nor was her work merely a symbolic help to a few individuals. She offered immediate, concrete and effective help in the situations of human need in the here and now. In this way, she made God’s love a tangible reality, and “mobilized” not just the members of her congregation but innumerable people of A LOOK IN THE +e412ei_print.indd 21
Spread the Charity of His Heart Mother Teresa’s words encourage us even today: “Give Jesus your heart to love and your hands to serve. Be His light, His fire of love amongst the poor.”
“Give them always a happy smile; give them not only your ears but also your heart. Kindness has converted more people than zeal, science or eloquence. We will never know how much good just a simple smile can do. We tell people how kind, forgiving and understanding God is. Are we the living proof? Can they really see this kindness, this forgiveness, this understanding alive in us?” Mother Teresa untiringly repeated, “God still loves the world through you and through me today.” May she accompany us now from Heaven and help us to be God’s light, love and compassion in the world. •
* Unless indicated otherwise, words in quotations marks are those of Mother Teresa.
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‘The Conversion of St. Francis’ - Bill Evans*
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omestic controversy marked the birth of Pietro Bernardone’s son in 1182. Pietro was a wealthy cloth merchant from Assisi, Umbria (Italy) who was infatuated with France and all things French. Upon returning from a business trip, he was greeted with a newborn son. But joy turned to anger when Pietro learned that the infant had already been baptized and named Giovanni (after John the Baptist). Little Giovanni was supposed to become a wealthy businessman like his father, not a man of God. He was immediately renamed Francesco. But a name change would not so easily determine the future of Francesco Bernardone. Francis was a gregarious and charming child; a favourite with adults and a leader among his peers. But a life of wealth and permissiveness yielded little fruit. Mostly a daydreamer, he performed poorly in school. His engaging personality kept him out of serious trouble, but no one sought to really teach Francis or give him structure and discipline. As a young man, he was accustomed to a life of leisure during the day and wild parties at night. His biographer (Thomas of Celano) later wrote of Francis, “In other respects an exquisite youth, he attracted to himself a whole retinue of young people addicted to evil and accustomed to vice.” Young Francis appeared to fulfil every hope his father envisioned at his birth.
He imitated Pietro’s love of France and romanticized about a life as a wandering troubadour in the French countryside. Francis also inherited his father’s keen business sense and the desire for wealth and influence. But there was a distressing void in his life that nagged at his conscience. Unfortunately, personal holiness was not part of his discernment. Rather, Francis sought personal glory as the antidote. Francis filled his imagination with images of battle and knighthood as the proper means for obtaining the “glory” he so desired. When Assisi declared war on neighbouring Perugia, Francis eagerly entered the conflict. The troops from Assisi were virtually annihilated and Francis was taken prisoner, spending a year chained in a foul dungeon, waiting for someone to purchase his freedom. After his release from captivity, Francis returned to the vice of his former life, seemingly unaffected by his near-death experience. When a call went out for knights to join the Fourth Crusade, Francis zealously responded. But his motivation was not to serve the Lord or protect His Church. Rather, the opportunity to enhance his prestige was paramount in the decision. Clad in the finest armour with a flowing red cloak, mounted on the finest horse; Francis set off on his selfish quest, hoping to return as a “prince”. He travelled less than a day’s ride from Assisi when God figuratively, if not literally, knocked him
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from his horse. Francis became painfully aware of how pompous and silly he looked and of how vain and wrong-headed was his motivation. Completely humiliated, Francis returned to Assisi to face the laughter and even the anger, especially from his father. Now, personally convicted of his sins, Francis gradually withdrew from profiteering in his father’s business and began to embrace the Catholic Faith he knew only superficially by heritage and to reach out for mercy to a Saviour he ignored for the first 25 years of his life. Stony hearts and obstinate spirits are often slow to break, but all things are possible in Christ. As Francis gradually opened himself up to God in prayer, the Lord revealed the Truth of Himself to Francis and poured out His grace upon a broken vessel of a man seeking redemption and reconciliation. Francis, himself, recounted the day he met a leper while riding in the countryside. The “old Francis” would have ridden by the man in horror, but this day he was moved to step off his horse and kiss the hand of the leper, who then returned a kiss to Francis. With profound, new joy in his heart, Francis mounted his horse and turned to wave goodbye, only to discover the leper, the “face of Jesus”, had disappeared.
Francis heard the Lord say, “Francis, repair my Church”. Assuming the Lord meant only the immediate church building; Francis took fabric from the family business and sold it to buy materials for the repair. His father accused Francis of theft, denounced his son as a madman and demanded intervention by the local bishop. This was the moment of real conversion for Francis. The bishop admonished Francis in charity and requested that all the money owed to his father be returned. But he also reminded Francis that God would generously provide if Francis would generously give. Francis responded promptly; returning the money, stripping off his fancy
Conversion is not always a smooth turning of one’s life over to God. Francis was no exception. While seeking out an isolated location for prayer, Francis discovered the crumbling church at San Damiano. Intensely praying before the crucifix, A LOOK IN THE +e412ei_print.indd 23
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clothes, renouncing his inheritance and declaring his true father was, “Our Father who art in Heaven!” With God’s call to total self-giving, “joyful poverty”, resounding in his heart and soul, Francis returned to San Damiano dressed in cast-off rags, singing praises to God for His mercy and for the complete freedom he now found through Faith. He begged for the stones to rebuild San Damiano while begging God for the spiritual stones to rebuild the brokenness of his own life. The fractured condition of the Universal Church was gradually revealed to Francis, as well. He found the courage and received the divine insight to begin preaching, with great zeal, to all who would listen. Francis “the madman” became Francis “the holy man” and in time, many began
to seek him out. His cadre of companions slowly grew. Using scripture and the austerity of his own life as a guide, a rule of living by and through the Gospel was adopted by the flourishing community. Respect for all life, without exception, was demanded of all. Prayer, penance and the Sacraments, combined with poverty, chastity and obedience defined these barefoot beggars in brown sacks. The “Brotherhood of Francis” proved that one could truly be happy while owning nothing. • * Bill Evans is a US heart surgeon who is about to enter the Carmelites in Cody Wyoming in the Autumn following the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin. For many years Bill has been a board member of the Dead Theologians Society (DTS) a US-based lay apostolate which seeks to evangelises secondary school children by prayer and discussing the lives of the saints. Bill and the co-founder of DTS will be exhibiting during the Eucharistic Congress and Aid to the Church in Need will be assisting them.
‘Peace Prayer’ - St Francis of Assisi Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. Amen. 20 +e412ei_print.indd 24
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‘When the Gospel comes Alive’ - A Poor Clare Sister*
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rancis of Assisi, (1181 – 1225) possibly the best known and loved Saint of all ages and faiths, died as he had lived, a poor man, in love with Christ. To achieve his ambition of knighthood and glory, while still in his teens, Francis fought with the Perugian army, in the attack on Assisi, when Clare, then a very little girl and all her aristocratic family had to flee Assisi for safety. Recovering from his injuries in this enterprise, Francis was led to serve the Creator rather than the creature. The Gospel then came alive for him, and thereafter Francis wanted to hear nothing of any other rule but the undiluted message of the Gospel. It informed all his decisions and for the whole of his life, was the unswerving anchor of his soul. Removing his shoes, he went about preaching the Gospel to one and all. Hearing him preach in the Church of San Rufino 1209, Clare of Assisi was deeply touched and realized her call to follow his admonitions. Thus her vocation began to mature. Francis became for her, “the friend of the Bridegroom”, leading her to love totally, the One who had given Himself totally for love of her.
Jesus Christ here and in all Your Churches throughout the whole world, and we bless You, because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world. God inspired me too, and still inspires me with great faith in priests, because of their dignity. I am determined to reverence, love and honour priests. I do this because in this world, I cannot see the Most High Son of God with my own eyes, except for the most Holy Body and Blood which they receive and they alone administer to others. Above everything, I want this most Holy Sacrament to be honoured and venerated, and reserved in places which are richly ornamented”.
Francis exhorted his followers to have, like himself, great devotion to God’s Church, to His priests and above all, to love and reverence the Eucharist: “God inspired me with such faith in Churches that I used to pray with all simplicity, saying: We adore You Lord A LOOK IN THE +e412ei_print.indd 25
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Francis teaches us profound reverence for Holy Mother Church. Walking barefoot with his twelve companions, from Assisi to Rome, he sought and received approval of his form of life, from the then Holy Father, Innocent III. He never preached anywhere without the prior permission of the local Bishop or Priest. Once when preaching, Francis was challenged about a poor priest, whose life-style left much to be desired and responded by saying that: “For himself, he may be bad, but for me he is always good. He alone can give me the Body and Blood of my Lord Jesus Christ.” Francis was a man of radiant joy, only sin could permit him to be sad. “Go to Confession”, he would say to a gloomy Friar. His exposition on “True Joy”, given to Friar Leo, introduces us into his understanding of the nature of true joy and its discipline. For Francis, non-violence was non-negotiable. Even with his profound reverence for and love of Mother Church, he challenged the wisdom and efficacy of the Crusades. He asked that the Indulgence attached to the Crusades, would be given instead, to anyone visiting the little Church of
Our Lady of the Angels, from mid-day August 1 to mid-night August 2. Thus began the Portiuncula Indulgence, still so popular to-day. Like Blessed John Paul II, he asserted that all conflict can be resolved by mutual prayerful, honest and peaceful dialogue. He himself set out to negotiate with the formidable Sultan of Egypt. He successfully gained admission to the Sultan and talked with him. The Peace Prayer attributed to Francis, manifests his inmost soul and confidence in the power of peace. Indeed he was at peace with all creation. Sister Water and Brother Fire, were his friends, to whom he gave voice, praising the Creator with him. Francis Thomson says of him, that “Though the Saint was sworn to poverty, he did not foreswear beauty, but on the contrary, he discerned through the lamp of beauty, the light of God. Having discerned it, he sang his heart out in praise of it. He saw God in everything and in every situation. He beheld the love of God, reaching out all the time to His creation.” It was in this spirit, that he wrote the “Canticle of the Sun”, a paraphrase of the Canticle of three men in the fiery furnace. Profound was Francis’ love for Our Blessed Lady, “the Virgin made Church”, as he described her. He embraced her with most tender love because, as he said, it was she who made the Lord God our Brother, and
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through her, we found mercy. He made her the advocate of his entire Order, First, Second and Third orders, and placed each one under her wings. It was said that Francis did not so much pray as become prayer. He was so “Catholic”, that in all things he wanted to follow the prayer life of the Church, choosing the Roman Catholic Breviary in preference to any monastic version. Francis exhorts his clerics to say the Office devoutly, not concentrating on the melody of the chants, but rather to be careful that their hearts are in harmony so that their words may be in harmony with their hearts and their hearts with God. So conformed to Our Lord had he become that he was known as the Christ of Umbria. Two years before his death, he was marked with the Sacred Stigmata, thus completing his likeness to His Beloved. On his deathbed, Francis exhorted the Friars:
“Brothers, let us begin now, for up to this, we have done nothing”. He teaches us that our conversion is a matter of beginning again and again, repeatedly, while our stay on earth lasts. His cherished greeting: ”Pax et bonum”, peace and good to all, capture the spirit of the little giant of Assisi. (Small in stature but a giant man of God and spiritual leader.) We ask him to bless you, in words very dear and frequently used by him: “May The Lord bless you and keep you. May He show His face to you and have mercy on you. May He turn His countenance towards you and give you peace. The Lord bless you. Amen”. •
* Contemplative Nuns eschew recognition, their life is hidden, their objective is holiness, the world offers no attractions and the world’s honours offer no interest. So it is that this little article has been written anonymously by a Poor Clare Nun and another Poor Clare has written a second article carried elsewhere in this Mirror.
Place your mind before the mirror of eternity! by St. Clare of Assisi
Place your mind before the mirror of eternity! Place your soul in the brilliance of glory! Place your heart in the figure of the divine substance! And transform your whole being into the image of the Godhead Itself through contemplation! So that you too may feel what His friends feel as they taste the hidden sweetness which God Himself has reserved from the beginning for those who love Him.
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‘St Clare of Assisi, A Chosen Soul from God’ - Bill Evans
T
he beautiful, Italian noblewoman, later known as Saint Clare of Assisi, was born Chiara Offreduccio in Assisi, Italy on July 16, 1194 to wealthy, titled, yet devout Catholic parents who instilled in Clare, from an early age, a love for Our Lord’s Church, the Sacraments and for prayer. When Clare was 15, her parents wished her to marry, but Clare begged for and received a postponement until she was 18. Her plans for life were radically altered that year, however, after a captivating encounter with an itinerant preacher named Francis. The preaching of a simple friar in a rough, brown habit moved Clare to the depth of her soul. On Palm Sunday evening she approached Francis and declared her desire to live a poor, humble life for Jesus. Francis was equally convinced that Clare was a chosen soul from God. With hair cut short and dressed in a black tunic, Francis brought young Clare to the Benedictine nuns near Bastia to prepare for her new life as a Bride of Christ and to await the completion of the church of San Damiano that Francis himself was rebuilding. Clare’s father made an aggressive, but futile effort to remove Clare from the care of the Benedictine sisters. Eventually, Clare was clothed in the rough, brown habit of Francis and moved, along with her sister Agnes, to a convent at San Damiano. Other women were soon inspired to join Clare and became known as the “Poor Ladies”.
These zealous brides of Jesus were indeed poor in material possession; wearing no shoes, eating Bill Evans, Dead no meat, living Theologians Society in a simple house, relying on alms for their needs and keeping silent most of the time. Yet they were spiritually rich and radiated the joy that comes from knowing the Lord Jesus most intimately. Unlike Francis and his friars, Clare’s sisters lived in enclosure (the itinerant life would have been inconceivable for women at the time) but reaped a harvest of grace in their life of labour combined with ardent prayer. Francis directed the order initially, but in 1216, when Clare was only 22, she became abbess of San Damiano. Despite greater responsibility and authority, Clare remained always humble and docile to the will of God. She defended the austere rule of Franciscan life and supported Francis in his work and in his physical need at the end of his life in 1226. After the death of Francis, Clare remained ever vigilant to protect and promote her order. She sought always to imitate the virtue of Francis and refused to ever water down the Franciscan Rule. Her likeness in zeal and faith to Francis ultimately lead to her informal title of “Alter Franciscus” (other Francis). Clare’s joy and fulfil-
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s
ment in a life lived completely for Jesus was evident in her own countenance and through the many letters of support and encouragement sent to her sisters throughout Europe. She endured many years of poor health prior to her death, but continued to embrace the radically joyous Franciscan theology of poverty in imitation of her Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Clare received the beatific vision of her Lord on August 11, 1253 (age 59).
St. Clare of Assisi was canonized by Pope Alexander IV on August 15, 1255. Pope Urban IV changed the name of the Order of Poor Ladies to the Order of Saint Clare in 1263. Her relics rest in the Basilica of Saint Clare in Assisi. Pope Pius XII designated Saint Clare as the patron of television in 1958. The Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) was founded by Mother Angelica, a Poor Clare nun.
‘Canticle of the Sun’ - St Francis of Assisi Most high, all powerful, all good Lord! All praise is yours, all glory, all honour, and all blessing. To you, alone, Most High, do they belong. No mortal lips are worthy to pronounce your name. Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures, especially through my lord Brother Sun,who brings the day; and you give light through him. And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendour! Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness. Be praised, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars; in the heavens you have made them bright, precious and beautiful. Be praised, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air, and clouds and storms, and all the weather, through which you give your creatures sustenance. Be praised, My Lord, through Sister Water; she is very useful, and humble, and precious, and pure.
Be praised, my Lord, through Brother Fire, through whom you brighten the night. He is beautiful and cheerful, and powerful and strong. Be praised, my Lord, through our sister Mother Earth, who feeds us and rules us, and produces various fruits with coloured flowers and herbs. Be praised, my Lord, through those who forgive for love of you; through those who endure sickness and trial. Happy those who endure in peace, for by you, Most High, they will be crowned. Be praised, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death, from whose embrace no living person can escape. Woe to those who die in mortal sin! Happy those she finds doing your most holy will. The second death can do no harm to them. Praise and bless my Lord, and give thanks, and serve him with great humility. Amen
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‘The True Pilgrim Always Walks “with a Swift Pace, a Light Step and Unswerving Feet”’ - A Poor Clare Sister
A
s Poor Clares, we recall our beginnings on Palm Sunday 1212, eight hundred years ago. Born of a noble family St. Clare of Assisi (1194-1253) with “the good things of this world” at her feet turned her back to the world to follow the Poor Jesus and thank him ceaselessly for the gift of her life - “Be praised my Lord for having created me!” Speaking to her soul and writing to Poor Clare sisters of her time and all time, St. Clare encouraged herself and others to walk “with a swift pace, a light step and unswerving feet”. In this she clearly meant responding to God’s call with a strong faith in Jesus Christ and His Divine Providence. For St Clare, all true pilgrims hear the Lord’s call and respond to it joyously, faithfully and emboldened with
oor lare isters
oor lare
of Perpetual Adoration, im
Drumshanbo, Co. Leitr
“God is so near that he couldn’t be closer” Pope Benedict XVI
800 Years of st Communion with Chri and with One Another
800 Years of Communion with Christ and with one Another
Praise be Jesus and Mary
Poor Clare Prayer Cards will be available during the Congress at the ACN stand in the RDS Exhibition Hall.
the love of God by “walking on” briskly, purposively and steadily through this world of temptations and tears. Life’s paths are never easy to follow for all our world is filled with many things that can cause us to falter, to stumble, to doubt and to distrust. St Clare was keenly aware of this and the great difficulties and challenges which life throws up but she also knew that the true pilgrim always walks purposefully, swiftly and lightly over and around life’s “large rocks” which impede, on top of difficult ground where life’s “little pebbles” irritate and through ‘dense thickets’ where darkness attempts to suffocate the light of truth and disorient the pilgrim soul on earth.
Some of St Clare’s travails, her “ups and downs” were harder to deal with than others, notwithstanding these she succeeded to “put down the isters anchor of her soul” in San Damiano in Assisi, the first little church that St. Francis repaired and for which he had a particular affection. Indeed it is was precisely because of St Francis’ particular affection for this little Church that the Poor Clare Collettine Sisters in Simmonscourt adopted the name for St Damians for their Convent when it was founded in 1906. Throughout all her travails, St. Clare’s outstanding gift was her boundless trust in Divine Providence. This was reflected
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Thank you from Aid to the Church in Need Each year thanks to the • Donations • Legacies and • Mass offerings of its benefactors in Ireland and around the world ACN is able to • Provide sustenance and the means of survival for approx. 20,000 priests • Support approx. 18,000 seminarians and religious and • Distribute approx. 1.5 million catechetical books for children in over 170 languages.
Worldwide over 50 million Children’s Bibles have been distributed in more than 170 languages.
Heartfelt thanks for all your prayers and support provided to Christ’s Suffering and Persecuted Church. May the Good Lord continue to bless you and your family, past and present, now and always.
J F Declan Quinn Director Aid to the Church in Need (Ireland) 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. Tel. (01) 837 7516. Email: info@acnirl.org Web: www.acnirl.org (Registered Charity No. 9492). 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.
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in her spirited and sustained refusal to accept any form of regular income, preferring to live by praising the Lord and by faith that her Divine Spouse would provide for her and her community’s material needs. Indeed it was only shortly before her death in 1254 that St Clare and her community received official papal sanction for the rule of her contemplative order and its unyielding commitment to such a form of radical poverty. Throughout all her efforts to establish the “Order of the Poor Ladies”, St Clare drew her enduring strength and deep resolve from her unyielding faith in Jesus Christ, from His words, from His sacraments and from being in close communion with Christ’s mystical body, His church. So it is that 800 years after the foundation of the Poor Clare Sisters, some 18,000 contemplative Poor Clare sisters scattered all around the world continue to be “lights to the world” away from the world’s lights, prayerfully and briskly walking
with light steps and steady feet secure in the knowledge that to those who “seek first the Kingdom of God, all other things will be given besides”.. It is a life of joyful service “in communion with Christ and with one another” to a world in need of prayer, of God’s mercy, His forgiveness and His eternal Love. During the Eucharistic Congress, pilgrims are invited to attend Eucharistic Adoration in St Damian’s, Simmonscourt throughout the day and participate in Vespers at 17:30 each evening. Further information on the Poor Clare Sisters will be available from the Poor Clare Collettine stand in the main Exhibition Hall in the RDS which is being managed on their behalf by Aid to the Church in Need. Poor Clare Collettine, St. Damian’s, Simmonscourt Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 www.pccdamians.ie
What you hold, may you always hold - St. Clare of Assisi What you hold, may you always hold. What you do, may you do and never abandon. But with swift pace, light step, unswerving feet, so that even your steps stir no dust, go forward securely, joyfully, and swiftly, on the path of prudent happiness, believing nothing agreeing with nothing which would dissuade you from this resolution or which would place a stumbling block for you on the way, so that you may offer your vows to the Most High in the pursuit of that perfection to which the Spirit of the Lord has called you.
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oor lare isters
of Perpetual Adoration, Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim
“God is so near that he couldn’t be closer” Pope Benedict XVI 800 Years of Communion with Christ and with One Another
“God is near God knows us God is waiting for us in Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Let us not leave him waiting in vain!” Pope Benedict XVI
What is God asking of you?
Poor Clare Sisters of Perpetual Adoration Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim
www.poor-clares.com/drumshanbo
Need, Love and Thanks – Your Letters Listening to their hearts Each time we read the Mirror we are moved into helping, even though in a small way, with our donation. The need is immense but the work your organisation does always moves us into taking time to look into our hearts and responding this way. So together we wish to send our donation of $2000. Half of the amount should be used for the support of priests in Eastern Europe and the Third World. May God continue to bless the wonderful work of your organisation and we pledge our continued support and prayers. A family in Australia To shelter them from the cold I was moved by the account in the Mirror of the Poor Clares in Uruguay and I am sending you 80 Euros. I had intended to save up the money, but this cold winter has hit the poorest of the poor particularly hard. The sisters are needed in their country and must not be allowed to fall ill because of the cold. I am always delighted to receive my copy of the Mirror. A benefactress in Germany To shelter them from the cold I wanted to write and thank you very much for sending the Nativity figures hand-carved from olive wood, which I recently received. They are so beautiful and will have pride of place every Christmas – I will treasure them forever. Aid to the Church in Need does so much good and the need is so great. I am happy to support this most worthwhile organisation whenever I am able to and can also assure you of my prayers. May God Bless you all. A benefactress in Australia
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