Aid to the Church in Need
GO REBUILD MY CHURCH
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At the Heart of Material Poverty is Moral Poverty. At the Heart of Moral Poverty is Spiritual Poverty. Given the great poverty and suffering in the World. The World needs to embrace the Word of God. Be a Missionary of Joy in your family and in the World Join us in praying and giving witness to Christ in our broken world. Our Lord wants your prayers and your help.
Fr. Michael Shields, ACN Evangelist-at-Large, Aid to the Church in Need (Ire)
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Aid to the Church in Need
CONTENTS
PAGE
The New Evangelisation ............................................ J F Declan Quinn................................. 2 The Great Crises in the World ............................... Fr. Martin Barta .................................. 4 The Problem of Evil in the World ........................ Pope Francis ......................................... 6 Without Him nothing is safe .................................. Pope Benedict XVI..............................8 The Crisis of Moral Values ....................................... Pope Benedict XVI........................... 10 Proclaiming the Kingdom of God......................... Pope Benedict XVI........................... 12 Only in Christ ................................................................... Pope Benedict XVI........................... 14 A central element of Evangelisation .................. Pope Benedict XVI........................... 16 Pope Francis and Evangelisation .......................... Regis Martin ..................................... 18 Everyday Evangelisation ............................................................................................................ 22 Prayer powers Evangelisation ................................ Malawi ................................................ 24 The way back to Life ................................................... Brazil .................................................... 26 From Chaos to Glory ................................................... Brazil .................................................... 27 Being present where needed................................. Pastoral Transport .......................... 28 The need for silence.................................................... Argentina ........................................... 29 Helping the sisters help the suffering ............... Ethiopia............................................... 30 You are part of it all ..................................................... Papua New Guinea ....................... 31 The Plight of Christians.............................................. Johannes Freiherr Heereman ..... 32
Editor: JĂźrgen Liminski. Publisher: Kirche in Not / Ostpriesterhilfe, Postfach 1209, 61452 KĂśnigstein, Germany. De licentia competentis auctoritatis ecclesiasticae. Printed in Ireland - ISSN 0252-2535. www.acn-intl.org
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THE NEW EVANGELISATION A chairde,
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arkness threatens us all. Our world is not at peace. Humanity is at war with itself. Our warring world needs God’s loving Word. This was true, yesterday, it is true today and it will be true tomorrow. The Church exists to proclaim God’s Word, to teach mankind what Pope Benedict XVI has called ‘the art of living’: living dignified lives as befits each of us who have been made in the image and likeness of God.
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o evangelise means to teach ‘the art of living’. Sadly many in our world seems hell-bent on perfecting the practice of killing. Inevitably where there is no God, there is no peace; where there is no Christ, there is no Hope.
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o evangelise means to let the light of Christ and the splendour of Truth shine more brightly in our lives and in our world. All over the world, thanks to the spiritual and material contributions of its benefactors Aid to the Church in Need helps many thousands of Catholic shine the light of Christ into the darkest recesses of the human heart and often amidst the most inhumane of conditions.
A LITANY OF HEALING HOPE AND JOY by Fr. Michael Shields, Evangelist-at-Large, Aid to the Church in Need (Ire) Fr Michael's Litany is available to download from our website or upon request (for contact details see back cover).
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heroism of our Catholic sisters and brothers and their efforts to spread the Good News and thereby helping as many as possible learn the art of living as dignified human beings, the way God intended.
Our warring world needs heroic witnesses, Our warring world needs God’s loving Word. For without God there can be no peace And without Christ, there is no Hope. he inconvenient truth is that a world which fails to recognise and value the God-given dignity of every human being is inhumane and self-destructive. This is the world we read about, hear about and see in our mainstream news and in our mass media and while this world exists it is not the full story.
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There is another world where, amidst all the darkness and injustice surrounding them, humble souls are quietly seeking to live better lives out of love of God and their fellow man. Indeed the darker the world becomes, the brighter the light of these witnesses to Hope and to Truth becomes.
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s Aid to the Church in Need it is our privilege to be able to quietly support many thousands of these good souls enlighten our world. It is also a great privilege to be able to share with your through the pages of our Mirror some of the stories of the self-sacrificing
Beir Beannacht
J F Declan Quinn Director, Aid to the Church in Need (Ire) PS. Dear Friends, please continue to remember in your prayers the world’s suffering and persecuted Christians. Please also remember all those who are suffering, spiritually, morally and materially from their lack of faith in the Risen Lord. Finally don’t forget that the Good Lord will reward you for any material help you can provide in the form of legacies, Mass stipends or donations to all those in need of your love. Gb, D.
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THE GREAT CRISES IN THE WORLD Dear Friends,
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t this time of year we are preparing for Pentecost. Pentecost is God’s response to the confusion of language and thought that comes from human pride – as illustrated by the building of the Tower of Babel. Only the spirit of love can overcome this confusion. The great crises that we are increasingly witnessing in the world today are essentially a war of the spirit – the spirit of truth versus the spirit of falsehood. But the meaning of life can only be found in the spirit of truth.
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How tragic and pointless it is when people cannot or will not recognise what is the beautiful, the good and the true. Does this not deprive us of hope too?
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ow can we tell our children and young people that life is worthwhile? That there is any point in enduring the hardships of life, the sacrifice, the suffering and death?
university proMay the Holy Spirit fessor once told All of us need the ultilive in the hearts me that a stumate certainty, the dent had asked him of all nations. inner strength which, about the student riots despite the power of 1968. After the proof evil, inspires the fessor had described the period of the goodness in our souls. unrest and its cultural and religious consequences, the young man said to him, This is brought about by the Holy Spirit. ‘Your generation may well have lost its In the light of the Cross, the Spirit of religion, but my generation has lost its Christ reveals things as they really are, contact with reality. We don’t know in all their meaning. The Cross is the how to assess the value of the simplest fixed point, around which the world is things. We cannot affirm what is good turned upside down. Because the Cross in this world with any certainty and we reveals God’s mercy, and the boundless no longer see the potential for good- Spirit of Love. ness, even in ourselves.’
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hrough the experience of God’s forgiveness, in his loving embrace, we can become spiritually rooted while living in this earthly world. As the Holy Spirit desires not only to enlighten and console us but also to lead us into a new age with a renewed humanity. Every year as Pentecost comes around, we are reminded that the Spirit leads the Church from age to age, taking her deeper and deeper into the fullness of Christ’s truth.
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fter 2,000 years of Christian history the Holy Spirit is closer to us than ever. Yet, just like the apostles in Jerusalem, we must pray fervently with Mary for his outpouring. Jesus Christ, Son of the Father, L ord send now your Spirit over the earth! the Holy Spirit live in the L ethearts of all peoples, that they
may be preserved from degeneration, disaster and war. ay the Lady of All Nations, the Blessed Virgin Mary, be our Advocate.
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AMEN My grateful blessing on you all,
Father Martin M. Barta, Spiritual Assistant 5 +e415ei_print.indd 9
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THE PROBLEM OF EVIL IN THE WORLD by Pope Francis1
ospel parables are short stories which Jesus used to announce the Kingdom of Heaven to the crowds. Among these parables is a rather complex one: it is that of the good grain and the weed, which deals with the problem of evil in the world and calls attention to God’s patience (cf. Mt 13:24-30, 36-43).
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The servants wanted to uproot the weed immediately, but the field owner stopped them, explaining that: ‘in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them’ (Mt 13:29). Because we all know that a weed, when it grows, looks very much like good grain, and there is the risk of confusing them.
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he teaching of the parable is twofold. First of all, it tells that the evil in the world comes not from God but from his enemy, the evil one. It is curious that the evil one goes at night to sow weed, in the dark, in confusion; he goes where there is no light to sow weed. This enemy is astute: he sows evil in the middle of good, thus it is impossible for us men to distinctly separate them; but God, in the end, will be able to do so.
he story takes place in a field where the owner sows grain, but during the night his enemy comes and sows weed, a term which in Hebrew derives from the same root as the name ‘Satan’ and which alludes to the concept of division. We all know that the demon is a ‘sower of weed’, one who always seeks to sow division between individuals, families, nations and peoples.
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nd here we arrive at the second theme: the juxtaposition of the impatience of the servants and the patient waiting of the field owner, who represents God. At times we are in a great hurry to judge, to categorise, to put the good here, the bad there.... But remember the prayer of that self-righteous man: ‘God, I thank you that I am good, that I am not like other men, malicious’ (cf. Lk 18:11-12). God, however, knows how to wait. With patience and mercy he gazes into the ‘field’ of life of 1 Adapted from Pope Francis’ Angelus Reflection Sunday 20 July 2014 St. Peter’s Square.
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every person; he sees much better than we do the filth and the evil, but he also sees the seeds of good and waits with trust for them to grow. God is patient, he knows how to wait. This is so beautiful: our God is a patient father, who always waits for us and waits with his heart in hand to welcome us, to forgive us. He always forgives us if we go to him.
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he field owner’s attitude is that of hope grounded in the certainty that evil does not have the first nor the last word. And it is thanks to this patient hope of God that the same weed, which is the malicious heart with so many sins, in the end can become good grain. But be careful: evangelical patience is not indifference to evil; one must not confuse good and evil! In facing weeds in the world
the Lord’s disciple is called to imitate the patience of God, to nourish hope with the support of indestructible trust in the final victory of good, that is, of God. n the end, in fact, evil will be removed and eliminated: at the time of harvest, that is, of judgment, the harvesters will follow the orders of the field owner, separating the weed to burn it (cf. Mt 13:30). On the day of the final harvest, the judge will be Jesus, He who has sown good grain in the world and who himself became the ‘grain of wheat’, who died and rose. In the end we will all be judged by the same measure with which we have judged: the mercy we have shown to others will also be shown to us. •
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THE PARABLE OF WEEDS AMONG THE WHEAT
- Matthew 13:24-302
e put before them another parable:24 ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 27 And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?” 28 He answered, “An enemy has done this.” The slaves said to him, “Then do you want us to go and gather them?” 29 But he replied, “No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 30 Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’
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2 New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993.
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WITHOUT HIM NOTHING IS SAFE by Pope Benedict XVI3
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t first, when God is left out of the picture, everything apparently goes on as before. Mature decisions and the basic structure of life remain in place, even though they have lost their foundations. But, as Nietzsche describes it, once the news really reaches people that ‘God is dead’ and they take it to heart, then everything changes. This is demonstrated today, on the one hand, in the way that science treats human life: man is becoming a technological object while vanishing to an ever greater degree as a human subject, and he has only himself to blame.
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h e n human embryos are artificially ‘cultivated’ so as to have ‘research material’ and to obtain a supply of organs, which then are supposed to benefit other human beings, there is scarcely an outcry, because so few are horrified any more. Progress demands all this, and they really are noble goals: improving the quality of life-at least for who can afford to have recourse to such services.
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ut if man, in his origin and at his very roots, is only an object to himself, if he is ‘produced’ and comes off the production line with selected features and accessories, what on earth is man then supposed to think of man? How should he act toward him? What will be man’s attitude toward man when he can no longer find anything of the divine mystery in the other, but only his own know-how? 3 Adapted from Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (a.k.a. Pope Benedict XVI) April 2000 Preface to the new edition of ‘Introduction to Christianity’ Ignatius Press pp 17-18.
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hat is happening in the ‘high-Tech’ areas of science is reflected wherever the culture, broadly speaking, has managed to tear God out of men’s hearts.
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oday there are places where trafficking in human beings goes on quite openly: a cynical consumption of humanity while society looks on helplessly. For example, organised crime constantly brings women out of Albania on carious pretexts and delivers them to the mainland across the sea as prostitutes, and because there are enough cynics there waiting for such ‘wares’, organised crime becomes more powerful, and those who try to put a stop to it discover that the Hydra of evil keeps growing new heads, no matter how many they may cut off.4 And do we not see everywhere around us, in seemingly orderly neighbourhoods, an increase in violence, which is taken more and more for granted and is becoming more and more reckless? do not want to extend this horror-scenario any farther. But we ought to wonder whether God might not in fact be the genuine reality, the basic prerequisite for any ‘realism’ so that, without him, nothing is safe. •
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4 Editor’s note: Here one can also refer to the tens of thousands of viciously-exploited migrants who are being abandoned to their fates in the waters of the Mediterranean.
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THE CRISIS OF MORAL VALUES by Pope Benedict XVI5
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ver since the Prologue to the Gospel of John, the concept of logos has been at the very centre of our Christian faith in God. Logos signifies reason, meaning, or even ‘word’- a meaning therefore that is Word, that is relationship, that is creative. The God who is Logos guarantees the intelligibility of the world, the intelligibility of our existence, the aptitude of reason to know God6 and the reasonableness of God7, even though His understanding infinitely surpasses ours and to us may so often appear to be darkness. The world comes from reason, and this reason is a Person, is Love-this is what our biblical faith tells us about God. Reason
can speak about God; it must speak about God, or else it cuts itself short.
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ncluded in this is the concept of creation. The world is not just maya, appearance, which we must ultimately leave behind. It is not merely the endless wheel of sufferings, from which we must try to escape. It is something positive. It is good, despite all the evil in it and despite all the sorrow, and it is good to live in it. God, who is the Creator and declares himself in his creation, also gives direction and measure to human action. We are living today in a crisis of moral values (Ethos), which by now is, no longer merely an academic question about the ultimate foundations of ethical theories, but rather an entirely practical matter.
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he news is getting around that moral values cannot be grounded in something else, and the consequences of this view are working themselves out. The published works on the theme of moral values are stacked high and almost toppling over, which, on the one hand, indicates the urgency of the question but, on the other hand, also suggests the prevailing perplexity. 5 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger April 2000 Preface Op.Cit. pp26 -27. 6 die Gottgemassheit der Vernunft. 7 die Vernunftgemassheit Gottes.
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olakowski, in his line of thinking, has very emphatically pointed out that deleting faith in God, however one may try to spin or turn it, ultimately deprives moral values of their grounding. If the world and man do not come from creative intelligence, which stores within itself their measures and plots the path of human existence, then all that is left are traffic rules for human behaviour, which can be discarded or maintained according to their usefulness.
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ll that remains is the calculus of consequence - what is called teleological ethics or proportionalism. But who can really make a judgement beyond the consequences of the present moment? Will not a new
ruling class, then, take hold of the keys to human existence and become the managers of mankind? When dealing with a calculus of consequences, the inviolability of human dignity no longer exists, because nothing is good or bad in itself any more. The problem of moral values is on the order of the day in our time, and it is an item of great urgency. aith in the Logos, the Word in the beginning, understands moral values as responsibility, as a response to the Word, and thus gives them their intelligibility as well as their essential orientation. •
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PROCLAIMING THE KINGDOM OF GOD by Pope Benedict XVI8
n the appeal to conversion the proclamation of the Living God is implicit—as its fundamental condition. Theocentrism is fundamental in the message of Jesus and must also be at the heart of new evangelisation.
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The keyword of the proclamation of Jesus is: the Kingdom of God. But the Kingdom of God is not a thing, a social or political structure, a utopia. The Kingdom of God is God. Kingdom of God means: God exists. God is alive. God is present and acts in the world, in our—in my life. od is not a faraway ‘ultimate cause,’ God is not the ‘great architect’ of deism, who created the machine of the world and is no longer part of it—on the contrary: God is the most present and decisive reality in each and every act of my life, in each and every moment of history.
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etz is right: the unum necessarium to man is God. Everything changes, whether God exists or not. Unfortunately—we Christians also often live as if God did not exist (Etsi Deus non daretur). We live according to the slogan: God does not exist, and if he exists, he does not belong.
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Therefore, evangelisation must, first of all, speak about God, proclaim the only true God: the Creator—the Sanctifier—the Judge9.
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ere too we must keep the practical aspect in mind. God cannot be made known with words alone. One does not really know a person if one knows about this person second-handedly. To proclaim God is to introduce to
In his conference when leaving the University of Münster, the theologian J.B. Metz said some unexpected things for him. … After (a) … long and difficult path, … he tells us: The true problem of our times is the ‘Crisis of God,’ the absence of God, disguised by an empty religiosity. Theology must go back to being truly theology, speaking about and with God. 8 Adapted from Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (a.k.a. Pope Benedict XVI) : Address to Catechists and Religion Teachers, Jubilee of Catechists, 12 December 2000. 9 Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church.
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the relation with God: to teach how to pray. Prayer is faith in action. And only by experiencing life with God does the evidence of His existence appear.
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his is why schools of prayer, communities of prayer, are so important. There is a complementarity between • personal prayer (‘in one’s room,’ alone in front of God’s eyes), • ‘para-liturgical’ prayer in common (‘popular religiosity’) and • liturgical prayer. Yes, the liturgy is, first of all, prayer; its specificity consists in the fact that its primary project is not ourselves (as in private prayer and in popular religiosity), but God himself—the liturgy is actio divina, God acts and we respond to this divine action. Speaking about God and speaking with God must always go together. The proclamation of God is the guide to communion with God in fraternal communion, founded and vivified by Christ. This is why the liturgy (the sacraments) are not a secondary theme next to the preaching of the living God, but the realisation of our relationship with God.
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hile on this subject, may I be allowed to make a general observation on the liturgical question. Our way of celebrating the liturgy is very often too rationalistic. The liturgy becomes teaching, whose criteria is: making ourselves understood—often the consequence of
this is making the mystery a banality,, the prevalence of our words, the repetition of phrases that might seem more accessible and more pleasant for the people. But this is not only a theological error but also a psychological and pastoral one. The wave of esoterism, the spreading of Asian techniques of relaxation and selfemptying demonstrate that something is lacking in our liturgies. It is in our world of today that we are in need of silence, of the super-individual mystery, of beauty.
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he liturgy is not an invention of the celebrating priest or of a group of specialists; the liturgy (the ‘rite’) came about via an organic process throughout the centuries, it bears with it the fruit of the experience of faith of all the generations. Even if the participants do not perhaps understand each single word, they perceive the profound meaning, the presence of the mystery, which transcends all words. The celebrant is not the centre of liturgical action; the celebrant is not in front of the people in his own name—he does not speak by himself or for himself, but in persona Christi. The personal abilities of the celebrant do not count, only his faith counts, by which Christ becomes transparent. ‘He must increase, but I must decrease.’ 10 • 10 John 3:30
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ONLY IN CHRIST by Pope Benedict XVI11 nly in Christ and through Christ does the theme God become truly concrete: Christ is Emmanuel, the God-with-us—the concretisation of the ‘I am,’ the response to Deism.
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Today, the temptation is great to diminish Jesus Christ, the Son of God, into a merely historical Jesus, into a pure man. One does not necessarily deny the divinity of Jesus, but by using certain methods one distils from the Bible a Jesus to our size, a Jesus possible and comprehensible within the parameters of our historiography.
ut this ‘historical Jesus’ is an artefact, the image of his authors rather than the image of the living 12 God . The Christ of faith is not a myth; the so-called ‘historical Jesus’ is a mythological figure, self-invented by various interpreters. The 200 years of history of the ‘historical Jesus’ faithfully reflect the history of philosophies and ideologies of this period.
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(Here)… I would only like to briefly mention (an important aspect of the proclamation of the Saviour)… is the Sequela of Christ—Christ offers himself as the path of my life. Sequela of Christ does not mean: imitating the man Jesus. This type of attempt would necessarily fail—it would be an anachronism.
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he Sequela of Christ has a much higher goal: to be assimilated into Christ, that is to attain union with God. Such a word might sound strange to the ears of modern man. But, in truth, we all thirst for the infinite: for an infinite freedom, for happiness without limits. The entire history of revolutions during the last two centuries can only be explained this way. Drugs can only be explained this way. Man is not satisfied with solutions beneath the level of divinisation. 11 Pope Benedict XVI: Address to Catechists and Religion Teachers, Jubilee of Catechists, 12 December 2000. 12 Cf.2 Corinthians 4:4ff; Colossians 1:15
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But all the roads offered by the ‘serpent’13, that is to say, by mundane knowledge, fail. The only path is communion with Christ, achieved in sacramental life.
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he Sequela of Christ is not a question of morality, but a ‘mysteric’ theme—an ensemble of divine action and our response. Thus, in the theme on the sequela we find the presence of the other centre of Christology, which I wished to mention: the Paschal Mystery—the cross and the Resurrection. In the reconstruction of the ‘historical Jesus,’ usually the theme of the cross is without meaning. • In a bourgeois interpretation it becomes an incident per se evitable, without theological value; • in a revolutionary interpretation it becomes the heroic death of a rebel.
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he truth is quite different. The cross belongs to the divine mystery—it is the expression of His love to the end14. The Sequela of Christ is participation in the cross, uniting oneself to his love, to the transformation of our life, which becomes the birth of the new man, created according to God15. Whoever omits the cross, omits the essence of Christianity.16 • 13 Genesis 3:5 14 John 13:1 15 Cf. Ephesians 4:24 16 Cf. 1 Corinthians 2:2
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A CENTRAL ELEMENT OF EVANGELISATION by Pope Benedict XVI17
oday we must proclaim our faith with new vigour in daily life. Here, I would only like to mention one aspect of the preaching Jesus, which is often omitted today: The proclamation of the Kingdom of God is the proclamation of the God present, the God that knows us, that listens to us; the God that enters into history to do justice. Therefore, this preaching is also the proclamation of justice, the proclamation of our responsibility.
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Man cannot do or avoid doing what he wants to. He will be judged. He must account for things. This certitude is of value both for the powerful as well as the simple ones. Where this is honoured, the limitations of every power in this world
are traced. God renders justice, and only he may ultimately do this.
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e will be able to do this better the more we are able to live under the eyes of God and to communicate the truth of justice to the world. Thus the article of faith in justice, its force in the formation of consciences, is a central theme of the Gospel and is truly good news. It is for all those suffering the injustices of the world and who are looking for justice. This is also how we can understand the connection between the Kingdom of God 17 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger: Address to Catechists and Religion Teachers, Jubilee of Catechists, 12 December 2000.
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and the ‘poor,’ the suffering and all those spoken about in the Beatitudes in the Speech on the Mountain. They are protected by the certainty of judgment, by the certitude, that there is a justice.
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his is the true content of the article on justice, about God as judge: Justice exists. The injustices of the world are not the final word of history. Justice exists. Only whoever does not want there to be justice can oppose this truth. If we seriously consider the judgment and the seriousness of the responsibility for us that emerges from this, we will be able to understand full well the other aspect of this proclamation, that is redemption, the fact that Jesus, in the cross, takes on our sins; God himself, in the passion of the Son, becomes the advocate for us sinners, and thus making penance possible, the hope for the repentant sinner, hope expressed in a marvellous way by the words of St. John: Before God, we will reassure our heart, whatever he reproves us for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything’.18
This can be seen: It isn’t true that faith in eternal life makes earthly life insignificant. To the contrary: only if the measure of our life is eternity, then also this life of ours on earth is great and its value immense. God is not the competitor in our life, but the guarantor of our greatness. This way we return to the starting point: God.
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f we take the Christian message into well-thought-out consideration, we are not speaking about a whole lot of things. In reality, the Christian message is very simple: We speak about God and man, and this way we say everything. • 18 1 John 3:19ff 19 Cf.Matthew 5:6
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od’s goodness is infinite, but we should not diminish this goodness to mawkish affectation without truth. Only by believing in the just judgment of God, only by hungering and thirsting for justice19 will we open up our hearts, our life to divine mercy.
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POPE FRANCIS AND EVANGELISATION by Regis Martin20
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hile it is certainly true that all roads lead to Rome, there is something to be said for all those other roads leading out from Rome. In other words, before we set out on the road to Rome, shouldn’t there be something already in place, in Rome, the gravitational pull of which first radiates out to the world? Only then may it draw the distant and weary traveler back home to Rome. What is the point of a road if it doesn’t go both ways? Cervantes could not have been more mistaken, therefore, when he said: ‘The road is better than the Inn.’ How can that be? Because it is only for the sake of the Inn that you set out upon the road in the first place. Where else does the careworn traveller hope to be if not in the Inn at the end of the journey? 20 Regis Martin is Professor of Theology and Faculty Associate with the Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. May 29, 2013.
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ome is the Inn at the world’s end. And we do not love her, as Chesterton wisely reminded us, because she is great. It is rather because she is loved that she is great. Ah, but in order to be loved she must first be lovely, and thus in her loveliness she goes out in search of other people to love. This is why her immediate impulse must always be to build bridges, not walls. First she goes out in search of the lost sheep, putting down bridges so as to reach them; only later does she throw up walls to surround and protect them from wolves.
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asn’t that been the basic marketing strategy from the beginning? What were the essential marching orders issued by the founder of the Christian religion? To answer that one just take a look at the last two verses of the final chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel: ‘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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age’ (28:19-20). Could Jesus have put it any plainer than that? Why is it, then, that we Catholics seem so strangely, stubbornly resistant to the idea, the injunction actually, to go out and spread the Good News? Almost, it seems, to the point of neurosis. ow can something so central to the teaching of the Gospel become an impediment among those who already believe in the Gospel? (‘Christians who are afraid to build bridges,’ Pope Francis tells us, ‘and prefer to build walls, are Christians who are not sure of their faith, not sure of Jesus Christ.’)
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How very unlike the Apostle Paul, who could not even bring himself to boast about his own preaching since to do so was nothing more than an exigency inscribed in the gospels themselves. ‘Woe to me if I do not evangelise’ (1 Cor 9:16). This, after all, is the job description of anyone who puts on Christ.
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ndeed, the evangelical imperative was a theme so recurrent at Vatican II that an inventory of its appearance reveals more than 200 showings. And, to be sure, no architect of the Council felt its convicting force more so than the future John Paul II, who returned again and again to the necessity of giving it expression. ‘No believer in Christ,’ he resolutely told us in Redemptoris Missio, his 1990 encyclical announcing a new evangelisation, ‘no institution of the Church, can avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all peoples.’
Why then this fear? In hanging fire do we not betray a want of belief, of a faith no longer fired by love? A faith grown cold and anemic cannot survive, much less share its marvels with others. Hardly an appealing face, one would think, to present to a world thirsting for the redemption of Jesus Christ.
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hus to evangelise is not just a task undertaken from time to time; or even most of the time. It is, to put it simply, the Church’s defining identity; it is what she exists for. Faith is only worth having when you give it away. Hasn’t this been the point made again and again by Pope Francis, especially when reflecting on the life and mission of St. Paul? How tireless he has been in sounding this tocsin! For all the hardships and hassles faced by Paul, the Pope tells us, he just kept on going. His courage in addressing the Athenian crowd at the Areopagus, for instance, was that of someone determined to be a ‘builder of bridges’ (a real pontifex). ‘Paul does not say to the Athenians: “This is the encyclopedia of truth. Study this and you have the truth, the truth.” No! The truth does not enter into an encyclopedia. The truth is an encounter—it is a meeting with Supreme Truth: Jesus, the great truth.’
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obody owns this truth, we are told, but when we find ourselves, like Paul, possessed by it, galvanised by its force (‘We receive the truth when we meet it.’), then we are surely obliged to share it with others. In the case of Paul, of course, it was the message he’d been destined from the beginning of time to deliver. However filled with persecution his life became, none of it could dent or diminish that fierce and undaunted spirit.
Yes, the man was a bit of a nuisance. And, yes, he certainly had plenty of attitude. But, Pope Francis adds, he only ‘irritated others because testifying to Jesus Christ makes everyone uncomfortable, it threatens the comfort zones.’ And in order, ‘to move forward, forward, forward … not to take refuge in a quiet place or in cozy structures,’ we need to exhibit ‘that most Christian of attitudes: Apostolic zeal.’ Of this the Apostle Paul had an ample and admirable supply. ‘He was not a man of compromise. No! The truth: forward! The proclamation of Jesus Christ: forward.’
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nd even when it made people think the man was mad—dotty as a doyen of Loonyville—it could not have been an unhealthy thing. Call it an insanity altogether sane and salutary. Otherwise he’d have fallen into a kind of bourgeois Christianity, which makes no demands upon the soul, leaving it prey to an ultimate lethargy. Leaving others to the same fate as well, which equals a failure not only of heroism, but of love. ‘There are backseat Christians,’ the Pope reminds us. ‘Those who are well mannered, who do everything well, but are unable to bring people to the Church through proclamation and Apostolic zeal.’ Their fear of soiling the linen prevents them from going out in search of others, especially along the edges where the dust and the dirt, the muck and the mire are likely to accumulate. Among the poor and the needy, that is, for whom Jesus shed his blood.
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‘We cannot become starched Christians,’ the Pope warns. Not overly fastidious. Like Pilate, in other words, who repeatedly washes his hands lest the evidence of truth leave some ineffaceable stain. The only gentleman in all of Scripture, Nietzsche tells us.
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o not become, says the Pope, ‘too polite, who speak of theology calmly over tea. We have to become courageous Christians and seek out those who are the flesh of Christ.’ Inasmuch as the flesh of Christ includes every human being on the planet, this will require the resources of the Holy Spirit. So let us ask him, the Pope ends by exhorting us, ‘to give us the grace to be annoying when things are too quiet in the Church, the grace to go out to the outskirts of life. The Church has so much need of this! … And if we annoy people, blessed be the Lord. Onwards, as the Lord says to Paul, “take courage.”’
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ut what if we make mistakes, falling flat on our newly apostolic faces? ‘Well, what of it,’ the Pope snaps. ‘Get on with you: if you make a mistake, you get up and go forward: that is the way. Those who do not walk in order not to err, make the more serious mistake.’ •
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EVERYDAY EVANGELISATION21 PREPARING TO EVANGELISE If we wish to introduce people to Jesus, we need to stay close to Him ourselves and make ensure that our own faith is being nurtured. So it is necessary to… • Spend time in prayer daily • Read the Bible daily (for example the Gospel reading for the day) • Receive the Sacraments • Fast periodically • Participate in a small Christian community such as a parish prayer and/ or Bible study group. • Attend events, talks or courses to deepen yourChristian faith • Read Catholic literature: magazines, books, or newspapers EVERYDAY EVANGELISING IN THE HOME • Pray grace before and after meals • Proudly display symbols of our faith in your home and on your person • Celebrate Church feast days, like the Feast of St Peter and St Paul , and your family feast days, like the days of the saints you are named after • Read together from the Bible at least occasionally • Discuss the morality of a TV show, or issues raised by news items.
EVERYDAY EVANGELISATION IN THE WORKPLACE • Transact all business dealings honestly • Respect others’ religious beliefs • Pray before making decisions • Offer to pray for a co-worker who has shared some personal concerns • Be ready to talk about the part Jesus plays in your life, and to be open about your Catholic faith (wear your Ash Wednesday ashes to work for example) • Spend time with co-workers who share your Christian beliefs. • Look for opportunities to pray together
EVERYDAY EVANGELISING IN THE PARISH • Periodically sit in a different place in church and exchange names with those around you • Pray for parish leaders and for each other • Be gracious in the car park • Get involved in events and activities, if only on a small scale • Invite friends who aren’t Catholic to parish events
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EVERYDAY EVANGELISING FOR THOSE EXPERIENCING STRESS • Give ongoing support by offering a listening presence • Send a Mass card or a card of care and concern • Offer to pray with and for the person • Seek out agencies that can support them in their needs EVERYDAY EVANGELISING IN ALL SITUATIONS • Respond with ‘Thank God’ when someone shares good news with you • Wear a cross or other symbol of your faith • Be ready for opportunities to share a story of how God works in your life • Ask people to pray for your intentions • Invite to church those who have no faith community • Make the sign of the cross when dining out • Share a smile and personal greeting • Share with neighbours about your parish • Without being a nuisance or a litter bug, leave religious materials in unexpected places 21 Adapted from, ‘Everyday Evangelising for Everyday Catholics – a practical guide’ produced in 2010 by the Home Mission Desk of the Catholics Bishops Conference of England and Wales. 22 EN 75 23 Luke 12:8
TRUST IN THE HOLY SPIRIT AND BE COURAGEOUS Just as the Holy Spirit empowered the early Church to share the Good News about Jesus, He remains the ‘principal agent of evangelisation,’22 and He will inspire us with the right words at the right time. Don’t get discouraged when challenges come - sometimes we are simply sowing a seed that may not come to fruition until years later. Scatter the seed and leave the rest to God. REMEMBER JESUS IS FAITHFUL Jesus said: ‘If anyone declares himself for me in the presence of human beings, the Son of man will declare Himself for him in the presence of God’s angels.’ 23 •
ENCOURAGE OTHERS IN THE FAITH ACN’s new Faith Cards are now available for distribution in homes, schools and parishes. Please contact us for a FREE supply (for contact details see the back cover).
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PRAYER POWERS EVANGELISATION he arm of the Lord has not grown shorter’, says Archbishop Thomas Luke Msusa of Blantyre, in Malawi, ‘for there are still miracles, even today’. He can speak with authority, as he experienced one himself .
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That was 11 years ago, on the day of his consecration as bishop. Suddenly, his Muslim father knelt before him and asked him for baptism. For many years his father, who was the Imam in his village, had tried to bring his son back to Islam. And for as many years his son had prayed for him in turn. nyone who knows just how much power and authority the father wields in a Muslim family can imagine just how difficult the relation-
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ship of a son with his family had been, ever since he had converted to the Catholic faith as a youth and joined the Montfort Missionaries. They had taken him in when his mother died.
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e was five years old at the time. By the age of 12 he wanted to become a priest. He attended school, studied, took his permanent religious vows, sought his father’s blessing – and received the response, ‘Go to hell! You are destroying our culture.’ Even his sister and his two brothers wanted nothing more to do with him. At the age of 34 he was ordained to the priesthood, and nearly 8 years later he became Bishop of the diocese of Zomba.
Gathering joyfully around their bishop: ‘Today the New Evangelisation also means involving the laity more in spreading the Faith.’
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he young bishop, as he was then, lifted his father to his feet and embraced him silently. Tears flowed. His father said: ‘God has touched me, I want to be baptised.’ So then his son explained that he, the trained Imam, would have to learn the Catholic faith as a catechumen, just as the learned scholar Saul had done 2,000 years before.
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oday his father is baptised – and the rest of the family is as well, because the bishop prayed for them for many long years. And the Imam’s son, who is now Archbishop of the financial metropolis of Blantyre and chairman of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi, is also a key figure in the dialogue with
Muslims and the other religions of the country. Their problems are not with the traditional Muslims of Africa,, but with the fundamentalists from abroad, who threaten the Church with destruction.
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e are supporting Archbishop Thomas with many projects for the New Evangelisation, including support for marriage counselling, the family apostolate and above all the training of catechists. Archbishop Thomas prays a great deal for ACN, as he believes in the power of prayer! •
THE MONTFORT MISSIONARIES
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he Societas Mariae Montfortana, (SMM) was founded by Saint Louis Maria Grignion de Montfort (1673 – 1716), but only began to spread after the death of its founder. Today, with around 1,000 members in 37 different countries, it is one of the smallest missionary congregations. Its spirituality is strongly Marian in character. De Montfort’s great work True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary has been translated into more than 40 different languages.
Archbishop Thomas Msusa, SMM.
The community’s charism is missionary work in its broadest sense. According to its founder, it must draw its prophetic strength from the working of the Holy Spirit and depend entirely on divine Providence.
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FIELD WORK, FISH FARMING AND THE ROSARY... THE WAY BACK TO LIFE
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rug addicts are the outcasts, the wounded victims on the margins. Helping them was always one of Father Werenfried’s major concerns. In Brazil, Father Hans Stapel founded a great movement to help them, the Fazendas, or Farms of Hope. Today they are present in more than ten countries. In the diocese of Pinheiro, Father Joao Luis Mancini has set up a similar initiative and established a ‘Fazenda of Merciful Love’.
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ere 60 young men are trying to overcome their addiction through work – farming fish – and through prayer – particularly the Rosary. God’s grace is at work in them. Even the locals, who initially did not want to see the farm set up in their
area, are supporting the project, now that they have seen its good results.
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ather Joao is like the Good Shepherd, caring day and night for his ‘lost sheep’. He gets the addicts’ families involved, to facilitate their return back home, and also runs another Fazenda of Merciful Love in the neighbouring diocese of Viana.
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similar place for women is also planned, because more and more women – including mothers – are falling into addiction. But they want to come back to life. Now Father Joao’s old car has become unreliable, and he needs a new one for all his many tasks and journeys. We have promised him our support. •
ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO PRAY THE ROSARY ACN’s new Rosary Cards are now available for distribution in homes, schools and parishes.
Singing, prayer and work – on the Fazenda of Merciful Love.
Please contact us for a FREE supply (for contact details see the back cover).
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FROM CHAOS TO GLORY n the midst of the din of life, in the chaos of the streets, in the roughhouse of the football stadiums and the Carnival, at music concerts and other big gatherings you will find the young missionaries of the community Do Caos à Glória (From Chaos to Glory) making known the Good News, both visibly and audibly.
through us’.. They do not want to see the Carnival become an excuse for carnal excesses, the passionate enthusiasm for sport turned to heedless violence, the joy of music leading to idolatry of performers. ‘We counter the modern idolatry with God, the chaos with the ordered beauty of love.’
The community is only 16 years old – and sprang from the work in the favelas and in response to the spiritual poverty of the masses, ‘because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd’ (Mt 9:36). The Spirit blows where he wills, even in the midst of the noise.
he community has attracted considerable interest; but their new members need theoretical and practical formation in theology – and also in dance, theatre, preaching and the new media. This modern form of the New Evangelisation has its own skills that need to be learned.
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hese young missionaries are convinced that ‘God wishes to show forth his love and grace there,
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We have promised them support to provide this formation. •
I am become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some (1 Cor 9:22): The group ‘Do Caos à Glória’, ready to go to work in the football stadium.
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BEING PRESENT WHERE NEEDED
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herever you find the Church lives, you find her on the move. Whether on two wheels or four; with or without a motor; by canoe, by boat, by bus. And it is your loving generosity that keeps her mission of love afloat. Last year you helped with 576 projects to spread the Good News. Once again this year, this Gospel message must be taken across mountain, water and wasteland. Often little is needed – some diesel for an outboard motor, a bicycle in Africa, a moped in Asia, a car in Eastern Europe. n Sierra Leone – devastated last year by the terrible scourge of Ebola – Father Joe Sandy needs an outboard motor, so that he can bring the Sacraments to the parishes of St Patrick and St Ambrose on the Shebro Islands, just off the coast.
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Bringing God to the riverside communities in Alto Solimoes: Without a new outboard motor for their boat, it will not be possible.
In Madagascar they need five motorbikes for five priests, who are looking after outlying parishes far away from their main parish centres – if we did not help, people would not see a priest. In the diocese of Alto Solimoes, in the Amazon region of Brazil, they need two outboard motors for the Capuchin Fathers who minister to more than 60 riverside communities.
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In Ukraine they need a minibus for the seminary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Vorzel, near Kiev. The seminary currently has 37 students living and studying there, who have a burning desire to bring something of the love of Christ to this suffering land. And in Palestine a small car is needed for Father Mansour Mattosha, a Syrian Catholic priest who is struggling to care for his widely scattered flock. •
‘The Lord will send his angel with you…’ (Gen 24.40): Blessing motorcycles for the priests in Madagascar.
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THE NEED FOR SILENCE
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he trees, the flowers, the herbs, they all grow in silence. The stars, the sun, the moon, they all move in silence. Silence gives us a new perspective on things.’ This silence of which Blessed Mother Teresa speaks is the silence one finds before the Tabernacle. Here things happen within the heart – far from the din of the streets, the crowds, the media. This kind of silence is needed by the children from the poverty striken township of La Cabana in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A chapel where they can listen to God. The walls are built; but the roof is needed.
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rugs, violence, sects – every day children are assailed from all sides, while their families, for the most part, struggle to survive. They have come here from the countryside or from abroad. Many depend on social security. 50 years ago, in the midst of this slum area, the Congregation of Jesus and Mary founded a school. Today it has 850 pupils and their religious formation plays a very important role in these children’s lives. But knowledge is one thing, prayer is another.
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he school wants to build its own chapel – which can at the same time be used by everyone in this troubled part of town – so that this knowledge can take root in the hearts of the children. Only through prayer, by seeking God in the silence of His presence can Faith take root. The multipurpose centre, where Holy Mass is currently celebrated, is not suitable for this, since it lacks an atmosphere of prayer and silence. Aid to the Church in Need is helping fund the creation of this sacred space in La Cabana, so that all who come can gain a new perspective on their lives? •
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HELPING THE SISTERS HELP THE SUFFERING
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he Daughters of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception show their love for God through their service of the poor. For them this is an essential part of their charism. This young congregation from India is working in Brazil, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, South Sudan, and Ethiopia too. Three years ago the archbishop of Addis Ababa entrusted St Luke’s hospital to them. For a million people in the area this is the only hospital they have access to. Every day the sisters take in 200 new patients.
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ut the sisters also go out to the people in the villages and the countryside. For 20 miles (50km) round about they go, particularly to women and children, seeing how they live, pray and work. They don’t just
Helping them to discover the infinite love of God. Sister Teresa and her charges in a school in Addis Ababa.
talk with them, they also roll up their sleeves and help. And they also help them to understand their own virtues and talents – as well as the love of God for his people.
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his demands a great deal of time, but also inspires creativity, initiative and leads them to the ‘fullness of humanity’ that is one of the goals of the congregation’s social and pastoral work. For their arduous journey, reaching out to those on the margins and the edge of society, as Pope Francis puts it, the sisters need a car. We have promised them our help to achieve one. •
With your help, and with the blessing of the priest, the Good News is spreading in Samalkha, India.
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YOU ARE PART OF IT ALL
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he sisters have a wonderful rapport with the poor children and for the people who are otherwise forgotten’, writes Bishop Donald Francis Lippert, who is delighted by the work of the Sisters of Mother Teresa in his diocese of Mendi in Papua New Guinea. They visit the inmates in the prisons and go into the hospitals to see the sick; they take care of religious instruction,
and of the elderly. ‘I cannot thank you enough for your generosity and solidarity towards o u r missionary Church in Mendi. Your support makes it possible for the sisters to do their varied work’, continues Bishop Donald (in the photo, standing in his Capuchin habit, in front of the car that was funded thanks to your help). And he adds, your help ‘makes you present here, in our midst. You go with us everywhere.’ •
FR. MICHAEL SHIELDS, JOHN NEWTON & TERRY MURPHY
Strength am d Suffering THE MARTYRS OF MAGADAN
AID TO THE CHURCH IN NEED
FR. MICHAEL SHIELDS, JOHN NEWTON & TERRY MURPHY
Strength am d Suffering
The testimonies of 15 survivors of Stalin’s most brutal gulag. Available to read online at www.acnireland.org
Strength amOF d Suffering THE MARTYRS MAGADAN
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THE PLIGHT OF CHRISTIANS CRIES OUT TO HEAVEN Dear Friends, he Gospel relates the words of Christ: ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me’(Mt 25:40). We do not need to look far to see who these brothers of Christ are. The plight of the Christians in Syria and Iraq cries out to heaven. Will they experience a new Pentecost? Does the Church in the Islamic countries still have a future?
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She will do – provided that we take the words of Saint James to heart: ‘What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?’ (Jas 2:14).
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can only say to Saint James, with gratitude, that these works are there. Once again in 2014, thanks to a continuing increase
in donations, we were able to help many millions of Christians around the world who would otherwise have received no help at all.
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n helping these brothers and sisters of ours to remain in their own country, or to find refuge in a new one; in helping them to retain their identity as Christians and in building bridges of mercy between the Christians of our democratic and wealthy nations on the one hand and the persecuted and oppressed Christians on the other, we continue to carry out the mission of mercy entrusted to us.
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. TEL (01) 837 7516. EMAIL info@acnireland.org WEB www.acnireland.org
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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AN ACT OF LOVE... An act of love I am happy to be able to send you a modest sum. As religious sisters we receive 50 Euros once a year for our own personal use. So, since we already have everything we need, then we can surely help others with it a little also. Oh, if only I could do more to help! But prayer is more important still, by far. I would also like to ask for your prayers, since in the face of so much worldwide need I am sometimes in danger of losing heart. The letters from your readers help me! A religious sister in Germany Sharing his first ever pay packet Enclosed is 50 Euros for ACN. They are for the Christians in Iraq. I am a young adult and I want to share my first wage packet, which I have just received, for this purpose. A young man from Portugal A new life, thanks to you After the devastating earthquake in January 2010 I no longer wanted to live in Haiti. All my dreams were buried beneath the rubble. I had no strength left to hope for a better life. Then ACN helped me to travel to the World Youth Day in Madrid, and this changed my whole life. I saw the enthusiasm for God and was able to hope once more. Today, three years later, I want to thank God and thank you. I know now that God never abandons us, so long as we trust in him and do not lose courage. I have now obtained a diploma and am still studying – and when I have finished, I want to work for the Church. A student from Haiti
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...THANK YOU AMDG
Dear Friends, Thanks to your help we are able to collaborate with thousands of others in bringing the Word of God to millions of souls in need. Our Warring World needs to encounter God’s Loving Word. Thank you for being a Missionary of Joy, a Witness to Hope and a ‘little light’ in the darkness. May the Good Lord continue to bless you and all who are dear to you for the love you are showing to the least of His children. In Christ,
J F Declan Quinn Director, Aid to the Church in Need (Ire)
TO READ THIS AND BACK ISSUES OF THE MIRROR PLEASE VISIT ACNIRELAND.ORG
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Stand firm in the faith, be strong. (1 Cor. 16:13) ‘MAY THE HOLY SPIRIT LIVE IN THE HEARTS OF ALL NATIONS.’ ACN Spiritual Assistant
‘Christian life is not a collage of things. It is a harmonious totality, the work of the Holy Spirit. It renews all things. It renews our hearts, our lives and enables us to live in a different style, which encompasses all things.’
Veni Sancte Spiritus.
Homily during Holy Mass on 6.7.2013 in the Domus Sanctae Marthae.
Aid to the Church in Need
151 St. Mobhi Road, Dublin 9.
01 837 7516 info@acnireland.org www.acnireland.org +e415ei_print.indd 1
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