MIRROR 04 16

Aid to the Church in Need

MIRROR GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE

Cuan Mhuire 1966-2016

Holding up Jesus to the World The Medicine of Mercy

HOLDING UP JESUS TO THE WORLD

Aid to the Church in Need

MIRROR GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE

CONTENTS PAGE Hold up Jesus to the World.................................... J F Declan Quinn...............................1 Missionaries of love................................................... Fr. Martin Barta..................................2 Holding up Jesus to the World.............................. Fr. Michael Shields ...........................4 Personal encounter is decisive.............................. Cardinal Robert Sarah......................7 The war against evil.................................................. Cardinal Robert Sarah......................8 Good news in the prisons....................................................................................................9 Prophets of love: The smiling face of God................................................................... 10 A field hospital of joy, of hope and of love.................................................................... 12 Taking the Gospel to all nations...................................................................................... 14 The root of all evangelisation.................................. Pope Francis................................... 16 The impossible things that are............................... Regis Martin.................................... 20 Living their faith openly once more................................................................................. 24 The medicine of mercy and proclaiming the joy of the Gospel................................................................................... 26 God is always with us............................................... 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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HOLD UP JESUS TO THE WORLD A chairde, s Christians, Pope Francis reminds us that we are required to be Missionary Disciples, which is to say we are required to follow and to lead, to follow Christ and to lead others to Him.

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Taking care of ourselves, (i.e. following Christ), and taking care others, (i.e. bringing others to Christ) is perhaps not a wholly inaccurate way of defining what it means to be a Christian, a ‘Missionary Disciple’ or in the words of Pope Benedict XVI, a ‘Missionary of Joy’.

Indeed the pastoral mission of the Church could perhaps be summarised as helping each of us take care of ourselves, (body and soul), and helping us take care of others, (body and soul), through the undertaking of temporal and spiritual works of Mercy.

Perhaps it is not an over-simplification to define pastoral care, as Christocentric activity that helps us take better care of our own souls and the souls of others as long as we recognise that we are unlikely to be able to address the spiritual needs of our neighbour should we choose to ignore his/ her temporal needs. With justification it has been said that ‘hunger has no ears’.

With equal justification it could be said that feeding the body i.e. tending only to our temporal/material needs and the tempo-

ral/material needs of others and not feeding the soul has no sense.

Quite simply we cannot survive for long without Hope and Joy in our lives.

For this reason I consider it reasonable to view the pastoral mission of the Church and the pastoral mission which has been entrusted to every baptised Christian (of whatever age and ability) abilities as proclaiming by word and works the Joy of the Gospel and the Hope that is founded upon Faith in Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, who through His Holy Church continues to dwell amongst us.

As Christians, everyday let us find little ways to bring real Hope and lasting Joy to all we encounter. Let us in the words of Fr. Michael Shields, Aid to the Church in Need’s Evangelist-at-large, ‘Hold up Jesus to the World’.

Beir Beannacht

J F Declan Quinn Director, Aid to the Church in Need (Ire)

YEAR OF MERCY

8th December 2015 - 20th November 2016

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MISSIONARIES OF LOVE Dear Friends, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. 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 behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ (Mt 28:18-20).

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ith these, His last words before His Ascension, the risen Lord asserts His absolute sovereignty over all mankind and all ages.

By the power of this authority He sends out His disciples. The divine commission to baptise all nations and proclaim the Gospel not only applies to Church but to each one of us.

from all earthly things; instead He is established by God the Father as the Head of the Church (Eph 1:22). He is living in her through the Sacraments, the Eucharist, His Word, His Spirit.

We should not shrink away in fear from Christ’s Spirit in the Church, as it provides the answer to the deepest longings of the human heart. That is why anyone who witnesses to Christ must first be filled with the Holy Spirit.

It is this that enables him to love Christ and to follow all that He has taught.

We can all be Missionaries of Love!

But can the Church embody such a universal missionary authority to the political powers, cultures and religions of this world without appearing presumptious and arrogant? It is because of her world-embracing and time-transcending mission that she is so often reviled and attacked.

The risen Christ is Lord of all, the Ruler of the universe. But He is no otherwordly ‘cosmic Christ’, raised up and detached 2

Love of Christ is the heart of the Church and the power that sustains her universal, or ‘catholic’ mission. Without love, the Church would cease to be Church and would indeed be simply an arrogant and power-hungry human enterprise. Only because Our Lord is with us always can we dare to take on this seemingly impossible universal mission. whose roots are hidden in simple works of mercy.

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We are taught this especially by Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church and Patroness of the Missions: ‘I cannot perform amazing works.

I can neither preach the Gospel nor shed my blood. But what does that matter? Others are labouring in my place...

And I love them. Yet how will I express my love, so that it is demonstrated through works? I have no other way of proving my love to Jesus than by strewing flowers. That means that I will allow no little sacrifice, no glance, no word to escape me, so that I can draw good from even the smallest things by doing them with love’ ear Friends, little sacrifices, little things… in this sense we can all be Missionaries of Love – and then our faith in Jesus will indeed spread to the ends of the Earth.

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With my grateful blessing on you all,

Father Martin M. Barta, Spiritual Assistant Ascension of Our Lord into Heaven.

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HOLDING UP JESUS TO THE WORLD Fr. Michael Shields, ACN Evangelist-at-large, Siberia

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love to travel as a priest and when I travel I always wear my habit or a cassock so I am recognised.

Because of this I have participated in so many exceptional encounters and conversations that would have never happened were I not seen to be a priest.

I have prayed with the dying and sick, heard confessions of people who have not been in church for years. I have counselled and consoled. I even had a small prayer meeting with a few stewardesses who were Christian right there in galley. It was tremendous.

Fr. Michael Shields, ACN Evangelist-at-large.

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I jokingly say that I see many conversions right there as I walk down the aisle of an aeroplane looking for my seat because I can see the fear in the eyes of many people who are quietly praying ‘Please God don’t let that religious fanatic sit next to me!’

The conversations themselves are very varied, sometimes they are superficial, at other times deep and personal. Occasionally I have some lively discussions about the Faith and the Church and these most often arise from among people who are serious about their faith and seek answers.

I admire a good Baptist or Evangelical who can focus on the Scriptures and knows who is Jesus. Indeed I wish that more Catholics could be more clear about the treasure of their faith. Of course there are some who want to save my soul and with whom it is difficult to dialogue. In such cases I usually suggest that we pray the Rosary together and that ends any further discussion.

When travelling I always carry my Bible, breviary and a Bible ‘cheat sheet’. This latter is a biblical reference sheet to practically all of the questions that someone has about the Catholic Church. Here it has been my experience that people usually repeat the same misconceptions that their pastor was taught and his pastor before him. Therefore I am never surprised to hear the accusation that ‘Catholics worship idols!’

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That of course is as untruthful as the accusation that ‘Catholics worship Mary.’

The truth is that no Catholic worships anyone but God, ‘We revere and respect The Mother of God. If Mary had not freely chosen to be the Mother of Jesus, and said “I will be the handmaid of the Lord”, Jesus would not have been born and our souls could not be saved. Are we wrong to respect and revere The Mother of Our Saviour?’ nother accusation that I frequently hear is that ‘The Catholic Church killed millions of people in The Inquisition.’ To which I respond, ‘The Inquisition lasted over 350 years. In those three and a half centuries, 3,500 people were killed, usually by Civil Authorities.’

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Another accusation is ‘You Catholics aren’t allowed to read The Bible.’ I say look, every priest encourages others to read the Bible and I know this because I am a priest! Moreover the Church encourages the faithful to read and reflect upon the Bible and here I point out that ‘Catholics have a more biblically-based service than the vast majority of Evangelical Churches as we have four Bible readings at every Sunday Mass. In fact the Holy Mass is permeated with Scripture quotes and Gospel truths.’

In my conversation I have also heard the assertion that ‘The Catholic Church was invented by the Emperor Constantine in 350 AD.’ Here of course the historical record is clear, Emperor Constantine joined

The Last Supper.

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The Catholic Church three hundred years after the first Pope had moved it to Rome, where it grew despite it being persecuted.

Typically in these discussions the salvation question arises. Do you know Jesus personally and have you received Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Now if you think that is ‘a Protestant thing’ and not for us Catholic then you are deeply mistaken. Let us hear the words of Pope Benedict XVI ‘It is necessary to enter into a real friendship with Jesus in a personal relationship with him and not to know who Jesus is only from others or from books, but to live an ever deeper, truly personal relationship with Jesus where we begin to understand what he is asking of us...’ o what’s the answer? The answer is that I have been saved, I’m being saved, and I have the hope that I will be saved, while I work out my salvation with fear and trembling, like St. Paul.

In other words, according to the Bible, ‘being saved’ is not a one time event, but rather, an ongoing process.

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Here then I suggest to my conversation partner that s/he thinks of the salvation journey as an aeroplane trip, ‘I have been on the aeroplane since I first got on (Baptism), I am now travelling on the aeroplane (enduring the sufferings of life for Christ), and I will be on the aeroplane when it lands at my final destination (death and heaven)!’

I love to speak about the gift of the Holy Eucharist using Jesus’ own words (Gospel 6

of St. John Chapter 6) which are radical and clear. ‘We Catholics by receiving Holy Communion obey Jesus’ clear instruction “If you do not eat My Body and drink My Blood you do not have life in you”.’

At every Catholic Mass since The Last Supper, bread and wine become The Body and Blood of Christ. We know, and obey, He Who Fulfilled the Prophecies.

So it is that we Catholics have such a personal relationship with Him that we receive His Body and Blood at each re-presentation of The Last Supper. Can you imagine at every Mass we have His life in us!

So I travel and I love it. I love the Lord and I love His bride, the Catholic Church and want others to find Him and Her. I guess as a priest I have only one real duty.

I felt it once as I celebrated the Eucharist.

I was holding up His body and blood. And I realise that is what I am to do always. I am to hold up Jesus to the world.

• In airports, in aeroplanes, in cramped seats, always and everywhere...

Let us give praise to the Lord.

Let His light shine forth Let our witness radiate His Joy and give comfort to all we meet on our pilgrimage through this valley of tears.

Fr. Michael Shields

Aid to the Church in Need

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PERSONAL ENCOUNTER IS DECISIVE Cardinal Robert Sarah

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hen we observe today the many deficiencies of faith, the eclipse of the sense of God and of man, the lack of real familiarity with the teaching of Jesus Christ, the detachment of some countries from their Christian roots, and what Saint Pope John Paul II called ‘silent apostasy’, it is urgent to think about a new evangelisation. This movement presupposes that we go beyond mere theoretical knowledge of the Word of God; we must rediscover personal contact with Jesus.

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It is important to give individuals the opportunity for the experience of close encounters with Christ. Without such a heart-to-heart conversation, we are fooling ourselves if we think that people will follow the Son of God in the long term.

The importance of this personal experience reminds me of a saying of the Desert Fathers that left a deep impression on me during my biblical studies in Jerusalem.

Tr a n s l a t e d from Coptic, it expresses the importance of the indispensable interior life in being a Christian:

‘One monk met another and asked him: “Why do so many abandon the monastic life? Why?” The other monk replied: Monastic life is like a dog chasing a rabbit. It runs after the rabbit, barking; many other dogs, hearing the bark, join it, and they all run together after the rabbit.

But after a while, all the dogs that run without seeing the rabbit wonder: Where are we going? Why are we running? They become tired, get lost, and stop running, one after the other. Only the dogs that see the rabbit continue to pursue it to the end, until they catch it’.

The moral of the story is: Only those whose eyes are fixed on the person of Christ on the Cross persevere to the end.

Many circumstances and deep motives, or the people around us, may have led us to follow Jesus. Then comes the moment of maturity, when only our personal experience of Christ guides us. This personal encounter • is decisive for the rest of our life.

1 Adapted and edited from Cardinal Robert Sarah ‘God or Nothing – A Conversation on Faith’ Ignatius Press 2015 P.144-145

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THE WAR AGAINST EVIL

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ith the utmost vigor, Saint John solemnly proclaims: ‘What we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked upon and touched with our hands, what we have contemplated, we proclaim also to you’ (cf.1 Jn 1:1). We cannot say who Christ is by means of intellectual concepts: what is needed is an experience that is both spiritual and ‘physical’ at the same time.

‘Having faith does not mean having no difficulties, but having the strength to face them, knowing we are not alone.’

Cardinal Robert Sarah2

Of course, the catechism for children and theology for seminarians are phases of basic apprenticeship. Therefore, to prepare for the new evangelisation, Saint Pope John Paul II decided to issue a Catechism of the Catholic Church, entrusting the project to Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) as editor-in-chief.

The entire doctrine of the Church is found in this document. And we have an urgent obligation, says Saint Athanasius, to study ‘the ancient tradition, teaching, and faith of the Catholic Church, which was revealed by the Lord, proclaimed by the apostles, and guarded by the Fathers. For upon this faith the Church is built, and if anyone were to lapse from it, he would no longer be a Christian either in fact or in name’.

But the Faith is strengthened by way of the heart, through a personal encounter with and experience of Jesus. Every day we must again choose Christ as our guide, our light, and our hope. Baptism demands some sort of daily actualisation.

I am not afraid to recall that spiritual combat is first of all a war against the • evil that is within us.

2 Adapted and edited from Cardinal Robert Sarah ‘God or Nothing – A Conversation on Faith’ Ignatius Press 2015 P147.

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GOOD NEWS IN THE PRISONS ‘There is no place that the Mercy of God cannot reach, no place and no one that it cannot touch.’ ope Francis spoke these words to the inmates of Ciudad Juarez prison, in Mexico, in February 2006.

Without help from outside, it is unusual for prisoners to find their way to a new beginning and to inner conversion. They need something; they need tangible signs of love, they need to be able to turn their eyes to the Lord, in a chapel, in the Bible.

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You are making this possible in a number of different prisons. For example in Livingstone, Zambia, where you have supplied 120 Bibles

for Father Roman, the prison chaplain. Or in Maua, Kenya, where you are helping Father Jediel to build a chapel dedicated to Saint Jude, the patron saint of lost causes. Or again in Mbeya, Tanzania, where you have provided Father Innocent with the money for prayer books and hymn books, Bibles, catechisms, videos and other study books for the 150 prisoners there.

After serving their time, some of these inmates want, and are able, to show their gratitude, by serving the Church as trained lay catechists. The ways and workings of the Good News know no frontiers. They are the ways of mercy.

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PROPHETS OF LOVE: THE SMILING FACE OF GOD ‘Someone who suffered the greatest pain and experienced (so to speak) hell can become a prophet in society’.

Pope Francis. n many prisons the inmates do indeed experience hell. Many are left to languish behind bars without trial, in inhuman conditions – overcrowded cells, rubbing shoulders with hardened criminals, drinking from half-filled tin cups in sweltering tropical heat.

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In Miarinarivo, in Madagascar, the sisters of the Congregation of the Immaculate Conception of Niort visit them. Many of the prisoners cannot read; they signed the indictment against them with a thumbprint, without even understanding the charge.

In the prison school – learning basic literacy.

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One particularly tragic case is that of Agnes. Her husband was murdered. After the funeral, a member of his family came to Agnes with a written document, telling her they knew who the murderer was.

Agnes need only sign the document, they said, to show she supported the case. She ‘signed’ with her thumbprint. In fact it was a fake confession, stating that she had murdered her husband herself. She was brought to trial and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for murder.

The sisters have taken care of her little daughter Lucie, along with other children whose mothers are also in prison. Thanks to the sisters, Lucie can now go to school and live a relatively normal life. Despite this family tragedy, she will still know what love is.

Others have been imprisoned simply for taking a piece of bread to save themselves and their families from starvation. They were caught and dragged before the courts. Now the sisters bring bread for them, and for others – and the Word of God. They also help to bring peace and reconciliation with their families, as many families in Madagascar simply want nothing to do with them after prison.

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ome 60 years ago, when their congregation first came to Madagascar, the sisters made their home in what was already then an ancient house. It has constantly needed repairs. Now the tornadoes and gales have done their work and it is close to collapsing; it needs to be completely rebuilt – which is too much for the sisters.

Thanks to the sisters, Lucie has escaped an uncertain future.

Happy now and close to Jesus.

The sisters also care for orphaned children and young abandoned street girls, give them schooling and provide care for the homeless. They have been working in this thorn-filled vineyard for many years now.

And yet they need a place of prayer and community in order to gather strength for their difficult work and continue to be prophets of love, so that Lucie and the other children can see the smiling face of God. ACN have • promised to help them.

Devoting their lives to the needy – the tireless sisters of Miarinarivo.

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A FIELD HOSPITAL OF JOY, OF HOPE AND OF LOVE. ‘I see clearly, that the thing the Church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. I see the Church as a field hospital after battle.’

ather Andrés Jaramillo has made these words of Pope Francis very much his own, and in Girardota, in Colombia, after the decades of civil war, he has established a fraternity that is intended as a ‘field hospital’ for wounded souls. The Brotherhood of the Sacred Heart aims to be a place of refuge and consolation for the despairing, the wounded, the lost and those overwhelmed by spiritual suffering.

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There are centres and resources available for many other groups – the elderly, the children, the war victims, the poor, the homeless and refugees. But for ordinary people in spiritual need there are none.

It might be a young student, a housewife, a manager, an office worker... any one of us in fact.

Lola Lopez, who had lost her only daughter, felt utterly broken, torn apart, annihilated. ‘I simply couldn’t stop weeping. I forgot to eat, to sleep, to live.’ Father Andrés and his community invited her to spend some time with them, to pray and talk. ‘They didn’t ask questions, they didn’t demand anything. They took me by the arm and smiled at me.’

They help the spiritually struggling back onto their feet.

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Eventually Lola got back on her feet. ‘Love has overcome death’, she says. ‘This love without measure, selfless and undemanding, this is what healed my wounds.’

We must learn before we can teach – meeting again in the catechetical centre.

There are many other Lolas. Now the fraternity wants to build a house, a mother house for many such field hospitals in the future, both within and outside Colombia.

We have promised funding for the ground floor. It will represent the first stage of the ‘field hospital of the Good News’, a field • hospital of joy, of hope and of love.

TEACH THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THAT I HAVE COMMANDED. ‘A book for every pupil, a Bible for every catechumen’ – this is the goal of the Missionary Brothers of Saint Paul in the Democratic Republic of Congo. hree quarters of the people in the diocese of Kisantu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, are Catholics. Yet Christian schoolbooks, Bibles and catechisms are hard to come by, since there are no bookshops. In any case, the 30 parishes and the schools are scattered in towns and villages.

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Many of the roads and tracks are almost impassable, owing to the deep sand and mud. So the missionary brothers are taking books to the pupils and their teachers wherever they are. But without

Treasured possession – school children with books in Kisantu.

a jeep they cannot do it. ACN is helping them with a donation so that there will be no obstacle to the spread of the Good News.

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TAKING THE GOSPEL TO ALL NATIONS

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he Latin word movere has a double meaning: to move, and to motivate, or set in motion. And your love does just that – it sets motors running, pedals turning, wheels rolling – to the very ends of the Earth.

At 13,000 feet (4000 m), high up in the Andes, where most of us would be gasping for breath, the missionary sisters of Mother Laura Montoya (the Lauritas, or Missionaries of the Immaculate Virgin Mary and Saint Catherine of Siena) go visiting the indigenous Indians. They journey on foot, since the paths are steep and difficult in this poor diocese of Abancay in Peru.

In the past they travelled on horses or mules when they had heavy loads to carry.

Most of the indigenous peoples live in small, far-flung hamlets. There is a public bus service that sets off between 2 and 4 a.m., and the Sisters are happy to make use of it, but this only runs twice a week and only to specific, central locations. And the Sisters simply cannot visit everyone on their mission journeys.

But Jesus ordered his disciples to go out to all nations – and that includes the Indians high up in the Andes. Fortunately, there are some tracks – not proper roads, but driveable – leading through the steep mountain slopes and valleys. With a vehicle the Lauritas could indeed visit ‘all the peoples’ at this particular ‘end’ of the earth. Then the seed of God’s Word

Painstaking and time-consuming – the walk back down into the valley.

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a sturdy 30-seater minibus.

The ones in the country are not cheap, but the import duty and the blatant corruption in the port of Lagos would make an imported vehicle still dearer.

We must learn before we can teach – meeting again in the catechetical centre.

could fall more often upon this mountain soil. The shining example of the sisters and their work helping with education and health care are already preparing the soil and making it fertile. We have promised them a more modern form of a mule – a four-wheel-drive Suzuki.

Archbishop Kaigama has made a significant contribution towards the cost of the bus, but he can not afford any more. He places great importance on the catechetical centre, not least as it is a beacon for the dignity of women – in a region where Islamists are trampling on that dignity.

We have promised to help subsidise the remainder for the bus and for the work of the catechists. The Gospel of Christ must know no boundaries, encompassing both human dignity and the truth of the Word.

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jeep alone is no longer enough for the team of female catechists in Jos, Nigeria, however. Ten years ago we gave them a pickup truck. But now it is getting unreliable, and in any case it can only carry five people. These women have done wonderful missionary work, and the female catechists’ centre – a rarity in itself – has flourished.

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Women from 43 different parishes now take part in the two-year training programmes at the centre, which is around 25 miles (40 km) from Jos. What they need now is

No way without the bike – a catechist on the way to ‘his’ villages in Mozambique.

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THE ROOT OF ALL EVANGELISATION POPE BENEDICT XVI3

t is the duty of the Church to proclaim always and everywhere the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He, the first and supreme evangeliser, commanded the Apostles on the day of his Ascension to the Father: ‘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’ (Mt 28:19-20).

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Faithful to this mandate, the Church, a people chosen by God to declare His wonderful deeds (cf. 1 Peter 2:9), ever since she received the gift of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (cf. Acts 2:14), has never tired of making known to the whole world the beauty of the Gospel as she preaches Jesus Christ, true God and true man, the same ‘yesterday and today and for ever’ (Heb 13:8), who, by His death and Resurrection, brought us salvation and fulfilled the promise made of old.

Hence the mission of evangelisation, a continuation of the work desired by the Lord Jesus, is necessary for the Church: it cannot be overlooked; it is an expression of her very nature.

In the course of history, this mission has taken on new forms and employed new strategies according to different places, situations, and historical periods. In our own time, it has been particularly challenged by an abandonment of the faith, a phenomenon progressively more manifest in societies and cultures which for centuries seemed to be permeated by the Gospel.

The social changes we have witnessed in recent decades have a long and complex history, and they have profoundly altered our way of looking at the world. We need only think of the many advances in science and tech-

nology,

the expanding possibilities with regard to

life and individual freedom,

the profound changes in the economic

sphere, and

the mixing of races and cultures caused

by global-scale migration and an increasing interdependence of peoples.

3 Adapted from Pope Benedict XVI, Apostolic Letter, UBICUMQUE ET SEMPER, establishing the Pontifical Council for promoting the New Evangelisation, 21 September, 2010.

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All of this has not been without consequences on the religious dimension of human life as well. If on the one hand humanity has derived undeniable benefits from these changes, and the Church has drawn from them further incentives for bearing witness to the hope that is within her4, on the other hand there has been a troubling loss of the sense of the sacred, which has even called into question foundations once deemed unshakeable such as faith in a provident creator God, the revelation of Jesus Christ as the one

Saviour, and

a common understanding of basic

human experiences: i.e., birth, death, life in a family, and reference to a natural moral law.

ven though some consider these things a kind of liberation, there soon follows an awareness that an interior desert results whenever the human being, wishing to be the sole architect of his nature and destiny, finds himself deprived of that which is the very foundation of all things.

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The Second Vatican Council already included among its central topics the question of the relationship between the Church and the modern world. In view of this conciliar teaching, my predecessors reflected further on the need to find adequate ways to help the people of our time to hear the living and eternal Word of the Lord.

With foresight, Blessed Pope Paul VI noted that the task of evangelisation... ‘as a result of the frequent situations of de-Christianisation in our day, also proves equally necessary for innumerable people who have been baptised but who live quite outside Christian life, for simple people who have a certain faith but an imperfect knowledge of the foundations of that faith, for intellectuals who feel the need to know Jesus Christ in a light different from the instruction they received as children, and for many others’5 Moreover, having in mind those distant from the faith, he added that the evangelising action of the Church ‘must constantly seek the proper means and language for presenting, or representing, to them God’s revelation and faith in Jesus Christ’.6 Saint Pope John Paul II made this urgent task a central point of his far-reaching Magisterial teaching, referring to it as the ‘new evangelisation,’ which he systematically explored in depth on numerous occasions, a task that still bears upon the Church today, particularly in regions Christianised long ago.

Although this task directly concerns the Church’s way of relating ad extra, it nevertheless presupposes first of all a constant interior renewal, a continuous passing, so to speak, from evangelised to evangelising.

4 cf. 1 Pt 3:15 5 Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, n. 52 6 ibid., n. 56

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It is enough to recall what was affirmed in the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici: ‘Whole countries and nations where religion and the Christian life were formerly flourishing and capable of fostering a viable and working community of faith, are now put to a hard test, and in some cases, are even undergoing a radical transformation, as a result of a constant spreading of an indifference to religion, of secularism and atheism. This particularly concerns countries and nations of the so-called First World, in which economic well-being and consumerism, even if coexistent with a tragic situation of poverty and misery, inspires and sustains a life lived “as if God did not exist”.

This indifference to religion and the practice of religion devoid of true meaning in the face of life’s very serious problems, are not less worrying and upsetting when compared with declared atheism. Sometimes the Christian faith as well, while maintaining some of the externals of its tradition and rituals, tends to be separated from those moments of human existence which have the most significance, such as, birth, suffering and death [...]’.

‘On the other hand, in other regions or nations many vital traditions of piety and popular forms of Christian religion are still conserved; but today this moral and spiritual patrimony runs the risk of being dispersed under the impact of a multiplicity of processes, including secularisation and the spread of sects. Only a re-evangelisation can assure the growth of a clear and deep faith, and serve to make these traditions a force for authentic freedom’.

‘Without doubt a mending of the Christian fabric of society is urgently needed in all parts of the world. But for this to come about what is needed is to first remake the Christian fabric of the ecclesial community itself present in these countries and nations’.7

7 Christifideles Laici n. 34

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aking my own the concerns of my venerable Predecessors, I consider it opportune to offer appropriate responses so that the entire Church, allowing herself to be regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit, may present herself to the contemporary world with a missionary impulse in order to promote the new evangelisation.

Above all, this pertains to Churches of ancient origin, which live in different situations and have different needs, and therefore require different types of motivation for evangelisation: in certain territories, in fact, despite the

spread of secularisation, Christian practice still thrives and shows itself deeply rooted in the soul of entire populations;

in other regions, however, there is a

clearly a distancing of society from the faith in every respect, together with a weaker ecclesial fabric, even if not without elements of liveliness that the Spirit never fails to awaken;

we also sadly know of some areas that

have almost completely abandoned the Christian religion, where the light of the faith is entrusted to the witness of small communities: these lands, which need a renewed first proclamation of the Gospel, seem particularly resistant to many aspects of the Christian message.

This variety of situations demands careful discernment; to speak of a ‘new evangeli-

sation’ does not in fact mean that a single formula should be developed that would hold the same for all circumstances. And yet it is not difficult to see that what all the Churches living in traditionally Christian territories need is a renewed missionary impulse, an expression of a new, generous openness to the gift of grace.

Indeed we cannot forget that the first task will always be to make ourselves docile to the freely given action of the Spirit of the Risen One who accompanies all who are heralds of the Gospel and opens the hearts of those who listen.

To proclaim fruitfully the Word of the Gospel one is first asked to have a profound experience of God. As I stated in my first Encyclical Deus Caritas Est: ‘Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction’.8 Likewise, at the root of all evangelisation lies not a human plan of expansion, but rather the desire to share the inestimable gift that God has wished to give us, making us sharers in His own life. •

8 Deus Caritas Est n.1

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THE IMPOSSIBLE THINGS THAT ARE REGIS MARTIN

hen our children were very young I would often tell them the story of young Henry, whose mother had wisely packed him a sandwich and apple before sending him and his little dog off to explore a distant and dangerous world.

His travels took them as far as the backyard where, encircled by adventures both strange and sedate, the doughty traveller sat down to eat his lunch.

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Mr. G.K. Chesterton would have heartily approved. ‘What could be more delightful,’ he asks in Orthodoxy, ‘than to have in the same few minutes all the fascinating terrors of going abroad combined with all the humane security of coming home again?’

G.K. Chesterton.

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It is the question we were born to face.

Indeed, Chesterton wrote his book to try and find an answer to that very question.

‘How can we contrive to be at once astonished at the world and yet at home in it? How can this world give us at once the fascination of a strange town and the comfort and honour of being our own town?’ Solve that one, he says, and you’ve satisfied a very deep drive within the human heart, which is at once to lay hold of ‘this double spiritual need, the need for that mixture of the familiar and the unfamiliar which Christendom has rightly named romance.’

It was the precise predicament, by the way, that possessed that fabled English yachtsman who, as Chesterton explains on the very first page of his book, ‘slightly miscalculated his course and discovered England under the impression that it was a new island in the South Seas.’ And lest the reader think the man was an idiot, Chesterton is quick to point out that it was the best possible mistake to have made. ‘What could be more glorious,’ he exclaims, ‘than to brace one’s self up to discover New South Wales and then realise, with a gush of happy tears, that it was really Old South Wales.’

Wasn’t this exactly the sort of romance in which dear Saint Joseph found himself immersed? Awakened in the middle of the night by the wonder of an angel bidding him

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to welcome a strange child, who has suddenly come into this world to secure a kingdom for His heavenly father—what possible summons could there be greater or more amazing than that? ‘Do not be afraid,’ he is told, ‘to take Mary your wife into your home,’ even as her mysterious pregnancy has moved him to make an end of their home. ‘For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.’

What an icebreaker! Who wouldn’t crack under the pressure of an injunction as portentous as that? And what does the simple carpenter man do? On waking the next morning, we are matter-of-factly told

by Matthew in his gospel, ‘he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home’ (1:18:24). o ensure the safety of each, in other words, Joseph must make provision for both. Such an extraordinary invitation! And, if true, try and imagine a mere mortal being given such a mission. To harbour the Lord of history, no less, in one’s own home. Entrusted with the Son of God, and His divine Mother, could there be a domestic arrangement more sacredly terrifying?

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And yet the whole thing is set down in circumstances so outwardly ordinary that it quite strains credulity to think that it is all for the sake of giving God space in which to grow as an actual human being. That 21

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amid the familiar scenes of first century Palestine, set against the usual contingencies of hunger and cold, suffering and death, the Uncreated Absolute decides to pitch His tent.

It makes me think of a long-ago conversation between Luigi Giussani and his great friend Enrico Manfredini, when the two of them were rushing down the stairs, late for chapel. Something happened along the way, says Giussani, that caused him to shudder.

‘All at once, Manfredini took me by the arm and stopped me; I don’t know, but I looked him in the face and he said these exact words to me… “To think that God became man is something out of this world!” Then I walked on and he went ahead of me. The heart of that classmate of mine was full of emotion at the greatest announcement that ever rang out in this world.’

And, really, what could be greater? If the world were to have been vouchsafed a message like that, a communication so stupendous, would that not change everything? And while his friend races down the stairs, faster than before, the young Giussani shouts after him, ‘It is something out of this world, in this world!’ t is as if God were to say, first to Mary, then to Joseph, and then, finally, to each of us: ‘Look here, my children; if you’re willing to see the grace in all this grit—which, by the way, is the only way you’ll ever succeed in getting the glory—then why not get busy and take me in? You won’t regret it. In fact, never was a tale told by anyone as tremendous, as stupefying, as the one I am about to tell you. A story, in fact, in which I, the divine teller of the tale, appear as both hero and victim. Stay tuned…’

I

Only God could tell a story like that.

Mechtilde of Hackeborn (1240-1298), a Benedictine Nun, was believed to have heard these astonishing words from Jesus:

Like the news that God chose to live among us and will never leave us alone.

That in stooping so low, he wishes to raise us up to share a life of limitless joy and peace and unceasing love.

Behold, says Chesterton, ‘the impossible • things that are.’

‘I tell you the truth that I am very pleased when men trustingly expect great things from me.’

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Read Pope Francis’

AMORIS LÆTITIA on acnireland.org

AMORIS LÆTITIA T H E J OY O F LOV E

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HOLDING UP JESUS TO THE WORLD

LIVING THEIR FAITH OPENLY ONCE MORE he history of Christianity in Kosovo goes all the way back to the Apostle Paul. In his Letter to the Romans (Rom 15:19) he writes that during his travels he has proclaimed the Gospel to the people of this region.

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History has not always been kind to the Kosovans; they have suffered persecution, oppression, expulsion. But many remained faithful to Christ throughout the centuries, even during the worst times of the Ottoman Empire, and again later under the communists. Today the Catholic Church in Kosovo has around 66,800 faithful, 57 priests and 87 religious sisters in its 24 parishes.

‘Crypto-Catholics’ no longer – Bishop Dodë with young Kosovans.

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Bishop Dodë Gjergi knows many of them personally. He has observed a very special form of the new evangelisation here. ‘It is a re-Christianisation’, he says.

‘For many people were once baptised, and now they want to publicly return and openly profess their Catholic faith. It is not that they are leaving Islam behind them, but rather they realise that they were never truly Muslims. But only now can they openly say this.’

During the centuries of oppression, the majority of Kosovo Albanians were pressured to outwardly convert to Islam. All that was required of them was to publicly recite the first sura of the Koran. Yet within their own homes many of them secretly continued to practise their Catholic faith, clinging to the hope that one day they would once again be able to publicly pray the Our Father and openly attend Holy Mass. They are known as ‘crypto-Catholics’.

Now they want to bring their hidden religious practice out of the twilight of history and into the daylight. This hidden religious life has forged a particular characteristic of the national identity in Kosovo, in their special understanding of religious freedom and tolerance. But during the war of independence a more radical strand of Islam

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was introduced, promoted

by Saudi Arabia, which is now leading to new tensions.

‘I am with you always, until the end of the age.’ Easter Mass in Pristina, Kosovo.

lessed Mother Teresa embodied this tradition of tolerance and love of neighbour. As a young woman on the threshold of life changing decisions, she came to the shrine of Our Lady of Letnica in Kosovo. ‘We want to raise awareness of her message of love and tolerance’, says Bishop Dodë. ‘We see all men as our brothers, including those who see the world differently.’

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In the face of the refugee crisis in the Balkans, his words do not just apply to the Kosovans.

This is bringing new challenges to the impoverished Church in Kosovo – and ACN is standing by the Church in her mission.

•

EvangElii gaudi um ThE Joy of ThE gospEl

EvangElii gaud ium ThE Joy of ThE gospEl

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is a Pontifical Foundation.

Each year thanks to the Donations, Legacies and Mass Offerings of its benefactors 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.

Aid to the Church in Need helping the Church heal the world.

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THE MEDICINE OF MERCY AND PROCLAIMING THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL9

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f the Jubilee Year of Mercy is celebrated authentically it will re-ignite the desire to evangelise. Having encountered God’s infinite mercy every believer will have the desire to share that mercy.

Pope Francis places the call to evangelise at the heart of the Jubilee: ‘The Church is commissioned to announce the mercy of God, the beating heart of the Gospel, which in its own way must penetrate the heart and mind of every person… in the present day as the Church is charged with the task of the new evangelisation, the theme of mercy needs to be proposed again and again with new enthusiasm and renewed pastoral action.’

Before we can witness to mercy we must encounter mercy, we must experience it and we must make it our own. One of the ways in which Pope Francis has explained his own experience of mercy is in the episcopal motto he has chosen.

It consists of a few words from a sermon by the Englishman, St Bede: Miserando atque eligendo – which may be translated as, ‘by 26

gazing at me with the eyes of mercy, he has chosen me.’ These words of St Bede are part of his reflection on the calling of St Matthew: ‘As Jesus was walking on from there he saw a man named Matthew sitting by the customs house, and He said to him, ‘Follow Me’. And he got up and followed Him’ (Matthew 9:9).

That short Gospel passage can throw light on the ways in which we come to an experience of God’s mercy. It begins by saying Jesus ‘saw’ Matthew. Salvation begins by being seen by Jesus, by His turning His merciful eyes toward us. The great Spanish mystic St John of the Cross insists that ‘for God to look is to love’. The look of God toward us is never one of judgment but is always a look of merciful love. Pope Francis writes: ‘It is as if to say that not only in history but for all eternity man will always be under the merciful gaze of the Father’. The merciful gaze of God came to Matthew when Jesus looked upon him and called him.

Feeling the gaze of Christ’s mercy Matthew hears Christ’s words ‘follow Me’ and immediately he gets up and follows Him. The Greek word that we translate as ‘he 9 Adapted and edited from an web article written for and carried under the title of ‘The Church - Witness of Mercy’ on the website of St. Bernadette Catholic Secondary School, Fossedale Avenue, Whitchurch, Bristol, BS14 9LS - http://www.stberns. bristol.sch.uk/page/?title=The+Church+%2D+Witness+of+Mer cy&pid=86

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got up’ is anastasis which literally means he rises. It is the same word that is used in the Gospel for the Resurrection of Jesus. It is a powerful word and teaches us that the call of Jesus completely transforms Matthew.

On hearing the call of Christ he doesn’t just get up from his chair, Matthew rises. We can see in the calling of Matthew the structure of the resurrection: whatever Jesus touches becomes full of new life, is resurrected.

The merciful love of the Father is not just a love which bends down to us, it is a mercy which raises us up. aint Pope John Paul II said that mercy is sometimes misunderstood because it seems to keep us small, to denigrate us. He wrote: ‘we are quick to deduce that mercy belittles the receiver, that it offends the dignity of man.’ The calling of Matthew teaches that the opposite is true, that the mercy of Jesus raises up and restores.

S

After the calling of Matthew Jesus is invited to a dinner: ‘and it happened that a number of tax-collectors and sinners came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples’ (Matthew 9:10). Seeing what Jesus does for Matthew the sinners surround Jesus, they are like bees round a honeypot. They see the change in Matthew and they too want to be raised up and so they crowd around Jesus to share in this rising up and following. They too want to be changed as Matthew was changed - if it can happen to Matthew it can happen to them.

Jesus is criticised for eating and drinking with sinners but there is no easy grace here because Christ’s call always involves following. Jesus quotes the prophet Hosea to his critics and says ‘Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice’ (Matthew 9:13). The mercy of God does not let us off the hook but demands conversion, faith and a change in the direction of our life.

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Each of us is called as Matthew is called. The Lord looks at every disciple with a merciful gaze and He calls each of us to follow Him. Each of us is called to rise up and share in His new life, to allow His eyes to rest upon us, and to hear Him address those words to us individually, ‘Go and learn the meaning of the words: what I want is mercy’. n the Old Testament mercy is an attribute of God. Very rarely is it used to describe human behaviour but Jesus calls us to be ‘merciful even as our heavenly Father is merciful’. (Luke 6:36)

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Our mercy is to be as the Father’s - our own mercy must reflect His mercy. Not a mercy which is condescending and belittling but which raises up and restores. There is a saying that something can be as ‘cold as charity’. Good actions can often feel as if they are carried out from a safe distance or out of a barren duty. This Jubilee of Mercy

reminds us that our love must be as warm as the heart of Jesus.

Pope Francis writes, ‘there is a need therefore for a Church that is capable of rediscovering the womb of mercy.

Without mercy it is scarcely possible today to penetrate into a world of the “injured” who need understanding, forgiveness and love’. We, the Church, are called to be the Body of Christ, His heart of mercy for the world.

If Jesus Christ is the incarnation of mercy then surely every encounter with Him should be an experience of mercy?

How do we make each of the seven sacraments an encounter with God’s mercy?

While the Sacrament of Reconciliation has a pre-eminent place in this Jubilee Year, can we see each of the sacraments as the sign and instrument of God’s redeeming mercy?

In the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist God gives Himself to us completely, makes us more deeply a part of the Church. In these sacraments Christ binds us to Himself in a covenant of merciful love. As the Catechism teaches us, the Sacraments of Marriage and of Holy Orders are the sacraments at the service of communion, building up the Church in love and service. In the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick we are configured to the Passion of Christ who, in His mercy, saved us by His death on the Cross. Can we celebrate each of these sacraments in such a way that

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the merciful love of Christ is made even clearer?

The Holy Father asks us to make a special place for the Sacrament of Reconciliation during the Jubilee. Confession is a privileged time of encounter with God’s mercy. ‘Let us place the Sacrament of Reconciliation at the centre once more in such a way that it will enable people to touch the grandeur of God’s mercy with their own hands’. The whole life of the Church should be the place where we can touch the grandeur of God’s mercy. ‘In our parishes, communities, associations and movements, in a word, wherever there are Christians, everyone should find an oasis of mercy’.

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aving found an oasis of mercy we are called to turn outward. We receive the blessing of God so that we may be a blessing to others; we experience the healing touch of God’s mercy so that we too may be merciful. Mercy is always practical. It always addresses a real person who is in need. It is never a mere idea. The time has come, says Pope Francis, quoting Saint John XXIII, to ‘use the medicine of mercy’.

‘It is my burning desire that, during this Jubilee, the Christian people may reflect on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. It will be a way to reawaken our conscience, too often grown dull in the face of poverty.’

Pope Francis reminds us of the traditional manner in which the Church has spoken of the way we put the teaching of the 29

HOLDING UP JESUS TO THE WORLD

Gospel into action. Rooted in the Gospel he enumerates for us both the seven corporal works of mercy and the seven spiritual works of mercy. These works of mercy can be a useful yardstick for us to discern the depth of our discipleship of Christ. As Pope Francis says: ‘It is Jesus who has introduced these works of mercy to us and by them we can know if we are living as His disciples’.

In order to apply the medicine of mercy we are to: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, heal the sick, visit the imprisoned and bury the dead.

And then Holy Father reminds us that we are not to forget the seven spiritual works of mercy which are to: counsel the doubtful, instruct the ignorant, admonish sinners, comfort the afflicted, forgive offences, bear patiently those

who do us ill and

pray for the living

and the dead.

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The extent to which these spiritual and corporal works of mercy are present in our lives can be the measure of the extent to which we apply ‘the medicine of mercy’ in our relationships with others. n a recent message Pope Francis offered the poet Dante Alighieri as an authentic guide to this Jubilee Year, especially his meditation on heaven and hell – ‘The Divine Comedy’. In that poem the encounter with redeeming love is not just an idea but leads to a profound transformation: it speaks of a merciful love as something active. The poem is deeply imbued in a world-shattering vision of God’s mercy in action, of His redemptive grace saving souls who will accept it.

‘We are able to enrich ourselves with [Dante’s] experience in order to cross the many dark forests still scattered on our earth,’ the Pope said, ‘and to happily complete our pilgrim story, to reach the destination dreamed of and wished for by everyone.

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Dante’s vision is a vision of love, of an allconsuming love that is the prime dynamic of the universe and moves all things in existence; a love that longs to give itself totally to each human soul. That love is the climax of the Divine Comedy and Dante’s journey: the Beatific Vision, the healing sight of what Francis calls the ‘merciful face of God.’ This is at the core of Pope Francis’ Jubilee of Mercy, that we all encounter and witness to ‘the love that moves the sun and all the other stars’.

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GOD IS ALWAYS WITH US Dear Friends, he pictures from Syria and Iraq are shocking. They haunt us.

Many people in Europe are fearful of radical islamists. That is entirely understandable – but not for Christians.

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Jesus said: ‘Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell’ (Mt 10:28).

Nothing and no one can kill the soul that clings fast to Christ. In Him we have the truth and the joyful message that God is always with us. To profess this truth joyfully is our mission, and part of that mission is to support all who are persecuted, especially those suffering now in Syria and Iraq.

More and more frequently I hear of Muslims who are astounded that they are being persecuted by their own fellow Muslims, whereas the Christian ‘infidels’ are behaving quite differently towards them.

Many of them want to know more about this God of Love. We can help them in this. The God of Love has revealed Himself to all men in Christ. As long as we witness to this truth by our lives and by our deeds, we need have no fear that Europe might become Muslim.

Johannes Freiherr Heereman, Executive President of ACN International

WHERE TO SEND YOUR CONTRIBUTION FOR THE CHURCH IN NEED Please use the Freepost envelope.

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Thanks and prayers for a better world I wish to thank ACN for more than 30 years cooperation and for valuable projects undertaken during my time as Bishop. I pray that ACN may continue to successfully contribute to a better world.

A retired bishop, Papua New Guinea Helping for 25 years now I’m sending you a donation to help relieve suffering. For 25 years now I have been working with and praying for ACN. A long standing benefactor in Canada It tugs at my heartstrings Every time I open the MIRROR it tugs at my heart strings and I’m called to donate in my small way – particularly now that so many Christians are suffering and dying as martyrs. Just as the persecuted and forgotten need our prayers and help we too in the selfish and materialistic West need their prayers to save our souls..

A benefactor in Australia For your wonderful work Some students in our school recently held a Children’s Rummage Sale for the missions. They wanted ACN to receive some of the proceeds. Keep up your wonderful work!.

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Dear Friends, As a result of your prayers, your contributions and the works of our project partners throughout the world, we are able to bring the medicine of God’s mercy to millions of poor souls who are suffering in the face of evil.

Thank you for joining with us in our efforts to be Missionaries of Love, Missionaries of Joy and Missionaries of Hope as we struggle together daily to carry the divine light of God’s face to every dark and forgotten corner of our fallen world.

Be assured that God does not forget those who do not forget Him and hold up Jesus to the world.

In Christ,

J F Declan Quinn Director, Aid to the Church in Need (Ire)

WE ARE CALLED TO BE MISSIONARIES OF JOY

‘WE CAN ALL BE MISSIONARIES OF LOVE!’ ACN Spiritual Assistant

The blessings of the mission – Anointing of the Sick in Uganda.

‘A true missionary, who never ceases to be a disciple, knows that Jesus walks with him, speaks to him, breathes with him, works with him.’

Pope Francis, Apostolic Letter Evangelii Gaudium

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MIRROR GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE

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Christian Persecution and Forgiveness

The Ways of Mercy

Merciful like the Father Comfort the afflicted

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Holding up Jesus to the World The Medicine of Mercy

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