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JOY AND THE ART OF LIVING

MIRROR GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE

CONTENTS PAGE Joy and the Art of Living. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J F Declan Quinn.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 On being God’s Family in the World.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fr. Martin Barta. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The Need for Joy in All People’s Hearts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pope Paul VI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Missionaries of Joy are Undeterred by Earthquake. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Discovering the Light in the Darkness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J F Declan Quinn.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 I Cannot But Rejoice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William Cowper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Sustaining the Light in the Darkness.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Promoting a Culture of Peaceful Coexistence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 On Glory and the Cross .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pope Benedict XVI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 A Saint Helps from Heaven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Fighting Evil with Our Lady. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Saint Philip Neri’s Great Joy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fr. Richard John Neuhaus. . . . . . . . . . 24

‘No one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord.’ POPE PAUL VI

Editor: Jürgen Liminski. Publisher: ACN International, Postfach 1209, 61452 Königstein, Germany. De licentia competentis auctoritatis ecclesiasticae. Printed in Ireland - ISSN 0252-2535. www.acninternational.org

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JOY AND THE ART OF LIVING A chairde,

he ‘first word of the New Testament’, says Pope Benedict XVI, ‘is an invitation to joy’. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, he insists, is not a burdensome imposition but is truly ‘glad tidings’ for mankind. Christianity is the key to true and lasting joy, the only joy that abides in the midst of life’s anxieties and difficulties.1 This a truth which the world-renowned German Reformed Theologian, Prof. Juergen Moltmann readily accepts. Writing in 2012 Moltmann declares that Christianity is uniquely a Religion of Joy2 and elsewhere magnificently defines Hope as ‘anticipated Joy.’ One hundred prior in 1912 the great Catholic writer and lay Theologian, G. K. Chesterton in his short book Manalive3 explored this theme of the Joy of Living. And teaching the world how to live life joyfully and authentically is precisely what the Catholic Church seeks to accomplish in all its evangelisation activities. And so it is not by accident that the Pastoral constitution of the Catholic Church is entitled ‘Joy and Hope’ (‘Gaudium et Spes’ 4).

Not by accident did Pope Francis publish an extensive Apostolic Exhortation on ‘The Joy of the Gospel’ (‘Evangelii Gaudium’ 5) at the conclusion of the year of Faith in 2013 and during the first year of his pontificate and Not by accident did Pope Francis five years later publish another Exhortation ‘Rejoice and be Glad’ (‘Gaudete et Exsultate’ 6). Since ‘joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God’ 7 we as Christians have no reason not to be joyful. Indeed we are called to Joy (‘Gaudete in Domino’ 8). Moreover we are called to radiate that Joy in our world, a world which is ever more threatened by Man’s inhumanity to Man. Beir Beannacht

J F Declan Quinn Curator. PS. Reader-friendly versions of the above-cited Papal documents are available to be read at acnireland.org/joy.

1 To read more about Pope Benedict as a Theologian of Joy, see Mgr.Joseph Murray ‘Christ Our Joy, The Theological Vision of Pope Benedict XVI’ Ignatius Press. 2 Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, ‘Christianity: A Religion of Joy’. Presented as a work-in-progress at a Yale Center for Faith & Culture consultation on the topic of ‘Joy & Human Flourishing,’ September 7-8, 2012. Original available at: https://faith.yale.edu/sites/default/files/moltmann_christianity_a_ religion_of_joy.pdf 3 Jordan D. Teti ‘Chesterton and the Joy of Living’. http://www.harvardichthus.org/2005/04/g-k-chesterton-and-the-joy-of-living/. 4 The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, promulgated by Pope Paul VI , December 7, 1965. 5 Pope Francis, Apostolic Letter Evangelii Gaudium, E, The Joy of the Gospel November 24, 2013. 6 Pope Francis, Apostolic Letter Gaudete et Exsultate, On the Call to Holiness in Today’s World March 19, 2018. 7 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. 8 Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation, Gaudete in Domino, On Christian Joy, May 9, 1975.

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JOY AND THE ART OF LIVING

ON BEING GOD’S FAMILY IN THE WORLD Dear Friends, ‘You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house...’ (1 Pet 2:5)

hese words are addressed to us by the first Pope, whom Jesus renamed Petros, Peter, the rock. What is the essence of the Church? It is not merely the buildings where we come together to worship God, even if some of them are very beautiful, nor are its institutions its reason for being. No, God’s grace, which He in his goodness bestows upon us, is the framework that underpins the Church – and its foundation stone is Jesus Himself. It is upon Him that the Holy Spirit establishes His saving work, starting with the Apostles and then by calling individual souls and furnishing them with a variety of gifts and charisms. These gifts are not given as personal posses-

sions, but are there to serve the whole Church community and build up the Kingdom of God. Saint Paul, the Apostle to the Nations, very clearly describes this charismatic structure that lies at the base of the Church: ‘Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit... To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.’ (1 Cor 12:4ff). Every charism carries within itself the mission of building up the Church – these in turn need some form of organisation to effectively serve the community. But the ecclesiastical organisation and its institutions are not an end in themselves. Above all, the Church’s visible structure exists to perform its fundamental charism of charity, or neighbourly love – which is rooted in the love of God. From the very beginning, the Church shared all things in common, according to each one’s needs (see Acts 2:44-45). This reflects the very nature of the Church and it also reflects the charism of ACN – giving in love, and helping all who lack the basic necessities for a dignified life as children of God. In his encyclical Deus Caritas est Pope Benedict XVI explains this fundamental principle of fraternal charity within the Church:

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‘The Church is God’s family in the world. In this family no one ought to go without the necessities of life. Yet at the same time caritas- agape extends beyond the frontiers of the Church. The parable of the Good Samaritan remains as a standard which imposes universal love towards the needy whom we encounter ‘by chance’ (cf. Lk 10:31), whoever they may be. Without in any way detracting from this commandment of universal love, the Church also has a specific responsibility: within the ecclesial family no member should suffer through being in need. The teaching of the Letter to the Galatians is emphatic: ‘So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, and especially to those who are of the household of faith’ (6:10).’ Dear friends, thank you for helping, through ACN, to build up the universal Church. Thank you for your each and every act of charity, filled with the love of God, a love beyond justice, which man has always needed and will always need. My grateful blessing on you all,

Father Martin M. Barta, ACN Ecclesiastical Assistant

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JOY AND THE ART OF LIVING

THE NEED FOR JOY IN ALL PEOPLE’S HEARTS POPE PAUL VI

hristian joy could not be properly praised if one were to remain indifferent to the outward and inward witness that God the Creator renders to Himself in the midst of His creation: ‘And God saw that it was good.’ 10 Raising up man in the setting of a universe that is the work of His power, wisdom and love, and even before manifesting Himself personally according to the mode of revelation, God disposes the mind and heart of His creature to meet joy, at the same time as truth. One should therefore be attentive to the appeal that rises from man’s heart, from the age of wondering childhood to serene old age, as a presentiment of the divine mystery. When he awakens to the world, does not man feel, in addition to the natural desire to understand and take possession of it, the desire to find within it his fulfilment and happiness?

As everyone knows, there are several degrees of this ‘happiness.’ It’s most noble expression is joy, or ‘happiness’ in the strict sense, when man, on the level of his higher faculties, finds his peace and satisfaction in the possession of a known and loved good.11 Thus, man experiences joy when he finds himself in harmony with nature, and especially in the encounter, sharing and communion with other people.12 All the more does he know spiritual joy or happiness when his spirit enters into possession of God, known and loved as the supreme and immutable good. Poets, artists, thinkers, but also ordinary men and women, simply disposed to a certain inner light, have been able and still are able, in the times before Christ and in our own time and among us, to experience something of the joy of God. But how can we ignore the additional fact that joy is always imperfect, fragile and threatened? By a strange paradox, the consciousness of that which, beyond all passing pleasure, would constitute true happiness, also includes 9 Adapted and edited from Pope Paul VI Gaudete in Domino (‘On Christian Joy’) May 9, 1975 10 Gn. 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31. 11 Cf. Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 31, a. 3. 12 Cf. Saint Thomas Aquinas, ibid., II-II, q. 28, aa. 1, 4.

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the certainty that there is no perfect happiness. The experience of finiteness, felt by each generation in its turn, obliges one to acknowledge and to plumb the immense gap that always exists between reality and the desire for the infinite. This paradox, and this difficulty in attaining joy, seems to us particularly acute today. This is the reason for our message. Technological society has succeeded in multiplying the opportunities for pleasure, but it has great difficulty in generating joy. For joy comes from another source. It is spiritual. Money, comfort, hygiene and material security are often not lacking; and yet boredom, depression and sadness unhappily remain the lot of many. These feelings sometimes go as far as anguish and despair, which apparent carefreeness, the frenzies of present good fortune and artificial paradises cannot assuage.

On the contrary, in many regions and sometimes in our midst, the sum of physical and moral sufferings weighs heavily: so many starving people, so many victims of fruitless combats, so many people torn from their homes! These miseries are perhaps not deeper than those of the past but they have taken on a worldwide dimension. They are better known, reported by the mass media—at least as much as the events of good fortune—and they overwhelm people’s minds. Often there seems to be no adequate human solution to them. This situation nevertheless cannot hinder us from speaking about joy and hoping for joy. It is indeed in the midst of their distress that our fellow men need to know joy, to hear its song. We sympathize profoundly with those over whom poverty and sufferings of every sort cast a veil of sadness.

Do people perhaps feel helpless to dominate industrial progress, to plan society in a human way? Does the future perhaps seem too uncertain, human life too threatened? Or is it not perhaps a matter of loneliness, of an unsatisfied thirst for love and for someone’s presence, of an ill-defined emptiness?

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JOY AND THE ART OF LIVING

We are thinking in particular of those who are without means, without help, without friendship—those who see their human hopes annihilated. More than ever they are present in our prayers and our affection. We do not wish to overwhelm anyone. On the contrary, we are looking for the remedies capable of bringing light. In our view, these remedies fall into three categories. People must obviously unite their efforts to secure at least a minimum of relief, well-being, security and justice, necessary for happiness, for the many peoples deprived of them. Such solidarity is already the work of God, it corresponds to Christ’s commandment. Already it secures peace, restores hope, strength,

communion, and gives access to joy, for the one who gives as for the one who receives, for it is more blessed to give than to receive.13 Dear brothers and sons and daughters, how many times do we urge you to prepare a world, one more suitable for living in, to bring about without delay justice and charity for the integral development of all! The conciliar Constitution Gaudium et Spes and numerous pontifical documents have indeed insisted on this point. Even though this is not the theme that we are directly touching upon here, effort should be made not to forget this fundamental duty of love of neighbour, without which it would be unbecoming to speak of joy. 13 Cf. Acts 20:35

‘The most beautiful and natural expressions of joy which I have seen in my life were in poor people who had little to hold on to.’ POPE FRANCIS

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There is also needed a patient effort to teach people, or teach them once more, how to savour in a simple way the many human joys that the Creator places in our path: the elating joy of existence and of life; the joy of chaste and sanctified love; the peaceful joy of nature and silence; the sometimes austere joy of work well done; the joy and satisfaction of duty performed; the transparent joy of purity, service and sharing; the demanding joy of sacrifice. The Christian will be able to purify, complete and sublimate these joys; he will not be able to disdain them. Christian joy presupposes a person capable of natural joy. These natural joys were often used by Christ as a starting point when He proclaimed the kingdom of God. But the theme of our exhortation is situated on still another level. For the problem seems to be, above all, of the spiritual order. It is man— in his soul—who finds himself without the means to take on himself the sufferings and miseries of our time. These sufferings and miseries crush him all the more to the extent that the meaning of life escapes him, that he is no longer sure of himself or of his transcendent calling and destiny.

He has desacralized the universe and now he is desacralizing humanity; he has at times cut the vital link that joined him to God. Hope, and the value of individuals, are no longer sufficiently ensured. God seems to him abstract and useless. Without his being able to express it, God’s silence weighs heavily on him. Yes, cold and darkness are first in the heart of the man who knows sadness. One can speak here of the sadness of non-believers, when the human spirit, created in the image and likeness of God, and therefore instinctively oriented towards Him as its sole and supreme good, remains without knowing Him clearly, without loving Him, and therefore without experiencing the happiness, even though imperfect, that is brought by the knowledge of God and by the certainty of having a link with Him that even death cannot break. Who does not recall the words of Saint Augustine: ‘You have made us for Yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You’? 14 It is therefore by becoming more present to God, by turning away from sin, that man can truly enter into spiritual joy. Without doubt ‘flesh and blood’15 are incapable of this. But Revelation can open up this possibility and grace can bring about this return. Our intention is precisely to invite you to the sources of Christian joy. And how could we do this, without ourselves becoming attentive to God’s plan, listening to the Good News of His love? • 14 Cf. Saint Augustine, Confessions, Book I, 1: CSEL, 33, p. 1. 15 Cf. Mt. 16:17.

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JOY AND THE ART OF LIVING

MISSIONARIES OF JOY UNDETERRED BY THE EARTHQUAKE

he 50 Missionary Sisters of the Poor Clares of the Most Blessed Sacrament are a powerful driving force of mission in the diocese of Cuernavaca in Mexico. For years they drew new strength for their missions through prayer, secure within the walls of their Mother House. They work in kindergartens, schools, hospitals, first-aid posts and leprosy clinics. They teach the catechism to children, young people and adults. They support the spiritual movements, visit the elderly and lonely in their homes and inmates in the prisons. They organise liturgical worship in the villages and prepare people for Confirmation and First Holy Communion. They visit student hostels and go out to places of acute poverty: the railway stations and market places. For the poor and abandoned they are angels of light, sisters, mothers, the living face of love and mercy, Missionaries of Joy

Their mother house was once a place of peace and serenity. But then, on 19 September 2017 at 1 p.m., an earthquake struck Cuernavaca, causing many buildings to collapse. The mother house was also shaken, and large cracks appeared in the walls; instead of offering protection, it was now a danger to life. Part of the building complex had to be demolished, including the retreat house. Many activities have had to be abandoned, including 8

retreat days, catechism classes, counselling and childcare sessions. The sick and elderly sisters had to be moved elsewhere. Since that day, much of the sisters’ energies have had to be invested in the renovation work and fundraising – interrupting their vital work of evangelisation in Cuernavaca. ‘Urge que Cristo reine’ – ‘Make haste, that Christ may reign’, is the motto of the congregation, which is also present in many other countries, including challenging ones like Indonesia and Sierra Leone. But love urges them on. So many souls are waiting for the sisters.

Before the earthquake: but now the chapel needs renovation.

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But they need to rebuild these walls, which once offered protection and a place to recover new strength in silence and seclusion, for their wideranging task of sharing the Joy of the Gospel. The plans for the renovation work have been drawn up, and work has already begun. We share their sense of urgency, and are providing financial assistance to raise new walls for the mother house of the Poor Clares in Cuernavaca.

Ours is not a joy born of having many possessions, but from having encountered a Person: Jesus, in our midst; it is born from knowing that with Him we are never alone, even at difficult moments, even when our lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s journey comes up against problems and obstacles that seem insurmountable, and there are so many of them. POPE FRANCIS

Urged on by love: work has already begun on the new house.

After the earthquake: parts of the convent had to be demolished for safety.

JOY AND THE ART OF LIVING

DISCOVERING THE LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS J F DECLAN QUINN

t was 1945, World War II had drawn to a close, and a young man sat broken inside a POW camp. He had been a reluctant soldier in Hitler’s army and here, inside a prison in Scotland, he had months to contemplate what had been and what was to come. The cities of his homeland had been reduced to rubble and the people impoverished. His sleep was filled with repeating nightmares in which the terrors of warfare were lived over and over. And then came what was for me the worst of all. In September 1945, in camp 22 in Scotland, we were confronted with pictures of Belsen and Auschwitz. They were pinned up in one of the huts, without comment… Slowly and inexorably the truth filtered into our awareness, and we saw ourselves mirrored in the eyes of the Nazi victims.

An unshakeable shame saturated his being and the only future he could see stretching out before him was one that filled him with despair. Yet it was in the midst of this shame and despair that God found him. A visiting chaplain gave the soldier a Bible and, with little else to do, he began reading it. In the Psalms he heard resonant voices, the agony of people who felt God had abandoned them. In the story of Christ crucified he encountered a God who knew what it was to experience suffering, abandonment, and shame. 16 Substantially based upon an original article ‘God’s Love and a German Soldier’ available at http://storiesforpreaching.com/ gods-love-and-a-german-soldier/ Quotations taken from Juergen Moltmann, The Source of Life.The Holy Spirit and the Theology of Life. Fortress Press 1977.

Was this what we had fought for? Had my generation, as the last, been driven to our deaths so that the concentration camp murderers could go on killing, and Hitler could live a few months longer?… The depression over the wartime destruction and a captivity without any apparent end was exacerbated by feelings of profound shame and having to share in this disgrace. That was undoubtedly the hardest thing, a stranglehold that choked us.

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Feeling utterly forsaken himself, the soldier found a friend in the One who cried ‘my God my God why have You forsaken me’. In 1947 the young soldier was given permission to attend a Christian conference that brought together other young people from across the world. The Dutch participants asked to meet with the German POWs who had fought in the Netherlands. The young soldier was one of them. He went to the meeting full of fear, guilt and shame, feelings that intensified as the Dutch Christians spoke of the pain Hitler and his allies had inflicted, of the dread the Gestapo bred in their hearts, of the family and friends they had lost, of the disruption and damage to their communities. Yet the Dutch Christians didn’t speak out of a spirit of vindictiveness, rather they came to offer forgiveness. It was completely unexpected. These Dutch Christians embodied the love the young soldier had read about in

‘We are called to be living sources of water from which others can drink’ POPE FRANCIS

the story of Christ and it turned his life upside down. He discovered despite all that had passed ‘God looked on us with ‘the shining eyes’ of His eternal joy’, that there was light in the world, there was hope for the future. That young soldier was Juergen Moltmann (b. 1926), who would go on to become one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century. Years later, with the message of the loving, crucified God still indelibly printed on his heart, Moltmann would pen these beautiful words. ‘The ultimate reason for our hope is not to be found at all in what we want, wish for and wait for. The ultimate reason is that we are wanted and wished for and waited for. What is it that awaits us? Does anything await us at all, or are we alone? Whenever we base our hope on trust in the divine mystery, we feel deep down in our hearts: there is someone who is waiting for you, who is hoping for you, who believes in you. We are waited for as the prodigal son in the parable is waited for by his father. We are accepted and received, as a mother takes her children into her arms and comforts them. God is our last Hope because we are God’s first Love.’

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JOY AND THE ART OF LIVING

The light of God’s Love overcomes all darkness, it is the foundation of invincible Hope and the cause of authentic Joy. Indeed this Love has been manifested throughout history and perhaps even mostly during the darkest of times. And it is the Love which each of us are being called to make manifest each day in our own way, little ways. For the truth is that as Christians, as people of the Light…

All of us are called reflect God’s presence in the world. All of us are called to be Witnesses to Hope in the world and All of us are called to be Missionaries of Joy to the world. Quite simply we are here on this earth to reflect Christ’s Light in the world and it is precisely by reflecting Christ’s Light and Presence in the world that we overcome the world’s darkness, a darkness which can so easily invade and colonise our souls and the souls of others. •

‘The deepest poverty is the inability of joy, the tediousness of a life considered absurd and contradictory’ POPE BENEDICT XVI

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I Cannot But Rejoice S

ometimes a light surprises The Christian while he sings; It is the Lord who rises With healing on His wings; When comforts are declining, He grants the soul again A season of clear shining, To cheer it after rain. n holy contemplation We sweetly then pursue The theme of God’s salvation, And find it ever new; Set free from present sorrow, We cheerfully can say, E’en let the unknown to-morrow Bring with it what it may!

t can bring with it nothing, But He will bear us through; Who gives the lilies clothing, Will clothe His people too; Beneath the spreading heavens No creature but is fed; And He who feeds the ravens Will give His children bread. hough vine nor fig tree neither Their wonted fruit shall bear, Though all the field should wither, Nor flocks nor herds be there: Yet God the same abiding, His praise shall tune my voice; For, while in Him confiding, I cannot but rejoice.

by William Cowper*

* Originally entitled ‘Joy and Peace in Believing’ by William Cowper (1731-1800).

JOY AND THE ART OF LIVING

SUSTAINING THE LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

ow that the war is over, Marawi Bishop Edwin de la Peña believes the most critical task at hand is to rebuild the peace that the community of Christians and Muslims were working on before ISIS-inspired terrorists wreaked havoc on the Islamic city. Although the Cathedral and the Bishop’s house were destroyed, Bishop de la Peña does not see its rebuilding as a priority when asked about his thoughts on how Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) can help his Prelature. ‘The raison d’être of the prelature has always been to establish dialogue between Christians and Muslims. Marawi has always been the showcase of interreligious harmony here in the Philippines,’ the Bishop said.

Before the war, the Catholic Church in Marawi has made quiet but significant strides in establishing strong ties with the Muslim community. Among the Prelature’s initiatives include renaming the Basic Ecclesial Communities to Basic Human Communities to accommodate Muslim membership in Prelature’s community activities. Bishop de la Peña has also invited several Muslims in the Bishop’s Council. While it is true that the war in Marawi has caused a lot of pain and loss, the Bishop believes it is also important to point out that the conflict has unwittingly revealed some of the gains of the inter-religious dialogue embarked upon by the 17-year old prelature.

Bishop Edwin de la Peña visiting the destroyed Cathdral in Marawi. 14

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To prove his point, the Bishop enumerated how some Muslims sheltered Christians during the siege. Some even taught their Christian neighbours how to recite a Muslim prayer in case they get accosted by terrorists. On the other hand, Christians welcomed and provided emergency relief to the internally-displaced Muslims in adjacent Christian-majority provinces. Before the establishment of the Prelature, Christians and Muslims in Mindanao were engaged in bitter conflict over political and economic disputes. Back then, the Muslims viewed Christian settlers as foreign invaders and land-grabbers. On the other hand, Christians looked down on Muslim minority and many have generalized the latter as barbaric terrorists. ‘The spontaneous expression of compassion during the war shows we were able to overcome these deep-seated biases,’ the Bishop remarked. ACN Secretary General Philipp Ozores, who visited the cleared towns of Marawi confirms the significance of the Prelature’s work. ‘The perception of young Muslims is changing through the work of Bishop de la Peña. We would like to keep supporting the mission of the Prelature,’ said Ozores in an interview. However, despite these inspiring accounts, the Bishop believes emerging threats will add to the existing hurdles facing the mission in Marawi.

For one, the Bishop believes that even though the ISIS-inspired forces have lost the war, other terrorist groups have learned from the Marawi siege that the best way to prolong an armed battle with the government is to get as many hostages as possible, especially Catholic priests and nuns. Asked about the implications of this strategy, the Bishop merely shrugged. ‘We cannot afford security escorts. We just have to be very careful.’ Another serious threat to peace is the culture of tribal wars that could break out among the local clans once the residents realise the extent of damage that has happened to their hometown. The Bishop fears some might seek revenge against the families that cooperated with the terrorists. Finally, there is also the resentment of the Muslim community towards the Philippine military as there is a perception among Muslims that it was the air strikes that caused the most substantial damage to the city. Filipino Muslims are also still harbouring deep-seated resentment coming from a history of government repression when thousands among them were tortured and killed by the Philippine Armed Forces during the Martial Law era in the 70s. Today, Marawi is once again under Martial Law as a result of the siege and the Philippine president has not committed to its lifting despite the conclusion of the battle.

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JOY AND THE ART OF LIVING

It is for these reasons that Bishop de la Peña has asked for the support of the global community of the Catholic Church not to rebuild his cathedral, but to rebuild peace in his Prelature.

The Prelature also seeks to establish a healing centre for many who are traumatized by the wounds of war. The centre will employ a combination of psychological and culturebased approaches to healing and wellness.

The Prelature’s plan is to invite and engage Marawi residents and train them to become ‘peace catalysts.’

These proposals have been received by ACN and ACN has officially become a partner of the Prelature in its post-war campaign and projects for the people of Marawi.

Participants are set to undergo training modules covering peace education, dialogue and inter-faith harmony. Many of these programs are geared toward Muslim teenagers in order to protect them from what the Bishop calls as ‘the persuasive tentacles of extremism.’ Aside from the youth, there will also be peace education lessons and the conduct of theatrebased healing sessions for very young children especially since the Bishop believes the youth are more receptive to stories of peace and harmony among religions.

Despite the many challenges Bishop de la Peña has lofty dreams for his Prelature. The Bishop hopes to have more people helping his programs despite apprehensions that these may lack support given that many of his proposals are intangible. ‘It is easier to ask for support for building infrastructure, but the real foundation of this city must be built in the hearts of its • people,’ said Bishop de la Peña

Jonathan Luciano, Director of ACN Philippines, Marawi Bishop Edwin de la Peña and Philipp Ozores, Secretary General of ACN International.

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GET MORE ONLINE For more on Joy and the Art of Living go to acnireland.org/joy and download reader-friendly versions of... Joy and Hope (Gaudium et spes) Pastoral Constitution of the Catholic Church

Juergen Moltmann

Joy in the Lord

Chesterton and the Art of Living

Pope Paul VI

(Gaudete in Domino)

Christianity as a Religion of Joy

Jordan D. Teti

Our Hearts are made for Joy

Pope Benedict XVI

The Joy of the Gospel Pope Francis

Rejoice and be Glad Pope Francis

(Evangelii Gaudium)

(Gaudete et Exsultate)

acnireland.org/joy

JOY AND THE ART OF LIVING

PROMOTING A CULTURE OF PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE

aint Marcellin Champagnat, the founder of the Marist Brothers, was years ahead of his time. 200 years ago he taught his fellow religious that in his Marist schools all corporal punishment and demeaning treatment of children was to be strictly forbidden. ‘In order to bring up children, you must first love them.’ This one phrase summarised his view of Christian education. And he was thinking of both boys and girls. In a country like Bangladesh this outlook is very modern. For it is a culture in which children only theoretically have the same rights and dignity as adults – and still less so when they belong to sections of society regarded as ‘untouchables’, as ‘unclean’.

This includes ethnic minorities in Bangladesh, who for the most part eke out a precarious living as day labourers on the tea plantations. For 23 kg of picked tea leaves – the most a worker can pick in a day – they receive just 83 Euro cents. Plantation owners routinely ignore the law. Most of the tea pickers are Christians or Hindus, members of the religious minorities. Some 90% of the population are Muslims and 9% Hindus. The half million or so Christians (mostly Catholics) make up barely 0.3%. And so it is these children, both Christians and Hindus, who are to be offered a new spiritual home in the new school run by the Marist Brothers in the diocese of Sylhet.

After sports: a chance to enjoy family communion in Christ.

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A year and a half ago the Marist Brothers first established a school in the northeast of the country. Of the 98 pupils here, 32 are Christians, 43 Hindus and 23 Muslims. Within three years they plan to increase this to 450 pupils, a third of whom will be Christians.

As the numbers grow in the school, so too does the desire to pray before and to the Lord. Not only will Holy Mass be celebrated here, but the Rosary will also be prayed, along with communal Morning and Evening Prayer and instruction in the Catechism.

Three quarters of these children come from the poor families working on the plantations and many are orphans. In Saint Marcellin’s School they find security and love.

The chapel will be the heart of the school, and is intended to be at the same time a spiritual centre for the neighbourhood and provide Sunday Mass for the tea plantation workers – so that all may draw from this wellspring of love.

What the school lacks, however, is a chapel, the Real Presence of the Lord, Source of all love. From this love springs a culture of tolerance, of peaceful coexistence and reciprocal respect, which is another fundamental goal of the school. A culture fostered naturally by sharing in the life of the school.

We have promised funding for the chapel – the • heartfelt wish of the Marist Brothers.

Praying the Rosary together. But what to do when it rains? GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE

JOY AND THE ART OF LIVING

THE PARADOX OF GLORY AND THE CROSS POPE BENEDICT XVI 17

he first Pope’s first encyclical was addressed ‘to the chosen who are exiles of the Dispersion’ ‘eklektois parepidemois’, (cf. 1 Pt 1:1). In it we encounter once again that great Christian paradox of being Christian, the paradox of Glory and of the Cross: of being chosen, but remaining exiles and foreigners.

Chosen: we must be grateful and joyful for this event. God thought of me, He chose me as a Catholic, me, as a messenger of His Gospel, as a priest. In my opinion it is worth reflecting several times on this and coming back to this fact of His choice; He chose me, He wanted me; now I am responding.

Chosen: this was Israel’s title of glory: we are the chosen ones, God chose this small people not because it was more in number — Deuteronomy says — but because he loves it (cf. 7:7-8). We are chosen: St. Peter now transfers this to all the baptized and the very content of the first chapters of his First Letter is that the baptized are admitted to the privileges of Israel, they are the new Israel.

Perhaps today we are tempted to say: we do not want to rejoice at having been chosen, for this would be triumphalism.

Chosen: I think it is worth reflecting on this word. We are chosen. God has always known us, even before our birth, before our conception; God wanted me as a Christian, as a Catholic, he wanted me as a priest. God thought of me, he sought me among millions, among a great many, he saw me and he chose me. It was not for my merits, which were nonexistent, but out of his goodness; he wanted me to be a messenger of His choice, which is also always a mission, above all a mission, and a responsibility for others.

It would be triumphalism to think that God had chosen me because I was so important. This would really be erroneous triumphalism. However, being glad because God wanted me is not triumphalism. Rather, it is gratitude and I think we should re-learn this joy: God wanted me to be born in this way, into a Catholic family, he wanted me to know Jesus from the first. What a gift to be wanted by God so that I could know His face, so that I could know Jesus Christ, the human face of God, the human history of God in this world! Being joyful because He has chosen me to be a Catholic, to be in this Church of His, where subsistit Ecclesia unica; we should rejoice because God has given me this grace, this beauty of knowing the fullness of God’s truth, the joy of His love.

17 Extracted, and edited from the Lectio Divina given by Pope Benedict XVI at the Pontifical Major Roman Seminary on Friday 8 February 2013.

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Chosen: a word of privilege and at the same time of humility. However ‘chosen’ — as I said — is accompanied by the word ‘parepidemois’, exiles, foreigners. As Christians we are dispersed and we are foreigners: we see that Christians are the most persecuted group in the world today, because it does not conform, because it is a stimulus, because it opposes the tendencies to selfishness, to materialism and to all these things. Christians are certainly not only foreigners; we are also Christian nations, we are proud of having contributed to the formation of culture; there is a healthy patriotism, a healthy joy of belonging to a nation that has a great history of culture and of faith.

And it is precisely this that is characteristic of Christians. They all say: ‘But everyone does this, why don’t I?’ No, I don’t, because I want to live in accordance with God. St. Augustine once said: ‘Christians are those who do not have their roots below, like trees, but have their roots above, and they do not live this gravity in the natural downwards gravitation’. Let us pray the Lord that He help us to accept this Mission of Living as exiles, as a minority, in a certain sense, of living as foreigners and yet being responsible for others and, in this way, reinforcing the goodness in our world. •

Yet, as Christians, we are always also foreigners — the destiny of Abraham, described in the Letter to the Hebrews. As Christians we are, even today, also always foreigners. In the work place Christians are a minority, they find themselves in an extraneous situation; it is surprising that a person today can still believe and live like this. This is also part of our life: it is a form of being with the Crucified Christ; this being foreigners, not living in the way that everyone else lives, but living — or at least seeking to live — in accordance with His Word, very differently from what everyone says.

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JOY AND THE ART OF LIVING

A SAINT HELPS FROM HEAVEN

heir parish was scheduled to have been closed – as there were not enough worshippers and there was no money for a new chapel. But the little flock fought back. The faithful kept faith and prayed to Padre Pio, the patron saint of their parish in Zaporyzhzhya, Ukraine. They wanted to be able to go to Confession, attend Holy Mass, hold exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. And their pastors were won over. In 2008 the missionaries of La Salette returned and stayed on. But they still had no chapel – so they converted a room in a house to serve as a temporary chapel – far too small and far too

cramped. Then they bought an old house, a former bakery. It had to be extensively rebuilt, as a ruin is not a fitting house of God. Now the ruin has become a building site. But the parish continues to grow. Moreover, this year is the 50th anniversary of Padre Pio’s death, so the new structure, in which Holy Mass is already being celebrated, needs to become a proper, beautiful chapel by then. Impressed by this small miracle of perseverance, ACN have promised further help. •

Blessed from above: Holy Mass in the chapel of Padre Pio – already full and soon to be fully beautiful.

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FIGHTING EVIL WITH OUR LADY

usevi Hill, in Kitui, Kenya, is where the first Mass in the region was celebrated. A historic spot, today with new Marian significance. This hill is to become a place of pilgrimage to Our Lady. In proposing this, Monsignor Anthony Muheria (bishop of Kitui until 2017) is seeking to achieve a number of different goals. For one thing he wants the diocese to have a spiritual centre, with a retreat house and a convent run by contemplative religious sisters; on the other he wants to combat the ever- growing influence of pagan religions

and superstition – and for this Africa needs visible symbols and buildings. Finally, he can think of no better advocate in these matters than the Mother of God. Our Lady of Musevi Hill will be the Protectress of all 26 parishes and all 80 priests – sons of this land – and of the 240,000 Catholics of this diocese. The Catholic faithful themselves have already raised a significant proportion of the cost. But there is still a gap in the funding which we will help to bridge. •

The shape of things to come: a model of the proposed shrine on Musevi Hill.

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JOY AND THE ART OF LIVING

SAINT PHILIP NERI’S GREAT JOY FR. RICHARD JOHN NEUHAUS18

t. Paul’s counselled the Philippians: ‘Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice.’ St. Philip Neri (1515-1595) took St. Paul at his word. ‘Allegramente! Allegramente!’ he regularly urged his companions, inviting them to ‘be of good cheer.’ The accounts of Philip depict a person and a piety of exuberance. Some thought his exuberance excessive. In fact, one of the many biographies is titled The Fire of Joy. Fire warms and illuminates, but fire can also destroy, as in the burning of the withered branches in the Gospel for St. Philip’s feast day. St. Philip Neri’s fire of joy did not destroy; it was not uncontrolled or undirected. He did not rejoice in rejoicing. Nor was rejoicing a mandate, a thing to be forced. St. Paul does

not command but invites us to ‘Rejoice in the Lord always.’ Note that the invitation is to rejoice in the Lord. The fire of joy is not ignited by us and our desire to be joyful, but by the gift of joy that is Christ. There is no greater joy, there can be no greater joy, than Christ. In the words of St. Philip: ‘He who wants something other than Christ, does not know what he wants; He who seeks something other than Christ, does not know what he seeks; He who works for something other than Christ, does not know what he is doing.’ In sum, apart from Christ, we are withered branches that the fire destroys. Rejoice in the Lord always. The fire of joy is not uncontrolled or undirected. The joy of St. Philip comes with a Christocentric premise and Christocentric proviso. Perhaps it is the exuberance of the personal bond of friendship that has his companion Cardinal Baronius praying to Philip: ‘To thee we fly, from thee we seek aid; to thee we give our whole selves unreservedly.’ 18 Edited and adapted from Richard John Neuhaus ‘The secret of St Philip Neri’ https://www.crisismagazine.com/1996/the-secret-ofsaint-philip-neri, 1 September 1996. Fr. Richard John Neuhaus (1936-2009) was a prominent Christian cleric (first as a Lutheran pastor and later as a Roman Catholic priest) and writer. Born in Canada, Neuhaus moved to the United States where he became a naturalized United States citizen. He was the founder and editor of the monthly journal First Things.

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Or maybe it is only the Italian temper in contrast to the Anglo-Saxon. More controlled and directed is Cardinal Newman’s Hymn to St. Philip: ‘Love is his bond, he knows no other fetter, Asks not our all, but takes whate’er we spare him, Willing to draw us on from good to better, As we can bear him.’ We may want to give our whole selves unreservedly, but St. Philip asks not our all. He asks not our all because our all has been claimed by the Christ who claimed him. Philip would not be loved except in Christ and for Christ. Rejoice in the Lord always. St. Philip’s day falls on the eve of Pentecost. The Spirit is given to all but must be appropriated by each. Each of us walks in his own way the path of discipleship, accompanied by Philip and all the saints who are drawing us on ‘from good to better,’ until in us is accomplished the best.

unbridled individualism that we are tempted to forget the importance of that discovery. In its deeply Christianized form, it is the unfolding, many centuries later, of St. Paul’s cry of joy to the Galatians, ‘It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.’ The individual in Christ is what John Paul II calls the ‘acting person.’ Each person is the inviolable meeting point, the nexus, between the transcendent and immanent, between the divine and the human, between contingent freedom and eternal destiny. Friendship in Christ respects the inviolability of the other. The yearning for intimacy is surrendered in obedience to the mystery that is the other. The other is nothing less than the mystery of Christ, who lives in the other and in whom the other lives.

To each Philip offers his help ‘as we can bear him.’ He does not force himself. He and the Oratory he founded make much of friendship. Like a true friend, Philip respects the distinctiveness of the other’s way. As he also asks his friends to respect his way. That is the nature of friendship when friendship is in the One who is the way, the truth, and the life. As with his contemporary Ignatius Loyola, so also with Philip, there is a deep Christianizing of the Renaissance discovery of the individual. We are today so beset by the madnesses of GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE

JOY AND THE ART OF LIVING

To respect the otherness of the other is to respect Christ. When pressed too hard about that innermost meeting with the Lord, St. Philip would respond, Secretum meum mihi— my secret is my own. Christian friendship is marked not by full disclosure, which is never possible in any case, but by the acknowledgment of the mystery that is the other. We may paraphrase St. Philip: ‘He who wants friendship other than in Christ does not know what he wants.’ Friendship in Christ is rejoicing in one another because, together, we rejoice in the Lord. It is not contemplating one another, but, together, contemplating Christ. What Newman calls the ‘fetter’ of love is worn lightly, for it is the fetter of Christ’s Love that sets us free to let the other be. In the Oratory, in all our friendships, in the sacred bond of matrimony, this truth holds. Love keeps its distance even as it draws near; it does not absorb the other or want to

be absorbed by the other, but rejoices in the otherness of the other. Secretum meum mihi: My secret is my own, says the other, and love is glad that it should be so. Philip burned with the fire of joy. He was, says a biographer, larger than life. But that is wrong. Rather, he showed us how large life is. He was aflame with the fire of life. Like the burning bush, he burned and burned and was not consumed. His was a century charged with the grandeur of radical devotion. In the entrance to the Jesuit headquarters in Rome is a striking statue of Ignatius with the motto Ite incendite—‘Go set the world aflame’—his parting words to Francis Xavier. There are different ways of burning and different ways of setting the world aflame. The Oratorian fire is surrounded by playfulness. It is not a matter of playing with fire, but of knowing the fire that we cannot bear. Philip is, in the words of Newman, ‘willing to draw us on

‘The Joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept His offer of Salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. With Christ joy is constantly born anew’ POPE FRANCIS

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from good to better, as we can bear him.’ To bear him is to bear his fire. His fire is the fire of Christ, and the fire of Christ is the Love of God. ‘I have been wounded by Love,’ St. Philip told his friends. The Love of God—His Love for us and ours for Him—is too much to bear. Philip could not fully disclose his experience of Pentecost for it was not his to disclose. The fire—God’s Love for us, God’s Love in us— belongs to God. Philip’s playfulness some took to be frivolity. His friends called him a fool for Christ; others called him simply a fool; and he appeared not to mind which he was thought to be. ‘It seems,’ writes one biographer, ‘he put on his clown’s disguise in order to hide his love.’ Perhaps so. It may have been about hiding his love, hiding his wound. We remember his words, secretum meum mihi—my secret is my own. But I wonder if the clown’s disguise was not intended to disclose that this Love that each must make his own is something that—as St. Paul says of the peace of God in the same passage from Philippians— ‘surpasses all understanding.’ Philip and faithful Philippians know that some things are much too serious to be treated seriously, too solemn for our solemnity. Putting on our serious and solemn best might imply that we understand such things. Before that which surpasses all understanding, we disclose by hiding, speak by silence, and do obeisance in play.

It is not for nothing that the Oratorian tradition has so strongly accented the sacred play that is liturgy. The clown’s disguise, then, is a looking away from the heart of the matter, a kind of hiding that declares that there is a heart of the matter, and that it surpasses all our serious and solemn ways. To the heart of the matter, which is the love that wounds, Philip and the Philippians of the Oratory bear witness by their foolishness. Once again, I expect Newman got it right. ‘Thus [Philip] conducts, by holy paths and pleasant, Innocent souls and sinful souls forgiven, Towards the bright palace, where our God is present, Throned in high heaven.’ ‘Holy paths and pleasant’ are not an alternative way, an easier way, to the bright palace. There is only one way. The One who called St. Philip and the One who calls us called him and calls us to the Way of the Cross. For those who respond to that call, for those who have been wounded by the love of the Crucified, for those who have died with Christ, the worst no longer threatens. Ahead lie holy paths and pleasant, along which, with St. Philip in the lead, they skip and dance in festive procession, singing all the while: ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me!’ ‘Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice.’ •

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JOY AND THE ART OF LIVING

THE JOY OF BEING CATHOLIC... THE LOVING DIFFERENCE

FOR A SON IN NEED

I am very passionate about the loving difference ACN is making all over the world; in particular presently I am very passionate and have been helping, in my own way, the families who are returning to the Nineveh Plains in Iraq. The latest newsletter is absolutely wonderful with regards to all this. I will continue to assist these families as much as I can.

The Euros I am sending you were found by my son. He knows that I support ACN whenever I can and at the same time ask your prayers. He found the money in the street and could actually have done with it himself, since he is unemployed. He also drinks too much and is in danger of becoming alcoholic, and yet his words to me were, ‘Give the money to the people you’re always helping’. Please pray for my son, that Our Lady may give him the strength to overcome his addiction and be able to live in the peace of God.

A benefactor in Australia MOVED AND IMPRESSED BY ACN

A benefactress in Portugal

We are deeply moved by the work of ACN. We admire the enormous range of your work and will continue our monthly support as long as God grants us the grace of life.

FOR THE CHRISTIANS OF THE MIDDLE EAST

A married couple in Belgium

Here is the price of my season ticket to the theatre, as my way of starting Lent with you. United in prayer. A benefactor in France

WHAT THE SAINTS SAY... ‘God is joy, and the joy of living reflects the original joy that God felt in creating us’ SAINT POPE JOHN PAUL II

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...IS OUR WITNESS TO THE WORLD Dear Friends,

hanks to your consistent and sterling support, we have again been able to help for a number of important construction projects with our partners in some of the poorest dioceses around the world, and indeed in many cases have made them possible in the first place. Just as we were happy to announce the joyful news of our help to the religious orders and dioceses who requested our aid, so too we are delighted to be able to convey to you, our generous benefactors, the sincere and profound gratitude of your brothers and sisters in the Faith in those places. Again and again we are reminded of the prayers and sacrifices of our suffering and

needy project partners, which spur us on and give us new strength to continue with our mission. But in addition to the necessary physical infrastructure, it is essential for the spread of the Faith to build with â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;living stonesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; which have knowledge of that Faith. Only those who not only accept the Faith as a gift from God but are also willing to deepen their knowledge of Faith, can take part in the necessary dialogue with other religions. This dialogue takes place not only in the countries where we help but in every place where we are willing to bear witness for Christ and his Church.

Thomas Heine-Geldern, Executive President of ACN International

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WE ARE CALLED TO BE MISSIONARIES OF

‘God’s grace, which He in His goodness bestows upon us, is the framework that underpins the Church.’ ACN Ecclesiastical Assistant

‘We are the living stones of God’s building, profoundly united to Christ who is the keystone and also the one that sustains us… With us when we are together is also the Holy Spirit, who helps us to grow as Church. We are not alone, for we are the People of God: this is the Church!’

Bihar/India: this is where our new church is to be built.

THE MIRROR IS AVAILABLE TO READ AT ACNIRELAND.ORG/MIRROR 18 - 5

General audience, 26 June 2013