Aid to the Church in Need
Spiritual Motherhood and The Light of the Faith 13 - 6
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Celebrate the Year of Faith at the
Faith of Our Fathers Conference & Exhibition September 13 - 15 2013 at The Hub, CillÃn Hill, Kilkenny. Opening Mass celebrated by
Bishop Seamus Freeman
FAITH FATHERS OF OUR
CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION S E P T E M B E R 13 - 15 2 013
For more Information call
059 862 7268
FAITH FATHERS OF OUR
CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION S E P T E M B E R 13 - 15 2 013
Supported by
Aid to the Church in Need
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Consecration of Ireland to the Immaculate Heart of Mary 15th August 2013
Feast of the Assumption
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Aid to the Church in Need
Contents
Page
The Genius of Women - Fr. Martin Barta . . . . . . ................................................. 2 Divine Providence - Johannes Freiherr Heereman............................................ 3 The Selfless Service of the Sisters throughout the World - Religious Sisters .. 4 The Mustard Seed on Spice Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ................................................ 5 Wherever The Lord Calls Them - New Community ......................................... 6 The Sisters Share Everything They Have With Them - Thailand .................... 8 Love - Seeking the Good of the Other - Reconciliation ................................ 10 A LOOK IN THE
A chairde - The Great Gift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .............................................. 12 The Great Gift, The Light of Faith - Pope Francis ......................................... 13 Light for the People - Sr. Anne Fitzsimons SMG ............................................. 14 The Church, The Mother of Our Faith - Pope Francis .................................. 16 Bringing the Light of Faith into a World of Darkness - JM Shaw ................. 18 The Unity and Integrity of Faith - Pope Francis............................................ 21 A Note on Carmelite Saints - Eddie Cotter Jr. . .............................................. 24 St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross - Eddie Cotter Jr. .................................... 26 Blessed is She who Believed - Pope Francis . . ............................................... 31 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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Dear Friends, Sometimes, when a young woman chooses to enter a convent, some people tend to assume that ‘maybe she was disappointed in love?’ But the truth is the exact opposite: a young woman who has consciously decided to embrace the consecrated life does so precisely because she has fallen in love – in love with LOVE itself, with God.
possesses back to God, and through this loving and undivided selfgiving to God she restores the sin-scarred human heart to its former beauty. However, not only the consecrated woman religious, but every woman – whether a childless wife, mother of a family, widowed, divorced or single – shares in this vocation of the Virgin Mary as both bride and mother.
This capacity to love in such an intimate and yet selfless manner especially characterises the soul of woman. It is rooted in her capacity to bestow, shelter and nurture the gift of human life. The profoundest Without this personal ‘The profoundest vocation of vocation of woman woman and her sacred ministry holiness of woman, the and her sacred minis- is to embrace this total self-giving holiness of the Church, try is to embrace this the sacramental minisof love and bring forth life.’ total self-giving of love try of the priest, the and bring forth life, teaching office of the both physical and spiritual. Blessed John bishops and of the Pope all remain fruitPaul II speaks of the ‘genius of woman’ and less. Herein lies the true emancipation of of her ‘spiritual motherhood’. woman, not in a so-called ‘equality’ with man. She is an original, not a copy. ‘Men When Satan approached the first woman, and women are complementary’, writes Eve, he sought precisely to attack the Blessed John Paul II. innermost core of the human person, to hinder the transmission of life and to sow Virginity and motherhood, which are the seeds of mistrust in the profoundest the foundation of the unique dignity of depth of the female sensibility. Hence the woman, are not infrequently crudely victory over Satan, and thus over death as denigrated, reduced to the merely biologiwell, was likewise promised to a woman, to cal. Yet it is in these two basic features, of the New Eve, the Immaculata, in her Divine virginity and motherhood, that the true Son. This New Eve, Mary, is the bearer of beauty of woman, her ‘regal service’, is Life. She gives herself and everything she most perfectly expressed. Saint Edith Stein
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explains it this way: ‘Whether a woman lives as a mother in the home, in a conspicuous position in public life, or behind silent convent walls, she must everywhere be the handmaid of the Lord, just as the Mother of God was in all the situations of her life.’ Thank you, dear friends, for making it possible for us, with your help and in spiritual union with so many consecrated women and mothers, to continue our work
Dear Friends, For Christians there is no such thing as chance. Consequently, an unexpected encounter in Rome struck me as a piece of Divine Providence. It was in the Vatican’s Santa Marta guest house, where the Holy Father also lives in one of the sparse, modest apartments. We were lodging there because the Administrative Council of ACN was meeting in Rome. I was walking through the entrance lobby when I saw the Holy Father coming towards me. He was quite alone. After I had recovered from my surprise – although in fact I had been hoping that Providence would grant me such an encounter – I addressed to him the key words in Spanish: ‘Ayuda a la Iglesia que sufre’. ‘Ah, Aid to the Church in Need’, he replied joyfully. I told him that, thanks to the generosity of our benefactors, we can now help
of service both in the Church and for the Church. With my grateful thanks and blessing
Father Martin M. Barta, Spiritual Assistant
the Church still more than before. He looked at me and nodded, and the gratitude shone in his eyes. ‘Pray for me’, he said. ‘Holy Father, we have over 500,000 benefactors praying for you’, I replied. ‘Thank you’ he answered. ‘Pray for me’. It was a thank-you and an instruction at the same time. We need to ponder it in our hearts.
Johannes Freiherr Heereman, Executive President of ACN International
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The Selfless Service of the Sisters throughout the World Many popes have gratefully saluted the apostolate of the women religious who seek to imitate Mary’s work of service. As Pope John Paul II wrote, ‘Putting herself at God’s service, she also put herself at the service of others: a service of love.’ In this selfless service of love the sisters not infrequently reach the limits of their own resources, and then we receive appeals for help from the helpers. From Cameroon Sister Regina asks us ‘to cast a glance of mercy on us’. She is asking our help to support the life and ministry of three religious sisters. Similar requests have come from the 22 sisters in Chisinau, Moldova, and the 49 sisters in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Without our help, they and thousands like them could not continue to offer their service of love to others. In Bulgaria, where the winters can be hard and long, they are also hoping for our support so that they can somehow or other get their heating system repaired, while in the tropical heat of the Democratic Republic of Congo 36 Franciscan
In Bukavu, in the DR Congo, life is better with the Franciscan Sisters around.
sisters are also counting us so that they can go on helping the sick and elderly amid the turmoil of war there. In all this God is their final refuge. ‘To whom shall we go?’ was the question posed at a recent Eucharistic Congress in Germany. Cardinal Joachim Meisner offered an answer: God is there, in the world. ‘In as much as the Risen Christ makes Himself present in the fruit of
Venezuela. Needlework, prayer, making altar breads – and all in the joy of the children of God.
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Kazakhstan. Shovelling snow keeps you warm, but there is so much else to do!
human labour, in the Eucharistic Bread, so this mystery of faith confers glory and dignity upon the working world of man’.
Seen this way, the work of baking the unconsecrated hosts, or altar-breads, appears in a new light. For it is no trivial or insignificant activity, this work of the nuns in the convent of Santa Brigida in Venezuela. Nor is it merely a matter of gaining an income in order to support the life of the convent; rather it creates the form into which Christ will transform Himself for the highest service of love on Earth. The host-baking machine is expensive and ACN benefactors are helping out. •
The Mustard Seed on Spice Island The first monks came to Zanzibar 500 years ago, but it was only with the Holy Ghost Fathers that Christianity arrived to stay on this group of islands. That was 150 years ago. The underlying trend towards the radicalisation of the Islamic world has not spared Zanzibar. Churches have been attacked here, Christian artworks banned from the museums, every reference to Christianity deleted from the history books. A few months ago a priest was shot and wounded. Again and again there is talk of introducing sharia law. The small Catholic minority – a solid 1% among the 1.2 million inhabitants on the two islands that largely comprise this Muslim dominated region – remains steadfast however. ‘We are strong enough to bear witness to our faith’, says Bishop Augustine Shao. But he adds, ‘We must deepen this faith, in order to strengthen
Sprouting up like mushrooms everywhere: these new mosques in Zanzibar are mostly financed by Saudi Arabia.
and confirm our Christian roots and our identity.’ He has drawn up a programme to celebrate the 150 years of Christianity on Zanzibar. It will feature such themes as ‘The woman and mother as mediatrix of faith and Christian culture’ and “Youth, faith, culture and history”. Almost 200 teachers and catechists will be taking part in the courses and will then organise follow- up courses themselves in the villages and towns. That will cost money, of course. We have promised our help, so that the mustard seed can sprout and grow. •
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Wherever The Lord Calls Them ‘Following Christ’, said Pope Francis on the feast of Corpus Christi, ‘means going out of ourselves and not making our life a possession of our own, but rather a gift to Him and to others.’ The community of the ‘Siervas del Hogar de la Madre’ (Servants in the Mother’s House) endeavour to follow Christ in this way, with a life of special veneration for Mary and for the Eucharist. Like Mary, they are willing to follow Christ wherever He may go, which in practice means wherever the Church needs them. Also a part of their spirituality is the desire to win above all the hearts of young people for Christ. And so they work in a variety of different ministries in the schools, kindergartens and universities. Archbishop Antonio Yarza has invited them to come to Guayaquil, in Ecuador. In the suburbs of this city there are countless broken families living in poverty. Life is especially difficult for the children; the father is often absent, the mother forced Maria Fernanda (r.) and Rosa Lopez also want to serve.
The four Siervas of Guayaquil. There are over a hundred such sisters worldwide.
to find work somewhere, the young girls exposed to lustful glances. If the children are lucky, the grandparents will look after them. And everywhere the sects are lurking. In the parish of Our Lady of Loreto the four Siervas are like raindrops on parched soil. 15,000 people battle daily to make ends meet here. But the steady dripdripping – the retreat days, the summer camps for the children, the group work with young people over the past year and a half – is beginning to bear its first fruits. The children love coming to school, and 23-year-old Maria Fernanda actually wants to join the sisters. She has
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Mother of God and our Mother: the image venerated by the Siervas, with the Eucharist in her heart.
The only problem – the Siervas don’t actually have a home of their own. Their work could become an ever-flowing wellspring, if only they had a place for catechesis, youth work and above all a chapel. In their tiny rented apartment this is not possible. Together with the bishop they have drawn up a plan. He can provide them with a plot of land and lay the foundation stone, but that is all. Despite this, they dream of a student hostel and are praying for this. But first of all they need a small centre with a home for the Eucharist, the source of all graces. ACN benefactors are helping with this. •
been inspired by their infectious joy. And Rosa Lopez too, who had long felt the call of God, knew at once: this is where I belong. Five other girls also want to enter the novitiate. Still in a stable: religious instruction for the little ones.
Father Rafael Alonso Reymundo, founded the movement – an international public association of the faithful, of pontifical right – at the tomb of Saint Peter on 29 July 1982. Today it has 13 houses worldwide, in Spain, Italy, Ecuador and the USA.
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The Sisters Share Everything They Have With Them ‘Only in sharing, in giving, is our life fruitful. Even someone who has little can do a great deal, since the power of God, which is the power of love, stoops down to our poverty and transforms it.’ - Pope Francis This thought, expressed by Pope Francis, is lived at the highest level and in its fullest sense by the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They themselves have next to nothing, yet they care for the – still poorer – hill peoples of the mountainous frontier region between Myanmar and northern Thailand. The people of these hill tribes live in bamboo huts, remote from any hospital or health station and are often not even registered as citizens. As far as the authorities are concerned, they do not exist, and as stateless persons they likewise receive no state aid of any kind. The only exception is that their children are able to go to school and learn to read and write.
Lining up for the procession: children and adults wearing their traditional costume for the greater glory of God.
the Catholic faith a first community, a primary basic right as children of God, as His children in the world, endowed with the dignity and respect that they themselves long for. The sisters are their link with the world. Many of these children and young girls actually live with the sisters, who share with them their living space, their tiny kitchen, everything they have.
This is where the sisters come in. The parents of these children want them to grow up as God-fearing and responsible citizens. They want them to escape their isolation in the mountains, and they see in
But the sisters themselves also need space and silence for prayer – and room to accommodate new vocations. A small convent would supply the necessary space and help them to carry their evangelisation work among the hill peoples still further. The plans for the project are already drawn up. We have promised the sisters our support. •
Wonder is the beginning of understanding: for the time being the teaching is still done in the sisters’ own living room.
Good citizens of tomorrow: these children from the mountains are learning to read, write and pray.
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Where Goodness Comes From They must have prayed a great deal, the Poor Clares of Dinajpur in Bangladesh. First of all they give thanks to ‘God, and good Saint Joseph’ for this wonderful gift. Then, of course, they thank you too for ‘your generosity, and the hope that we have that from now on – with the new doors and windows fitted in the old convent – the mosquitoes, flies and even the rats will at last remain outside and no longer get into the kitchen, the dining room or the bedrooms.’ And they promise ‘to bring all the intentions of our benefactors before the Tabernacle and to ask the
Lord in the Eucharist’ to continue supporting our efforts ‘to raise money for the needs of the Church in the world’. Without doubt, prayer helps us to recognise where • the goodness truly comes from.
Music to Their Ears ‘The chicken-rearing project will help the sisters to fulfil their mission’, says Bishop Evaristo Chengula. It’s as simple as that. The Sisters of the Congregation of Mary Queen of Apostles, in the diocese of Mbeya, Tanzania, provide the whole range of services that religious sisters generally do – from spiritual accompaniment in the hospitals to religious instruction in schools, care of the elderly, catechesis, parish work, social work, through to running the seminars in their formation house for religious sisters. And yet they have very little income – not even the average per capita income of a dollar a day. For the work they do, day by day, is entirely selfless. On the other hand, their expenses are also increasing, day by day. A small chicken farm is the
Pattern for success: this chicken farmhas helped the sisters in Colombia to greater self-sufficiency. Now it could do the same for the sisters in Mbeya.
solution they hope will rescue them from this dilemma. By selling eggs and hens they would be able to keep their heads above water and perhaps even cover the cost of the seminars and the wages of the part-time helpers and watchmen. And then help the poorest families too. For once, the cackling of the hens will be music to their ears. But the cost of the farm is beyond the means of the sisters and of the local community. We have promised to help. •
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Love - Seeking the Good of the Other ‘Beit Al-Liqa’ is Arabic for ‘House of Meeting’. It was in the Holy Land that God first came to meet man – in the form of man – and so gave mankind the possibility of becoming one great family in God. This is the challenge that still faces all people of goodwill today, many of whom are to be found in the Holy Land. Significantly, there is a major centre in Bethlehem called Beit Al-Liqa (the Al Liqa Centre) where Christians, Muslims and Jews regularly come together. The centre organises talks, discussion groups, youth meetings, workshops and also women’s evenings, for women of different faiths and denominations. There is likewise a quarterly Al-Liqa newsletter, and a journal in which noted figures from all three religions are featured and contribute on such topics as the family
Reading the Bible together: an encounter in the Jerusalem Centre for Jewish-Christian Relations.
from a Christian perspective, the family in Islam and the Christian presence in Israel. Joint research papers are written and published, and have been ever since the centre was founded more than 30 years ago. Interreligious dialogue is a reality here and truly contributes to reciprocal understanding, mutual acceptance and friendship. It sows seeds of reconciliation. And at a good price. We have promised our support. For in a region marked by war and hatred, no price can be put on love.
Journeying together: young Christians and Jews visiting Archbishop Aristarchos in Jerusalem.
Also deserving of special support, we believe, is the Jerusalem Centre for Jewish Christian Relations. It brings especially children and young people together and helps from an early age to dismantle prejudices. Those involved learn quickly ‘to seek the good of the other’ – which is precisely how Saint Thomas Aquinas defines
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Together with Mary: pilgrims throng round the shrine in Kibeho.
love, the foundation of all reconciliation. Without such encounter, reconciliation cannot happen – above all in a place like the Holy Land. With your help we can support the youth centre again this year. It is an investment in the future of these young people and their homeland. In quite a different way, but in a similar spirit of reconciliation, people are coming together in Rwanda too. Here Our Lady is bringing them together at her shrine in Kibeho. They come in their thousands,
to celebrate the Eucharist together or simply to lay their hopes and fears at Mary’s feet. Often they come from far afield, and the Pallottine nuns who administer the shrine wonder: where are they to sleep? That is why they want to extend their convent by adding on a pilgrim hostel. This would also make it possible for them to offer a more profound catechesis on reconciliation – in the spirit of Mary. Needless to say, the space won’t be enough on the big feast days, for then the pilgrims will arrive in their tens of thousands and will pray night and day. The extension will also serve as a formation centre for their novices and as a retreat centre. Kibeho has become a national shrine and a centre of conversion and of reconciliation with God. We have said yes to their request for this extension, which will be a house of graces. •
Holding the Hands of the Poor Saint Joseph’s Sisters in Brazil care for old and young, big and small, poor and poorest. In doing so they generally forget about themselves. Without your financial support not only would they themselves be left destitute, but many other people whom they hold by the hand and lead to Christ would likewise be put at risk. ACN benefactors help Saint Joseph’s Sisters live their lives of active charity, by financing their travel by boat to visit the sick and bring the Good News to the Indians of the Amazon. Aid to the Church in Need +e613ei_print.indd 15
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A LOOK IN THE
A chairde, The motif for this issue of the Mirror Spiritual Motherhood and the Light of Faith was chosen to reflect two significant milestones in the life of the Church, the Consecration of Ireland to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the publication of Pope Francis’ magnificent encyclical Lumen Fidei, ‘the Light of Faith’. Great things are happening within the Church and the Church is being renewed perceptibly and imperceptibly. The first of our readings is the very first paragraph of Pope Francis’ encyclical wherein he writes that ‘The Light of Faith …(is)…the great gift brought by Jesus.’ Sr. Anne Fitzsimons S.M.G. then in our second reading proceeds to provide a beautiful testimony which perfectly illustrates the Holy Father’s observation that ‘The Great Gift’…is…‘the Light of Faith.’ Our third reading is composed of three rich paragraphs taken directly from Lumen Fidei which speak of the Church as the Mother of our Faith, ‘who teaches us to speak the language of Faith.’ J.M. Shaw’s article which immediately follows takes up this theme of motherly nurturing and illustrates how the Faith makes a real difference in the material and spiritual lives of our world’s really poor. The fifth reading is composed of three further paragraphs taken from Lumen Fidei and
speaks of the unitary nature of Faith, ‘Faith is one’. Without doubt a ‘Will for Unity’, in Truth and in Charity, is a hallmark of authentic Christian Faith, which must ‘always and everywhere’ be practised and ‘professed in all its purity and integrity’. Professing the Faith ‘in all its purity and integrity’ leads us into our sixth and seventh readings which have been prepared by Eddie Cotter Jr. of the Dead Theologians Society. The first of Eddie’s articles is a short note on Carmelite Saints and the second is a reflection on the life of Edith Stein, a convert from Judaism who brought the Light of Christ into the hell of Auschwitz. In our eighth and final reading we return to Lumen Fidei and carry in full the concluding three paragraphs of the encyclical which speak of the Mother of Our Lord as ‘the perfect icon of Faith’. How fitting it is during this ‘Year of Faith’ and on the Feast of the Assumption that in the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock the Bishops of Ireland would consecrate Ireland to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Mother of the Church and our ‘perfect icon of Faith’. Great things are happening within the Church and the Church is being renewed perceptibly and imperceptibly. Beanachtaí
J F Declan Quinn
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The Great Gift, The Light of Faith - Pope Francis1 he Light of Faith: this is how the Church’s tradition speaks of the great gift brought by Jesus. In John’s Gospel, Christ says of himself: ‘I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness’ (Jn 12:46). Saint Paul uses the same image: ‘God who said “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts’ (2 Cor 4:6). The pagan world, which hungered for light, had seen the growth of the cult of the sun god, Sol Invictus, invoked each day at sunrise. Yet though the sun was born anew each morning, it was clearly incapable of casting its light on all of human existence. The sun does not illumine all reality; its rays cannot penetrate to the shadow of death, the place where men’s eyes are closed to its light. ‘No one —
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Saint Justin Martyr writes — has ever been ready to die for his Faith in the sun’.2 Conscious of the immense horizon which their Faith opened before them, Christians invoked Jesus as the true sun ‘whose rays bestow life’.3 To Martha, weeping for the death of her brother Lazarus, Jesus said: ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’ (Jn 11:40). hose who believe, see; they see with a light that illumines their entire journey, for it comes from the Risen Christ, the morning star which never sets. • 1 Lumen Fidei - §1. 2 Dialogus cum Tryphone Iudaeo, 121, 2: PG 6, 758 3 Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus, IX: PG 8, 195.
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‘Light for the People’ by Sr. Anne Fitzsimons SMG n July 1977 I set out to join my sisters in Maracaibo Venezuela: our community, the Servants of the Mother of God, established a missionary presence there in 1972. The first couple of years were hard and frustrating as I struggled with the culture, language, poverty, the terrible heat and many times I was tempted to ‘throw in the towel’. It was during such times that I would think back to the early days of our Congregation and to all that Mother Magdalen and her companions went through, their great trust in Divine Providence and their great love for people, especially the poor. It was their profound understanding of the mystery of the Incarnation, their deep spirit of prayer and their grace-filled humility which kept them going and I saw all these virtues at work in the sisters in Maracaibo as they struggled to live our communities charism, responding to the people and bringing the love of God to them in many and varied ways. As time went by I increasingly began to realise what a privilege it was for me to be part of this great mission: we had so many opportunities to serve and to be served by the very poor. They were so eager to learn about God and how He works in our lives that it was easy to ‘open the scriptures to them’ and for them to see how wonderfully God was at work in the world and in their lives.
I vividly remember one incident which showed me how these humble and beautiful ‘little people’ of God opened their hearts and their homes to the sisters and allowed us to share their faith as they ‘caught’ our S.M.G. charism in a very deep way. It was our tenth anniversary and we had a celebration Mass in the patio of our little house in El Cenaculo. All the Missionary of the Sacred Heart Priests with whom we worked together with many parishioners and friends, came and concelebrated a joyful and grace-filled Eucharist. During a shared homily, one little lady, Nelly Gomez, stood up to share on the first reading, Isaiah 9:1-7, ‘the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light…’ Nelly said ’We were that people – we were in darkness. Drugs, alcohol and family disunity kept us struggling and in pain. Then along came these lovely sisters dressed in white or sometimes blue, they were that light – they brought us hope and helped us break the yoke of suffering and despair. Like many others, I couldn’t read or write, so they provided courses to help us and it was there that I learned to read. I wanted so badly to be able to read the Bible for I understood that it was from the Word of God that the sisters drew their strength to carry on their mission. Now I read the scriptures to my
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eight children and I thank God every day for the SMG sisters in our midst’. Stories like this and so many other Godincidences during my thirty one years in Venezuela helped me realise the great gift
Frances Margaret Taylor rances was born on 20th January 1832 in Stoke Rochford, in Lincolnshire, England. Her father was an Anglican clergyman and she was the youngest of ten children. Her happy country childhood came to an abrupt end at the age of ten in 1842 when her father died and the family had to move to London. The poverty and the squalor of nineteenth century London shocked her and compassion moved her to work with the poor. In 1854 she went to the Crimea with Florence Nightingale’s Lady Volunteer Nurses. The plight of the wounded soldiers, the faith of the young Irish men along with the dedication of the Irish Sisters of Mercy inspired her to become a Catholic and she was received into the Catholic Church on 14th April 1855. Upon returning London Frances continued to work with the poor and this desire to work for and with the poor, led her to found her own Congregation. Frances took the name Mary Magdalen and together with three companions began the work of the Poor Servants of the Mother of God. They responded to
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Mother Magdalen left us and the Church. My life has been lit by ‘Lumen Fidei’ (‘the Light of Faith’) which is the ‘Luz para los Pueblos’, (the ‘Light for the People’.) • Francis Taylor (18321900) founded the religious order the Poor Servants of the Mother of God (S.M.G.) in 1872. Her spirit and values form the thread which runs throuhg the life and work of the Congregation.
the needs of the time working with the most vulnerable, especially women and children, and recognising and valuing the dignity and worth of each person. Today, the Congregation of the Poor Servants of the Mother of God carries out the work begun by Frances Taylor in social, pastoral, health care, education and outreach work in the UK, Ireland, North America, Venezuela, Kenya and Italy. Mother Magdalen passed away on 9th June 1900 leaving a legacy of love and having enkindled the light of faith in some of this world’s dark corners. •
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The Church, The Mother of Our Faith - Pope Francis
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hose who have opened their hearts to God’s Love, heard His voice and received His light, cannot keep this gift to themselves. Since Faith is hearing and seeing, it is also handed on as word and light.
Faith is passed on, we might say, by contact, from one person to another, just as one candle is lighted from another. Christians, in their poverty, plant a seed so rich that it becomes a great tree, capable of filling the world with its fruit.
Addressing the Corinthians, Saint Paul used these two very images. On the one hand he says: ‘But just as we have the same spirit of Faith that is in accordance with scripture — “I believed, and so I spoke” — we also believe, and so we speak’(2 Cor 4:13). The word, once accepted, becomes a response, a confession of Faith, which spreads to others and invites them to believe.
he transmission of the Faith not only brings light to men and women in every place; it travels through time, passing from one generation to another. Because Faith is born of an encounter which takes place in history and lights up our journey through time, it must be passed on in every age. It is through an unbroken chain of witnesses that we come to see the face of Jesus.
Paul also uses the image of light: ‘All of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image’ (2 Cor 3:18). It is a light reflected from one face to another, even as Moses himself bore a reflection of God’s glory after having spoken with him: ‘God… has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ’ (2 Cor 4:6).
But how is this possible? How can we be certain, after all these centuries, that we have encountered the ‘real Jesus’? Were we merely isolated individuals, were our starting point simply our own individual ego seeking in itself the basis of absolutely sure knowledge, a certainty of this sort would be impossible. I cannot possibly verify for myself something which happened so long ago.
The light of Christ shines, as in a mirror, upon the face of Christians; as it spreads, it comes down to us, so that we too can share in that vision and reflect that light to others, in the same way that, in the Easter liturgy, the light of the paschal candle lights countless other candles.
But this is not the only way we attain knowledge. Persons always live in relationship. We come from others, we belong to others, and our lives are enlarged by our encounter with others. Even our own knowledge and self-awareness are relational; they are linked to others who have gone before us: in the first place,
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our parents, who gave us our life and our name. Language itself, the words by which we make sense of our lives and the world around us, comes to us from others, preserved in the living memory of others.
us through the memory of others — witnesses — and is kept alive in that one remembering subject which is the Church.
Self-knowledge is only possible when we share in a greater memory. The same thing holds true for Faith, which brings human understanding to its fullness. Faith’s past, that act of Jesus’ Love which brought new life to the world, comes down to
The Church is a Mother who teaches us to speak the language of Faith. Saint John brings this out in his Gospel by closely uniting Faith and memory and associating both with the working of the Holy Spirit, who, as Jesus says, ‘will remind you of all that I have said to you’ (Jn 14:26). The Love which is the Holy Spirit and which dwells in the Church unites every age and makes us contemporaries of Jesus, thus guiding us along our pilgrimage of Faith. t is impossible to believe on our own. Faith is not simply an individual decision which takes place in the depths of the believer’s heart, nor a completely private relationship between the ‘I’ of the believer and the divine ‘Thou’, between an autonomous subject and God. By its very nature, Faith is open to the ‘We’ of the Church; it always takes place within her communion. We are reminded of this by the dialogical format of the creed used in the Baptismal liturgy. Our belief is expressed in response to an invitation, to a word which must be heard and which is not my own; it exists as part of a dialogue and cannot be merely a profession originating in an individual. We can respond in the singular — ‘I believe’ — only because we are part of a greater fellowship, only because we also say ‘We believe’.
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This openness to the ecclesial ‘We’ reflects the openness of God’s own Love, which is not only a relationship between the Father and the Son, between an ‘I’ and a ‘Thou’, but is also, in the Spirit, a ‘We’, a communion of persons. Here we see why those who believe are never alone, and why Faith tends to spread, as it invites others to share in its joy.
Those who receive Faith discover that their horizons expand as new and enriching relationships come to life. Tertullian puts this well when he describes the catechumens who, ‘after the cleansing which gives new birth’ are welcomed into the house of their mother and, as part of a new family, pray the Our Father together with their brothers and sisters5. •
4 Lumen Fidei - §37 - §39. 5 Cf. De Baptismo, 20, 5: CCL 1, 295.
‘Bringing the Light of Faith into a World of Darkness’ - JM Shaw
*
Missionary orders stay with the destitute long after every western charity has left. hat is the best way to help the poor? This question is older than the Church, and probably as old as human society. But in modern conditions it has arguably become harder than ever to give a satisfactory answer. Catholics have a moral obligation, arising directly from Christ’s teaching, to • • • • •
feed the hungry, instruct the ignorant, shelter the homeless, comfort the suffering and in general respond with practical compassion to the needs of others,
both • through our own efforts and • by supporting those who devote their lives to serving the poor.
All of this arises from a human engagement between the person in need and the one offering help, a relationship which is fundamental to Catholic spirituality and social teaching. But is this enough? Don’t we also have a responsibility to ‘make poverty history’, that is, to fight for a radically transformed world order by opposing what the Honduran Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez has called the ‘structural causes’ of poverty? There is no doubt that the world’s poor are often harmed by entrenched global policies, although views inevitably differ on which are the most obnoxious, or what exactly should be done. • One obvious candidate for reform is the European Common Agricultural Policy, often cited as a prime cause of misery in the developing world.
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An Irish nun supervises a teacher at a Sudanese primary school (CNS).
• Other observers focus on the policies of United Nations agencies, especially the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. • Others again attack an international trading system which concentrates power in the hands of big business. ew of us, I expect, feel confident that our opinions on these questions are reliable or comprehensive – and we are not alone. The fascinating literature on development demonstrates that there is little agreement on such questions, and many experts operate on altogether unconnected planes. Perhaps a better approach is to consider the question of unjust structures from the ground up, adopting the rather different perspective of the poor themselves. For example, it is impossible to enter into their lives without pondering the destructive effects of war, corruption and bad A LOOK IN THE +e613ei_print.indd 23
governance. In some parts of Africa farmers avoid growing their crops within sight of the roads to reduce the risk that militias will plunder them. For the same reason, crops are cut down before they are ripe. This fear of armed marauders exacerbates the common lack of access to roads or railways in Africa. To take one well-known instance, the roads from Nairobi to the west of Kenya are in a state of advanced disrepair, a situation reflecting the fact that the Luo, the dominant tribe in the region bordering Lake Victoria, have been excluded from national power since independence. The predictable result is not just the relative deprivation of the Luo themselves, but the increased isolation of Uganda, which relies on Kenyan roads to transport its products to the sea. f unjust governance exacerbates poverty by excluding farmers and manufacturers from the export market, the petty corruption of policemen, school teachers, doctors and government officials is also a deadly reality for many poor people all over the world. A 2002 survey by the NGO Transparency International found that urban households in Kenya were paying on average 16 bribes a month, amounting to no less than 31 per cent of their income. If anyone is inclined to dismiss the significance of this, the suicide of the Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi will serve as a reminder of what it can mean in human terms. Bouazizi doused himself in 19 31/07/2013 10:58
petrol and set himself alight in December 2010, after the police and city authorities demanded protection money from him. Bouazizi’s death will be remembered because it triggered the Arab Spring, but the circumstances which led to it are all too familiar to the poor around the world who remain invisible to the media. The sheer intractability of these problems should serve as a warning against utopian solutions to world poverty. It may also remind us of the true basis of solidarity between human beings, is spiritual and personal, not technical or economic. As Pope Benedict XVI has written, we cannot help the poor if we regard their problems in exclusively material terms. Lack of bread and abuse of power are real and must be addressed, but they arise in a human – that is, a spiritual and moral – context. If we try to fix material problems in isolation, Pope Benedict argues, without recognising the ‘ordering of goods’ which places God at the centre of human life, we will end up replicating the dystopian nightmare of Marxism or the relativistic nihilism of the contemporary West. y novel, Ten Weeks in Africa, explores the world of international aid and NGOs, and researching it has intensified my interest in these questions. One of the things that struck me repeatedly as I was working on the book is the generally unremarked, yet actually ubiquitous, presence of Catholic institutions in poor countries. Catholic
religious orders run clinics and schools, orphanages and cooperatives in almost every country where there is hunger, war, terror and manifest injustice. Given the financial scandals which are now coming to light in the development industry, it is interesting to notice that Catholic institutions have certain fundamental strengths. Their permanence guarantees the seriousness of their work. Speaking the languages and operating under the political conditions of the countries they operate in, they generally take a patient, long-term view and avoid bombastic claims about their work. Permanence also creates the conditions for a profound solidarity, indeed for thoroughgoing assimilation into the host society, with a tendency to see the challenges and needs of the poor from the ground up, in terms the poor themselves share. Religious orders’ vows of poverty protect them from the tendency to make a good living out of helping others in distress. Most fundamentally, the fact that their work arises out of, and is constantly renewed by the sacramental life of the Church, means that the poor are not seen as a problem to be solved or an opportunity to be exploited. From the point of view of Catholics living in the West, the missionary orders offer virtually unlimited opportunities to participate in their work. • * Justin M Shaw is a novelist and this article was originally published in the Catholic Herald under the title ‘If you want to help the world’s poor, support the religious orders’
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The Unity and Integrity of Faith - Pope Francis
6
he unity of the Church in time and space is linked to the unity of the Faith: ‘there is one body and one Spirit… one Faith’ (Eph 4:4-5). These days we can imagine a group of people being united in a common cause, in mutual affection, in sharing the same destiny and a single purpose. But we find it hard to conceive of a unity in one Truth. We tend to think that a unity of this sort is incompatible with freedom of thought and personal autonomy. Yet the experience of Love shows us that a common vision is possible, for through Love we learn how to see reality through the eyes of others, not as something which impoverishes but instead enriches our vision. Genuine Love, after the fashion of God’s Love, ultimately requires Truth, and the shared contemplation of the Truth which is Jesus Christ enables Love to become deep and enduring. This is also the great joy of Faith: a unity of vision in one body and one spirit. Saint Leo the Great could say: ‘If Faith is not one, then it is not Faith’.7
Faith is also one because it is directed to the one Lord, to the life of Jesus, to the concrete history which he shares with us. Saint Irenaeus of Lyons made this clear in his struggle against Gnosticism. The Gnostics held that there are two kinds of Faith: a crude, imperfect Faith suited to the masses, which remained at the level of Jesus’ flesh and the contemplation of his mysteries; and a deeper, perfect Faith reserved to a small circle of initiates who were intellectually capable of rising above the flesh of Jesus towards the mysteries of the unknown divinity.
What is the secret of this unity? Faith is ‘one’, in the first place, because of the oneness of the God who is known and confessed. All the articles of Faith speak of God; they are ways to know him and his works. Consequently, their unity is far superior to any possible construct of human reason. They possess a unity which enriches us because it is given to us and makes us one. A LOOK IN THE +e613ei_print.indd 25
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In opposition to this claim, which even today exerts a certain attraction and has its followers, Saint Irenaeus insisted that there is but one Faith, for it is grounded in the concrete event of the incarnation and can never transcend the flesh and history of Christ, inasmuch as God willed to reveal himself fully in that flesh. For this reason, he says, there is no difference in the Faith of ‘those able to discourse of it at length’ and ‘those who speak but little’, between the greater and the less: the first cannot increase the Faith, nor the second diminish it.8 Finally, Faith is one because it is shared by the whole Church, which is one body and one Spirit. In the communion of the one subject which is the Church, we receive a common gaze. By professing the same Faith, we stand firm on the same rock, we are transformed by the same Spirit of Love, we radiate one light and we have a single insight into reality.
ince Faith is one, it must be professed in all its purity and integrity. Precisely because all the articles of Faith are interconnected, to deny one of them, even of those that seem least important, is tantamount to distorting the whole. Each period of history can find this or that point of Faith easier or harder to accept: hence the need for vigilance in ensuring that the deposit of Faith is passed on in its entirety (cf. 1 Tim 6:20) and that all aspects of the profession of Faith are duly emphasised. Indeed, inasmuch as the unity of Faith is the unity of the Church, to subtract something from the Faith is to subtract something from the veracity of communion. The Fathers described Faith as a body, the body of Truth composed of various members, by analogy with the body of Christ and its prolongation in the Church.9 The integrity of the Faith was also tied to the image of the Church as a virgin and
‘In many areas in our lives we trust others who know more than we do. We trust the architect who builds our home, the pharmacist who gives us medicine for healing, the lawyer who defends us in court. We also need someone trustworthy and knowledgeable where God is concerned. Jesus, the Son of God, is the one who makes God known to us (cf. Jn 1:18).’
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her fidelity in love for Christ her spouse; harming the Faith means harming communion with the Lord.10 The unity of Faith, then, is the unity of a living body; this was clearly brought out by Blessed John Henry Newman when he listed among the characteristic notes for distinguishing the continuity of doctrine over time its power to assimilate everything that it meets in the various settings in which it becomes present and in the diverse cultures which it encounters,11 purifying all things and bringing them to their finest expression. Faith is thus shown to be universal, catholic, because its light expands in order to illumine the entire cosmos and all of history.
recounts for us in the Acts of the Apostles, he testifies that he had carried out the task which the Lord had entrusted to him of ‘declaring the whole counsel of God’ (Acts 20:27). Thanks to the Church’s magisterium, this counsel can come to us in its integrity, and with it the joy of being able to follow it fully. • 6 7 8 9 10
Lumen Fidei - §47 - §49. In Nativitate Domini Sermo, 4, 6: SC 22, 110. Cf. Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, I, 10, 2: SC 264, 160. Cf. ibid., II, 27, 1: SC 294, 264. Cf. Augustine, De Sancta Virginitate, 48, 48: PL 40, 424-425: “Servatur et in fide inviolata quaedam castitas virginalis, qua Ecclesia uni viro virgo casta coaptatur”. 11 Cf. An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine (Uniform Edition: Longmans, Green and Company, London, 1868-1881), 185-189. 12 Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, 10
s a service to the unity of Faith and its integral transmission, the Lord gave his Church the gift of apostolic succession. Through this means, the continuity of the Church’s memory is ensured and certain access can be had to the wellspring from which Faith flows. The assurance of continuity with the origins is thus given by living persons, in a way consonant with the living Faith which the Church is called to transmit. She depends on the fidelity of witnesses chosen by the Lord for this task. For this reason, the magisterium always speaks in obedience to the prior word on which Faith is based; it is reliable because of its trust in the word which it hears, preserves and expounds.12 In Saint Paul’s farewell discourse to the elders of Ephesus at Miletus, which Saint Luke A LOOK IN THE +e613ei_print.indd 27
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A Note on Carmelite Saints - Eddie Cotter Jr. very religious order has a peculiar reason to exist, a charism. Usually that charism arises within a particular historical context when God provides the Church with a needed gift. Carmel is an order of religious men and women whose charism it is to pray. The form of that prayer is typically solitude and known as contemplative prayer. Because contemplatives look to God with an open spirit, awaiting the Word and ready to accept God’s Word as it is given to them to understand, they have a special identification with Mary, the Mother of the Lord, who was the one who accepted the Word of God so dramatically that she became pregnant with His Son.
Carmel can claim to be ‘Mary in the Church’ as the contemplatives assume Mary’s posture of acceptance of the gift of God in prayer. One Carmelite nun describes her life as follows: ‘In Mary, we contemplate the ideal of the Order. We strive to imitate her in the way she humbly welcomed the Lord’s word and pondered it in her heart. We look to her as the one who was totally open to all the impulses of the Holy Spirit. Like Mary, the Carmelite bears Jesus in her heart, contemplates Him in silence, serves Him in humility stands at the foot of His cross and in union with Mary, • lives toward the perfection of charity in all that she does. • • • •
This life of prayer is lived within an atmosphere that makes it possible for us to best listen and ponder God’s word in our hearts. In a spirit of silence and solitude we live and pray. • Silence nurtures a peacefulness of heart and allows us to maintain an attentiveness to the presence and gentle voice of God. • The hermitic aspect of our life is expressed in extended times of solitary prayer and solitary work during our 24 +e613ei_print.indd 28
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day. Solitude is a means to detachment and habituates us in living in the presence of God as the source of our meaning and fulfillment.’ he Carmelite tradition reaches back to Elijah of the Old Testament and to Mount Carmel itself, where legend holds that Mary prayed with the disciples after the Resurrection. Included among the many saints of the Carmel tradition of contemplative prayer formed in the spirit of Our Lady are: • • • • •
St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of the Child Jesus, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity and St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.
•
Edith Stein
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St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross - Eddie Cotter Jr. dith Stein was born on October 12, 1891, the Day of Atonement, the youngest of eleven children of a devout and practicing Jewish family. Her mother was exceptionally hard working and assisted her father in a lumber business. Her father died suddenly at age forty-eight, leaving her mother to raise their now seven children. After a precocious childhood at the age of seven, she inexplicably became withdrawn and an introvert, experiencing great isolation and loneliness. She also became highly sensitive to the sufferings of others, at times even exhibiting bodily illness, such as fevers, as a reaction to situations in her life. The young Edith kept these sufferings brought on by her gift of extreme empathy to
herself, not even confiding in her mother with whom she was very close. During her youth, this strong willed, sensitive and brilliant girl did not believe in God. Because of her brilliance her family wanted her to become a doctor, but she wanted to teach and so declined the opportunity to attend medical school. er studies led her from Psychology to Philosophy at the University of Breslau where she read Edmund Husserl’s Logical Investigations subsequently transferring to Gottingen in order to study with the man who would become known as the father of Phenomenology. Phenomenology would be the school of thought which gave rise to the theological work of Pope John Paul II. During these years Edith Stein worked as something of a feminist, promoting the rights of women to work in careers that had been reserved to men and working to promote the right of women to vote. She was among the first women to be admitted to Gottingen University. Edith was drawn to Husserl’s conviction that truth could really be known and became one of his closest co-workers as a student. It was in Gottingen that Edith first met Max Scheler, a Jewish convert to Catholicism and a professor of Phenomenology. His lectures were filled with the spiritual beauty of Catholicism. This caused her to
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question her own spiritual poverty, wondering if there might be an ‘Eternal’. In addition to these lectures, the experiences of deep suffering during World War I continued to lead her to faith in Christ. Edith joined her friends who had been drafted by volunteering to serve as a battlefield nurse. Her mother’s habits of hard work had become Edith’s as she labored to assist sick and injured soldiers. She was awarded a medal of valor for her selfless service at the end of her term. he death of one of her teachers in the war and the hope displayed by his widow combined with her service on the battlefield cause Edith to consider the power of the cross of Jesus Christ as well as its mystery. She began reading the New Testament and was eventually baptised a Roman Catholic.
‘within her penetrating eyes lay something mysterious and solemn, and the contrast between this and her simplicity created a certain awe.’2 s she witnessed to the truths of Faith and all that it demands, she became increasingly convinced that the only real source of change and conversion was prayer and sacrifice. It would not be through argumentation and logic that hearts were won, but by the offering of oneself for others in imitation of the Cross. This would be her weapon against the new insidious evil beginning to rise around her, the Nazi persecution of the Jewish people.
One evening, while staying at a friend’s home, she picked up a copy of Saint Theresa of Avila’s autobiography. She could not put it down and read it in one sitting through the course of the night. When she finished she declared, “This is the truth.”1 Edith Stein began a career as a teacher. She deepened her spiritual journey (especially by reading the translated the works of St. Thomas Aquinas) and continually grew in humility and grace. Edith made friends with everyone who knew her and her tranquility was a trait noticed by many. Even as a speaker on the role of woman in society, she was not fiery. One person commented, A LOOK IN THE +e613ei_print.indd 31
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Edith had always been proud of her Jewish heritage and declared upon becoming a Catholic Christian that ‘now I am living two covenants, one of the flesh and one of the spirit.’ 3 Her deep empathy for others caused her to suffer deeply at the beatings and injustices, which Germans were now visiting upon Jews, some of which she witnessed herself. She saw the persecution as the Cross of Christ being laid upon the Jewish people. Her own vocation became clearer as the anti-Semitic persecution increased. She would root herself more deeply in the source of truth and power which she had discovered. She would continue to change herself, and the world around her by offering herself to God in a life of prayer. Edith Stein
decided that she would join the Carmelite Order. She took the religious name of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. dith’s new name was most prophetically fitting to her life. Her life of prayer was a living sacrifice for the redemption of the violence which was the holocaust. Pope John Paul II would write as he proclaimed her copatroness of Europe along with Catherine of Siena and Bridgette of Sweden, ‘With Edith Stein - Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross - we enter a very different historical and cultural context. For she brings us to the heart of this tormented century (20th C), pointing to the hopes which it has stirred, but also the contradictions and failures which have disfigured it. Unlike Bridgette and Catherine, Edith was not from a Christian family. What we see in her is the anguish of the search and the struggle of an existential “pilgrimage”. Even after she found the truth in the peace of the contemplative life, she was to live to the full the mystery of the Cross.’4 With Jews being deported to the East to be held, apparently, in labor camps, Sr. Theresa Benedicta attempted to stay a step ahead of the Nazis together with her sister, Rosa, now also a Carmelite nun. She landed in a monastery in Holland, and when the Nazis overtook Holland she attempted to emigrate to Switzerland. However in retaliation for
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the Catholic bishops of Holland being outspoken about their treatment of the Jews, the Nazis rounded up Jewish Catholics in Holland and France and sent them to the concentration camps, Edith and Rosa Stein included. Shortly before her deportation there was talk of a rescue at the convent where Edith and Rosa lived. She shunned the thought of that. ‘Do not do it!’ she said, ‘Why should I be spared? If I cannot share the lot of my brothers and sisters, my life, in a certain sense, is destroyed.’5 Always caring for her sister, Sr. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross said to her as they were being herded away from the convent by the SS, “Come, Rosa, we go for our people.”6
to say that she carried so much pain that it hurt to see her smile. She hardly ever spoke; but often she would look at her sister Rosa with a sorrow beyond words. As I write, it occurs to me that she probably understood what was awaiting them. Every time I think of her sitting in the barracks, the same picture comes to mind: a Pieta without the Christ.’7 The transport made its way to Auschwitz where all of the travelers were immediately taken to the gas chambers and subsequently cremated in the ovens of the camp. St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross was martyred on August 9, 1942.
etter than most, Edith Stein understood well what was happening, what their fate was to be and the deeper meaning of this sacrifice. Witnesses on the train which carried them East to the camps testified that Sr. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross was calm and cared for the needs of others, most of whom were in a panic at what was happening to them. They were kept in boxcars for the threeday trip and treated poorly by the Nazis. One witness wrote, ‘What distinguished Edith … was her silence. Rather than seeming fearful, to me she appeared deeply oppressed. Maybe the best way I can explain it is A LOOK IN THE +e613ei_print.indd 33
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tion of the fundamental rights of the person.
n the words of Blessed Pope John Paul II: ‘Her voice merged with the cry of all the victims of that appalling tragedy, but at the same time was joined to the cry of Christ on the Cross which gives to human suffering a mysterious and enduring fruitfulness.
…(The)…proclamation of Edith Stein as a Co-Patroness of Europe is intended to raise on this Continent a banner of respect, tolerance and acceptance which invites all men and women to understand and appreciate each other, transcending their ethnic, cultural and religious differences in order to form a truly fraternal society.’8 •
The image of her holiness remains forever linked to the tragedy of her violent death, alongside all those who with her suffered the same fate. And it remains as a proclamation of the Gospel of the Cross, with which she identified herself by the very choice of her name in religion.
1
Today we look upon Teresa Benedicta of the Cross and, in her witness as an innocent victim, we recognise an imitation of the Sacrificial Lamb and a protest against every viola-
5 6 7 8
2 3 4
Edith Stein: A Biography/the Untold Story of the Philosopher and Mystic Who Lost Her Life in the Death Camps of Auschwitz by Waltraud Herbstrith, Bernard, Father Bonowitz Herbstrith and Bonowitz, Op.cit. Herbstrith and Bonowitz, Op.cit. Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter, Issued Motu Proprio, Proclaiming Saint Bridget of Sweden, Saint Catherine of Siena, and Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross Co-Patronesses of Europe, His Holiness Pope John Paul II for Perpetual Remembrance, October 1, 1999. Accessed at www.vatican.va. Pope John Paul II, Op.cit. Herbstrith and Bonowitz, Op.cit. Herbstrith and Bonowitz, Op.cit. Pope John Paul II, Op.cit.
‘Because she was Jewish, Edith Stein was taken with her sister Rosa and many other Catholics and Jews from the Netherlands to the concentration camp in Auschwitz, where she died with them in the gas chambers. Today we remember them all with deep respect. A few days before her deportation, the woman religious had dismissed the question about a possible rescue: ‘Do not do it! Why should I be spared? Is it not right that I should gain no advantage from my Baptism? If I cannot share the lot of my brothers and sisters, my life, in a certain sense, is destroyed’ Pope John Paul II
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Blessed is She who Believed - Pope Francis
13
n the parable of the sower, Saint Luke has left us these words of the Lord about the ‘good soil’: ‘These are the ones who when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience endurance’ (Lk 8:15). In the context of Luke’s Gospel, this mention of an honest and good heart which hears and keeps the word is an implicit portrayal of the Faith of the Virgin Mary. The evangelist himself speaks of Mary’s memory, how she treasured in her heart all that she had heard and seen, so that the word could bear fruit in her life. The Mother of the Lord is the perfect icon of Faith; as Saint Elizabeth would say: ‘Blessed is she who believed’ (Lk 1:45). In Mary, the Daughter of Zion, is fulfilled the long history of Faith of the Old Testament, with its account of so many faithful women, beginning with Sarah: women who, alongside the patriarchs, were those in whom God’s promise was fulfilled and new life flowered. In the fullness of time, God’s word was spoken to Mary and she received that word into her heart, her entire being, so that in her womb it could take flesh and be born as light for humanity. Saint Justin Martyr, in his dialogue with Trypho, uses a striking expression; he tells us that Mary, receiving the message of the angel, conceived ‘Faith and Joy’.14 In the Mother of Jesus, Faith demonstrated its A LOOK IN THE +e613ei_print.indd 35
fruitfulness; when our own spiritual lives bear fruit we become filled with joy, which is the clearest sign of Faith’s grandeur. In her own life Mary completed the pilgrimage of Faith, following in the footsteps of her Son.15 In her the Faith journey of the Old Testament was thus taken up into the following of Christ, transformed by him and entering into the gaze of the incarnate Son of God. e can say that in the Blessed Virgin Mary we find something I mentioned earlier, namely that the believer is completely taken up into his or her confession of faith. Because of her close bond with Jesus, Mary is strictly connected to what we believe. As Virgin and Mother, Mary offers us a clear sign of Christ’s divine sonship. The eternal origin of Christ is in the Father. He is the Son in a total and unique sense, and so he is born in time without the intervention of a man. As the Son, Jesus brings to the world a new beginning and a new light, the fullness of God’s Faithful Love bestowed on humanity. But Mary’s true motherhood also ensures for the Son of God an authentic human history, true flesh in which he would die on the cross and rise from the dead. 31 31/07/2013 10:58
Mary would accompany Jesus to the cross (cf. Jn 19:25), whence her motherhood would extend to each of his disciples (cf. Jn 19:26-27). She will also be present in the upper room after Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension, joining the apostles in imploring the gift of the Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14).
and Christ draws us to himself in order to save us (cf. Jn 12:32). At the centre of our Faith is the confession of Jesus, the Son of God, born of a woman, who brings us, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, to adoption as sons and daughters (cf. Gal 4:4).
The movement of Love between Father, Son and Spirit runs through our history,
Let us turn in prayer to Mary, Mother of the Church and Mother of our Faith.
Mother, help our Faith! Open our ears to hear God’s word and to recognise His voice and call. Awaken in us a desire to follow in His footsteps, to go forth from our own land and to receive His promise. Help us to be touched by His Love, that we may touch Him in Faith. Help us to entrust ourselves fully to Him and to believe in His Love, especially at times of trial, beneath the shadow of the cross, when our Faith is called to mature. Sow in our Faith the joy of the Risen One. Remind us that those who believe are never alone. Teach us to see all things with the eyes of Jesus, that He may be light for our path. And may this Light of Faith always increase in us, until the dawn of that undying day which is Christ himself, your Son, our Lord!
Amen 13 Lumen Fidei - §58 - §60. 14 Cf. Dialogus cum Tryphone Iudaeo, 100, 5: PG 6, 710. 15 Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 58
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I Don’t Have Much...
Thank you
My Way of Contributing Twice a year I give an evening concert of classical songs in a local church and send the proceeds of these concerts to ACN. I have known your charity for years and hold it in high regard. Apart from my voice I don’t have much and this is my way of contributing to the wonderful work of ACN. A Benefactor in Switzerland
Dear Friends,
An Anonymous Donation A few days ago I received a nice surprise in the post – an anonymous letter. This letter however, did not contain any abuse or threats but ten 50 Euro notes and a card with the following: ‘I have promised to give this money to the poor. Since you know best how I can fulfil this promise, I entrust this money to you. Many thanks.’ After thinking and praying about it, I decided upon ACN. A Parish Priest in France A Donation, Instead of a Meal Out Recently I received the first installment of my academic scholarship and had hoped to donate 10% of it to ACN and other Catholic charities. However because of an unexpected problem I gave all the money to my family. So it was that today when I was preparing to have lunch with a friend, heavy rain scuppered my plans. Just now I received a letter from ACN, and now I am sending you the little I would have spent on my abandoned lunch. It’s not much, but I hope it helps. Till next month! A Poor Student in Brazil
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Each year thanks to the • Donations • Legacies and • Mass offerings of its benefactors in Ireland and around the world, ACN is able to: • Provide sustenance and the means of survival for approx. 20,000 priests • Support approx. 18,000 seminarians and religious and • Distribute approx. 1.5 million catechetical books for children in over 170 languages. Heartfelt thanks for all your prayers and support provided to Christ’s Suffering and Persecuted Church. May the Good Lord continue to bless you and your family, past and present, now and always.
J F Declan Quinn Director Aid to the Church in Need (Ireland) Where to send your contribution for the Church in Need: Please use the Freepost envelope. Aid to the Church in Need, 151 St. Mobhi Road, Glasnevin, Dublin 9. TEL (01) 837 7516. EMAIL info@acnireland.org WEB www.acnireland.org Registered Charity Numbers: (RoI) 9492 (NI) XR96620.
If you give by standing order, or have sent a donation recently, please accept our sincere thanks. This Mirror is for your interest and information.
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Stand firm in the faith, be strong. (1 Cor. 16:13)
‘The profoundest vocation of woman and
her sacred ministry is to embrace this total self-giving of love and bring forth life.’
Father Martin M. Barta, ACN Ecclesiastical Assistant.
‘By virtue of their dedication lived in fullness and in joy, consecrated women are called in a very special way to be signs of God’s tender love towards the human race and to be special witnesses to the mystery of the Church, Virgin, Bride and Mother.’ Pope John Paul II Post-synodal apostolic exhortation Vita Consecrata
‘What would the Church do without you? She would lack your motherhood, warmth, tenderness!’
Aid to the Church in Need helping the Church heal the world. 151 St. Mobhi Road, Dublin 9. TEL 01 837 7516 EMAIL info@acnireland.org +e613ei_print.indd 1
www.acnireland.org www.allthingscatholic.org www.wheregodweeps.org www.godspeakstohischildren.org 31/07/2013 10:57