Aid to the Church in Need
GO REBUILD MY CHURCH
15 - 6
Aid to the Church in Need
CONTENTS PAGE Broken families, broken world............................... J F Declan Quinn.................................. 1 The original sacrament............................................... Fr Martin Barta.................................... 2 The gift of the family................................................... Pope Francis.......................................... 6 The first school of wisdom....................................... Pope Benedict XVI............................ 12 The family is the way of the church.................... Saint John Paul II.............................. 15 The marital covenant................................................... Saint John Paul II.............................. 17 Blessing the family........................................................ Fr Michael Shields............................ 17 How Africa is living the teachings of the church.................................................................... Africa.................................................... 22 Motherly care of the young..................................... Romania.............................................. 24 For all the nations on Earth..................................... Religious Literature......................... 26 Father Piotr, apostle of life....................................... Ukraine................................................ 28 By the light of Faith...................................................... Colombia............................................. 30 Christianity has deep roots here........................... Johannes Freiherr Heereman...... 32
Editor: JĂźrgen Liminski. Publisher: Kirche in Not / Ostpriesterhilfe, Postfach 1209, 61452 KĂśnigstein, Germany. De licentia competentis auctoritatis ecclesiasticae. Printed in Ireland - ISSN 0252-2535. www.acn-intl.org
BROKEN FAMILIES, BROKEN WORLD A chairde,
P
erhaps we should not be surprised that our broken world has created so many broken families. Nor indeed should we be surprised that our world is broken because of the brokenness of so many families. The simple truth of the matter is that at the heart of this vicious circle of cause and effect lies our broken humanity and our humanity is broken and will remain broken as long as we forget God and don’t bother to get to know the God, who loves us and who died on the cross to redeem every one of us. nyone who has had a loving father and mother who sacrificed themselves to give us their children, life joy and hope, know how much family is
A
a gift not just for them but for their community and the world. Families which don’t teach their children how to live in joy and hope do a great disservice to themselves, their children and the world. Families are ‘schools of wisdom’ and if within the family, children don’t learn love and respect for others, they will find it difficult to learn these virtues elsewhere and both them and the world will suffer in consequence. t. Pope John Paul II wrote that ‘the future of humanity passes by way of the family’ and that it is Christ who ‘fully discloses man to himself and He does so beginning in the family.’
S
G
iven this we need to constantly ask ourselves how can we become, to this and future generations, more effective role models of the ‘good life’: a life of joy and hope, of sacrifice and service for the greater glory of God and the salvation of humanity. Let us, in the words of Pope Francis, ‘offer the witness of our family life’.
Beir Beannacht
J F Declan Quinn Director, Aid to the Church in Need (Ire) 1
THE ORIGINAL SACRAMENT Dear Friends,
I
t is truly a matter of concern when clarity is lacking in regard to the most basic and most natural of realities, namely that of marriage and the family. After all, the family touches every person and is, so to speak, written into our very flesh and blood. The human body, sexuality and married love are like an ‘original sacrament’ in which the invisible – the love of God – is made visible. In the mutual affection of man and wife God Himself speaks: ‘I desire that you should be together’.
development of his or her own personality.
W
hen man breaks a w a y from his original relationship with God, he uproots and isolates himself. He then becomes easy prey for the prevailing materialistic culture. In his famous article ‘No Room at the Inn’, which marked the birth of our charity ACN, Father Werenfried spoke prophetic words about the plight of the family.
n order to be is words are able to perceive In married love more relevant this mutual love the Love of God is than ever as a gift of God there today: ‘Do you know has to be a spirit of selfmade visible what an engagement less devotion which, is? It is a slow growbeyond every human limitation, desires the self-realisation ing together of two people who must and fulfilment of the one loved. Only become one and who, in the wild surgthen can a person truly perceive the pres- ing of their blood, hear the compelling ence of Christ in his or her spouse and so command of God to people earth and come to see that the unbreakable mar- heaven. The urging of their flesh is in the deepest sense the voice of Christ, which riage bond has its origin in God Himself. calls to life, which subsists and desires to rom this springs unity and the grow in new souls.’ bond of faithful love. Far from being a limitation of the individu- Christian marriage has a double vocation: al’s own freedom, this is in fact a source on the one hand to bring into being new of happiness that makes possible the life united with Christ, and
I
F
2
H
on the other to show forth in husband and wife the glory of redeemed and redemptive love.
A
nd to do so even when the failings of one spouse outwardly rupture this unity. In speaking of marriage and the family therefore, it is not first and foremost a question of observing moral precepts or social norms, that have to be observed, but rather of recognising in the Sacrament of Matrimony the living presence of Christ, and loving Him. But then the person who loves Christ will also learn to love the laws of the Creator and seek to live by them. Not by his own strength, but in the power of God!
D
ear Friends, our task is to work so that there may be more and more Christian families worldwide. Please help us to assist as many young people as possible to learn to love one another as Christ loves them – so that the whole world may become a ‘dwelling place of God’.
My grateful blessing on you and all your families,
Father Martin M. Barta, Spiritual Assistant
3
BLESSED LOUIS AND ZELIE MARTIN - Patron Saints of the Family*
L
ouis Martin and Zelie Guerin met in Alencon and were married there on July 13, 1858. Over the following fifteen years, Zelie bore nine children, seven girls and two boys. The Martins’ delight in their children was touched by tragedy as four of their children died at a young age causing Zelie much grief. Her faith however sustained her through these ordeals. In a letter to her sister-in-law who also had lost an infant son, Zelie remembered: ‘When I closed the eyes of my dear little children and buried them, I felt sorrow through and through....People said to me, ‘It would have been better never to have had them.’ I couldn’t stand such language. My children were not lost forever; life is short and full of miseries, and we shall find our little ones again up above.’
T
he Martins’ last child was born January 2, 1873. She was weak and frail, and doctors feared for the infant’s life. The family, so used to death, was preparing for yet another blow. Zelie wrote of her three month old girl: ‘I have no hope of saving her. The poor little thing suffers horribly....It breaks your heart to see her.’ But the baby girl proved to be much tougher than anyone realised. She survived the illness. * Adapted and excerpted from Catholic News Herald Charlotte NC 28203, ‘Patron Saints of Families’ 21 November 2013
4
Zelie and Louis Martin
A
year later she was a ‘big baby’ Zelie noted, ‘full of life, she giggles a lot, and is sheer joy to everyone.’ Death seemed to grant a reprieve to the Martin household. Although suffering had left its mark on mother and father, it was not the scar of bitterness. Louis and Zelie had already found relief and support in their faith.
I
ndeed the series of tragedies intensified the love of Louis and Zelie Martin had for each other and they poured out their affection on their five surviving daughters; Marie (1860 - 1940), Pauline (1861 - 1951), Leonie (1863-1941), Celine (1869 - 1959) and Marie-FrancoiseTherese (1873-1897) who would later be known as St. Therese and referred to as the ‘Little Flower.’ Notably all five sisters became nuns. Leonie became a Visitation Sister and the others Carmelites.
B
lessed Louis and Zelie Martin are to be canonised in October 2015. •
and Father of us all, G odin Jesus, your Son and our Saviour,
you have made us your sons and daughters in the family of the Church. your grace and love help our families M ayin every part of the world be united to one another
in fidelity to the Gospel.
of the Holy Family, M aywiththetheexample aid of your Holy Spirit,
guide all families, especially those most troubled, to be homes of communion and prayer and to always seek your truth and live in your love. Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
5
THE GIFT OF THE FAMILY - Pope Francis
1
Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt, 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt have I called my son.’ 2 13
(Mt 2:13-15)
T
he Scriptures seldom speak of Saint Joseph, but when they do, we often find him resting, as an angel reveals God’s will to him in his dreams. I would like to rest in the Lord with all of you. I need to rest in the Lord with families, and to remember my own family: my father, my mother, my grandfather, my grandmother… Today I am resting with you, and together with you I would like to reflect on the gift of the family. First, however, let me say something about dreams. I am very fond of dreams in families. For nine months every mother and father dream about their baby. They dream about what kind of child he or she will be... You can’t have a family without dreams. Once a family loses the ability to 1 Adapted from address of Pope Francis Mall of Asia Arena, Manila Friday, 16 January 2015 2 Matthew 2:13-16 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
6
dream, children do not grow, love does not grow, life shrivels up and dies.
S
o I ask you each evening, when you make your examination of conscience, to also ask yourselves today... Did I dream about my children’s future? Did I dream about the love of my husband, my wife? Did I dream about my parents and grandparents who have gone before me? Dreaming is very important. Especially dreaming in families. Do not lose the ability to dream. How many difficulties in married life are resolved when we leave room for dreaming, when we stop for a moment to think of our spouse, and we dream about the goodness present in the good things all around us. So it is very important to reclaim love by what we do each day. Do not ever stop being newlyweds!
J
oseph’s rest revealed God’s will to him. In this moment of rest in the Lord, as we pause from our many daily obligations and activities, God is also speaking to us. He speaks to us in the reading (of scripture), in our prayer and witness, and in the quiet of our hearts.
et us reflect on what the Lord is saying to us, especially in Matthew 2:13-15. There are three aspects of this passage which I would ask you to consider: First, resting in the Lord. Second, rising with Jesus and Mary. Third, being a prophetic voice.
L
Read Pope Francis’
CATECHESES ON THE FAMILY on acnireland.org
Resting in the Lord. Rest is so necessary for the health of our minds and bodies, and is often so difficult to achieve due to the many demands placed on us. But rest is also essential for our spiritual health, so that we can hear God’s voice and understand what He asks of us.
J
oseph was chosen by God to be the foster father of Jesus and the husband of Mary. As Christians, you too are called, like Joseph, to make a home for Jesus. To make a home for Jesus. You make a home for him in your hearts, in your families, in your parishes and in your communities. To hear and accept God’s call, to make a home for Jesus, you must be able to rest in the Lord. You must make time each day to rest in the Lord, to pray.
T
o pray is to rest in the Lord. But you may say to me: Holy Father, I know that; I want to pray, but there is so much work to do. I must care for my children; I have chores in the home; I am 7
too tired even to sleep well. I know. This may be true, but if we do not pray, we will not know the most important thing of all: God’s will for us. And for all our activity, our busy-ness without prayer will accomplish very little. esting in prayer is especially important for families. It is in the family that we first learn how to pray. Don’t forget: the family that prays together stays together! Because it is in the family that we come: to know God, to grow into men and women of faith, to see ourselves as members of God’s greater family, the Church.
R
It is in the family that we learn how: to love, to forgive, to be generous and open, not closed and selfish.
8
It is in the family that we learn: to move beyond our own needs, to encounter others and share our lives with them.
T
hat is why it is so important to pray as a family. That is why families are so important in God’s plan for the Church. To rest in the Lord is to pray. To pray together as a family. I would also like to tell you something very personal. I have great love for Saint Joseph, because he is a man of silence and strength. On my table I have an image of Saint Joseph sleeping. Even when he is asleep, he is taking care of the Church. Yes. We know that he can do that. So when I have a problem, a difficulty, I write a little note and I put it underneath Saint Joseph, so that he can dream about it. In other words I tell him: pray for this problem!
ext, rising with Jesus and Mary. Those precious moments of repose, of resting with the Lord in prayer, are moments we might wish to prolong. But like Saint Joseph, once we have heard God’s voice, we must rise from our slumber; we must get up and act (cf. Rom 13:11). In our families, we have to get up and act! Faith does not remove us from the world, but draws us more deeply into it. This is very important. We have to be deeply engaged with the world, but with the power of prayer. Each of us, in fact, has a special role in preparing for the coming of God’s kingdom in our world.
N
J
ust as the gift of the Holy Family was entrusted to Saint Joseph, so the gift of the family and its place in God’s plan is entrusted to us. The gift of the Holy Family was entrusted to Saint Joseph so that he could care for it. Each of you, each of us – for I too am part of a family – is charged with caring for God’s plan.
T
he angel of the Lord revealed to Joseph the dangers which threatened Jesus and Mary, forcing them to flee to Egypt and then to settle in Nazareth. So too, in our time, God calls upon us to recognize the dangers threatening our own families and to protect them from harm. Let us be on guard against colonization by new ideologies. There are forms of ideological colonization which are out
to destroy the family. They are not born of dreams, of prayers, of closeness to God or the mission which God gave us; they come from without, and for that reason I am saying that they are forms of colonization. et’s not lose the freedom of the mission which God has given us, the mission of the family. Just as our peoples, at a certain moment of their history, were mature enough to say ‘no’ to all forms of political colonization, so too in our families we need to be very wise, very shrewd, very strong, in order to say ‘no’ to all attempts at an ideological colonization of our families.
L
We need to ask Saint Joseph, the friend of the angel, to send us the inspiration to know when we can say ‘yes’ and when we have to say ‘no’.
T
he pressures on family life today are many. In the Philippines, countless families are still suffering from the effects of natural disasters. The economic situation has caused families to be separated by migration and the search for employment, and financial problems strain many households. While all too many people live in dire poverty, others are caught up in materialism and lifestyles which are destructive of family life and the most basic demands of Christian morality. These are forms of ideological colonization. 9
The family is also threatened by growing efforts on the part of some to redefine the very institution of marriage, by relativism, by the culture of the ephemeral, by a lack of openness to life. I think of Blessed Paul VI. At a time when the problem of population growth was being raised, he had the courage to defend openness to life in families. He knew the difficulties that are there in every family, and so in his Encyclical, Humanae Vitae he was very merciful towards particular cases, and he asked confessors to be very merciful and understanding in dealing with particular cases.
B
ut he also had a broader vision: he looked at the peoples of the earth and he saw this threat of families being destroyed for lack of children. Paul VI was courageous; he was a good pastor and he warned his flock of the wolves who were coming. Our world needs good and strong families to overcome these threats. Our world needs holy and loving families to protect the beauty and truth of the family in God’s plan and to be a support and example for other families. Every threat to the family is a threat to society itself. The future of humanity, as Saint John Paul II often said, passes through the family (cf. Familiaris Consortio, 85). The future passes through the family. So protect your families! 10
P
rotect your families! See in them your greatest treasure and nourish them always by prayer and the grace of the sacraments. Families will always have their trials, but may you never add to them. Instead, Be living examples of love, forgiveness and care. Be sanctuaries of respect for life, proclaiming the sacredness of every human life from conception to natural death. What a gift this would be to society, if every Christian family lived fully its noble vocation. So rise with Jesus and Mary, and set out on the path the Lord traces for each of you.
F
inally, Matthew 2:15 reminds us of our Christian duty to be prophetic voices in the midst of our communities. Joseph listened to the angel of the Lord and responded to God’s call to care for Jesus and Mary. In this way he played his part in God’s plan, and became a blessing not only for the Holy Family, but a blessing for all of humanity. With Mary, Joseph served as a model for the boy Jesus as he grew in wisdom, age and grace (cf. Lk 2:52). When families bring children into the world, train them in faith and sound values, and teach them to contribute to society, they become a blessing in our world. Families can become a blessing for all of humanity.
G
od’s love becomes present and active by the way we love and, by the good works we do we extend Christ’s kingdom in this world. And in doing this, we prove faithful to the prophetic mission which we have received in baptism. I would ask you, as families, to be especially mindful of our call to be missionary disciples of Jesus. This means being ready to go beyond your homes and to care for our brothers and sisters who are most in need. ask you especially to show concern for those who do not have a family of their own, in particular those who are elderly and
I
children without parents. Never let them feel isolated, alone and abandoned, but help them to know that God has not forgotten them.
T
oday I was very moved when, after Mass, I visited a home for children without families. How many people work in the Church to make that home a family. This is what it means, in a prophetic sense, to build a family. You may be poor yourselves in material ways, but you have an abundance of gifts to offer when you offer Christ and the community of his Church. Do not hide your faith, do not hide Jesus, but carry Him into the world and offer the witness of your family life. Dear friends in Christ, know that I pray for you always. I pray for families. I pray that the Lord may continue to deepen your love for Him, and that this love may manifest itself in your love for one another and for the Church.
D
o not forget Jesus who sleeps! Do not forget Saint Joseph who sleeps! Jesus slept with the protection of Joseph. Do not forget: families find their rest in prayer. Do not forget to pray for families. Pray often and take the fruits of your prayer into the world, that all may know Jesus Christ and • His merciful love.
11
THE FIRST SCHOOL OF WISDOM - Pope Benedict XVI3
A
ll of us need… to contemplate ever anew the silence and love of the Holy Family, the model of all Christian family life. Here, in the example of Mary, Joseph and Jesus, we come to appreciate even more fully the sacredness of the family, which in God’s plan is based on the lifelong fidelity of a man and a woman consecrated by the marriage covenant and accepting of God’s gift of new life. How much the men and women of our time need to re-appropriate this fundamental truth, which stands at the foundation of society, and how important is the witness of married couples for the formation of sound consciences and the building of a civilization of love! n the book of Sirach (3:3-7, 14-17), the word of God presents the family as the first school of wisdom, a school which trains its members in the practice of those virtues which make for authentic happiness and lasting fulfilment.
I
In God’s plan for the family, the love of husband and wife bears fruit in new life, and finds daily expression in the loving efforts of parents to ensure an 3 Adapted from Pope Benedict XVI Homily, Mount of Precipice – Nazareth Thursday, 14 May 2009
12
integral human and spiritual formation for their children. In the family each person, whether the smallest child or the oldest relative, is valued for himself or herself, and not seen simply as a means to some other end.
H
ere we begin to glimpse something of the essential role of the family as the first building-block of a well-ordered and welcoming society. We also come to appreciate, within the wider community, the duty of the State to support families in their mission of education, to protect the institution of the family and its inherent rights, and to ensure that all families can live and flourish in conditions of dignity.
T
he Apostle Paul, writing to the Colossians, speaks instinctively of the family when he wishes to illustrate the virtues which build up the ‘one body’ which is the Church. As ‘God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved’, we are called to live in harmony and peace with one another, showing above all forbearance and forgiveness, with love as the highest bond of perfection (cf. Col 3:12-14).
J
ust as in the marriage covenant, the love of man and woman is raised by grace to become a sharing in, and an expression of, the love of Christ and the Church (cf. Eph 5:32), so too the family, grounded in that love, is called to be a ‘domestic church’, a place of faith, of prayer and of loving concern for the true and enduring good of each of its members. As we reflect on these realities …our thoughts naturally turn to Mary, ‘full of grace’, the mother of the Holy Family and our Mother. Nazareth reminds us of our need to acknowledge and respect the God-given dignity and proper role of women, as well as their particular charisms and talents.
W
hether as mothers in families or as a vital presence in the work force and the institutions of society, or in the particular vocation of following our Lord by the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience, women have an indispensable role in creating that ‘human ecology’ (cf. Centesimus Annus, 39) which our world…so urgently needs: a milieu in which children learn to love and to cherish others, to be honest and respectful to all, to practice the virtues of mercy and forgiveness.
13
H
ere too, we think of Saint Joseph, the just man whom God wished to place over his household. From Joseph’s strong and fatherly example Jesus learned the virtues of a manly piety, fidelity to one’s word, integrity and hard work. In the carpenter of Nazareth he saw how authority placed at the service of love is infinitely more fruitful than the power which seeks to dominate. How much our world needs the example, guidance and quiet strength of men like Joseph.
F
inally, in contemplating the Holy Family of Nazareth, we turn to the child Jesus, who in the home of Mary and Joseph grew in wisdom and understanding, until the day he began his public ministry. Here I would simply like to leave a particular thought with the young people. The Second Vatican Council teaches that children have a special role to play in the growth of their parents in holiness (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 48). I urge you to reflect on this, and to let the example of Jesus guide you, not only in showing respect for your parents, but also helping them to discover more fully the love which gives our lives their deepest meaning.
I
n the Holy Family of Nazareth, it was Jesus who taught Mary and Joseph something of the greatness of the love of God his heavenly Father, the ultimate source of all love, the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name (cf. Eph 3:14-15). ‘Let it be done to me according to your word’ (Lk 1:38). May our Lady of the Annunciation, who courageously opened her heart to God’s mysterious plan, and became the Mother of all believers, guide and sustain us by her prayers.
M
ay she obtain for us and our families the grace to open our ears to that word of the Lord which has the power to build us up (cf. Acts 20:32), • to inspire us to be courageous. 14
THE FAMILY IS THE WAY OF THE CHURCH - Saint John Paul II4
I
n the Encyclical Redemptor Hominis, I wrote that man is the way of the Church. With these words I wanted first of all to evoke the many paths along which man walks, and at the same time to emphasise how deeply the Church desires to stand at his side as he follows the paths of his earthly life. The Church shares in the joys and hopes, the sorrows and anxieties of people’s daily pilgrimage, firmly convinced that it was Christ himself who set her on all these paths. Christ entrusted man to the Church; He entrusted man to her as the ‘way’ of her mission and her ministry.
A
mong these many paths, the family is the first and the most important. It is a path common to all, yet one which is particular, unique and unrepeatable, just as every individual is unrepeatable; it is a path from which man cannot withdraw. Indeed, a person normally comes into the world within a family, and can be said to owe to the family the very fact of his existing as an individual. When he has no family, the person coming into the world develops an anguished sense of pain and loss, one which will subsequently burden his whole life. 4 Adapted and excerpted from St Pope John Paul II letter to Families, Gratissimam Sane. Paragraphs 1 and 2.
T
he Church draws near with loving concern to all who experience situations such as these, for she knows well the fundamental role which the family is called upon to play. Furthermore, she knows that a person goes forth from the family in order to realize in a new family unit his particular vocation in life. Even if someone chooses to remain single, the family continues to be, as it were, his existential horizon, that fundamental community in which the whole network of social relations is grounded, from the closest and most immediate to the most distant.
D
o we not often speak of the ‘human family’ when referring to all the people living in the world?
The family has its origin in that same love with which the Creator embraces the created world, as was already expressed ‘in the beginning’, in the Book of Genesis (1:1). n the Gospel Jesus offers a supreme confirmation: ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only Son’ (Jn 3:16). The only-begotten Son, of one substance with the Father, ‘God from God and Light from Light’, entered into human history through the
I
15
family: ‘For by His incarnation the Son of God united Himself in a certain way with every man. He laboured with human hands... and loved with a human heart. Born of Mary the Virgin, He truly became one of us and, except for sin, was like us in every respect’. If in fact Christ ‘fully discloses man to himself’, He does so beginning with the family in which He chose to be born and to grow up.
W
e know that the Redeemer spent most of His life in the obscurity of Nazareth, ‘obedient’ (Lk 2:51) as the ‘Son of Man’ to Mary His Mother, and to Joseph the carpenter. Is this filial ‘obedience’ of Christ not already the first expression of that obedience to the Father ‘unto death’ (Phil 2:8), whereby He redeemed the world? The divine mystery of the Incarnation of the Word thus has an intimate connection with the human family. Not only with one family, that of Nazareth, but in some way with every family, analogously to what the Second Vatican Council says about the Son of God, who in the Incarnation ‘united Himself in some sense with every man’. ollowing Christ who ‘came’ into the world ‘to serve’ (Mt 20:28), the Church considers serving the family to be one of her essential duties. In this sense both man and the family • constitute ‘the way of the Church.’
F
16
THE MARITAL COVENANT -
Saint Pope John Paul II5
T
he family has always been considered as the first and basic expression of man’s social nature. Even today this way of looking at things remains unchanged. Nowadays, however, emphasis tends to be laid on how much the family, as the smallest and most basic human community, owes to the personal contribution of a man and a woman. The family is in fact a community of persons whose proper way of existing and living together is communion: communio personarum. Here too, while always acknowledging the absolute transcendence of the Creator with regard to His creatures, we can see the family’s ultimate relationship to the divine ‘We’. Only persons are capable of living ‘in communion’. The family originates in a marital communion described by the Second Vatican Council as a ‘covenant’, in which man and woman ‘give themselves to each other and accept each other’.
In the Gospel, Christ, disputing with the Pharisees, quotes these same words and then adds: ‘So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder’ (Mt 19:6).
I
n this way, he reveals anew the binding content of a fact which exists ‘from the beginning’ (Mt 19:8) and which always preserves this content. If the Master confirms it ‘now’, he does so in order to make clear and unmistakable to all, at the dawn of the New Covenant, the indissoluble character of marriage as the basis of the common good of the family. When, in union with the Apostle, we bow our knees before the Father from whom all fatherhood and motherhood is named
T
he Book of Genesis helps us to see this truth when it states, in reference to the establishment of the family through marriage, that ‘a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh’ (Gen 2:24). 5 Adapted and excerpted from St Pope John Paul II letter to Families, Gratissimam Sane. Paragraph 7.
17
(cf. Eph 3:14-15), we come to realize that parenthood is the event whereby the family, already constituted by the conjugal covenant of marriage, is brought about ‘in the full and specific sense’.
M
otherhood necessarily implies fatherhood, and in turn, fatherhood necessarily implies motherhood. This is the result of the duality bestowed by the Creator upon human beings ‘from the beginning’. I have spoken of two closely related yet not identical concepts: the concept of ‘communion’ and that of ‘community’. ‘Communion’ has to do with the personal relationship between the ‘I’ and the ‘thou’. ‘Community’ on the other hand transcends this framework and moves towards a ‘society’, a ‘we’. The family, as a community of persons, is thus the first human ‘society’. It arises whenever there comes into being the conjugal covenant of marriage, which opens the spouses to a lasting communion of love and of life, and it is brought to completion in a full and specific way with the procreation of children: the ‘communion’ of the spouses gives rise to the ‘community’ of the family. The ‘community’ of the family is completely pervaded by the very essence of ‘communion’. On the human level, can there be any other ‘communion’ comparable to that between a mother and a 18
child whom she has carried in her womb and then brought to birth?
I
n the family thus constituted there appears a new unity, in which the relationship ‘of communion’ between the parents attains complete fulfilment. Experience teaches that this fulfilment represents both a task and a challenge. The task involves the spouses in living out their original covenant. The children born to them—and here is the challenge—should consolidate that covenant, enriching and deepening the conjugal communion of the father and mother. When this does not occur, we need to ask if the selfishness which lurks even in the love of man and woman as a result of the human inclination to evil is not stronger than this love. Married couples need to be well aware of this. From the outset they need to have their hearts and thoughts turned towards the God ‘from whom every family is named’, so that their fatherhood and motherhood will draw from that source the power to be continually renewed in love. atherhood and motherhood are themselves a particular proof of love; they make it possible to discover love’s extension and original depth. But this does not take place automatically. Rather, it is a task entrusted to both husband and wife. In the life of husband and wife together, fatherhood and moth-
F
erhood represent such a sublime ‘novelty’ and richness as can only be approached ‘on one’s knees’.
E
xperience teaches that human love, which naturally tends towards fatherhood and motherhood, is sometimes affected by a profound crisis and is thus seriously threatened. In such cases, help can be sought at marriage and family counselling centres, where it is possible, among other things, to obtain the assistance of specifically trained psychologists and psychotherapists. At the same time, however, we cannot forget the perennial validity of the words of the Apostle: ‘I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named’. Marriage, the Sacrament of Matrimony, is a covenant of persons in love. And love can be deepened and preserved only by Love, that Love which is ‘poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us’ (Rom 5:5).
T
he Apostle, bowing his knees before the Father, asks that the faithful ‘be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man’ (Eph 3:16). This ‘inner strength’ is necessary in all family life, especially at its critical moments, when the love which was expressed in the liturgical rite of marital consent with the words, ‘I promise to be faithful to you always... all the days of • my life’, is put to a difficult test.
19
BLESSING THE FAMILY
- Fr. Michael Shields, ACN Evangelist-at-large, Siberia
J
esus was brought to the temple as a baby and He went to temple all His life. There in the temple His parents found out He was called by God. He found His call in the temple to do the will of His father when He was 12. The holy family went to the temple together. Mary and Joseph were churchgoing people. They brought Jesus to Church even as a baby. The scriptures are clear the church community worshiped on Sunday together. That means families with older and younger people were in Church on Sunday together. Babies, children, teenagers, parents and grandparents worshiped together.
C
hildren belong in our hearts and in God’s temple. I want to speak about giving children a spiritual foundation. I know many of us don’t have young children but you may have grandchildren or be a parent to grownup ‘children’. You teach now as you taught them when they were younger, by example. If you go to church and pray so too will your children eventually. Don’t underestimate the importance of your commitment to God and Church to your children, both old and young as they both rely on your prayers and example although they may not realise it at this moment.
20
‘My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me…. Since you have forgotten the laws of your God, I will forget to bless your children.’ (Hosea 4:6)
T
he key to God blessing your family is for the family to get to know Him by praying together. Children learn 90% of what they know by example, they imitate the parents. Sitting next to his or her parents, a child watches how they pray. And here I want to say all children, even teenagers need to be in church. Being a teenager is an exciting and ‘mixed-up’ time. Teenagers are given some freedoms so that they grow up to be responsible adults, capable of making responsible choices. Making church a choice however seems to me to say that church is really not necessary: you can choose to worship God on Sunday or not. The Bible is very clear in this regard, it is a commandment. The Church is also very clear in this regard, it is a sin.
C
onsider how we tell our children how late they can stay up. Consider also how we tell them what they can and can’t eat. Then consider why we do not tell them that going to church is necessary for their spiritual growth even and perhaps especially at those times when it is inconvenient and lacks appeal.
Learning to choose what is demanding and good over what is tempting and unhealthy is a life skill which needs to be taught by word and deed. ‘(God) commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even children yet to be born, who in turn would tell their children.’ (Psalm 78:5-6)
T
he secret to blessing our families for these and future generations is to teach our families by our lives and our loves, by our work and our words the God we know, the God who created each of us in His own image, the God who became man to redeem us from sin and open our way to eternal life, the God who gives us his body and blood to sustain us on our journey through this world’s ‘valley of tears’. Psalm 78, informs us that teaching our children today affects our great-greatgrandchildren. What we do, or fail to do, today affects generations to come. I know that I am receiving the blessings of at least four generations of Catholics who believed in God and went to church to worship Him and I thank all of them in my prayers. Never cease to pray for those who came before you and those who will come • after you.
21
HOW AFRICA IS LIVING THE TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH ‘God Himself is the author of matrimony’, we read in Gaudium et Spes (48.1) and Saint John Paul II tells us: ‘The family is the way of the Church and of humanity’. But we have to learn to live together in marriage and in the family. In Africa the family apostolate is a major topic, not least because of the forthcoming Synod.
W
orking together with the archdiocese of Gitega in Burundi, the African Family Life Federation (Fédération Africaine d’Action Familiale) has developed a two-year programme to help young women and men to come to see the great dignity of the married vocation and the happiness that can grow from Zambia: A married couple, helping to form ‘God’s masterpiece’, as course moderators.
22
this for the family – despite living through warfare and crises in this country in the heart of Africa.
A
year ago the first course welcomed 1,495 participants – this year there were 7,624. It attracts young people and young couples who want to know why life is sacred, why women possess no lesser dignity than men, why the Church recognises natural methods of family planning as good and artificial methods as contrary to human nature; why fidelity should not be beyond the capacity of any person, and why marriage and family represent the ‘masterpiece of God’ as Pope Francis puts it.
T
he answers are delivered by 60 fully trained catechists. The cost of running the training sessions and meetings is an investment in the future. But it is one that the archdiocese itself cannot bear alone. We have promised to help. Now the programme is due to launch in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well. In six dioceses in Zambia the African Family Life Federation is running a programme that goes still further. Here 216 married couples are being trained as moderators to A handbook for family life in its fulness. answer questions about marriage and the family. In doing so they make use of ‘Living Marriage and Family Life to the Full’, a handbook especially devised for this course.
families, the avoidance of risks to health, the exclusion of violence within marriage, the strengthening of fidelity and responsibility, the eradication of child prostitution, forced marriages, and child labour.
T
here is no topic that is not addressed in this handbook. It is like a user’s manual for the encyclical Humanae Vitae, which states: ‘Married love particularly reveals its true nature and nobility when we realise that it takes its origin from God, who “is love”.’ (No. 8). We have promised to support the training courses based on this handbook, which is also intended for use in • other countries.
A
mong other things it contains suggested questions for discussion in small groups, for example: ‘What is freedom in the context of married love?’ Or: ‘What are the reasons why some couples want few children or none at all?’ The handbook places sexuality in the context of marriage, celibacy and virginity; it emphasises the significance of parenthood as co-creation with God; it seeks to promote stability within
Burundi: Teaching mothers about the wonderful dignity of woman, despite war and crisis.
23
MOTHERLY CARE OF THE YOUNG ‘The Church places her motherhood at the service of children and their families. To parents and children of this world of ours, she bears the blessing of God.’ Pope Francis his is how we can also see the summer camps and youth days that Mother Church regularly organises in so many countries. In Romania this year, the National Youth Day was a great event drawing young people from the Greek Catholic and Armenian Catholic Churches – which are in full communion with Rome – as well as Latin Rite Catholics. For thousands of young people this event has marked a turning point in their lives. ACN has helped.
T
Joyful and grateful: some of the youngsters on the ‘Eagle’s Eye’ summer camp run by the Community of Saint John in Ethiopia.
24
I
n Ethiopia, 120 young people are participating in a great spiritual event which goes on until this September. 20 youngsters are involved in full, week-long retreats, while the rest are taking part in summer camps run by the Community of Saint John. In each case, the objective is to deepen their personal relationship with God. Two years ago the Brothers of St John started a youth camp with just a small group of teenagers. On their return to the capital, Addis Ababa, the young people told their friends of the joy that filled their hearts.
ow the Community of St John is having to manage a storm of enthusiasm for Christ – and that is why they are seeking our help. They are filled with joy and gratitude, but at the same time this blessing of God is stretching them to the limits of their financial and physical resources.
N
Greetings from Ethiopia to all our benefactors, from these young people and their bishop.
We have promised them our support, as we want this blessing to continue to fill the hearts of the young people in the summer camps, and their friends. •
STRENGTHENED IN THEIR VOCATION
M
arta, Fanisa and Vanessa (photo) have been novices with the Poor Clare Sisters in Mozambique for eight months now. On a study week they met with novices from other religious communities and came back ‘strengthened in their vocation and mission’, as Mother Maria , their superior, writes.
T
hese study weeks are absolutely priceless for their religious formation and for the deepening of their vocation. The novices were able to see ‘that it is possible to follow Jesus in every walk of life’, including ‘that of religious women in a culture so different from what we are accustomed to’. You
have relieved the sisters of the burden of worry about the cost of train fares, board and lodging and study materials. For this they send their ‘heartfelt thanks • to all the benefactors of ACN’.
25
FATHER PIOTR, APOSTLE OF LIFE
T
hey pray every day for unborn children. At the beginning, Father Piotr Bielewicz was on his own. Like the holy Curé of Ars, on arriving in his new diocese of Pinsk in Belarus he knelt down in front of the Holy Sacrament in an empty church and began to pray.
A
round 13 years ago, after spending eight years in Ukraine, this missionary was sent by his Congregation, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, first to Minsk and then into the provinces to Pinsk. Here he has gathered around him others who now pray with him; he has healed spiritual wounds, saved the lives of children. Today there are often several dozen of them, praying in the cathedral in Pinsk.
O
ne of the children saved in this way is called Piotr-Rafael, a name that speaks volumes about the gratitude of his mother. Another little one, with large eyes, is called Vladimir; another, a radiantly beautiful little girl, Svetlana, and so forth. But there were other children they could not save. People in Belarus are afraid of having children, they have such little hope in the future. Most women would prefer to give birth to the child they bear within them, but ‘killing has become so commonplace, so much a matter of course’, says Father Piotr.
26
People ‘no longer see that it is also killing souls. And so we must pray. God saves.’ Father Piotr feels the dead weight of the country’s godless past. In the diocese he is responsible for the families – and his work is rooted in prayer.
T
oday, when he speaks with a mother-to-be, he knows that he is no longer alone. One person speaks, another prays – this is their motto. He has won over many grandmothers as his allies. He organises pilgrimages with thousands of participants, and in the countless conversations in the counselling tent, tears often flow. Acknowledging the truth is painful, but grace heals. Father Piotr also goes into the schools and talks to the young people about love, about chastity and abstinence, about marriage and family. Most of them are hearing it for the first time; many of the teachers deride him, but the schoolgirls are fascinated.
F
ather Piotr lays bare the buried longing for true love. At the university he likewise teaches what the Church says, starting with the encyclical Humanae Vitae of Pope Paul VI, through
to the preaching of Pope Francis. By now a group of a good 20 young people is helping him to organise the many prayer meetings, pilgrimages and catechetical sessions. Father Piotr carries conviction when he speaks. ‘We have declared war on the culture of death’, he says. He himself is from a family of seven children, and he was the sixth. ‘It is the logic of the devil to kill’, he says. In communist Eastern Europe it was a matter of course, after two children, to insert an IUD in order to prevent the fertilised egg from implanting and so abort the third child. ver 90% of women have aborted at least one child in their lives’. Abortions are free in Belarus and there are no controls, so everything happens automatically, so to speak. ‘It takes courage to say “no” to the doctor and “yes” to life’, he adds. Father Piotr inspires this courage. ‘I go to them and share their feelings. For they want life. I tell them: Have no fear, God is there.’
O
Father Piotr is an apostle of life and of the civilisation of love. He needs a car for his mission, plus pamphlets, books, catechetical materials. Much of it he makes himself, such as a little newspaper for children. But even this costs money, money he does not have. ‘The way of the Church’ : Father Piotr with a young family in front of the cathedral in Pinsk.
So he prays, knowing that ‘God will not desert me’. • 27
At acnireland.org watch
‘Humanum’
the
Videos:
Extraordinary Short Films on Marriage and the Family The Destiny of Humanity
A Hidden Sweetness The Power of Marriage Amid Hardship
On the Meaning of Marriage
The Cradle of Life and Love
Challenge and Hope for a New Generation
A Mother & Father for the World’s Children
Understanding Man and Woman
Marriage, Culture, and Civil Society
READ POPE FRANCIS’ CATECHESES ON ACNIRELAND.ORG CaTeCheses CATECHESES ON The on THE FamilY FAMILY by Pope Francis
The ChurCh is pilgrimage To god’s Kingdom An introduction to the Catholic Church by Pope Francis
LAUDATO SI PrAISe Be TO YOU
28
EvangElii gaudium ThE Joy of ThE gospEl
LUMEN FIDEI ThE LIghT oF FaITh
BY THE LIGHT OF FAITH Bishop Fidel León Cadavid Marín loves the people of his diocese. In his long and detailed request for aid he describes the character of the people in the diocese of Sonsón-Rionegro in northwest Colombia as ‘hospitable, kindly, enterprising, joyful, simple, spiritually very open and with deeply rooted moral principles’.
I
t sounds as though life should be pretty unproblematic here. But the bishop can also see deep shadows. Terror and violence have driven people off the land and into the cities. Here there is high unemployment, rising teenage pregnancies and growing drug abuse. Poverty and violence are spreading and have affected family life. And so it is here that he is tackling the problem – in the area of marriage and the family.
I
n fact Bishop Fidel sees By the light of Faith the family apostolate as absolutely central to his approach. He believes the light that will dispel the shadows can only come from the Faith. And so, in the 60 parishes of his diocese, he has 300 lay leaders, specially trained in the family apostolate, who explain the beauty of God’s loving plan for marriage and the family. And they are there for the long term. These parish-based family counsellors are there not only to teach the families and young people but above all to accompany them. His workforce is in place, and his programme likewise. All he needs is the funds to bring people together, prepare the teaching materials and implement the programme. Bishop Fidel is begging on behalf of his people, • as he loves them. ACN is helping.
29
FOR ALL THE NATIONS ON EARTH YOUCATS FOR 325 COMMUNITY LEADERS Rdemptorist Father Willi Wagener knows his flock. For over half a century now he has been ministering to the Catholics on the island of Sumba in Indonesia. During this time their number has grown from ten thousand to 175,000. And yet the appearances are deceptive. Many of the baptised, even including those who regularly attend the Sunday Liturgies of the Word, know little of their faith. And the same is true even for many of the community leaders who conduct these Liturgies of the Word. For only a handful of these 325 parish leaders are actually trained catechists.
B
ut now 80-year-old Father Willi has stumbled upon the youth catechism YOUCAT and has been inspired by it. ‘The YOUCAT would be the ideal aid for our community leaders in preparing their Sunday homilies and filling in the enormous gaps in the knowledge of the faith among the people’, he writes. The cost of one copy of ‘YOUCAT Indonesia’ would be approximately 5 Euros – about the same as the money that each community leader receives per month from his parish community. Father Willi is asking us for help, so that he can produce 325 copies. Then the people can grow deeper in their faith. 30
Father Willi is delighted at the chance to present the Good News in a new form.
2,000 BIBLES FOR THE FAMILIES In secularist-dominated Uruguay the Church remains faithful to Rome. In the diocese of Florida the bishop wants to see ‘the entire family apostolate steeped in the Bible’, just as the bishops’ Synod on the Family has recommended. For Bishop Martin Perez, the family is ‘the cradle of true values’.
I
t is the family that holds society together – but the family must know these fundamental values. To this end the diocese is organising catechetical weekends, to which it is inviting couples to who have become estranged from the Church. In these meetings the Bible stands at the centre – and by this he means The Catholic Family Bible. For it encourages people to study together to familiarise themselves with the words and deeds of Jesus, and later to read them together and pray together in the family. It gives many examples of how people can
live ‘as mother and father, in accordance with the will of the Creator’. ishop Perez anticipates some major opportunities for the family apostolate in the second half of this year – for example the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, together with Pope Francis, in September, and the Synod on the ‘Challenges of the Family Apostolate’ in October. And he wants to equip 2,000 married couples with a copy of the Catholic Family Bible at their own meetings. In this strongly secularised country they would form an apostolic ‘intervention force’ of particular spiritual effectiveness.
B
THE MOST WIDELY PRINTED BOOK IN THE WORLD espite all the millions of works of fiction and despite e-book readers which allow people to access books on a computer screen rather than on paper,
D
the Bible remains the most widely translated and widely disseminated book in the world. There are translations of the entire text in 511 languages and partial translations in a further 2,650 languages. But that would not necessarily mean a great deal, were it not for the fact that the Bible is also the most widely printed book in the world. In many countries today you are helping to translate and print it.
Y
ou are currently helping to fund the printing of ACN’s own Child’s Bible in the three Indian dioceses of Udupi, Mangalore and Karwar. And you are helping to translate parts of the Bible and other catechetical material in the languages of various Ethiopian tribes. ‘Go out to all nations’, Christ ordered us. We are taking His words to heart – in every language. • Helping them to learn more about their faith: Children in a Catholic School in Indonesia.
A precious gift: the bishop gives out the Child’s Bible in Mangalore. 31
CHRISTIANITY HAS DEEP ROOTS HERE Dear Friends, t was worth the wait. The enthusiasm was deafening as the Holy Father enters the sports hall of the John Paul II Youth Centre in Sarajevo, during his visit to Bosnia.
I
His message to the young people is one of peace. Ever since the Bosnian war 20 years ago, radical Islam has been gaining more and more influence. It sometimes happens that Catholic religious sisters are insulted in the streets. The attempt to squeeze out the Christians is unmistakable.
T
rue, Christianity has deep roots here. But it used to have deep roots in North Africa and the Middle East as well. Hence the urgent request of the Pope to this, the first postwar generation, to commit themselves to the cause of peace between the religions – by prayer, of course,
but also by finding new ways of coming together.
T
his is precisely the purpose of the youth centre in Sarajevo. Thanks to your generosity, we have been able to provide effective help for the Church, just as we did with the restoration of the convent of the contemplative Carmelite Sisters, which was destroyed in the war.
S
heltered behind high walls, they now spend eight hours each day in prayer. This is surely the most powerful ‘weapon’ of peace. I was able to say a special thank-you to the Superior when she told me that her sisters pray three times a day for our benefactors.
Johannes Freiherr Heereman, Executive President of ACN International
WHERE TO SEND YOUR CONTRIBUTION FOR THE CHURCH IN NEED Please use the Freepost envelope. Aid to the Church in Need, 151 St. Mobhi Road, Glasnevin, Dublin 9. (01) 837 7516. info@acnireland.org www.acnireland.org
32
IBAN IE32 BOFI 9005 7890 6993 28 BIC BOFI IE2D If you give by standing order, or have sent a donation recently, please accept our sincere thanks. This MIRROR is for your interest and information.
Registered Charity Numbers: (RoI) 9492 (NI) XR96620.
ONLY WITH GOD’S HELP... Blessings shared Your thank-you letter made me very happy. Not because of the thanks, but because I can see how much good was done with my many Mass stipends. In 2014 I was richly blessed with gifts for the golden jubilee of my religious profession. All this, along with 80% of my holiday money, is going straight to you, as always, because I can see in your Mirror just how much I can help the Church in need and the poor. A religious sister in Austria Called to Pray In the past I used to give regularly to ACN, but since my retirement my income is smaller and I have difficulty getting through the month. But when I heard the news of Bishop Doeme’s visit from Nigeria, I felt urgently called to pray the Rosary daily for his intentions, since I can no longer support you as much financially. A benefactress in Belgium Only with God’s help Please accept this humble gift enclosed for the wonderful work of ACN and for all the truly dedicated priests and faithful volunteers helping the suffering Church throughout the world and the marvelous work that is being accomplished. ‘Only with God’s help can we all go on’ as you wrote in your recent leaflet. How true this is. A benefactress in Australia
...THANK YOU AMDG
Dear Friends, Thanks to your help we are able to collaborate with thousands of others in bringing the Word of God to millions of souls in need. Thank you for being a ,a Witness to Hope and a ‘little light’ in the darkness. Our world needs our light, our families need our light. May the Good Lord continue to bless you and all who are dear to you for the love you are showing to the least of all God’s children. In Christ,
J F Declan Quinn Director, Aid to the Church in Need (Ire)
BACK ISSUES OF THE MIRROR ARE AVAILABLE TO READ AT ACNIRELAND.ORG
Aid to the Church in Need
Go rEbuild my church
15 - 5
Aid to the Church in Need
go rEbuild mY church
Go rEbuild my church
15 - 1
Go rebuild my church
Go rebuild my church
Wake up the World
‘Big-Hearted’ Ecumenism and the New Evangelisation
Aid to the Church in Need
Aid to the Church in Need
Aid to the Church in Need
Strength amid Suffering The true measure of Humanity 15 - 2
15 - 3
15 - 4
Stand firm in the faith, be strong. (1 Cor. 16:13) ‘IN MARRIED LOVE THE LOVE OF GOD IS MADE VISIBLE..’ ACN Spiritual Assistant
‘Jesus begins His miracles at a wedding feast. And so Jesus teaches us that the masterpiece of society is the family – the man and the woman who love each other! This is the masterpiece!’
Love even sustains this refugee family from Iraq.
Pope Francis, General Audience, 29 April 2015
Aid to the Church in Need 151 St. Mobhi Road, Dublin 9. 01 837 7516 info@acnireland.org www.acnireland.org
IBAN IE32 BOFI 9005 7890 6993 28 BIC BOFI IE2D