Aid to the Church in Need
Prayer, Priesthood and Catholic Spirituality 13 - 7
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Peace through Atonement (in our Hearts, Homes, and Country)
Annual Eucharistic All-Night Vigil to Celebrate The Gift of Faith following the Year of Faith and to give thanks for the gift of life from conception to natural death.
December 7th/8th Midnight 2013 (Saturday Midnight - Sunday Morning)
Main Celebrant: Fr. Tony Little, C.S.Sp., Concelebrants: Fr. Michael Ross, D.B.S. & Fr. Michael Shields PP Contact Details
Vigil Programme
Knock Shrine Office 094 938 8100 Dublin Office 01 873 3356 Dublin/Swords 01 289 8549 or 01 840 4247 Limerick Office 061 419 458
10.00 pm - 12.00 am
Confessions in Chapel of Reconciliation
12.00 am
Vigil proper commences in Basilica with Rosary, Candlelight Procession, Holy Hour and Stations of the Cross.
4.00 am
Concelebrated Mass
Music Director & Organist: Una Nolan Soloists:
James Kilbane & Deirdre Parle
Guest Homilist
Fr. Michael Shields PP of the Little Brothers of Jesus from Magadan in the Kolyma Region of Siberia.
Organised by the Eucharistic Apostolate of Atonement for Mercy.
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Aid to the Church in Need
Contents Page Prayer, The Most Important Work We Do - Fr. Martin Barta.......................... 2 Doing Something for Syria - Johannes Freiherr Heereman................................ 3 Heroic Priests Praying in Syria.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ................................................ 4 Helping Priests in Need Help People in Greater Need - Mass Stipends. ......... 6 An Oasis of Prayer in Romania - Maria Radna. ............................................... 8 Seeking Counsel for Life - Prayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............................................... 10 A LOOK IN THE
A chairde - Let Us Pray. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............................................... 12 The Meaning of Prayer - Fr. John A. Hardon SJ. ............................................. 13 Humility as the Ground of Our Being - Bishop David McGough. .................... 20 True Holiness - Unknown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .............................................. 22 Catholic Spirituality, the Royal Road to Holiness - Fr. John Bartunek LC......... 24 The Essential Elements of Catholic Spirituality - Fr. John Bartunek LC. .......... 25 Understanding the Priesthood - Bishop George Thomas................................ 27 God Will Not Forget You - Bl. Mother Teresa. . ............................................... 29 The Holy Mass is Our Greatest Prayer. . . . . . . . . ............................................... 32
Editor: JĂźrgen Liminski. Publisher: Kirche in Not / Ostpriesterhilfe, Postfach 1209, 61452 KĂśnigstein, Germany. De licentia competentis auctoritatis ecclesiasticae. Printed in Ireland - ISSN 0252-2535. www.acn-intl.org
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Dear Friends, In order to keep the light of faith alive in us and be able to share it with others, we absolutely must pray. Prayer is indispensable. It is the most beautiful, the most important and the most powerful work a person can perform. To worship God is the pre-eminent vocation of man. Since we, as creatures, come from the heart of God, our spirit and our heart yearn for God, yearn to remain in him who is our Father and Friend. Just as breathing sustains our body life, so prayer fills our soul with divine life. Without prayer man dies inwardly.
for God. If we earnestly strive to pray, despite all difficulties, inner aridity and distractions, God will not deny us his grace. For he longs to be at the centre of our hearts, so as to be able to inspire us and guide and perfect everything in our lives. In this way all our deeds and actions become prayer.
If we draw close to God and seek communion with him, we also draw ever closer to one ‘Prayer is the most beautiful, another and can truly live for one the most important and another.
Yet how can prayer become a natural impulse of the heart? Let us simply the most powerful work start as the Apostles a person can perform.’ did and say, ‘Lord, Mother Teresa, who teach us to pray.’(Lk prayed the Rosary 11:1) We must constantly renew our almost incessantly, once asked a decision to pray and open our hearts seminarian, ‘How many hours a day do to God. Prayer changes us, changes our you pray?’ The seminarian was astonperception, our thinking, our decisions ished. ‘Mother’, he said, ‘I had expected and our way of acting. It draws the soul you to make an appeal to charity, an into the transcendent world of God. exhortation to love the poor more. Why That is why the German mystic Angelus do you ask me how many hours I pray?’ Silesius observed that the one who Then Mother Teresa seized his hands truly prays is transformed into the and said, ‘My son, without God we are One to whom he prays. always too poor to help the poor! Just think: I am merely a poor woman who Even if our heart seems cold and dead, prays. When I pray, God puts his love it is no hypocrisy to sink to our knees, into my heart and only then can I love confess our incapacity to pray and yearn the poor – because I pray!’
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Dear Friends, let no time be more important or precious to us than the time we spend in prayer. If ACN is a charity made up of praying people, then we will never lack the necessary financial means to be able to fulfil the many requests that reach us, day by day.
My grateful blessings on you all,
Father Martin M. Barta, Spiritual Assistant
A person who immerses himself in God in prayer will not overlook any need.
Dear Friends, It was in Antioch, according to the Acts of the Apostles (11:26), that the disciples of Jesus were first called ‘Christians’. This city, today in Turkey and formerly in Syria, is not too far from Aleppo where Christians have, for months now, been experiencing a living hell. Whoever can flee has done so – they’ve fled from Assad’s troops, from the Islamist rebels, from hunger, suffering and death. Once Christianity flourished in this region, now the Christians can only think of survival. War is always a defeat for humanity, as Blessed John Paul II observed in relation to another war in the region, in Iraq. There too Christians face grave oppression. So must we just sit here and watch? No, thanks to your generosity we can do something. We are finding ways of getting help to the people in the places
where they are hiding – food, water, medicines. There are hidden and secret ways, but the help is getting through. And of course there is something else that we can and must do – and that is pray. God always hears us. He looks into our hearts and knows us all by name. Let us pray for our brothers and sisters so close to the birthplace of the name we share – the name of Christian.
Johannes Freiherr Heereman, Executive President of ACN International
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Heroic Priests Praying in Syria Saint Simeon Stylites, the hermit on the pillar, was one of the great saints of the fifth century, along with Saint Jerome and Saint Augustine. He lived close to the presentday city of Aleppo, now a city of martyrs. His life of prayer and fasting on the top of a pillar made him into a model of Christian asceticism, even during his lifetime. His renowned wisdom brought many conflicting parties to him. He acted as a mediator, counsellor and peacemaker. The legacy of Saint Simeon continues to have an impact to this day. Close to the city of Aleppo, Father François Mourad established a small monastic community where he began to instruct young Syrian men who wanted to become monks in the spirit of Saint Simeon. He also began to build a monastery there. When Islamist rebels occupied the region around Aleppo, Father Mourad withdrew to the Franciscan monastery in Gassanieh, where he helped to care for the victims of the civil war –
The Cross stands supreme: the monastery of Saint Simeon Stylites is in its final phase.
“… which will be given up for you”: Father François Mourad (left) and Archbishop Hindo celebrating Holy Mass.
both Christians and Muslims alike. He had always been prepared for the fact that the Islamist rebels might eventually appear in the monastery. On June 23 2013 they came, forcing their way into the monastery, looting and shooting about them. The people who had sought refuge in the monastery fled in panic. Meanwhile, Father Mourad went to meet the Islamist fighters with open arms, ready to speak with them. Instead they shot him dead in cold blood. Then they destroyed everything they could not take away with them, and left as violently as they had come.
Saint Simeon lived from 422 until his death in 459, on a platform on top of this column. He is still portrayed thus on holy icons today.
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One day the war in Syria will be over. Then people will need men like Father François and his disciples. His monastery will become an oasis of spiritual life, but for now though, it stands empty. But it stands nonetheless – like a pledge of Christian presence in a country torn apart by war and fanaticism. It is a symbol of a presence that stretches back long before the time of Islam, right to the very origins of Christianity. The Syrian-Catholic Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo, within whose diocese of Hassaké-Nisibi the monastery is situated, feels an obligation to safeguard this spiritual inheritance. He was the man who ordained Father Mourad to the priesthood. ‘How grateful this priest was to your benefactors’, he tells us. ‘Without the help of ACN the walls of the monastery could not have been built. You were always present on the Paten during Holy Mass.’
He knows that ACN understands the situation in Syria and the plight of the persecuted Christians there. ‘You are the only ones who are helping us with this monastery project’, he explains. That is why Bishop Hindo and Father François asked us one final time for help. Much of the furnishing of the monastery is still lacking, from doors to sanitary facilities, while some electric wiring still remains to be done. This is just the bare minimum. The young monks will not be living on a column, it is true, but they will be faithful to the spirit of Saint Simeon. They will promote peace by their prayers. We have pledged to help maintain this landmark, symbol of a martyred Church, as an oasis of prayer, silence and devotion. •
Priests Among the Poor of Nepal In the mountainous nation of Nepal, with its 24 million inhabitants, sandwiched between India and China, there are just 8,000 Catholics. They are among the country’s poorest. ‘We help them as best we can’, writes Father Richard, from the church of the Resurrection in Kathmandu. ‘Without Mass Stipends it would be impossible. Without them we could also not afford to buy medicines for us priests.’ And it is thanks also to this help that ‘we priests can go from family to family and bring blessing’. The tiny Catholic community here ‘thanks us’ from the bottom
of their hearts ‘for the sacrifices you are making for us and for these families’. Father Richard and the other priests also promise us that they will ‘pray daily for ACN, its benefactors and their families’. •
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Helping Priests in Need Help People in Greater Need The Church is there especially for the poor. Pope Benedict XVI once put it like this: ‘Alongside the real presence of Jesus in the Church, in the Blessed Sacrament, there is also that other, that second “real presence” of Jesus in the least, in the downtrodden of this world, in the last, in whom He wishes to be found by us.’
Tanzania: real presence among the poor and downtrodden.
This is something that priests experience in a special way. It is they who, repeating the words of Jesus, effect the consecration of the sacred host by the power of their ordination. And in many cases they also share their Mass Stipends with the poor. In Zambia many parishes are so deeply impoverished through unemployment and the ravages of AIDS that they do not even have the resources to help their priests with the cost of travelling between the widely scattered villages. Thanks to your Mass Stipends, around 70% of the parishes are able to have Holy Mass celebrated at least once a month. And when the priest does come, he not
First love: Father Werenfried (right) celebrates his first ever Mass on the 25th July 1940.
infrequently also brings medicines with him – likewise paid for from your Mass Stipends. It is in villages like these that we find, together with the priest, the poorest and the downtrodden of this world. In the archdiocese of Lusaka there are 41 priests who survive in this way, with their parishes, thanks to the help of your Mass Stipends. Most priests know only too well what to expect, as in the seminaries the situation is little different. Even for the lecturers, the modest Mass Stipends they receive often account for the lion’s share of their income. Thanks, for example, to the help you have given for the current year, the seven lecturers in the seminary of Sts John Fisher and Thomas More in Harare, Zimbabwe can now focus fully on the training of
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their seminarians – and thereby also set them a good example for their future life as priests. For above all in the poorer countries of the world, and not only in Africa, there is enormous pressure on priests to go looking for work or trying to earn money in some other way, simply in order to survive. This robs them of the time for their pastoral work and often also of time for prayer and the celebration of Holy Mass. As a result they risk not only forgetting the least and the downtrod-
den but also sidelining their own vocation and marginalising it. Your Mass Stipends are a threefold help here: they strengthen the priests in their vocation, support them in caring for the poor and reinforce the bond of solidarity between you and these priests. And above all we must not forget that they are bringing our intentions before God. •
Sustaining Priests in the Sudan The bishop from Sudan wiped away a tear. He found it too painful to witness the way some of his priests have to live – poor, lonely and overworked. He is not the only bishop to have been forced to watch helplessly as his priests wear themselves out to the point of exhaustion because of sheer lack of resources. It is on their behalf that he has turned to us. His priests need times of shared silence, of fraternal prayer. The souls of these priests need an opportunity to refresh themselves, and not only spiritually. It refreshes them and gives them renewed strength to exchange their experiences and open their hearts to each other. For precisely the same reason, another bishop, Melchisedec Sikuli Paluku of the Democratic Republic of Congo, asks us to help his 41 priests to go
Democratic Republic of Congo: together again – retreats for priests.
on retreat together. Given the disruption of war and the poor roads, some can only get there by air, while others come from overwhelmingly Islamic areas. Bishop Sosthène Bayemi from Cameroon, is hoping to reawaken the spirit of vocation, the first love of his priests, by means of shared study days. All these things can and will happen, thanks to you. •
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An Oasis of Prayer and a Spiritual Fortress for God in Romania - Maria Radna
The first chapel here dates back to the year 1520, after a pious widow gave funds for it to be built. It was used by the Franciscans and by the Catholic faithful as a place of worship, even during the Ottoman rule. When the Turks left in 1695, they burned down the chapel, but the image of Our Lady was miraculously preserved undamaged. People continued to come in pilgrimage to Maria Radna, and the first great pilgrimage was in 1709, when survivors of a plague came to give thanks. Since 1750 the shrine of Maria Radna has been recognised officially as a place of pilgrimage by the Church. From then on pilgrims have continued to flock here to this shrine of Our Lady in the diocese of Timisoara. Maria Radna became the Romanian National Shrine,
rather like Knock, Fatima, Lourdes, and Walsingham. The communists stopped the stream of pilgrims, but they could not stop the veneration that continued in private. They converted the nearby The famous image – Franciscan monas- which survived the Turkish blaze. tery into a state-run old people’s home. The great changes around 1990 brought both joy and misfortune. Many Catholics simply emigrated, so that the once impressive number of 151 parishes in the diocese shrank to just 73. For some years
The shrine church: Pope John Paul II declared it a pontifical Basilica Minor.
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now, though, pilgrims have been returning once more, sometimes from far away – some even from Germany. The problem is how to cope with all the pilgrims? Then there are the logistical problems of receiving them and holding retreats, formation days, etc. Our Lady is central to it all, yet there are ‘holes’ in her mantle, so to speak. Romania’s entry into the EU has opened up the possibility of building some of these structures and mending the holes. Of course, the EU will only subsidise the renovation of cultural monuments and tourist sites, but Maria Radna is that too, in bucketfuls. Father Werenfried would no doubt have called it a ‘Fortress for God’!
A fact that is borne out by opinion polls. Every day more than 200 pilgrims come here, and there could be many more. The EU regards the shrine of Maria Radna as a regional development project and is willing to provide the necessary millions from the relevant pot for the renovation of the church and monastery. But only if the diocese can come up with the obligatory selfcontribution of two percent and also take care of the purely pastoral aspects. But even this still amounts to a great deal. And the parishes are too poor to cover this. So the bishop has gone begging – from his brother bishops in Western Europe and from the various agencies, including ourselves. We are committed to helping with the renovations of the spiritual fortress and oasis of prayer that is Maria Radna. •
For the people of the local region, the pilgrimage to Maria Radna is ‘the high point of the year’, as Bishop Martin Roos describes it. Every More and more people come to the parish has its own day of pilgrimages, from May until the feast of pilgrimage. ‘Here they the Holy Rosary in October. experience the communion of the faithful and return home spiritually strengthened’, he adds. For the young people in particular the experience leaves an enduring impression. ‘With Mary people can get through periods of drought’, he says adding that people ‘have more trust in the Church than in politics’. Aid to the Church in Need +e713ei_print.indd 13
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Seeking Counsel for Life - Prayer ‘Being human means searching’, wrote Blessed John Paul II, adding: ‘Ultimately all human searching is a searching for God.’ So where is the best place to search? Saint Francis of Assisi has the answer: ‘Read the Sacred Scriptures’, for that means ‘seeking counsel from Christ’. ACN benefactors have helped millions of people to seek counsel for their lives from the Lord, and to seek it from an early age. In our Bible for children – the Child’s Bible – and in our Rosary booklet, which is a summary of the Gospels. Since it was first published in 2003, the Rosary booklet has been translated into 14 different languages in a total printing of 2.2 million copies. Another child-friendly version, ‘Children praying the Rosary’ has been published in Devout: morning prayer in a Catholic school, northern India.
600,000 copies and in eight different languages (since 2009). One religious sister in Brazil sees the prayer of children as a worldwide unifying force. She writes: ‘Undoubtedly, the prayer of these children will benefit you all. Jesus looks down on these children, but he also sees your good deed in promoting this little booklet.’ The children seek, and they also find. Little Angelina from Mexico puts it like this: ‘I have no mummy, but the catechism teacher says that the Virgin Mary is my mummy in heaven. I talk to her and she loves me very much. I feel her very close to me and that is why the Rosary is not too long for me either. I thank her for having taken me as her daughter and I pray that she will protect all the children who do not have a mummy.’ Some of the 500 Rosary booklets for children in Manila, Philippines.
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In Uruguay children are going from house to house, inviting the children and young people they meet to pray the Rosary together with their parents, and especially their fathers too. ‘Many of them welcome us joyfully, though others are not interested in it. So we go on further and knock on another door. It’s no problem at all; we feel Our Lady’s love very strongly.’ •
Rosaries from Bethlehem: helping Christians to survive there.
Praying for Life ‘The mercy of Jesus is not simply an emotion; it is a force which gives life that raises man!’ Nowhere are these words of Pope Francis more meaningful than in relation to those unborn children who were to have been killed. There must be few places in the world where this killing is easier than in Mexico City. Yet here too there is a force for life, in the form of 51 permanent or mobile ‘women’s help centres’. In the 24 years since the first such centre was founded, almost 200,000 children’s lives have been saved. By now such centres have been established in 15 Latin American countries. In each of them you will find a framed declaration stating: ‘The reason for the existence of this centre is Christ.’ For as all those who work there know well, without prayer nothing is possible. Christ is the source of Mercy. And so now a special Ado-
One of almost 200,000: a happy mother with her rescued child.
ration Chapel, built especially for the work of these centres, is to be completed in Mexico City. The aim is to have daily Mass and round-the-clock adoration. Prayers will be offered, asking mercy for those mothers who have had abortions, for the souls of their murdered children, for the conversion of those who politically and practically facilitate abortion, for an end to the tragedy of abortion worldwide – and for those ACN benefactors and their families who have made possible the prayer offered in this chapel. •
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A LOOK IN THE
A chairde, In the first of our ‘Look in the Mirror’ articles we reprint an essay by the late Father John A Hardon SJ on the meaning of prayer in which he amplifies, complements and deepens our appreciation of all which Father Martin Barta has written about prayer in his introductory letter to this edition of the Mirror. To pray effectively, humility is essential and our second article by Bishop David McGough of the archdiocese of Birmingham, England, speaks about how Jesus intended ‘Humility to be the very ground of our being.’ Indeed Blessed Charles de Foucauld’s prayer of abandonment requires of us a radical humility and calls us to a radical discipleship in much the same way as Pope Francis is now doing on a daily basis. Radical discipleship connotes ‘True Holiness’ and our third reading on this very subject was selected by Father Michael Shields during his recent pilgrimage to Ireland. There follows two short articles by Father John Bartunek LC, the first of which proposes Catholic Spirituality as ‘the Royal Road to Holiness’ and the second briefly surveys ‘The Essential Elements of Catholic Spirituality.’
Of course the Eucharist lies at the heart of all Catholic Spirituality and without ordained priests we would have no Eucharist and consequently no sacraments. So it is that supporting ordained priests in mission is a fundamental requirement placed upon all baptised Catholics. In our sixth article Bishop George Thomas of the diocese of Helena, Montana, USA provides us with an excellent and succinct understanding of the Priesthood, its nature and its essential service within Christ’s Church. On page 29 is a short piece by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta in which she proclaims the truth that God does not forget any of us. All of which elicits the comment that none of us should forget Him nor forget to pray to Him. So it is with this in mind that our ‘Look in the Mirror’ concludes by reminding us that the Holy Mass is our greatest prayer and the greatest service we can offer to God as well as the greatest service we can possibly offer to our fellow man. Beir Beannacht
J F Declan Quinn
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The Meaning of Prayer - Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.1 here is nothing more profitable in which any human being can engage than to pray It is often said that the basic problem in the world today is the fact that people are not praying, or not praying enough, and this is true. But it is not enough to say that we should pray and should encourage others to do so, but we also need to appreciate what prayer really means, otherwise we will not profit as much as we should from what is the most profitable enterprise in which any person can engage. Prayer is Conversation e begin therefore by describing prayer as simply as I can. Prayer is conversation with the invisible world of God, the angels and the saints. We shall take each one of these terms in sequence, and begin with talking about prayer as conversation.
What do we do when we engage in conversation? e do several things. First. We begin to converse with somebody when we become aware of that person. Awareness, then, is the first condition for conversation. Suppose I am just talking out loud to myself without realising that I am being overheard. Is that conversation? Well, no, because I was not aware of the other person’s presence. If I was doing anything I was in conversation with myself. In fact, I think most people spend most of their waking hours in selfconversation, which is called, to give it a kind term, soliloquy. True conversation is always colloquy. It is not only awareness, but awareness of someone else’s presence besides my own. And so many people go through life, I’m afraid, only dimly aware of anyone else’s presence except their own. That is why self-centred people, even when they are apparently in conversation out loud with someone else, are most often really talking to themselves. Ever watch it? It is a spectacle. Real conversation begins when I become aware of another, with stress on the other, and not only of myself. Second. Besides being aware of someone, and it has to be someone else, conversation means that I wish to share with that other person something of
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what I have. I wish to give of myself, of what is inside of me, or a part of me to that other person:
Thoughts in my mind. Sentiments in my heart, Desires in my will and Feelings in my soul, that I wish to share, so I enter into conversation.
So true is this, that logically and psychologically I should not begin a conversation unless I have something that I wish to give to someone else, which presumably that person does not yet have. That is why the highest act of charity among human beings is conversation, provided it is genuine and not spurious conversation. Third. There is still more to conversation, as the very word implies. When I begin to converse, I literally turn toward the one with whom I wish to speak. The move-
ment of my body facing that person is only the external symbol of what I should be doing inside of me. I am turning my spirit toward the one with whom I wish to talk. But as we know, it is quite possible to be physically facing someone without really conversing. There is no conversation worthy of the name, unless I have thus inwardly, turned aside from self and directed myself to another. We seldom reflect on the fact that the words ‘convert’, ‘conversion’ and ‘conversation’ all have the same fundamental meaning of redirection; a turning away from one thing, in this case self, and toward something else, in this case another person. True, sincere, deep, genuine, total conversation is more rare than we think. So often, I believe, we use other people, as we say, as sounding boards to listen to our own
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voice. They are just convenient to help us in what is still a continuous soliloquy. All real conversation, therefore, has this element of self-denial, or from another viewpoint, self-sacrifice where I turn from preoccupation with my own thoughts and desires and direct them toward someone else. Fourth. What is my purpose when I hold a conversation? My purpose is, or should be to communicate. My intention is to bridge the gap that separates me from another person to unite myself with that other person, in a word, to communicate by transferring something of what is me to become part of what is he or she. We become united mainly by what we share of our own spirit with another person. Our Saviour expressed for all time the deep meaning of conversation as communication when He told the Apostles how they were no longer strangers to Him but His friends (cf. Jn.15:15). Why? Because ‘I have shared with you what is in Me. I’ve told you what, before I spoke, was only on My mind. Now it’s also on your minds. We have become united because part of Me is now part of you. You and I are united because I have communicated to you what before I spoke to you was only Mine.’ And then to emphasise the gravity of what He was doing He said it was the Father, who first in conversation with the Son, had shared the plenitude of the divine nature so that the Son in turn might share of that fullness with others who would mainly become His children because they would A LOOK IN THE +e713ei_print.indd 19
now receive what before belonged only to the Trinity. ‘You belong to Me,’ still Christ in paraphrase, ‘and I belong to you because we now have in common the secrets that were hidden with God from all eternity.’ We might, with reverence, re-describe the Trinity as the eternal, infinite conversation among the three persons who constitute the Deity. Fifth and finally, every conversation in some way or other employs a response from the one to whom I am speaking. Conversation is not merely talking to someone, it is talking with someone. Unless that person also says something to me I may be giving a speech or making an announcement, but I am hardly conversing. ow the way that person responds to me is immaterial, it may be just a smile, or depending on what I said, a frown. It may be only an occasional word or two; it may be only a yes with different inflections. You know, of course, there are at least fifty ways of saying yes. No matter what I say to that person, it must evoke something that s/he says to me or we are not, in the deepest sense of the word, in conversation. It takes two, at least, to converse, even when one may do most of the talking and the other, or others, do most of the listening. Here I should perhaps add that when I speak publicly, besides looking at the script I mainly watch the eyes and faces of my audience as I want to make sure that we are in conversation. 15 18/09/2013 20:59
Prayer therefore is a conversation but it is no ordinary conversation, it is conversation with the invisible world whose existence we can partially reason to, and then only quite dimly, but whose reality and grandeur we can fully know only by faith. The Invisible World e call this world invisible because it is known only with the eyes of the mind. It is not only not visible to the eyes of the body, but also it is not audible with bodily ears not tangible with bodily hands and not palatable with bodily senses.
Tragically therefore some people suppose that because it is not sensibly perceptible it is not real. It is a world of faith, a world which as St. Paul tells us is actually more real than the mountains, rivers and seas. Prayer depends on the liveliness of our faith. Without faith there is no prayer. Either I believe that there is more to reality than the people I meet and the sun, moon and the stars or I shall not pray. I shall limit my conversation to the visible world and this is not prayer.
Those who believe, pray; Those who do not believe, do not pray. Those who believe much, pray much; Those who believe little, pray little. Those who believe deeply, pray deeply; Those who believe weakly, pray weakly. We pray as we believe, neither more nor less. Faith is the condition for prayer. It is also the measure and the norm of the quality and quantity of our prayer. Faith tells us that the invisible world in which we believe is greater than the visible world of space and time. It is more numerous, more powerful, more experienced, more beautiful, and much more Holy than the visible world in which we live. It is a world that is deeply conscious of our existence, even when we are not conscious
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of its existence, and it is interested in our welfare. It is a world that is more easily accessed than the world that surrounds us and it is ever-available for conversation if we have the faith and the vision to see.
might again with reverence say that when we pray to God we are breaking in on the conversation among the persons of the Trinity.
Who then inhabits this invisible world? First and foremost, God.
The Angels f God is the first and primary Being of the invisible world, with whom we are called upon to speak, the angels are the second great beings with whom we are to communicate in prayer.
God
od is the supreme spirit, who alone exists of Himself, and is infinite in all His perfections. He is utterly distinct in reality and essence from all other things that exist or can be conceived; all of which, if they exist, get their existence from Him. God is eternal, without beginning, end or succession; all-knowing even of man’s most secret thoughts. He knows them before we tell Him. He is immeasurable, being at once in heaven and on earth. He is in all places that are or that can be and He is Just in rendering to everyone according to his due in this world or hereafter.
Who are the angels? They are the heavenly spirits created by God before He made the visible world and the human race. Not a few fathers of the Church say seriously: ‘In God’s original plan of creation there was only to have been this invisible created world. But part of that created world sinned, so to replenish heaven with those who would honour Him for eternity, He decided to create mankind.’
The God of Faith moreover is not a solitary deity but the eternal society of Father, Son and Spirit. Each truly and fully God, and therefore truly distinct, yet all together being but one divine nature, so that there is only one God. What communication has been going on among the three divine Persons from endless ages before the world began! What a conversation they have been having long before any creature existed, or any human being even had a thought. You A LOOK IN THE +e713ei_print.indd 21
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The angels are pure spirits who have no bodies like our own but they are persons no less then ourselves. They are intelligent beings whom God brought into being to praise, love and serve Him as He did with mankind. They are the angels who proved their loyalty to God and are now in heaven with God, never to be separated from Him. Their role in God’s plan for the universe is to serve our needs. The angels are the guardians of the human race. And it is part of our faith that each one of us has his or her own guardian angel. Guardian angels are consequently part of God’s supernatural providence, which as we know works through creatures from the higher to the lower; needless to say we are the lower. Within the realm of created beings the angels are more like God because they are pure spirits having no body, but they are also like us and because
we too have a mind and a will we can talk to the angels. he angels are providential intermediaries between God, whose vision they already enjoy, and mankind, whom they are entrusted to lead to the vision not yet attained. We therefore have not only the privilege but the duty to talk with the angels in easy, intimate and frequent conversation. We read in the lives of the saints how friendly some of them were in their prayerful communication with the angels. Each one of us has a constant, daily companion at our side, whose responsibility is not only to guard us from evil, but to guide us in the ways of God. He is often talking to us if only we are ready to hear. And a large part of our prayer with the angels, especially our own guardian spirit, should be humbly listening to what he has to say.
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The Saints here is one more level of the invisible world of prayer with which we are to converse in addition to God and the angels, and that is the universe of the saints. By the saints we here mean first and mainly those men and women whom the Church has raised to the honours of the altar and has infallibly declared to be with God in glory. One of the less well-known passages of the Second Vatican Council occurs in the Constitution on the Church where we are urged to be more responsive to the invisible world of the saints on high. We are told, ‘It is not merely because of their example that we cherish the memory of those in heaven. We seek rather that by this devotion to the exercise of fraternal charity the union of the whole Church in the Spirit may be strengthened. Exactly as Christian communion between people on their earthly pilgrimage brings us closer to Christ, and conversation with believers on earth deepens our knowledge and love of Christ, so our communion with the saints joins us to Christ from whom as from its fountain and head issues all grace and the very life of the people of God.’
Summary rayer is the sublime conversation we are mysteriously able to hold with the invisible world of God and of God’s angels and saints. It is sublime because that is what we are preparing for during our stay on earth. Prayer is the one activity that will not be interrupted by death, but will continue in heaven, never to end. Of course, prayer on earth requires effort, but that is as it should be, since all other labour in this life has only as much value and as much meaning, and is only as pleasing to God as it is enveloped by prayer. hose who pray now will pray in eternity. No one else will get there. Prayer is the indispensable and infallible means of reaching our final destiny in Heaven. • 1 Adapted from ‘The Meaning of Prayer.’ Inter Mirifica 1998.
The saints behold the face of God. By speaking with them and listening to them we learn much about this God whom they now know and they can help us who are still in such desperate need of understanding.
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Humility as the Ground of Our Being - Bishop David McGough2 y son, be gentle in carrying out your business. The greater you are, the more you should behave humbly.’3 The Book of Ecclesiaticus4 incorporates much of Israel’s ancient wisdom, wisdom that determined becoming conduct in every conceivable situation. Here the sage is giving advice for the conduct of a high official at the court of Jerusalem’s establishment. This, however, is something more than the etiquette of common sense: it is rooted in our relationship with God himself, a relationship that should determine our daily conduct towards each other. ‘For great though the power of the Lord is, he accepts the homage of the humble. There is no cure for the proud man’s malady, since an evil growth has taken root in him.’5 We rarely acknowledge the extent to which we are swayed by selfish pride, let alone the impact that such pride has on those around us. The attitude of faith is a trusting humil-
ity, a humility that enables us to come into the presence of God, a humility that enables us to accept others as God accepts them. Would that such humility guided the conduct of nations, societies, parishes and families. St Luke’s Gospel exalts this ancient wisdom to a new level. Here it defines what every disciple must become, what must be seen in every follower of Christ. ‘For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the man who humbles himself will be exalted.’6 Jesus was speaking within the context of a meal to which he had been invited at the house of a leading Pharisee. He observed attitudes that are to be seen every day in our own society. Each had their place and worth, some were to be honoured and exalted, others were to be ignored or thoughtlessly humiliated. Jesus rejected such attitudes in his advice for a Wedding banquet. ‘When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take a place of honour. No, when you are a guest, make your way to the lowest place and sit there, so that, when your host comes, he may say: “My friend, move up higher.” ‘7 Throughout the scriptures the wedding feast was more than a social occasion: it became the symbol of a life lived with God, whose presence is likened to the joy of a wedding feast. It is the presence set before us in the Letter to the Hebrews. ‘What you have come to is Mount Zion and the city of the living God in which everyone is a ‘firstborn son’ and a citizen of heaven. You have come to God himself.’8
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It is quite clear, therefore, that Jesus intended humility to be the very ground of our being, a quality which, above all others, makes us like Christ who came not to be served, but serve and give his life for many. e should never underestimate the hold of sinful pride. We long for humility, and yet most of us harbour hidden expectations of how we should be treated and received. Indeed, we are not above imposing those expectations on those closest to us. Could it be that this is the ‘proud man’s malady for which there is no cure, the evil growth that takes root in him’?
rayer of
Without in any way surrendering our God-given dignity, we should strive to relate to others as we would wish God to relate to us. Nobody ever died of bruised pride, but many have discovered in such bruised pride the humility that leads to God and enriches our every relationship. • 2 Adapted and re-printed from the Catholic Herald, 29th August 2013 3 Sirach 3:17-18 4 a.k.a. The Book of Sirach 5 Sirach 3: 20-28 6 Luke 14:11 7 Luke 14: 8-10 8 Hebrews 12: 22-24
bandonment
ather, I abandon myself into your hands; Do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. et only your will be done in me, And in all your creatures – I wish no more than this Lord. nto your hands I commend my spirit. I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, For I love you Lord and so need to give myself, To surrender myself into your hands Without reserve and with boundless confidence, For you are my Father. Blessed Charles de Foucauld
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True Holiness - Unknown monk wanted to know what Holiness meant, so he prayed a lot and he fasted a lot and he was faithful to all his vows. After many years of prayer and fasting and fidelity he felt sufficiently confident to be able to enquire of God as to whether he was truly Holy. When God replied the monk was ‘on the way to Holiness’ the monk asked God where he could find a Holy man who could teach him about true Holiness. God told him where to find such a man and the monk set forth to meet this Holy man of God. After a long journey by foot which took nine days and nine nights the monk found the small house he was looking for and an unimpressive man living there. After a somewhat lengthy and light-hearted chat the householder invited the monk to spend the night. During dinner that evening the householder excused himself to go into an adjoining bed room in order to feed a bedridden elderly man.
Upon returning to the dinner table the monk enquired as to who was the elderly man. The householder replied that the man in the bed in the adjoining room was the man who killed his father and then proceeded to tell the monk his story. As a young man the bedridden man was hot-tempered and got into fight with and killed the householder’s father before running away from the village. Some years later the son, upon reaching adulthood went in search of his father’s murderer to extract his revenge. It took the son many many years to track down his father’s killer and when he did so he found a feeble old man who was sick and near death. Moved by pity for this helpless old man, the son brought him back to his own home to feed and take care of the man who killed his father. he monk bowed before true holiness which makes brothers out of enemies. •
‘Holiness is not the privilege of the few, but it is the duty of all’ Blessed Mother Teresa
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hine ear
hrough
s
Jesus,
elp us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly, That our lives may only be a radiance of yours. hine through us, and be so in us, That every person we should come in contact with May feel your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus. tay with us, and then we shall begin to shine as you shine; So to shine as to be a light to others; The light, Jesus, will be all from you. None of it will be ours, it will be you shining on others through us. et us thus praise you in the way you love best, By shining on those around us. et us preach you without preaching: Not by words, but by our example, by the catching force, The sympathetic influence of what we do, The evident fullness of the love our hearts bear for you.
Amen Blessed John H. Newman
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Catholics Spirituality, the Royal Road to Holiness - Fr. John Bartunek LC 9
or Catholics ‘Spirituality’ signifies an itinerary for growth in our friendship with Christ. This itinerary has as its final destination what we call Holiness - an individual’s firm, deep, integral, and dynamic communion with God. We call this itinerary ‘spirituality’ because we achieve communion with God through: purifying our spiritual faculties (intelligence and will) and aligning them with the wisdom and will of God. Our intelligence, our capacity to perceive and understand truth in a self-conscious manner, was severely darkened by original sin, and darkened even more by our personal sin and the sinful tendencies of the world around us.
Growth in the spiritual life gradually increases the influence of God’s revelation and wisdom (a ‘light for our path and a lamp for our feet’ cf. Psalm 119) in correcting, healing, and strengthening our minds. In this way we come to see and understand ourselves, God, and the world around us truthfully, i.e., as God does. Our will, the capacity of self-determination which allows us to make self-aware choices, was also severely weakened by original sin, personal sin, and the evil tendencies of the world around us. Growth in the spiritual life gradually heals and strengthens our will, so that we emerge out of self-centred and self-indulgent habits into virtuous living. Virtues are those good habits of the will that enable us to choose what is truly good and right in any circumstance, even at great immediate cost to ourselves. pirituality is the road to holiness, which can also be called spiritual maturity. The spiritually-mature person lives in communion with God, knowing reality as God knows it (intellect) and wanting what God wants (will).
•
9 Adapted from http://rcspiritualdirection.com/ blog/2011/08/29/what-is-the-essence-of-catholic-spiritualitypart-i-of-ii
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The Essential Elements of Catholic Spirituality - Fr John Bartunek, LC 10
he essential elements of any Catholic spirituality can be understood as those activities within our reach that are ordinarily necessary for moving us forward along that road to spiritual maturity. Most spiritual writers would agree that the following items ought to be on that list. But here is a warning: this list is not like a shopping list. Catholic spirituality, remember, is about our relationship with God – communion with God through friendship with Christ. So it can’t be reduced to a ‘to-do’ list. Nevertheless, since that relationship takes place in the arena of faith, we need some concrete reference points to help us keep moving along. All of the following items, therefore, should be considered within the context of that
relationship, that friendship with Christ, in the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God the Father:
The Essential Elements Active and frequent participation in the sacraments, most especially the Mass. Active participation in the liturgical seasons. Personal and family vocal prayer. Personal mental prayer. Ongoing study of the Catholic faith Ongoing support for the Church’s work of evangelisation. Obedience to the basic moral law and to the teaching of the Magisterium. Obedience to the duties of one’s state in life. Filial devotion to Mary and the Saints. Some practice of self-denial. Gradually learning to accept and value suffering (love for our crosses as ways to unite us to Christ’s cross).
Moral and Spiritual otice that the moral life actually makes up part of the spiritual life. This is commonly misunderstood. The link between the two comes from the nature of the human person. Our spiritual faculties, intelligence and will, are what make us moral beings. A LOOK IN THE +e713ei_print.indd 29
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Because of our spiritual faculties we are able to discern what we ought to do, and because we are free to choose whether or not we will do it, we are moral beings. The moral law that we perceive and should follow has been established by God, the moral law-giver. In fact, the moral law is a powerful expression of his love for us, since it guides us towards good (a flourishing life) and away from evil. As a result, if we disobey the moral law, we are turning our backs on God. At that point, the potential for our communion with God (which is what Holiness or spiritual maturity is all about) is severely hampered, until we repent. Anyone who claims to have a deep spiritual life but is living a reprehensible moral life is deceived. On the other hand, moral integrity is not the entirety of spirituality. Love and friendship go beyond merely avoiding evil. They search for deeper and deeper intimacy and communion than transcends the limits of the law.
The moral laws are like the guard rails on a mountain highway: they keep us from falling off the cliff, but the journey consists of advancing along the road – which, by the way, means that we will never be perfect until we reach heaven; we are always a work in progress, a traveller in statu viae as the Catechism puts it (‘in the state of journeying’). In the end, Catholic spirituality is and always will be based on a personal relationship with God in Christ. That’s a summary of Catholic spirituality in general. The different ‘spiritualities’ (Ignatian, Carmelite, Franciscan…) that have arisen and continue to arise in the Church share all of those elements, but each puts a particular emphasis on one or more element. Great composers have exactly the same notes to compose with, but they each somehow develop their own sound. Great painters have exactly the same colors to paint with, but each develops their own particular palette. Likewise in the Church, where the Holy Spirit raises up new spiritual geniuses who forge new spiritual by-ways in accordance with the needs of each time and place in the life of the Church. • 10 Adapted from http://rcspiritualdirection.com/ blog/2011/09/05/what-is-the-essence-of-catholic-spiritualitypart-ii-of-ii
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Understanding the Priesthood - Bishop George Thomas 11
early 50 years ago, the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council issued a ground-breaking document on the Catholic priesthood. In doing so, they provided us with not only a more expansive understanding of the ministerial priesthood, but also fresh insights into the priesthood of the faithful. The Common Priesthood he Council Fathers taught that the whole community of believers is a priestly people, and that the lay faithful exercise their priesthood through the unfolding of baptismal and confirmation grace. ‘Each one ought to hallow Jesus in his heart,’ wrote the Fathers, and bear witness to him through the goodness of our lives.
and degree.’ Through the service of the ordained minister, Christ himself is present to his Church as Head of his body, Shepherd of the flock, High Priest and Teacher of truth. This is what the Church means by saying that the priest acts in persona Christi capitis – in the person of Christ the head. This is the mysterious means by which Christ unceasingly builds up and leads his Church. The Universal Call To Holiness oth the priestly people and those called to Holy Orders share a common call and a common destiny – the call to holiness and the hope of eternal life.
In The Midst Of God’s People he ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood, and is the means by which Christ unceasingly builds up and leads his Church. By virtue of their vocation and ordination, priests are set apart in the midst of God’s people, ordained to be of the service to the common priesthood. In his inimitable way, Pope Francis told priests to go out ‘among their flocks’ and know the people they serve ‘like shepherds living with the smell of sheep.’ The common priesthood and the ministerial priesthood, while interrelated, wrote the Council Fathers, ‘differ both in essence A LOOK IN THE +e713ei_print.indd 31
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The essential foundation of all discipleship, and in particular, the core of priestly ministry, is a deep, personal bond with Jesus Christ. The priest must be a man who knows Jesus Christ intimately, and has encountered him personally. The priest must be, above all else, a man of prayer, a truly spiritual man. Priestly holiness is a gift to and for the people. ‘Without a strong spiritual substance,’ wrote Pope Benedict, ‘a priest cannot long endure his ministry.’ A Man For Others n a challenging reflection on priestly life and ministry, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger wrote the priest ‘must learn that the main purpose of his life is not self-realisation and success. He must learn that he is not in the business of building himself an interesting or comfortable life, or of setting up for himself a community of admirers and devotees, but is working for another and that it is He that truly matters.’ The Word Of God he Council Fathers enjoined each priest to remember that he has as his primary duty the proclamation of the Gospel to all. But before becoming a proclaimer of the Word, the priest must first be a hearer of the Word, and a frequent guest at the Lord’s table. The Word of God is so essential in the life of the clergy, indeed for all the faithful, that St. Ignatius of Antioch used eucharis-
tic imagery to describe the Word when he wrote, ‘I commend myself to the Gospel as to the flesh of Christ.’ The preacher of the Word cannot be influenced by the desire to please public opinion, or to win adulation or approval through clever word craft that is empty of meaning or devoid of spiritual nourishment. The priest is to faithfully re-present the Word of God and the Church’s hallowed teachings, in season and out of season. He must allow the Lord to fill his mind and heart through contemplation of the Word, assiduous study, prayerful attention to the Liturgy of the Hours and commitment to the Lectio Divina. He must never forget that the most profound homily he ever will preach is the witness of his daily life. The Gift Of Eucharist he Fathers of the Council declared that the Eucharist is the ‘source and summit’ of the life of the Church. All of the sacraments point to or flow from the Eucharist. For God’s people, liturgy prepared well and celebrated prayerfully is a blessing beyond measure. Each pastor does well to call forth, form and commission the full complement of liturgical ministries envisioned by the Council. The Eucharist must serve as the centre and foundation of priestly spirituality, and the source of the priest’s personal sanctification. In the parlance of St. Augustine, ‘We become what we receive.’
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In calling for the ‘full, active, and conscious participation’ of the faithful in the liturgy, the Fathers understood the power of the Eucharist to change not only individual lives, but also to transform entire communities. Eucharistic Adoration helps us deepen and prolong our communion with the Lord in Eucharist. Eucharist And Charity n his first encyclical, ‘Deus Caritas Est’, Pope Benedict underscored that liturgy naturally leads to the practice of charity, especially toward the least, the last and the lowliest, both at home and far away.
The priest must help the community make vital connections between Eucharist and charity, liturgy and compassion, mystery and mandatum, love of God and love of neighbor, always with a preferential option for the poor. Shared Responsibility he Fathers of the Council underscored the concept and practice of shared responsibility when they wrote: ‘Pastors also know that they themselves were not meant by Christ to shoulder alone the entire saving mission of the church toward the world.’ Words such as
God Will Not Forget You oday, God loves the world through us, through each one of us. In the Scriptures it is written that God loved the world so much, that He gave His Son, Jesus, who became like us in all things except sin, and who came to the poor, you and I, to give the good news:• that God loves us, • that we are somebody special to Him, • that He has created us for greater things: to love and be loved. And we read in that Scripture where God speaks: ‘I have called you by your name. You are mine. Water will not drown you. Fire will not burn you. I will give up nations for you; you are pre-
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- Blessed Mother Teresa 12
cious to me. I love you.’ And He says: ‘Even, even if a mother could forget her child, I will not forget you. I have curled you in the palm of my hand.’ It is good to remember this, especially nowadays when there’s so much fear, so much pain, so much suffering, so much distress. t Is good to remember that God will not forget you, that He loves you, He loves me, and that Jesus has come to bring us that good news. • 12 Extracted and adapted from a speech at Harvard University June 9, 1982.
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cooperation, collaboration, consultation and collegiality emerged from the Council’s vision. Pastors must ‘know what they don’t know,’ and gather together wise and knowledgeable persons and strong consultative bodies in both parish and diocese. The wise pastor welcomes the expertise of the laity, particularly in the management of the Church’s temporal affairs. Unity and Diversity s they call forth the gifts of the laity, pastors are admonished not to mistake uniformity for unity, nor diminish the gift of lawful diversity in the Church, especially through the powerful expressions of language, culture, and popular piety. A wise admonition to bishops from Pope Benedict serves as a useful rule of thumb for all pastors: ‘They must not pursue uniformity in their pastoral planning, but must leave room for the doubtless often troublesome multiplicity of God’s gifts – always, of course, under the criterion of unity of the faith’. Teachers Of The Faith n their ministry among the laity, it also is good to remember the 1946 counsel of Pope Pius XII, when he described the lay faithful as ‘on the front lines’ of the Church’s life, and reminded pastors that the laity must be well prepared for the task at hand. Catechetical formation of the youth must hold pride of place in his community.
Priests must never forget that the lay faithful are indispensable in transforming the secular order, building the Culture of Life, establishing a Civilisation of Love and carrying out the New Evangelisation. Priests must make themselves available to provide or oversee sound theological formation, education, and visionary leadership in each and every parish. Sound formation helps to unlock the immense potential of the laity, immersing people in sound doctrine and introducing them to Catholic social and moral teaching. Ministry Among The Scattered he priest must constantly ask, ‘Who is not at the table?’ He must include in his ministry to the gathered a fulsome and intentional ministry to the scattered. By word and example, Pope Francis has admonished pastors to move beyond the safety and security of the sacristy, and open their hearts and lives to the poor. Like Christ the Good Shepherd, the priest sometimes must leave the 99 as he searches for the lost lamb. He should be found regularly at the bedside of sick, at the service of immigrants, in nursing homes and jails and soup kitchens, among the homebound or wherever human need is found. The Healing Church he Church, we must remember, is founded upon forgiveness, and is by nature the home of forgiveness.
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sked
od
asked God for strength, that I might do greater things, I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey... asked for health, that I might do greater things, I was given infirmity, that I might do better things… asked for riches, that I might be happy, I was given poverty, that I might be wise… asked for power, that I might have the praise of men. I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God… asked for all things that I might enjoy life. I was given life that I might enjoy all things... got nothing that I asked for - but everything that I had hoped for, Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered, am among all men, most richly blessed. Unknown Confederate Soldier
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The priest must be a practitioner of mercy, and work hard to remove from his life the roots of sin, pride, anger, arrogance and selfishness. The spiritual life of the priest, like that of the laity, is predicated on the awareness that all of us need Christ’s tender mercy, and conversion of heart is the lifelong and shared endeavour of every Christian. Beyond The Parish inally, the vision of the Council Fathers encourages us to disallow our parishes and people from becoming self-enclosed, overly introspective or preoccupied with self. In short, pastors must work to establish deep and meaningful union with the wider Church, communion with the diocesan bishop and with the Holy Father, and intentional outreach to mission territories. This will help to actualise our people’s understanding that we are a Church that is ‘One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic.’ The Power Of Example he election of Pope Francis has given both priests and people a wonderful example of priestly life well-lived. The Holy Father is an exemplar of humility, Holiness, humour, joy, accessibility and love for God’s little ones. • 11 Adapted from the ‘Montana Catholic’ official newspaper for the diocese of Helena.
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The Holy Mass is Our Greatest Prayer Celebrating the Holy Mass is the ‘source and summit’ of our Christian life. he word ‘Mass’ is derived from the Latin ‘missa’ and is taken from the last words the priest or deacon says in the extraordinary form of the Latin Mass ‘Ite, missa est’ meaning ‘go, you are sent.’ We still hear echo of these words in the ordinary form of the vernacular Mass ‘go in peace.’ Two other words are used to refer to the Holy Mass. One is ‘Eucharist’. The word ‘Eucharist’ in Greek means ‘thanksgiving.’ ‘Eucharist’ refers to the Holy meal of Jesus’ body, blood, soul and divinity which is consecrated during Mass and which may be received by those in a state of grace at Holy Mass. ‘Liturgy’ Is another word which is used to refer to the Mass. The word ‘liturgy’ also comes from Greek and means ‘public service.’ Through our participating in Holy Mass, we can truly be of service to God and of ever greater service to our neighbour for the love of God. hroughout every hour of the day all over the world Holy Masses are being offered. At this very moment some Catholic priest somewhere is offering Holy Mass for someone, somewhere and in doing so is re-enacting Jesus’ gift of Himself on the Cross for the love of God and all mankind.
The Mass is the greatest service we can offer to God and the greatest service we can offer our fellow man. As a Pontifical Charity every year it is Aid to the Church in Need’s (ACN) great privilege to arrange to have in excess of 1.1 million Holy Masses offered for the intentions of its many thousands of benefactors spread throughout the world. The Mass stipends so received go directly to support an estimated 20,000 Catholic priests who administer the sacraments in the most impoverished and physically challenging of conditions conceivable. Without the essential material support provided to them by ACN benefactors these thousands of heroic priests would be unable to sustain themselves in their farflung missions as servants to the poorest and most persecuted of the world’s poor. e would therefore be delighted to arrange to have a Holy Mass or a set of Holy Masses offered by an impoverished priest for your own personal intentions and would encourage you in the practice of having Holy Masses offered for your own special intentions and those of your family and friends. n our world prayer is needed more than we could possibly realise and the Holy Mass is our greatest prayer. •
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ar
I Wish I Could Do More...
...Thank you
Masses Are So Important I want to thank you for the wonderful Rosary that you have sent me. Just this afternoon, during the Rosary from Our Lady of Lourdes, which I join in every day on the television, there was a prayer for the persecuted Christians. The Masses are so important; we have such a real need of them in order to sustain our faith and hope. I am nearly 84 and not well enough to go to Mass each day, but I pray with all my heart that all persecuted Christians and priests may one day be granted a normal life. A Benefactress from France
Dear Friends,
Prayers and a Donation for Those in Need Please find a money order for $200 for the wonderful work you are doing in creating the Kingdom of God throughout the world. I wish I could help and do more for all the Priests and Catholics in war-torn and oppressive countries, especially in the Middle East. Thank you for all you are doing. My prayers and Rosary are with my brothers and sisters in Christ. God bless you always. A Benefactress from Australia May God Bless You The amount I am sending you should not be interpreted as a sign of material wealth. It is a payment that was owed me by the State, but which I had no longer expected to receive. I have come to the conclusion that you can find a better use for it. May God bless you for your work! A Benefactress from Portugal
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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)
‘Prayer is the most beautiful, the most
important and the most powerful work a person can perform.’
Father Martin M. Barta, ACN Ecclesiastical Assistant.
‘[In prayer] Christians learn to share in Christ’s own spiritual experience and to see all things through his eyes. From him, the only-begotten Son of the Father, we come to know God and can thus kindle in others the desire to draw near to him.’ Pope Francis, Encyclical Lumen Fidei, 46
‘Or do you want to be like Pilate, who did not have the courage to go against the tide?’ Pope Francis at the World Youth Day in Rio
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