MIRROR
A BEACON OF
LIGHT
AMONGST THE RUINS
A BEACON OF LIGHT - AMONGST THE RUINS
MIRROR GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE
CONTENTS PAGE Be a Beacon of Light. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J F Declan Quinn.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 The True Gift of Christmas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fr. Martin Barta. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Children amongst the Ruins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Syria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Praying for Peace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bethlehem and Panama.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Prayer Heals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . South Sudan.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Our Deep Bond of Prayer.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brazil. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 A Prayer to St. Pope John Paul II .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 What it means to be Christian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pope Francis.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 You are the Light of the World. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pope Benedict XVI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 The Paradox of Holiness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stephen Beale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 The Needs of the Church. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . St. Pope Paul VI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Your Gift to the Church in Need. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Joyfully Preparing for Christmas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Heine-Geldern. . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
‘I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.’ JOHN 8:12 Editor: Jürgen Liminski. Publisher: ACN International, Postfach 1209, 61452 Königstein, Germany. De licentia competentis auctoritatis ecclesiasticae. Printed in Ireland - ISSN 0252-2535. www.acninternational.org
Aid to the Church in Need
AND YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESS
BE A BEACON OF LIGHT A chairde, ‘Only if people change will the world change and in order to change, people need the Light that comes from God. The Light which so unexpectedly (on the Night of Christmas) entered in our night’, so wrote Pope Benedict XVI1
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ope Francis both echoes and develops Benedict’s understanding when he informs us that ‘the World and the Church needs… Beacons of Light for the journey of the men and women of our times’.2
Pope Francis while specifically addressing consecrated men and women is also addressing all who been baptised. All of us are called to be ‘Beacons of Light’ and only a fool would deny that our dark world needs authentic enlightenment. Alas sadly and increasingly the world seems ever more willing to aggressively reject the Light of Truth, the Light of Christ, the Light of faithful Christian witness. Throughout history being a faithful Christian has always been a challenge however being a faithful Christian in these days seems to be a particularly difficult challenge. Today all over the world, the faith of Christians is being severely tested in different ways and for different reasons. We read about it, we see it on our screens, Evil and darkness is clearly visible and present. Truth, Beauty and Goodness is being overshadowed and hidden. God’s image, His Son is being ‘air-
brushed’ of our of cultural imagination and lexicon. In the toxic cultural landscapes of these days it is now the case if we don’t actively cultivate and nourish our spiritual lives we will lose our faith in both God and in our fellow man. It is also the case that if we as Christians don’t confront our contemporary world with the truth that God became man, dwelt amongst us and remains with us through the Holy Eucharist then our faith will be overwhelmed by the world. Today it is no longer possible to be a passive Christian, either we try to change the world or we will be changed by the world. The fact is that throughout the world a war is being fought for the soul of man. It is a war which is being fought on every conceivable level. It is a war which we can’t win without the grace of God who sent His only Son to redeem fallen man and show us how fight and defeat the ‘Prince of this World’ by becoming bearers of the Light, Christo-fori, Witnesses to Truth, Witnesses to Hope and Missionaries of Joy. Beir Beannacht
J F Declan Quinn 1 Pope Benedict XVI 28th November 2009, First Vespers of Advent. 2 Pope Francis 22nd of July 2016, Apostolic Constitution ‘Seeking the Face of God’, paragraph 36.
GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE
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A BEACON OF LIGHT - AMONGST THE RUINS
THE TRUE GIFT OF CHRISTMAS Dear
Dear Christ-Child,
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hope our ‘dear friends’ and readers of the Mirror newsletter will understand if I venture to address this year’s Christmas letter directly to You. I know that many children only send You Christmas letters in the hope of getting Christmas presents, and I confess that I also have some slight doubt as to my own motives in writing this letter. But this is not simply a childish game; and my doubts only show me how weak my own faith is. But the importance of Christmas, not to mention the times in which we now live, demand that I put aside my lack of faith. It is time to talk to you quite candidly, as to my dearest friend.
Christ-Child,
there is so much darkness in families, in the world and even in your own Church, which should be the Light of the world. We try to blind ourselves to our own darkness with our artificial Christmas lighting, and in doing so our vision is obscured even more. We can no longer see the heavens and the Star of Bethlehem, which shines there to show us the way. For in truth, your birth in the stable in Bethlehem was the moment when the true Light shone forth for mankind, yet the darkness could not comprehend it (cf Jn 1:5). And so I ask you to grant me just one thing: that great joy that filled the hearts of the Three Wise Men from the East when they saw the star that led them to You and Your Mother. I want to experience that overwhelming, childlike joy that the Angels announced to the shepherds and which is so hard for us to find today. That liberating joy which comes from knowing that You are close to us, that it is good to be a human being, a child of God. Without this joy everything remains in darkness. Without it, we merely numb our senses with all the mass-produced consumerism that the Christmas industry churns out.
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Aid to the Church in Need
AND YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESS
Dear Christ-Child, grant me the joyful certainty
of knowing that the radiant constellation of Bethlehem still shines over my path as I journey through life. In asking You for this joy, I do not simply expect an easy, comfortable life without the daily struggle to overcome my own selfishness, but rather the joyful certainty that you will drive away all darkness and transform my sins. It is only this kind of joy that we can truly share with others. This joy does not lessen if we share it, but returns to us greater than before. This is the true gift of Christmas. We can convey it in the simplest of ways – with a smile, a prayer, an expression of sympathy, a little help, an act of forgiveness. Thank you, dear Jesus, for the gift of being part of this great family of ACN, which seeks to proclaim to the world the greatest joy of all – that God is good, that He loves us, He knows us, He became Man for us. We see Your star, still shining over the house that is the Church, above all where she suffers, and we joyfully bring you our gifts and lay them there.
Dear Christ-Child,
I ask you to bless all the benefactors and co-workers of ACN, together with their families and all whom they hold in their hearts, and fill them all with the Christmas grace of Your joy. Your loving child,
Renovation ground floor of Mount Carmel church in Haifa, Jerusalem.
Father Martin M. Barta, ACN Ecclesiastical Assistant
GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE
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A BEACON OF LIGHT - AMONGST THE RUINS
CHILDREN AMONGST THE RUINS SYRIA
‘And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them’ (Mk 9:36). Children are our future, and also the future of the Church. Thanks to your help, we have been able to rescue many children in Syria and so safeguard something vital to the future of the Church in this country.
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ara is one of around 65,000 children whom we have been able to help. We gave her milk, food, clothing, medicines. As always, this aid was supplied through the local Church – practically the only institution that is still functioning in Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Idlib and so many other ruined towns and cities in Syria. Their churches have been bombed, so their people have to kneel among the rubble to pray, confess and thank God for sparing their lives. ‘Faith means life lived in a spirit of trust’, wrote Pope Benedict
XVI. Where else could one find greater hope, greater trust, that God will not abandon His children? Mara and the many other children like her do not perhaps know that ACN has been helping them and their families over the past six years – with around 700 projects and almost €30 million – or that we will go on helping them in future as the time has come to rebuild schools, churches and first aid centres. Hundreds of thousands of Christians are now waiting, in Lebanon, Jordan and in Europe too, to be able to return to Syria. But without facilities for the sick and disabled, without schools for the children, without places of prayer and community life, it is hard for them to see where or how they can live. Mother Church is the first place they will turn to.
This was my school – and it will be again: time to rebuild in Homs.
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Aid to the Church in Need
AND YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESS
‘Taking him into his arms’, Saint Mark continues, Jesus says: ‘Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me.’ Of the over 13 million people made homeless by the war, some 7 million are children and young people, among them hundreds of thousands of Christians. The future of the country hangs in the balance. The Church is striving to welcome these children and help them, materially and spiritually. For as Pope Benedict XVI also says, ‘Faith means the certainty that it is God who holds our future in His hands.’ Materially speaking, the Church in Syria has nothing. Her heart is full of love, her hands are empty. We too are the Church, and we can help to fill her hands, so that the Christians of Syria, the children from the ruins, can have reason to hope. •
Out of the depths, O Lord, I cry unto you… Praying in an Armenian Catholic Church, Aleppo.
We are staying; Syria is our home: two brothers and their mother.
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PRAYING FOR PEACE BETHLEHEM AND PANAMA
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aint Matthew’s Gospel tells how Herod’s scribes confirmed Micah’s ancient prophecy to the Wise Men from the East: ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ (Mt 2:6). Ever since Herod’s day, Bethlehem has gone through turbulent and bloody times – infanticide, war, oppression – right up to our own times. Bethlehem is emblematic of the situation of Christians in the region – of their continuing presence and survival in the place of Christ’s birth. Without prayer this would hardly be possible. Saint Matthew goes on to
Good wood. Rosary craftsman in his workshop in Bethlehem.
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describe how the Wise Men followed the star to ‘the place where the child was... ‘And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him’ (Mt 2:9ff). Adoring Jesus through the eyes of Mary – this is the Rosary. And these two things – adoration and survival in Bethlehem – are the basis of a project which also aims to encourage young people around the world to pray for peace. In practice this involves Christians in Bethlehem making rosaries out of local olive wood, which will then be distributed to the young people at the World Youth Day in Panama next January.
Praying for peace: with the Bethlehem Rosary.
Aid to the Church in Need
AND YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESS
At least half a million young people are expected in Panama, and the plan is to give each of them two rosaries from Bethlehem – one for their personal use and another to give away to other young people in their own home country. Pope Francis has repeatedly urged us to pray the Rosary. Nothing is impossible if we use this form of prayer, he tells us, as ‘The prayer of the Rosary is, in many ways, the synthesis of the history of God’s mercy.’ For months now, Christians in Bethlehem have been working to produce the one million rosaries needed. The cost of materials and labour together come to around one dollar per rosary. This means that each of the 200 families in Bethlehem crafting these rosaries will make several hundred dollars; enough to support them for a year. But what matters most to them is the fact that hundreds of thousands
of young people will be praying for peace and thereby fulfilling the Pope’s personal request, and that they too are contributing to this with their work. So, although overshadowed by the wars in Syria and Iraq, they are not forgotten. Bethlehem remains a city of hope. We are entrusting this hope, along with the Rosary, into the hands of these young people. Let us all participate both spiritually and materially in this great campaign for peace in our time, a campaign which stretches from Bethlehem to Panama and embraces the whole world. • ‘To pray the Rosary is to hand over our burdens to the merciful Hearts of Christ and His Mother.’ St. Pope John Paul II
Celebration, prayer, contemplation: scenes from previous World Youth Days in Madrid, Rio and Krakow.
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PRAYER HEALS
SOUTH SUDAN
‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?’ So the disciples of Emmaus ask themselves (Luke 24:32). It is the heart that burns, that suffers, that forgives.
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t is also the heart that believes. ‘How slow are your hearts to believe’, Jesus tells the disciples (cf Luke 24:25). It is in our hearts that we decide to follow God, and that we decide to forgive. The Emmaus Centre in Katikamu, Uganda, seeks to speak to the hearts of the hundreds of thousands of refugees who have been forced to flee here as they escape the war
in South Sudan; it seeks to draw them closer to God in their poverty and bewilderment; and open them to forgiveness and reconciliation once more. It does this by training priests and catechists for a special apostolate to the refugees. These missionaries then go out to the refugee camps and train other helpers. The wounds these refugees have suffered are deep ones, the questions raised in the discussion groups are difficult ones:
Also the Holy Family had to flee: Refugees taking part in a Bible course in the Bidibidi Camp.
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Aid to the Church in Need
AND YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESS
Where is God in South Sudan? Is He punishing us? Why have we been suffering ever since 1955? Why do other countries live in peace while we live in this hell? Why should I forgive those who have killed my wife, abducted my children, stolen my cattle? Without God’s grace there is no answer to such questions. That is why the outreach team often simply goes with their group into the chapel, to pray before the Blessed Sacrament. Prayer heals: God’s presence alone can bring peace to troubled and wounded hearts. There are thousands, tens of thousands, whose hearts still bleed with hatred and bitterness. This project is helping them. The Gospel message is having an effect. The pastoral outreach to the more than a quarter of a million refugees in the two largest camps, in Bidibidi and Palorinya, particularly focuses on the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist, but also includes the area of sexual morality – which is especially important on account of AIDS – and marriage. Many people are traumatised and really need psychological counselling as well. The Emmaus Centre is a spiritual first-aid centre, so to speak. But for many, this aid represents the beginning of a new life. So now, like the disciples of Emmaus, they too can set out and tell their brethren, ‘The Lord is truly risen!’ (Luke 24:34). •
What is marriage? Guidance for young women, with posters and pointers for a better future.
‘...and how they had recognised him in the breaking of the bread’ (Lk 24:35). Being Christian also means sharing.
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OUR DEEP BOND OF PRAYER
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hough only just discharged from hospital, and with strict instructions to spend no more than 20 minutes sitting at her computer, Sister Maria Aparecida has nonetheless written a long letter to ACN from Brazil, sending heartfelt thanks on behalf of all the Sisters for our support for their life and ministry. She recalls the deep bond of prayer which unites the missionaries, laity and contemplative religious. This bond was stressed by Pope Saint John Paul II on the 500th anniversary of Christianity in the Americas. She feels that this bond is still a living reality today.
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And ACN’s support gives her community courage, despite their own poverty, to remember those who are poorer still. With this in mind, she asks us to send more copies of the Mirror, to encourage even more people to become benefactors. Well, if that is not a spirit of missionary devotion, • then what is?
‘While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.’
Aid to the Church in Need
John 9:5
AND YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESS
FROM HEAVEN’S WINDOW A PRAYER TO ST. POPE JOHN PAUL II
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ohn Paul II was known to pray for many hours each day, interceding for the world and growing ever closer in his relationship to God. Prayer is conversation with God at the heart level, and that is what leads us to Jesus Himself. St John Paul taught us that ‘Prayer joined to sacrifice constitutes the most powerful force in human history. In prayer, you become one with the source of our true Light – Jesus Himself.’
Oh, St. John Paul, from the window of heaven, grant us your blessing! Bless the church that you loved and served and guided, courageously leading it along the paths of the world in order to bring Jesus to everyone and everyone to Jesus. Bless the young, who were your great passion. Help them dream again, help them look up high again to find the light that illuminates the paths of life here on earth. May you bless families, bless each family! You warned of Satan’s assault against this precious and indispensable divine spark that God lit on earth. St. John Paul, with your prayer, may you protect the family and every life that blossoms from the family. Pray for the whole world, which is still marked by tensions, wars and injustice. You tackled war by invoking dialogue and planting the seeds of love: Pray for us so that we may be tireless sowers of peace. Oh St. John Paul, from heaven’s window, where we see you next to Mary, Send God’s blessing down upon us all. AMEN
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WHAT IT MEANS TO BE CHRISTIAN POPE FRANCIS3
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hat does it mean to be Christian? It means looking to the Light, continuing to make the profession of Faith in the Light, even when the world is enveloped in darkness and shadows. Christians are not exempt from external and even internal shadows. They do not live outside of the world, however; by the grace of Christ received in Baptism they are ‘oriented’ men and women: they do not believe in darkness, but in the dim light of day; they do not succumb to the night, but hope in the dawn; they are not defeated by death, but yearn to rise again; they are not cowered by evil, because they always trust in the infinite possibilities of good. And this is our Christian Hope: the Light of Jesus, the salvation that Jesus brings to us with His Light that saves us from the Darkness. We are those who believe that God is Father: this is the Light! We are not orphans; we have a Father and our Father is God.
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Adapted and edited from Pope Francis GENERAL AUDIENCE Wednesday, 2 August 2017.
Nativity scene from the outside of the Sagrada Família, Barcelona, Spain.
Aid to the Church in Need
AND YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESS
We believe that Jesus descended among us; He shared our life, making Himself companion above all to the poorest and most frail: this is the Light! We believe that the Holy Spirit works unceasingly for the good of humanity and of the world, and that even the worst suffering of history will be overcome: this is the Hope that awakens us each morning! And this is our Hope: to live in Hope and live in Light, in the Light of God the Father, in the Light of Jesus the Saviour, in the Light of the Holy Spirit who urges us to go forth in life. At the end of the Baptismal Rite, parents, if it is a child, or the baptized themselves, if they are adults, are consigned a candle, whose flame is
lit from the Paschal Candle. It is a large candle that on Easter night enters the completely dark church, to demonstrate the mystery of Jesus’ Resurrection; from that candle everyone lights their own candle and passes the flame on to those nearby. In that sign is the slow propagation of the Resurrection of Jesus in the lives of all Christians. The life of the Church is contagious light. The more Light of Jesus we Christians have, the more light of Jesus there is in the life of the Church, the more alive She is. The life of the Church is the contagion of Light. What a grace it is when a Christian truly becomes a ‘cristo-foro’, which means ‘bearer of Jesus’ in the world. If we are true to our Baptism, we will spread the Light of Hope. •
‘Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes.’ JOHN 12:35
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YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD POPE BENEDICT XVI4
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esus tells His disciples: ‘You are the salt of the earth.... You are the light of the world’ (Mt 5:13,14). With these richly evocative images He wishes to pass on to them the meaning of their mission and their witness. Light is the first work of God the Creator and is a source of life; the word of God is compared to light, as the Psalmist proclaims: ‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path’ (Ps 119[118]:105).
The Prophet Isaiah says: ‘If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday’ (58:10).
Wisdom sums up in itself the beneficial effects of salt and light: in fact, disciples of the Lord are called to give a new ‘taste’ to the world and to keep it from corruption with the wisdom of God, which shines out in its full splendour on the Face of the Son because he is ‘the true light that enlightens every man’ (Jn 1:9). United to him, in the darkness of indifference and selfishness, Christians can diffuse the light of God’s Love, true Wisdom that gives Meaning to Human Life and Action. God radically opposes the overbearingness of evil. • 4
Adapted and edited from Pope Benedict XVI Angelus, St Peter’s Square, Sunday 6th February 2011.
Disabled children staging the birth of Jesus. The children live in a house in Bethlehem run by sisters of the Institute of the incarnate word IVE.
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Aid to the Church in Need
AND YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESS
Lead Kindly Light Lead, kindly Light, amid th’encircling gloom, lead Thou me on! The night is dark, and I am far from home; lead Thou me on! Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see The distant scene; one step enough for me. I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou shouldst lead me on; I loved to choose and see my path; but now lead Thou me on! I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years! So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still will lead me on. O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till the night is gone, And with the morn those angel faces smile, which I Have loved long since, and lost awhile! Meantime, along the narrow rugged path, Thyself hast trod, Lead, Saviour, lead me home in childlike faith, home to my God. To rest forever after earthly strife In the calm light of everlasting life. By Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
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THE PARADOX OF HOLINESS STEPHEN BEALE5
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here is something about holiness that must be hidden. St. Paul implies this in Colossians 3:3 when he writes, ‘For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God’. Jesus Himself counsels us to be ‘secretive’ in our prayers: ‘When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
This applies even to our acts of charity, in which our love of God demonstrated in prayer flows outward into love of neighbour: ‘But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you’. (Matthew 6:3-4). The Greek word for secret here is kryptō—it’s the same word translated as hidden in the above verse from Colossians. In English it’s where we get words like cryptography, which is the science of deciphering secret codes; crypt, which refers to a burial chamber where a body is ‘hidden’; and cryptic, which Merriam-Webster defines as something hidden, mysterious, or ambiguous.
In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him’. (Matthew 6:5-8).
5 Adapted and edited from Stephen Beale ‘The Paradox of Holiness: Hidden Yet Radiant’ Catholic Exchange 22nd October 2018 available at https://catholicexchange.com/the-paradox-of-holiness-hiddenyet-radiant. Stephen is a freelance writer based in Providence, Rhode Island. Raised as an evangelical Protestant, he is a convert to Catholicism. A native of Massachusetts, he graduated from Brown University in 2004 with a degree in classics and history. His areas of interest include Eastern Christianity, Marian and Eucharistic theology, medieval history, and the saints.
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Nativity play, Uruguay.
Aid to the Church in Need
AND YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESS
BEING HIDDEN AND HOLY For those aspiring to Holiness, this aspect of being hidden seems most fitting. That’s because being hidden goes hand in hand with humility. The proud man is the opposite of this: he has a compulsive need to brag about every achievement and attribute—and craves the flattery and fame that his boastful crooning arouses from others. A hidden person, on the other hand, quietly goes about their business, head bowed, focused on the simple task at hand. For them, humility is not just an attitude or disposition, but a state of being. We know that humility is essential to Holiness because it is only by lowering ourselves we are lifted up to Heaven. In pride, however, we idolize ourselves into our own personal gods. We therefore close off the possibility of receiving God into our lives. Only the humble person is small enough to receive the greatness of God. But hiddenvness may lead us to God in another way as well. This is because God in His being is invisible. Perhaps, then, to be with the God who is hidden we must ourselves become hidden.
THE OTHER SIDE OF HOLINESS: LETTING OUR LIGHTS SHINE But there’s a twist to all this: we are called to be hidden with God, yet Jesus also tells us that our ‘light must shine’: ‘You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father’. (Matthew 5:14-16). Once again, the word hidden above is a translation of the Greek kryptō. Except here, Jesus seems to be commanding the opposite of what has been said elsewhere in the New Testament: don’t hide your faith but let it shine forth, drawing others to God. Again, this too makes a lot of sense. Christianity is public. Jesus preached and worked miracles in public. He was crucified in public and, in His resurrected body, He appeared to hundreds. Christianity is not Gnosticism—not some secret knowledge passed down through a select few. It is not a mystery cult into which only those ‘in the know’ are admitted. But now we face a paradox. On the one hand, it is clear that the road to sanctity is a hidden
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one. On the other hand, we ought to be so radiant with the love of God that others see it and are attracted to the Light. So which is it? Must we pick one over the other? Is Scripture contradicting itself? The answer, I believe, is that holiness is both well-hidden and highly-visible. This is perhaps best explained through the biblical concept of a mystery: which is something that is hidden but also revealed. This is how Paul talks about mystery in his epistles. In Colossians 1:25-26, the apostle says his special mission assigned to him by God is to proclaim the word of God, which he describes as the ‘mystery hidden from ages and from generations past.’ In 1 Corinthians 2:1 he is more direct, saying that he came to his readers ‘proclaiming the mystery of God.’ Such words might seem like a contradiction. How can you proclaim a mystery? A mystery proclaimed seems like it would no longer be a mystery. But this is actually an essential element of mystery. In a paradoxical way, mysteries depend on some knowledge of them otherwise, we would not know they are mysteries in the first place. The disappearance of aviator Amelia Earhart is a mystery to us because we know she disappeared in her attempted worldwide flight—this knowing is predicated on us knowing that she existed and seeing her take off. There is a visible, tangible reality to this mystery. Christmas in Aleppo.
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Aid to the Church in Need
AND YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESS
Life is a mystery because even though sonograms can show the infant in the womb, the creation of the soul, which happens at the moment of conception, will always be invisible to us no matter how sophisticated our sonograms become.
of the dead, only to return in the radiance of the resurrection.
The ultimate nature of physical reality is also a mystery to us. We know that it is there because we can see a visible world around us—our skin, our furniture, houses, the trees and grass outside, and the blue skies and puffy clouds floating above us. And yet, the ultimate building blocks of matter are invisible to us. We know that within molecules are atoms and at the centre of atoms are nuclei with proton and neutrons—which are themselves comprised of quarks. Beyond this, we aren’t quite sure.
There is something inviting about mystery. It shows us just enough to beckon us closer. We know there is something there that draws us, irresistibly, to itself.
God Himself is the ultimate mystery—or, in the words of theologian Karl Rahner—‘absolute mystery.’ We cannot see God, yet His works are all around us. As Paul writes, Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what He has made. (Romans 1:20).
So also in the Holy Eucharist Jesus is visible and tangible yet hidden beyond the grasp of our senses.
On the cross, Jesus showed us a love beyond this world. It was on display for all to see and yet it was also concealed. For those who truly know Jesus, the cross becomes an invitation: we hide ourselves within His wounds, so that we might become closer to the Sacred Heart beating beneath them. As it is with God, so it is with us. We are called to the radiance of Holiness so that those who glimpse our light from afar may draw close enough to see the flames of divine love within us. •
This duality, God’s simultaneous invisibility and visibility, is radically reaffirmed in the Incarnation, in which God assumed the fullness of human nature, yet retained the fullness of His divinity, hidden and invisible. The reality of the Incarnation itself was intensified on the cross, where God-mademan left this earth and sojourned in the land
Nativity scene in Erbil, Iraq.
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A BEACON OF LIGHT - AMONGST THE RUINS
THE NEEDS OF THE CHURCH SAINT POPE PAUL VI6
W
hat are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at Our answer... : one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil. Before clarifying what We mean, We would like to invite you to open your minds to the light that faith casts on the vision of human existence, a vision which from this observation-point of faith reaches out to immense distances and penetrates to unique depths. In truth, the picture that we are invited to behold with an all-encompassing realism is a very beautiful one. It is the picture of crea-
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tion, the work of God. He Himself admired its substantial beauty as an external reflection of His wisdom and power.7 Then there is the interesting picture of the dramatic history of mankind, leading to the history of the Redemption and of Christ; the history of our salvation, with its stupendous treasures of revelation, prophecy and Holiness, of life elevated to a supernatural level, of eternal promises.8
6 7 8
Edited and abridged from an unoffical translation from St Pope Paul VI, General Audience, Wednesday 15 November 1972 http:// www.papalencyclicals.net/paul06/p6devil.htm Gn 1, 10 etc. Eph 1, 10
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AND YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESS
Knowing how to look at this picture cannot help but leave us enchanted.9 Everything has a meaning, a purpose, an order; and everything gives us a glimpse of a Transcendent Presence, a Thought, a Life and ultimately a Love, so that the universe, both by reason of what it is and of what it is not, offers us an inspiring, joyful preparation for something even more beautiful and more perfect.10 The Christian vision of the universe and of life is therefore triumphantly optimistic; and this vision fully justifies our joy and gratitude for being alive, so that we sing forth our happiness in celebrating God’s glory.11
9 St. Augustine, Soliloquies. 10 Cor 2, 9; 13, 12; Rom 8, 19-2:3. 11 The Gloria of the Mass.
BIBLICAL TEACHING But is this vision complete and correct? Are the defects in the world of no account? What of the things that don’t work properly in our lives? What of suffering and death, wickedness, cruelty and sin? In a word, what of evil? Don’t we see how much evil there is in the world-especially moral evil, which goes against man and against God at one and the same time, although in different ways? We find evil in the realm of nature, where so many of its expressions seem to speak to us of some sort of disorder. Then we find it among human beings, in the form of weakness, frailty, suffering, death
Refugees fleeing Syria.
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A BEACON OF LIGHT - AMONGST THE RUINS
and something worse: the tension between two laws-one reaching for the good, the other directed toward evil. St. Paul points out this torment in humiliating fashion to illustrate our need for salvific grace, for the salvation brought by Christ,12 and also our great good fortune in being saved. We come face to face with sin which is a perversion of human freedom and the profound cause of death because it involves detachment from God, the source of life.13 And then sin in its turn becomes the occasion and the effect of interference in us and our work by a dark, hostile agent, the Devil. Evil is not merely an absence of something but an active force, a living, spiritual being that is perverted and that perverts others. It is a terrible reality, mysterious and frightening.
It is a departure from biblical and Church teaching... to deny the existence of the Devil; to consider him as one who does not owe his origin to God or to explain away the Devil’s existence a pseudo-reality, a conceptual, fanciful personification of the unknown causes of our misfortunes. The problem of evil poses the greatest single obstacle to our religious understanding of the universe. Thus and awareness of evil is central to having a correct Christian concept of the world, life and salvation. We see this first in the unfolding of the Gospel story at the beginning of Christ’s public life. Who can forget the highly significant description of the triple temptation of Christ? Who can forget the many episodes in the Gospel where the Devil crosses the Lord’s path and features in His teaching?14 And how could we forget that Christ, referred three times to the Devil as His adversary, describing him as ‘the prince of this world’? 15 The lurking shadow of this wicked presence is highlighted up in many, many New Testament passages. St. Paul calls him the ‘god of this world,’16 and warns us of the struggle we
Pope Francis
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12 13 14 15 16
Rom 7. Rom 5, 12. Mt 12, 43. 11 Jn 12, 31; 14, 30; 16, 11. Jn 12, 31; 14, 30; 16, 11. Cor 4, 4.
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AND YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESS
Christians must carry on in the dark, not only against one Devil, but against a frightening multiplicity of them. ‘I put on the armour of God,’ the Apostle tells us, ‘that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the Principalities and the Powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness on high.’ 17 Many passages in the Gospel show us that we are dealing not just with one Devil, but with many.18 But the principal one is Satan, which means the adversary, the enemy; and along with him are many others, all of them creatures of God, but fallen because they rebelled and were damned19 a whole mysterious world, convulsed by a most unfortunate drama about which we know very little. 17 Eph 6, 11-12. 18 Lk. 11, 21; Mk 5, 9. 19 DS 800-128.
Saint Pope John Paul II
Saint Pope Paul IV
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A BEACON OF LIGHT - AMONGST THE RUINS
THE HIDDEN ENEMY THAT SOWS ERRORS
Here one recalls the parable of the good seed and the cockle...: ‘An enemy has done this.’ 22
There are many things we know, about this diabolical world, things that touch on our lives and on the whole history of mankind. The Devil is at the origin of mankind’s first misfortune, he was the wily, fatal tempter involved in the first sin, the original sin.20 That fall of Adam gave the Devil a certain dominion over man, from which only Christ’s Redemption can free us. It is a history that is still going on: let us recall the exorcisms at Baptism, and the frequent references in Sacred Scripture and in the liturgy to the aggressive and oppressive ‘power of darkness.’21 The Devil is the number one enemy, the preeminent tempter. So we know that this dark disturbing being exists and that he is still at work with his treacherous cunning; he is the hidden enemy who sows errors and misfortunes in human history.
The Devil is ‘a murderer... and the father of lies’.23 The Devil is a sophisticated voice that undermines man’s moral equilibrium. The Devil is the malign, clever seducer who knows how to make his way into us through the senses, the imagination and the libido, through utopian logic, through disordered social contacts in order to do us harm and cause us to harm others. The question of the Devil and of the influence he can exert on individuals as well as on communities, entire societies and events, is a core element of Catholic doctrine and should be given greater attention today.
20 21 22 23
Gn 3; Wis 1, 24. Lk 22, 53; Col 1, 13.. Mt 13, 28 Jn 8, 44-45.
Saint Pope John Paul II
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WHAT ARE THE SIGNS OF THE PRESENCE OF EVIL
We have to be cautious about answering the first question, even though the signs of the Evil One seem to be very obvious at times.24 We can presume that his sinister action is at work... where the denial of God becomes radical, subtle and absurd; where lies become powerful in the face of evident truth; where love is smothered by cold, cruel selfishness; where Christ’s name is attacked with conscious, rebellious hatred,25 where the spirit of the Gospel is watered down and rejected and where despair is affirmed as the last word etc. The problem of evil remains one of the greatest and most lasting problems for the human mind, even after the victorious response given to it by Jesus Christ. ‘We know,’ writes St. John the Evangelist, ‘that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil one.’ 26
24 Tertullian, Apol. 23. 25 I Cor 16, 22; 12, 3. 26 1 Jn 5, 19. 27 Rom 13, 12; Eph 6, 11, 14 17; I Thes 5, 8. 28 1 Pt 5, 8. 29 Mk 9, 29. 30 Rom 12, 21; Mt 13, 29.
WHAT IS THE DEFENCE AGAINST THE DEVIL’S ACTIONS
Grace is the decisive defence. Innocence takes on the aspect of strength. Everyone recalls how often apostolic method of teaching used the armour of a soldier as a symbol for the virtues that can make a Christian invulnerable.27 The Christian must be a militant; he must be vigilant and strong;28 and he must at times make use of special ascetical practices to escape from certain diabolical attacks. Jesus teaches us this by pointing to ‘prayer and fasting’ as the remedy.29 And the Apostle proposes the main line to follow: ‘Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’ 30 With an awareness of the opposition that individual souls, the Church and the world faces at the present time, we must try to give greater meaning to the familiar invocation in our principal prayer: ‘Our Father . . . deliver us from evil!’ •
Saint Benedict
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A BEACON OF LIGHT - AMONGST THE RUINS
YOUR CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR THE CHURCH IN NEED HELP THEM TO SURVIVE – FOR €20
predicted by their own Carmelite Sister and Doctor of the Church, Saint Therese of Lisieux, who promised, ‘After my death I will rain down a shower of roses on earth.’ Roses of health and healing, roses of mission, roses of life and love. We hold these roses in our hands.
TWEETING WITH GOD – €50
The discalced Carmelite Sisters in Chirgua (Valencia) and San Cristobal will certainly be celebrating Christmas in Venezuela with joyful hearts – but with empty tables. The food situation in this bankrupt country, which has the world’s highest inflation rate, is nothing short of catastrophic. People are forced to live from hand to mouth, never knowing what tomorrow will bring. The Carmelites too have no idea where they will find bread, clean drinking water and vital medication. There are 25 of them in Chirgua, and 24 and 23 respectively in their two other convents in San Cristobal. €90 would provide all three convents with bread for one day, or support one Sister for half a year. And if a thousand of our benefactors could give €20 each for Christmas, then for the Sisters it would be like that ‘shower of roses’
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‘Whoever seeks the truth, seeks God.’ So writes the saint and Doctor of the Church, Edith Stein. Many young people are seeking the truth. But can it be summed up in 280 characters in a tweet? Of course not, but some questions about the truth can be addressed in a tweet, as shown by a new book, Tweeting with God, and its accompanying app, which has so far been produced in English, Albanian, Croatian, Lithuanian, Romanian, Ukrainian, German and Dutch. The answers it offers are concise and Catholic.
Aid to the Church in Need
AND YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESS
Young people came up with the idea of spreading the Good News via these short messages. That led to the book and the multimedia material. Now it is to be produced in Arabic as well. Many people, and particularly young Christians, in the Middle East can have quick and easy access to the truths of our Faith in this way. The would-be publishers of the Lebanon edition have great enthusiasm, linguistic skills and goodwill – but no money to translate, print and market the book. If just a few hundred of our benefactors could contribute €50 each then there will be much tweeting of the truth this Christmas in the Middle East!
SOMEWHERE TO BE AT HOME WITH GOD – €100
trees or in simple shelters that barely protect them from the rain, wind and burning sun. Take Yasso in Mali, for example, where the parish of Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus numbers around 5,000 souls, yet their rickety wooden chapel can accommodate only 150. Now they are building a church for 2,000 people, but they don’t have enough money for the steel roofing sheets. They need €48,000. It’s a similar story in Sekegourou, in Benin, and Ziguinchor in Senegal; they don’t have enough money to finish the work. So now it’s time for their brothers and sisters in the universal Church, and especially in ACN, to help them out. If enough of us can give €100, then we can help cover the roofs, build the remaining walls, raise the central columns. This is much more than mere material help, for it also shows the Christians of these countries that, as children of Mother Church, they are by no means a minority.
In Mali, Senegal and many other West African countries Christians are in the minority. Mosques continue to spring up everywhere, while Christians must gather to pray under
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GIFTS FROM HEAVEN IRENE’S GIFT FROM HEAVEN
FOR SUFFERING CHRISTIANS IN IRAQ
I have six grandchildren. One of them is Irene who passed away at the age of 18. I give each of them a holiday donation. Irene doesn’t have a bank account anymore because she is in heaven, so I donated the money to ACN, as I’m sure it would be Irene’s wish that the euros go to a good cause.
Thank you for sending the Mirror. I enclose a small sum to help the suffering Christians in the ruined villages of the Niniveh Plains in Iraq. A benefactor in Belgium
Irene’s grandfather, writing from the Netherlands A GREAT OPPORTUNITY Thank you for the information you have sent me. I will continue to take advantage of the great opportunity of giving Mass stipends [via ACN]. In this way I can address both the spiritual and material need at the same time! A benefactress in Austria
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UNITED IN PRAYER Let us remain united in prayer, entrusting our plans and projects to God’s divine providence and remaining firm in our faith in Christ. A benefactor in Canada GIVING FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE As a Catholic Christian, I have already asked my son not to stop giving to ACN, even after God has called me to himself. For I am quite certain that your charity is helping many needy people and I give thanks to God that I can still contribute towards it. A benefactress in Brazil
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AND YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESS
JOYFULLY PREPARING FOR CHRISTMAS Dear Friends,
S
ome time ago, while visiting a refugee camp in the Middle East, I observed how, despite all the difficulties and the hopelessness of their situation, the Christian refugees there were joyfully preparing for Christmas. I was profoundly moved. Here were people – elderly and infirm, solemnfaced children, harassed mothers – who had lost almost everything and yet, in the cold and unwelcoming conditions of a flimsy tent or a metal container, were nonetheless preparing for the birth of the Redeemer. And as they spoke to us about the coming feast, they even looked truly ‘redeemed’. Even in the midst of all that poverty… What faith, what trust!
These brothers and sisters are in my thoughts whenever I think about our efforts in support for the Christians in Syria. As well as being able to give them something – e.g. the chance to return to their homeland, to rebuild their houses and churches – we can also learn from them: e.g. about the things that really matter in this life. And in saying this, I am not forgetting that all this giving and learning is possible only thanks to your generosity. I continue to trust in your kind hearts, and so I have more than one reason, dear benefactors, to thank you and wish you a joyful and Holy Christmas season. Yours gratefully,
Thomas Heine-Geldern, Executive President of ACN International
WHERE TO SEND YOUR CONTRIBUTION FOR THE CHURCH IN NEED Please use the Freepost envelope.
IBAN BIC
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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.
GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE
‘Grant me just one thing – that great joy that filled the three Wise Men when they saw the star that led them to You and Your Mother.’ ACN Ecclesiastical Assistant
‘Hard times may come, when the cross casts its shadow, yet nothing can destroy the supernatural joy that always endures, even as a flicker of light born of our personal certainty that, when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved.’
Church of Our Lady of the Girdle, Homs, Syria: driving away the darkness.
THE MIRROR IS AVAILABLE TO READ AT ACNIRELAND.ORG/MIRROR 18 - 8
Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate