Aid to the Church in Need
Crossing the threshold of hope
Nourishing the Christian Life
14 - 7
light into darkness sharing the Joy of the gospel in today’s World With fr. MiChael shields
the false proMises of the World bring darkness, grief and anxiety.
Aid to the Church in Need
the graCe of Christ brings light, hope and Joy.
Aid to the Church in Need
Contents
Page
Nourishing the Christian life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J F Declan Quinn ................... 2 Prayer in the family. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fr. Martin Barta .................... 4 Mass offerings nourish the Christian life . . . . . . . . . . . . ......................................... 6 The Holy Mass is our greatest prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......................................... 8 Syria: Mass intentions, ‘helping the poorest of the poor’ .......................... 10 Iraq: ‘I’m not worthy to serve these people’. . . . .
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Faithfulness and respect of life are crucial . . . . . . . . . ....................................... 14 The primary task of the Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................ 16 Do good to those who hate you . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pope Francis ....................... 18 St. Luke Chapter 6: 20 - 49. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................ 20 The power of personal prayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dr. Jeff Mirus ...................... 22 Why I pray the Rosary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fr. Michael Shields PP .......... 26 The prayer life of St Dominic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pope Benedict XVI ............... 30 Prayer is of decisive importance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J F Heereman...................... 32
Editor: Jürgen Liminski. Publisher: Kirche in Not / Ostpriesterhilfe, Postfach 1209, 61452 Königstein, Germany. De licentia competentis auctoritatis ecclesiasticae. Printed in Ireland - ISSN 0252-2535. www.acn-intl.org
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nourishing the Christian life A chairde,
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n a previous edition of the Mirror1 ACN International’s Spiritual Assistant, Fr. Martin Bartha wrote ‘Prayer is the most important and the most powerful work a person can perform’ but do we really believe it? Do we really believe in the importance and power of: personal Prayer? the Rosary? the Sacraments? and most especially the Eucharist? The fact is that if we really believed in the importance and power of prayer all of us would be prepared and willing to pray unceasingly. But how many of us today say the Morning Offering or embrace that wonderful insight written
over the door of the Cenacolo community’s timber workshop in Knock that ‘work well done is a prayer’?
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he simple truth is that only those people who have met God in prayer, know Him and as a consequence are able to share the hope and the joy which comes from encountering Him. In other words people who don’t pray, people who don’t allow God into their lives are simply unable to offer genuine hope and real joy to the world. Bearing in mind that the vocation of the Church is to bring joy to the world, it is incumbent on every Christian to nurture and develop their prayer life. Prayer very clearly lies at the innermost core of Christian living and nourishing our prayer life is absolutely central to our spiritual growth as we journey along our pilgrim ways on earth. For this reason the issue of prayer and the sacraments is the organising theme for this edition of the Mirror. s I write this introduction, news from around the world and particularly from the Greater Middle East and Northern Africa about the suffering and persecution of Christians is deeply disturbing. While the twentieth century notoriously saw more Christians
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1 Fr. Martin M. Barta in ‘Prayer, Priesthood and Catholic Spirituality’ Mirror 13 -7 p2. See www. acnireland.org
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dying for their faith than at any other time in history, the way things are going this century could be even more bloody than the last. Against this dark backdrop the witness of the Iraqi Christians inspired one Argentinian priest who is ministering in Baghdad to proclaim ‘I am not worthy to serve these people’.2 In making this declaration Fr. Montes echoes at least in part the words of his compatriot, our Holy Father Pope Francis who adopted as his episcopal motto is ‘lowly but chosen’.3
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n his motto Pope Francis is making reference to an essential truth of Christian living which is that all of us are lowly, broken, small, inconsequential beings whom God in His mercy has chosen by name to talk to. Let us talk to God. Let us listen attentively to what He is saying and what He is quietly asking us to do in our families, in our communities, in our labours and in the world. In other words, let us pray. Beir Beannacht
J F Declan Quinn Director, Aid to the Church in Need (Ireland) 2 Cf. page 10 of this edition of the Mirror. 3 Miserando atque eligendo
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prayer in the faMily Dear Friends, ove begins in the family. Only families that pray together, stay together. Only when they learn to live together can they learn love for one another, and hence share this love with their neighbours also.
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roundings of the carpenter’s family in Nazareth and learning from Joseph and Mary how to pray, to work and to play His part in the life of the community. Jesus worked His first public miracle for a newly-married couple because His mother asked it of Him.
These were some of the guiding principles of Mother Teresa. She was convinced that the welfare of society was based on the sanctity of marriage shows us that ‘Let us begin to pray This and on harmony within the powerful natural between the family. The family is again in our families!’ attraction man and woman is not the first and most natuenough, it needs new ral environment within wine of Divine Love. Marriage, rooted which love can be given and received. in faithful and everlasting Love of God, here else, but the domestic is stronger than death and surpasses all school of love, does an awareness creation in sanctity. of our own identity and authentic his relationship with God also human relationships come from? Only brings with it openness to life. the security and mutual respect found Children are love made visible, as within the family circle can give us the confidence that we are unconditionally the German Romantic poet Novalis tells accepted, treasured and loved. Thanks us. But even though in the first years of to this love we are able to recognise its life the child is entirely dependent on that we are created in the image and the love and care of its parents, nevertheless it does not belong to them but is likeness of God. instead an independent human person. When Jesus came into the world, He was This child has to grow beyond his relationwilling to renounce everything, but not ship with his parents and, with the help of to renounce family life. For 30 years, the a Christian education, find a solid point of greatest part of His life, He lived with his reference in God. parents, growing up in the humble sur-
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f not, he will remain a spiritual orphan, with-out roots and without security. Beyond all the material things and human attachments that the child needs there is the one fundamental truth: he is an individual, loved and willed by God. That is why the Church remains so close to the family, especially to ‘those families who are struggling, forced to leave their homeland, broken, homeless or unemployed, or suffering for any reason; let us approach married couples in crisis or separated. Let us be close to everyone through the proclamation of this Gospel of the family, the beauty of the family’ as Pope Francis said.
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ear Friends, let us begin again in our own families to pray and to call upon the Holy Spirit, that He may guide the bishops’ Synod on the Family, since He alone can heal the deep wounds in marriages and in families. My grateful priestly blessing on you all and on your families.
Father Martin M. Barta, Spiritual Assistant
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Mass offerings nourish the Christian life
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ope Gregory the Great (c. 540 – 604 A.D.) had Holy Mass celebrated for 30 days for a monk who had died, the normal period of mourning at the time. After he had said the 30th Mass, the monk appeared to him in a dream and said ‘I have been freed, and I am with God.’ That is the origin of the so-called Gregorian Mass. Undoubtedly this particular form of Mass intention – the Gregoriana (30 Masses on 30 days) is a blessing, not only for the deceased person but also for the priests who celebrate, above all in very poor countries and wherever the Church is persecuted. Indeed, every Mass offering is much more than a request to petition heaven with the Sacrifice of Christ. It is nourishment for the Christian life, and at the same
… which will be given up for you: a Gregorian Mass in India.
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…who takes away the sins of the world: Mass in Ethiopia.
time nourishment for the priests and the poor. Without Mass offerings pastoral work would be impossible in many places. Currently you are helping one in ten priests worldwide, and consequently the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is being celebrated every 25 seconds, somewhere in the world, for the intentions of one of our benefactors.
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r Maurice Edoula of Owando, Republic of the Congo, describes the plight of his 49 fellow priests. Many villages in this region can only be reached by canoe, and swarms of malaria-carrying mosquitoes are everywhere. Gales and storms are frequent and sudden. There is a shortage of food; healthcare insurance is an unaffordable luxury; the local people live in great poverty and survive by hunting and fishing. ‘We are holding out our hands to you once again – for their sake’, writes Father Maurice. These hands also bless and raise up the Lord. Without them, entire villages would fall prey to the innumerable sects. ‘We
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n the island of Zanzibar, Tanzania,, where over 90% of the population are Muslims, the witness of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has brought many Christians back to the practice of their faith, says Bishop Augustine Shao.
…grant us peace: Mass in a refugee camp, Central African Republic.
must strengthen them in their faith; they must not be allowed to give up’, he adds. Your Mass offerings can open the wellsprings of grace and redemption so that they can pour out on all, even in the most adverse of circumstances.
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our Mass offerings can bring help in particular circumstances. In Ivory Coast you are supporting the seminary of Our Lady of Lourdes in Guessihio where, but for your Mass offerings, the 10 priests teaching here would not be able to support themselves. Then they would be forced to seek paid work elsewhere, and the seminary would have to close. For Father Benedict Kandathiparambil in Palvoncha, India, your Mass offerings are his sole means of support. It is only thanks to these Mass intentions that he is able to minister to 18 villages, celebrating several Masses each Sunday and supporting the prayer groups and families during the week with the blessings of the Eucharist.
Before Mass was celebrated regularly, many people kept quiet about their faith, for fear of losing their work or other rights. Your Mass offerings are helping the 18 Catholic priests here to strengthen and encourage the faithful through their pastoral work.
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ou are helping all these priests, and through them many of the People of God too, to stand firm in their faith. And being faithful, as Pope Francis tells us, always implies ‘change, new life, growth’ on the pilgrim path of life. •
One fruit of your Mass offerings - priests have more time to hear confessions, as seen in Indonesia.
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the holy Mass is our greatest prayer Celebrating the holy Mass is the ‘source and summit’ of our Christian life.
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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.
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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 a Holy Mass for someone and in doing so is re-enacting Jesus’ gift of Himself on the Cross for the love of God and all mankind.
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he 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 more than 1.1 million Holy Masses for the intentions of its many thousands of benefactors throughout the world. The Mass stipends so received go directly to support an estimated 40,000 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 far-flung missions as servants to the poorest and most persecuted of the world’s poor.
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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 we would encourage you in the practice of having Holy Masses offered for your own special intentions and those of your family and friends. In our world prayer is needed more than we could possibly realise and the Holy Mass is our greatest prayer. •
soMething More preCious than Money - a letter froM a syrian nun studying in Canada ‘I am deeply moved by the hope that you are bringing to my own Syrian people. My deepest thanks to the staff and benefactors of ACN for everything you are doing for these people. What you are giving them is much more than merely humanitarian aid. You’re giving them life, and that is something far more precious than money or clothing, or even medicines!’
a thank you froM priests in india
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hey don’t even have a typewriter, let alone a computer. But they do have greatness and humility of heart. And from the bottom of their hearts these two priests from India have written to say ‘thank you’ for your Mass offerings. They see these as a God-given opportunity to pray and offer Holy Mass for you and for your intentions. They celebrate Mass for ACN’s benefactors every day. Father Soumitra also asks your prayers, that he may fulfill his priestly ministry faithfully and joyfully.
And Father Priolal asks your prayers for his mission in West Bengal. Both their letters are imbued with the same joy in God. And so, writing by hand, as Father Werenfried still preferred to do right up to the end of his life, they conclude joyfully. ‘Praise the Lord, Alleluia, Alleluia!’ •
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‘enable us to help the poorest of the poor in their misery’ - Mass intentions in syria
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gr. Jean-Clément Jeanbart is the Melkite Archbishop of Aleppo, the City of Martyrs in Syria where Christians have been living for two thousand years. ‘We were born with the Cross. The Cross was always there.’ Aleppo is the second largest city in this country, but it has been torn apart by civil war. Both sides are fighting to take possession of it. The only ones who can escape are those who still have some money. Archbishop JeanClément is caring for the rest, with the help of his 16 priests. His flock numbers 13,000 souls, but they are also caring for 1,450 families in the direst need, who have fled either from the government troops or the fanatical Islamists and are now stranded here in Aleppo. Without the financial help that comes from your Mass intentions, it would be hard for them to survive. Already marked by suffering: What future for this Syrian refugee child?
Living beneath the Cross: Archbishop Jean-Clément Jeanbart of Aleppo.
We asked the Archbishop to answer a few questions about the importance and use of your Mass offerings. He replied in the following words: Thank you for your questions and for your interest in our fate. I answer with a heart heavy with pain and grief. Last night mortar shells hit one of our churches, Saint Demetrios. Five members of the faithful lay beneath the rubble. Thanks be to God that it did not happen during Holy
Five more martyrs: St Dimitrios, after the blast. 10
Mass. For Saint Demetrios was one of the most visited churches, and our faithful gathered there frequently and in large numbers. I hope these mortar shells have not also blasted their hope and that the faithful will continue, along with us, to implore the Lord for peace and harmony in our country. How do your priests get around the city? With extreme caution, even in the districts guarded by the local police. At any time a grenade could come crashing down almost anywhere. The priests know that they must fulfil their duty, so that life can continue and the community does not lose courage. I myself also try to encourage my priests, and I am staying on in the seat of the archdiocese, even though the house is quite exposed, on the demarcation line. But it is absolutely necessary in order to reassure the terrorised people. For everybody knows just how brutally the Islamists behave in the region, in Mosul and in Iraq.
Do you still believe in the solidarity of the Christian world? Our priests celebrate Holy Mass daily - this is the true solidarity in Christ.. As for the governments of Europe, we have absolutely no hope in them. Criticism of the Islamist rebels is something we don’t hear. This indifference in other countries – perhaps we should quite simply say this complicity – is very painful to us. Most people have lost their faith in a Europe that speaks up for human rights, for justice and human dignity. Only the Pope speaks out for us courageously, and with total sympathy. The Mass intentions that we are able to give our priests, thanks to you, enable us to help the poorest of the poor in their misery. Without them there is little we could do. For the faithful are no longer able to support their priests and the Church as they gladly used to do before the war. Today they do not even know how they themselves are going to survive tomorrow. I hope this information is of some use to you. My blessing on you all! •
Aleppo. Even after the fire and destruction in so many churches, the priests still celebrate holy Mass daily.
At their father’s coffin: Who will comfort them in their despair?
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‘i am not worthy to serve these people’ - CatholiC priest in iraq1
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n Argentinian priest caring for the Catholic community in Baghdad says the faith of persecuted Iraqi Christians is moving and will continue inspiring future believers for generations. ‘The number of martyrs the Middle East is giving to the world is amazing. It is not well known but it will be in many years, and we will speak of them like we do of the acts of the martyrs of the early years of Christianity,’ Father Luis Montes told Christian charity Aid to the Church in Need. ‘The faith they have despite the persecution is moving, as well as their sensitivity towards others,’ he added, noting their profound devotion to the Virgin Mary.
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hristians and other minorities in parts of Iraq are being strongly persecuted by ISIS, a Sunni Islamist group that calls itself the Islamic State. After emerging earlier this year as one of the rebel groups fighting in the Syrian civil war, ISIS spread its operations to Iraq, taking control of Mosul and swaths of territory in the country’s north and west.
Hundreds of thousands have fled due to the violence.
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espite the terror that has overtaken their lives, Fr. Montes said the Christians in Iraq have remained firm in their faith. He cited the example of a Christian family in Qaraqosh harassed by jihadists and unable to flee. ‘The terrorists pressure them every day to convert to Islam. Their very neighbours insult them and treat them with scorn, and they can’t even leave their own home to buy food, which they are running out of. They cannot leave because they won’t let them, or because they are afraid the mother will be killed.’ 1 Edited from an original Catholic News Agency / EWTN News bulletin dated 12 Sept.2014.
ISIS has imposed a strict version of Islamic law in its territory that mandates: Conversion, Payment of a jizya tax, or Death for Christians and other minorities who refuse to submit. 12
St. George Chaldean Church, Alqosh, Iraq, guarded by the Christian policemen.
‘Lord knows what He will ask of me in the future but as for me I would like to serve here my entire life.’
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r. Montes also expressed the appreciation of the faithful in Baghdad for Pope Francis, who sent his personal envoy Cardinal Fernando Filoni to convey his closeness to them.
‘One day, a group of terrorists entered the family’s home and they told them directly that they were going to take the mother away and make her some soldier’s slave. This is the frightening and terrible reality these people are experiencing and yet nevertheless they remain firm in their faith,’ the priest explained.
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n his post on the website Friends of Iraq, Fr. Montes also discussed his own commitment to serving the people of the country. ‘The phrase I always say is: “I am not worthy to serve these people”,’ explained the priest, who is a member of the Institute of the Word Incarnate. ‘This nation is giving martyrs. Almost all the people I know in Iraq and in other countries of the Middle East know a family member killed out of hatred for the faith,’ he said. ‘Others have suffered direct persecution or discrimination. For us it is an honour to serve these people.’
‘This is very important to the Christians in Iraq. He conveyed the Holy Father’s care for these people and for us it is a great consolation. We pray for him.’ The priest said the solution to the crisis will require ‘humanitarian aid on a grand scale,’ as the aid sent so far has been insufficient, as well as intervention from the international community to stop the jihadists and cut off their financial sources. ‘If this is not done, the cruelty, the murders and the deaths are going to go on for a long time,’ he warned. •
Christian refugees from Mossul.
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faithfulness and respeCt for life are CruCial
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amilies are the domestic Church. That is why the enemy so often attacks the family. The devil does not want the family; he tries to destroy it.’ So said Pope Francis in Rome, in front of tens of thousands of families. Two particular areas of attack are the unborn children and the faithfulness of the married couple. This is where our aid comes in. Gravida, a pro-life support centre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, has an approach that is as pragmatic as it is broad-based. It supports expectant mothers - and especially young mothers facing pressure to have abortions.
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ounsellors trained in psychology help these young women to understand the greatness and dignity of the new life within them from conception to natural death, and the greatness and dignity of mother-
A Tamil wedding – both well prepared for Christian marriage and family life.
hood. Wherever possible, the father of the unborn child is also involved. At the same time the centre does educational work with the young and helps newly wed couples prepare for the great journey of married life.
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he teams of advisers, who include priests and doctors, as well as experienced mothers and fathers, meet together regularly to exchange ideas and experiences. The centre has proved to be an exemplary model, and branches have now been opened in 48 towns and cities. We are supporting this apostolate. A school of love the Gravida Centre in Argentina.
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A good preparation for Christian marriage helps couples to tackle the problems they face together and arms
them with the spirit of fidelity. This is the central theme of the marriage and family programme in the diocese of Marthandom in India.
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s Bishop Vincent Mar Paulos believes, it is all the more important to pay a small but significant tribute to such couples after 25 years of married life. He celebrates a special
Mass together with them and, together with the rest of the community, listens to their life stories, and hopes that the example of their fidelity will inspire others. In matters of education and marriage nothing is more effective than the twin values of love and good example. We are supporting the bishop’s programme. •
a handbook of MerCy and forgiveness
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ove is proven in faithfulness, but it is perfected in forgiveness. God’s Divine Mercy is the expression of this perfection. For He always forgives. This mystically acquired insight was written down by Saint Faustina in her diary. Whoever wishes to live in perfection must forgive. And it is precisely in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, where violence, murder, and indeed even genocide, still burden the memory of almost everyone, that prayer groups are being formed so that mercy and forgiveness can be put into practise, and where there is growing devotion to the practice of this highest form of love.
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t two special shrines in Rwanda - Kabuga and Ruhango - these prayer groups are deepening their understanding of the theology of mercy and forgiveness. And pilgrims
Welcomed into the family of Divine Mercy – baptism in Kabuga.
who come here also learn what Christ means when He says, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice’ (Mt 12:7). Surely there is scarcely a better book for this than the Diary of Saint Faustina. he Pallottine Fathers, who run both shrines, have now translated this diary into the local Kinyarwanda language and made it into a Handbook of Mercy. We are helping to cover the cost of translation and printing. As in the Great Lakes Region the language of merciful love needs to find the right words. •
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the priMary task of the ChurCh here is a Gospel of the Family. Proclaiming it is ‘an integral part of the mission of the Church, since the revelation of God sheds light on the relationship between a man and a woman’.
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So says the Vatican’s Instrumentum Laboris for the coming synod in Rome in October. The importance of the family cannot be underestimated. The paper calls it ‘the vital nucleus of society and of the ecclesial community’.
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nstrumentum Laboris draws on the most important documents of the Church on marriage and the family (see box) – of all which are rooted in the biblical view of humanity. These truths are no longer seen as self-evident today, and are even contested. The Pope and the Church find themselves alone
against politicians and media. The Church has formulated sound doctrine, but it is not being publicly proclaimed. The family apostolate is an authentic form of evangelisation, proclaiming God’s love. ACN supports: Courses and catechetical programmes on marriage and the family. We help local dioceses. We help educational work with young people. We help with the printing of the teaching manuals. We pay travel costs for religious sisters and missionaries.
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he family apostolate cannot simply be reduced to a handful of modern issues that are currently in vogue in many of the media. The working paper
United in prayer: families meeting with the Pope – now an established tradition. 16
for the synod establishes the framework: ‘The The family is an inexhaustible resource and font of life in the Church’s pastoral activity.. Therefore, the primary task of the Church is to proclaim the beauty of the vocation to love which holds great potential for society and the Church.’
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o embrace this mission is to invest in the future of society. Those who promote it are helping to build the ‘Civilisation of Love’ (Paul VI). •
Let the little children come to me. Pope Francis following the trail blazed by Pope Saint John Paul II.
He re-emphasised the Gospel of the Family. Pope Saint John Paul II with a newly married couple.
‘The family is the core of every social order ‘: Benedict XVI further expanded on the teaching of his predecessor.
papal doCuMents Considering Marriage and the faMily • Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes - Paul VI (1965) • Encyclical Humanae Vitae Paul VI (1968)
• apostolic letter Familiaris Consortio - John Paul II (1981)
• Instruction Donum Vitae
• Encyclical Evangelium Vitae
- John Paul II (1995)
• Encyclical Deus Caritas Est - BEnEdICt XVI (2005)
• Encyclical Caritas in Veritate - BEnEdICt XVI (2009)
• Encyclical Lumen Fidei - FranCIs (2013)
- John Paul II (1987)
all available at WWW.aCnireland.org Aid to the Church in Need
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do good to those Who hate you - pope francis 2
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n a homily at Holy Mass, Pope Francis reflected on the nature of prayer and the Christian life and based his reflection, the Gospel of St. Luke Chapter 6 (see page 20) where Jesus tells his disciples to love their enemies and ‘do good’ to those who hate them. ‘Be merciful as your Father is merciful. Only with a merciful heart can we do all that, which the Lord counsels us to do – all the way,’ ‘The Christian life is not a navel-gazing one. It is a life in which one gets out of oneself in order to give oneself to others. It is a gift, it is love – and love does not turn in on itself, it is not selfish, but self-giving.’ On Jesus’ call for Christians to be merciful, the Pope revisited a common theme of urging the faithful to be vigilant against
gossiping and to refrain from making judgments of people. ‘It seems that we have been named judges of others: engaging in gossip, talking behind people’s backs, we judge everyone.’ ut God urges us not to condemn, ‘and you will not be condemned’ yourself, Pope Francis said, noting that forgiveness is what we should strive for instead. ‘We say it every day in the Our Father,’ he continued, ‘forgive us as we forgive others – and if I do not forgive, how can I ask the Father to forgive me?’
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2 Prepared from Pope Francis’ Morning Meditation in the Chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, 11 September April 2014 and reported by CNA/EWTN http://www.catholicnewsagency. com/news/christian-life-is-not-navel-gazing-its-self-givingpope-says-10661/
Morning Meditation in the Chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae.
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ope Francis then went on to describe how the way in which the Lord teaches us is the way of generosity, magnanimity and of giving of oneself without counting the cost. ‘It was for this that Jesus came into the world,’ he noted. He came not to deal out judgment or participate in idle gossip, not to pass judgments on anyone, but to give and forgive. Pointing to how ‘Being Christian isn’t easy,’ the Pope explained that we are only capable of become Christians through the grace of God, rather than our own strength. ‘Here then arises the problem that we all must face daily: “Lord, give me the grace to become a good Christian, because I cannot do it on my own.”’ This, the pontiff observed, ‘is something quite frightening at first glance – quite frightening, indeed.’
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ope Francis concluded his reflections by encouraging attendees to ‘take the Gospel’ and ‘read the 6th chapter of St. Luke – and reread it and reread it and reread it.’ And as we do so ‘let us ask the Lord for the grace to understand what it is to be a Christian, to understand the grace He gives to us Christians, as well, because we cannot do it on our own.’ • St. Luke
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st luke Chapter 6: 20 - 49 serMon on the plain 20 And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. 21 Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. 22 Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way. 23
But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25 But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. 26 Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way. 24
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love of eneMies 27 “But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. 34 If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit [is] that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount. 35But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36Be merciful, just as [also] your Father is merciful. 30
Judging others 37 “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. 38Give and gifts will be
given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.” 39 And he told them a parable, “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? 40No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher. 41Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? 42How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’ when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.
a tree knoWn by its fruit 43 “A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. 44For every tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not pick figs from thornbushes, nor do they gather grapes from brambles. 45A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks. the tWo foundations 46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command? 47 I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, listens to my words, and acts on them. 48That one is like a person building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built. 49But the one who listens and does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed.” •
Read ‘The Four Gospels’ at www.acnireland.org
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the poWer of personal prayer - dr. Jeff mirus3
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any Catholics appear to forget the power of personal prayer.
• there are priestly, consecrated and lay faithful who make significant commitments to the active Christian life, including the Church’s liturgical life, but fail to nourish that commitment through personal prayer. • there are Catholic parents who take their Faith seriously but seldom remember to pray for their children. And of course • there are many relatively casual Catholics who fail to cultivate a personal prayer life of any kind. personal and private prayer ertainly there is immense power in public prayer, especially the Holy Mass and the Sacraments through which Christ makes His divine life available to us in a pre-eminent way. Christ also taught that wherever two or three are gathered together in His name, He will be in their midst (Mt 18:20).
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But the power of Christ’s presence, offered to us in all the various forms of public prayer, cannot be absorbed and released into our own lives without personal prayer. For a deep combination of spiritual and psychological reasons, if we fail to pray personally, we not only miss many opportunities to do good, but we slowly smother our own relationship 22
with Christ - no matter how many times we go through the motions of public or group prayer.
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lthough liturgical prayer can and should be intensely personal, we cannot learn to pray personally, or ever excel at it, unless we are willing to pray privately. Our Lord tells us this point blank when he warns us not to be hypocrites, who pray only in public, but to go to our rooms, close our doors and pray privately to our Father, who reads the secrets of our hearts (Mt 6). In fact, the New Testament speaks repeatedly about private prayer. • Jesus prayed at his baptism (lk 3:21), • he frequently went aside to pray alone (see Mt 14, Mk 1 & 6, Lk 5 & 6, etc.), • he prayed at the time of his transfiguration (Lk 9), • he prayed that Peter would not fail in his faith (Lk 22), and • he prayed mightily during his Passion (Mt 26, Mk 14). • Even his great priestly prayer at the Last Supper was an intensely personal prayer said in the presence of the Twelve (Jn 17). 3 Adapted from ‘The Mystery and Power of Personal Prayer’ By Dr. Jeff Mirus, www.catholicculture.org Oct 12, 2007
Not surprisingly for one who prayed so frequently, Our Lord also taught often about personal and private prayer. • he enjoined us to pray for our enemies and those who persecute, curse and calumniate us (Mt 5, Lk 6); • he told us to pray for vocations (Mt 9, Lk 10); • he urged us to pray against the temptations and trials of the end times (Mt 24, Mk 13); and • he warned us to pray unceasingly (Mk 13, Lk 18, Lk 21). • he also explained that we would receive whatever we asked in prayer (Mt 21, Mk 11), and • he taught us the ‘Our Father’ so we would know both how to pray and what kinds of things to pray for (Mt 6, Lk 11). The evidence abounds in the gospels, and this emphasis on personal prayer continues in both the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles.
persistenCe in prayer n the many New Testa-ment texts on prayer, we see Our Lord emphasising again and again the need to pray persistently, without losing heart. He told two wonderful stories about the importance of persistence,
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• one concerning a widow and an unjust judge (Lk 18), and • the other about a man who needed to borrow bread from his neighbour in the middle of the night (Lk 11). Both the judge and the neighbour, neither of whom loved as God loves, succumbed to the onslaught of personal entreaty.
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oreover, Jesus sometimes demanded that same persistence from others, as in the case of the Canaanite woman who actually had to argue with the Son of God that even dogs get the crumbs from under their master’s table (Mt 15, Mk 7). The result was that He healed her daughter. After the story of the importunate neighbour, Our Lord so stressed persistence in prayer that it became a proverb: ‘I tell you, ask and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened’ (Lk 11:9-10). But his next point is even more dramatic. What father, Jesus asks, will give his son
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a serpent when he asks for a fish, or a scorpion when he asks for an egg? This question is the prelude to Our Lord’s final and greatest lesson about prayer: If we who are evil know how to give good gifts to our children, ‘how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’ (Lk 11:13) the holy spirit in prayer ere Our Lord teaches us that the Holy Spirit is always at work in prayer. By way of introduction, I’ll offer an exceedingly small proof, but of a kind that is commonly experienced. On one occasion when I went to Church for my hour of Eucharistic adoration, there was a man sleeping in the back pew of the small chapel where the Blessed Sacrament was exposed. He was stretched out, flat on his back, and snoring loudly enough to distract even the greatest of saints!
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This annoyed me, but I decided to wait to take action until I’d spent a little time attempting to pray. Paradoxically, as time went on, the louder he got, the less it bothered me. Occasionally he stirred and muttered something like ‘Oh my God’, so perhaps he was praying too. In any case, left to my own devices, I would have been driven to anger, yet his unseemly noise soon sounded more like the music of another soul. Clearly, I wasn’t being left to my own devices.
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hérèse of Lisieux often fell asleep at prayer, and it caused her to glory in her littleness. I don’t recommend this technique, which was also employed by the apostles in Gethsemane, yet I leave it to God to understand the effort at wakefulness and render it fruitful, even if it fails. In any case, our topic is not sleep, but the Holy Spirit, Who is actively involved in all prayer. The magnitude of Christ’s teaching is precisely this: Personal prayer is a continuous motion of the Holy Spirit between the one who prays and the Father. It is the Holy Spirit whom the Father continually gives in prayer, and the Holy Spirit whom the Father continually receives back. St. Paul explains it this way: ‘We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our
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bodies…. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.’ (Rm 8:22-27)
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he challenge for us is that this astonishing and growing action of the Holy Spirit - this ever-deepening exchange of the Holy Spirit between ourselves and the Father - does not take place within us unless we pray personally, by which I really mean interiorly. There is nothing automatic about it, and the mere external use of rites, group prayers, or verbal formulas avails nothing. True prayer requires our personal, interior participation - that is, our deter-
mination to communicate with the Father,, honestly lifting ourselves to God with whatever capacity we possess at the time. Even if all we can do is throw ourselves toward God in an occasional moment of fear or longing, we have made a beginning according to our capacity. The intention and the habit of personal prayer can be built on whatever beginning is within our power. It is up to us to practice, to exercise this initially limited ability to pray.
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hen we do this over time, the Holy Spirit becomes a fountain of life and power within us, uniting us to God Himself. Just as the theological virtues enable us to believe with God’s conviction, hope with God’s strength, and love with God’s love, so too is our capacity for prayer uplifted, amplified and perfected by the power of the Holy Spirit. For this reason, • there is nothing on this earth more powerful than a person at prayer. • nothing is better calculated to overcome any conceivable obstacle, and • we can give or receive no greater gift than prayer.
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ndeed, the success of everything else depends on our interaction with the Holy Spirit in prayer. Are we not foolish, then, to so often overlook what should be first, last, and always in our lives? • Aid to the Church in Need
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Why i pray the rosary - fr. michael shields pp, magadan siberia.
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s I write this reflection on the Rosary, I have before me a small homemade Rosary made in the former prison camps of Stalin. It is a bread Rosary used as a weapon of hope against the evil of repression and hatred. I recall the words of Jesus in Matthew’s gospel, ‘Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’. (Mt 4:4). A Rosary of bread so the Word of God would give hope and life to those suffering. Recently I had a difficult time. I really felt the spiritual battle. It was a time I really couldn’t pray. All I could do was say the Rosary. I would pray the Rosary in the morning and throughout the whole day.
I probably prayed the Rosary 20 times a day. It was the simple repetition that allowed my heart to cry out ‘help me Lord’. It was the prayer that allowed me to be in my weakness before the Lord. And it was the prayer in which I found strength to fight the battle. I love the Rosary and believe it is the greatest weapon we have to fight the spiritual battles we have to face every day. This most inspiring prayer to Our Lady is an effective weapon, in our battle for minds, hearts and souls.
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ery great saints used it for spiritual warfare. St. Dominic used the Rosary to combat the heresy of his day and bring people back to the Catholic Faith. St. Maximilian Kolbe led his companions in the Nazi starvation bunker by singing hymns and reciting the Rosary to keep them from losing hope. St. Padre Pio, no stranger to spiritual warfare, always told the people, ‘The Rosary is the weapon!’ Pio was known to pray as many as ninety Rosaries a day in a shortened form for which he received ecclesiastical permission. He knew what was needed to fight the devil.
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ary’s Rosary is a powerful spiritual weapon for three main reasons: it is biblical, humble and repetitive. As St. Louis Marie de Montfort noted, the Rosary is not just a devotion to Mary rather, it is a prayer through Mary directly to the Heart of Christ. That is the way Catholics pray it. Protestants, who reject Catholic prayers as being Mary-centred, need to be shown that the Rosary consists of purely biblical prayers (‘the Our Father’ and ‘the Hail Mary’). The goal of the Rosary is meditation on the Mystery of Christ revealed to us in Scripture and Tradition. With the addition of the Luminous Mysteries by Pope John Paul II in 2002, the life of Christ is complete.
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he Christian virtue of humility shatters the devil’s pride. The Rosary is not a glorious sacrament but a humble devotion. The Rosary can be prayed communally but it can only be prayed in humility. The meditation of the Rosary is not on one’s self, it is on God. The Rosary teaches the most important lessons of faith with simple images. It also teaches the fundamental Christian virtues which St. John Vianney says are bound together by humility like the chain of a Rosary binds together all the beads. There is nothing about the Rosary which inspires arrogance. The devil hates it with a passion. He just can’t break its humility.
Our Lady’s presence which is always the surest way to send any prayer to heaven. She is the one who will crush the head of the serpent; she reverses the ancient curse of Eve; She batters the gates of hell with a weapon in the form of a chain. Pray the Rosary each day, and Mary will battle with you. Whatever gates of hell you are fighting... they shall not prevail. Our culture worships complexity so the simplicity of the prayer is often scoffed at. Yet this very simplicity is its deepest secret.
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ether one is in a prison camp or in any spiritual battle, the Rosary in its repetition says all that is in the heart. The Rosary is our • weapon of hope.
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he Rosary is a strength that can cut through rock like a small stream. It is a force of good. This prayer is meaningful, meditative and pregnant with Aid to the Church in Need
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the prayer life of st doMiniC
- pope benedict Xvi4
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t Dominic Guzmán, (1170-1221 A.D.) Priest and Founder of the Order of Preachers, known as the Dominicans is a distinguished figure who made a fundamental contribution to the renewal of the Church in his time. One of the essential aspects of St. Dominic’s spirituality was his life of prayer. St Dominic was a man of prayer. In love with God, he had no other aspiration than the salvation of souls, especially those who had fallen into the net of the heresies of his time; a follower of Christ, he radically embodied the three evangelical counsels by combining the witness of a life of poverty with the proclamation of the Word. Under the Holy Spirit’s guidance he made headway on the path of Christian perfection. At every moment prayer was
the power that renewed his apostolic work and made it ever more fruitful.
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lessed Jordan of Saxony († 1237 A.D.), his successor as head of the Order, wrote: ‘During the day, no one was friendlier than he... conversely, at night no one watched in prayer more diligently than he. He dedicated the day to his neighbour, but gave the night to God’ In St Dominic we can see an example of harmonious integration between contemplation of the divine mysteries and apostolic work. According to the testimonies of people close to him, ‘he always spoke with God and of God’. This observation points to his profound communion with the Lord and, at the same time, to his constant commitment to lead others to this communion with God. He left no writings on prayer, but the Dominican tradition has collected and handed down his living experience in a work called: The Nine Ways of Prayer of St Dominic. This book was compiled by a Dominican friar between 1260 and 1288; it helps us to understand something of the Saint’s interior life and also helps us, with all the differences, to learn something of how to pray. here are, then, nine ways to pray, according to St Dominic, and each one - always before Jesus Crucified - expresses a deeply penetrating physical
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and spiritual approach that fosters recollection and zeal. The first seven ways follow an ascending order, like the steps on a path, toward intimate com communion with God, with the Trinity: St Dominic prayed • bowed to express humility, • lying prostrate on the ground to ask forgiveness for his sins, • kneeling in penance to share in the Lord’s suffering, his arms wide open, gazing at the Crucifix to contemplate Supreme Love, looking heavenwards feeling drawn to God’s world. Thus there are three positions: standing, kneeling, lying prostrate on the ground; but with the gaze ever directed to our Crucified Lord. However the last two ways, on which I would like to reflect briefly, correspond to two of the Saint’s customary devotional practices. irst, personal meditation, in which prayer acquires an even more intimate, fervent and soothing dimension. After reciting the Liturgy of the Hours and after celebrating Mass, St Dominic prolonged his conversation with God without setting any time limit. Sitting quietly, he would pause in recollection in an inner attitude of listening, while reading a book or gazing at the Crucifix. He experienced these moments of closeness to God so intensely that his reactions of joy or of tears were outwardly visible. In this way, through meditation, he absorbed the real-
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ity of the faith. Witnesses recounted that at times he entered a kind of ecstasy with his face transfigured, but that immediately afterwards he would humbly resume his daily work, recharged by the power that comes from on High. Then come his prayers while travelling from one convent to another. He would recite Lauds, Midday Prayer and Vespers with his companions, and, passing through the valleys and across the hills he would contemplate the beauty of creation. A hymn of praise and thanksgiving to God for his many gifts would well up from his heart, and above all for the greatest wonder: the redemptive work of Christ.
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ear friends, St Dominic reminds us that prayer, personal contact with God is at the root of the witness to faith which every Christian must bear at home, at work, in social commitments
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and even in moments of relaxation; only this real relationship with God gives us the strength to live through every event with intensity, especially the moments of greatest anguish. This Saint also reminds us of the importance of physical positions in our prayer. Kneeling, standing before the Lord, fixing our gaze on the Crucifix, silent recollection - these are not of secondary importance but help us to put our whole selves inwardly in touch with God.
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would like to recall once again the need, for our spiritual life, to find time everyday for quiet prayer; we must make this time for ourselves, to have a little time to talk with God. It will also be a way to help those who are close to us enter into the radiant light of God’s presence which brings the peace and love we all need. •
God and Father of us all, in Jesus, your Son and our Savior, you have made us your sons and daughters in the family of the Church. May your grace and love help our families in every part of the world be united to one another in fidelity to the Gospel. May the example of the Holy Family, with the aid of your Holy Spirit, guide all families, especially those most troubled, to be homes of communion and prayer and to always seek your truth and live in your love, through Christ our Lord.
aMen Jesus, Mary and Joseph, pray for us!
lord, by your cross and resurrection, you have set us free. you are the saviour of the world.
H eavenly Father help us‌ Count our blessings, not our crosses; Count our gains, not our losses; Count our joys, not our woes; Count our friends, not our foes; Count our courage, not our fears; Count our laughs, not our tears; Count our health and without fuss, Count on You and Your love for us. aMen
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prayer is of deCisive iMportanCe Dear Friends,
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ut of the mouths…’ as they say. Four year - old Marie asked: ‘Why have I actually got two fathers?’ ‘How do you mean, two?’, asked my wife. ‘One in the office and one in heaven, and I don’t see either of them. So why do I have two, if I don’t see them anyway?’ For one of them, the earthly father, it was relatively easy to explain that an office is a place where one earns money for milk, bread and sometimes also sweets. For the second, the heavenly Father, a lot more prayer times were needed in order to be able to grasp within her heart something of how His Love works.
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hat’s something I’m thinking about now, as I analyse the tables of the income with the experts here in our headquarters. There may be all kinds of rules and tips
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for gathering donations – or fundraising, to use the current jargon. But what is of decisive importance for this Catholic charity of ours is prayer, and trust in God’s love. His love is always there, even when we don’t see it. But ever since I’ve been working for ACN, it has been hitting me in the face, so to speak. For I can see the love of our heavenly Father in your giving – your offerings of love, as Father Werenfried would have called them. For these good deeds I thank you, our benefactors from the bottom of my heart.
Johannes Freiherr Heereman, Executive President of ACN International
reMarkable Work An outstanding work of charity Many thanks for sending me your annual report. Once again it documents a remarkable work of solidarity and aid in so many different countries. Through your many contacts with people in so many different continents and countries your organisation is providing such powerful help to all kinds of people in all sorts of situations of need and oppression. I want to thank you for your marvellous help and your outstanding work of charity. A bishop in Austria
...thank you Dear Friends,
AMGD
Heartfelt thanks for all your prayers and support provided to Christ’s suffering and persecuted Church in its efforts of bringing Joy to the World. Last year thanks to the • Mass offerings • Legacies and • donations of its benefactors in Ireland and around the world, ACN was able to: • Provide sustenance and the means of survival to over 40,000 priests • support the formation of over 15,000 seminarians and religious and • Distribute more than 2 million catechetical books.
A fine thought Please send $250 to the Church in Lebanon and $250 to St. Augustine’s major seminary in Nigeria. My wife has persuaded me to add this footnote. I was hit with a fine of $144 for parking my car, without a handicapped label in a handicapped zone. The fine was waived following my appeal, so that $144 has boosted the donation now made.... A benefactor in Australia
May the Good lord continue to bless you and your family, past and present, now and always.
So that the little children can come to know Jesus A few weeks ago I made my First Holy Communion. I would very much like to give you some of the money I was given for my First Holy Communion – so that it can help other children to get to know Jesus. A young girl from Switzerland
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
J F Declan Quinn Director, Aid to the Church in Need (Irl)
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.
Stand firm in the faith, be strong. (1 Cor. 16:13)
‘let us begin to pray again in our faMilies’ ACN Spiritual Assistant
‘The life of a family is filled with beautiful moments: rest, meals together, walks in the park or the countryside, visits to grandparents or to a sick person. But if love is missing, joy is missing, nothing is fun. Jesus always gives us that love. He is its endless source’ We are friends - the Pope, the children and the family.
Aid to the Church in Need
151 St. Mobhi Road, Dublin 9.
01 837 7516 info@acnireland.org www.acnireland.org
26th of October, 2013.