CATHOLIC today’s
A monthly publication of the Archdiocese of Kuching, Sarawak
Permit No PPK 148/01/2013(031378)
Vol 26 No 11 February 2016
Inside...
Serian now a Division
The Jubilee Indulgence
“I have come not to call the righteous, but sinners.” - Mt
9:13
今日教友
P10
P3
第十六至二十二頁
Pope in Lenten message: Live your faith during Lent, perform works of mercy
VATICAN CITY — Lent is a time of conversion and a time to deepen one’s faith, demonstrating and sharing it through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, Pope Francis said. “Faith finds expression in concrete everyday actions meant to help our neighbours in body and spirit,” the Pope said in his message for Lent, which begins 10 February for Latin-rite Catholics. Feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, welcoming strangers, offering instruction, giving comfort – “on such things will we be judged,” the Pope wrote in the message, which was released at the Vatican on 26 January. Particularly during the Year of Mercy, he said, Catholics are called to recognise their own need for God’s mercy, the greatness of God’s love seen in the death and resurrection of Christ and the obligation to assist others by communicating God’s love and mercy through words and deeds. “The root of all sin” is thinking that one is god, something often expressed in a total preoccupation for accumulating
money and power, the Pope wrote. And just as individuals can be tempted to think they have no need of God, social
and political systems can run the same risk, ignoring both God and the real needs of human beings.
“Love alone is the answer to that yearning for infinite happiness,” Pope Francis wrote. It is the only response to the longings “that we think we can satisfy with the idols of knowledge, power and riches.” “The danger always remains that by a constant refusal to open the doors of their hearts to Christ who knocks on them in the poor,” he said, “the proud, rich and powerful will end up condemning themselves and plunging into the eternal abyss of solitude which is hell”. But through acts of mercy and charity, “by touching the flesh of the crucified Jesus in the suffering,” he wrote, “sinners can receive the gift of realising that they too are poor and in need”. “In the corporal works of mercy we touch the flesh of Christ in our brothers and sisters who need to be fed, clothed, sheltered, visited,” he wrote. “In the spiritual works of mercy – counsel, instruction, forgiveness, admonishment and prayer – we touch more directly our own sinfulness”. Continued on p4
Lenten Appeal 2016 by Archbishop John Ha
In addition to the poor people whom the CWS and St Vincent de Paul Society are helping every year, natural disasters like earthquakes and floods in different parts of the world have left many victims in need, especially, to build up their damaged or destroyed homes. Extraordinary appeals of help for these victims have thankfully met with good response; but these appeals are kept to the minimum so as not to overburden the faithful. Hopefully in this Year of Mercy the Lenten appeal will raise very much more funds than in the past to enable the CWS to extend help to natural disasters. In this Year of Mercy, the call to “be merciful like the heavenly Father” (Lk 6:36) rings out clearly. Admittedly, the Visit us at http://www.todayscatholic.com.my
rising cost of living today due to several economic factors has imposed heavier burden on people. Despite this burden, the Lord is appealing to our merciful hearts to share generously even in our poverty. Our positive response will be blessed by God to produce the effect that we read in the miracle described in Mk 6:34-44 in which, with the five loaves and two fish offered by the apostles, Jesus fed five thousand men and had twelve basketfuls of scraps left over. Just as the apostles themselves stood to gain from this miracle – for sure from the left over scraps, so we too will receive
abundant blessings from the Lord ourselves for our generosity in sharing with the have-nots and the needy. More importantly, when the Lord Jesus returns at the end of time to take us to His kingdom, we will qualify to follow Him on the grounds of His assessment: “As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40). Happy giving and God bless.
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