LIBYA/Church - “Filipinos are the only ones who remain to serve the growing medical needs” says Bishop Martinelli

AFRICA/LIBYA - "Filipinos are the only ones who remain to serve the growing medical needs of our people" says Bishop Martinelli


Tripoli - "Only a few of us remain, just a good group of Filipinos and it is for them that I have stayed" Fides was told by the Vicar Apostolic of Tripoli Bishop Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli,. "They are mainly nursing staff, nearly all women, who have opted to stay to tend to the growing healthcare needs of the people" Mgr Martinelli continues. Healthcare structures in the Libyan capital feel the effect of the closure of St. James private hospital, whose staff were recalled abroad.





"At the moment the situation is calm, but no one knows what will happen next. However as I have often said, even if there were only one Christian here, I too would remain. It will all go according to the will of God, Inshallah" concludes Mgr. Martinelli.

Pope thanks Italy's coastguard, after massive migrant rescue operation

Pope thanks Italy's coastguard, after massive migrant rescue operation
2015-02-18 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis welcomed a delegation from the Italian coastguard to Casa Santa Marta Tuesday evening, two days after a massive operation saw them rescue a record 2,000 migrants and refugees from the sea between Italy and Libya.

The Pope met with the group of eight people for forty-five minutes.  The Holy See press officer, Fr. Federico Lombardi, reports that during the meeting the members of the coastguard told the Pope about their concrete experiences in a dialogue which Fr. Lombardi described as 'moving and inspiring'.

Pope Francis in turn expressed his heartfelt appreciation and thanks to the men and women for their courageous service and dedication in favor of people in dire need.

Just two days before the meeting with the Holy Father, the Italian coastguard rescued more than 2,000 migrants in difficulty between the Italian island of Lampedusa and the Libyan coast. The worsening security situation in the North African nation has led to a new wave of men, women and children seeking to get to Europe, despite the dangers of placing themselves at the mercy of traffickers.

In fact, during the rescue operation the Italian transport ministry reported that the coastguards were threatened at gunpoint by four men who approached them by speedboat from the Libyan coast.

Only a week earlier an estimated 300 people are feared to have died when four dinghies, each carrying about 100 people, overturned during stormy weather as they attempted to make the crossing from the Libyan coast.  The youngest victim was just 12 years of age. 

(from Vatican Radio)

Church of Scotland Moderator invites Pope Francis to visit

2015-02-16 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The Moderator of the Church of Scotland on Monday invited Pope Francis to visit the country which, he says, has overcome sectarian strife to become a place where ecumenical relations "have never been more cordial and productive".

During a meeting with the Right Reverend John Chalmers, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Pope said all Christians are called to seek ever more effective ways of overcoming old prejudices and to find new forms of understanding and cooperation.

Speaking in Italian, Pope Francis said our Churches "are presently confronted by such great challenges that only by working together will we be able effectively to serve the human family and enable the light of Christ to reach every dark corner of our hearts and of our world".

The Kirk, as it's is known, is the national Church of Scotland, founded in the wake of the Scottish Reformation of 1560. Over the centuries since then, the country has been plagued by bitter sectarian divisions between Catholics and Protestants. But as Philippa Hitchen discovered when she spoke to Rev John Chalmers, those conflicts have been replaced by a common Christian witness at the service of those most in need ….

Listen:

Below please find the English translation of Pope Francis' words to the Right Reverend John Chalmers, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

Dear Moderator,

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I am happy to have this opportunity to meet this delegation from the Church of Scotland, and to reaffirm our common commitment to the Gospel and to the cause of Christian unity.

Scotland's rich cultural and historical traditions have been shaped by outstanding saintly witnesses to Christ from various confessions. The present state of ecumenical relations in Scotland clearly shows that what we, as Christians, hold in common is greater than all that divides us.  On this basis the Lord is calling us to seek ever more effective ways to overcome old prejudices and to find new forms of understanding and cooperation.

It is heartening for me to see that the good relations between the Church of Scotland and the Catholic Church have borne fruit in shared reflection on the challenges posed by contemporary society, and that in many cases we are able to speak with one voice on issues which deeply affect the lives of all Christians. In our globalized and often confused world, a common Christian witness is a necessary requisite for the effectiveness of our efforts to evangelize.

We are pilgrims and we journey alongside one another.  We need to learn to have "sincere trust in our fellow pilgrims, putting aside all suspicion or mistrust, and turn our gaze to what we are all seeking: the radiant peace of God's face" (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 244).

Faith and Christian witness are presently confronted by such great challenges that only by working together will we be able effectively to serve the human family and enable the light of Christ to reach every dark corner of our hearts and of our world. May the journey of reconciliation and peace between our communities continue to draw us closer, so that, prompted by the Holy Spirit, we may bring life to all, and bring it in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10).

(from Vatican Radio)

FAITH / Libya: The blood of murdered Coptic Christians a "witness that cries out" - Pope Francis

Pope Francis: The blood of murdered Copts a "witness that cries out"

2015-02-16 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday denounced the murder of 21 Coptic Christians by ISIL militants in Libya. The Islamist terrorist organization released a video of the killings on Sunday. 

Speaking in Spanish to an ecumenical delegation from the Church of Scotland, the Holy Father noted those killed only said "Jesus help me."

"They were murdered just for the fact they were Christians," Pope Francis said.

"The blood of our Christian brothers is a witness that cries out," said the Pope.  "If they are Catholic, Orthodox, Copts, Lutherans, it is not important: They are Christians. The blood is the same: It is the blood which confesses Christ.''

Pope Francis said that in remembering "these brothers who have been killed simply for confessing Christ," Christians should encourage one another in the ecumenical goal, noting the "ecumenism of blood."

"The martyrs are from all the Christians," he said.

(from Vatican Radio)

Way of Simplicity: The Cistercian Tradition - by E. de Waal

An EXCELLENT Book in spirituality and way of living the Christian Life in this world  :)

You can get it through AbeBooks (cuz it's out of print!).

JC

Stock Image

The Way of Simplicity: The Cistercian Tradition (Traditions of Christian Spirituality)

de Waal, Esther

Published by Orbis Books

ISBN 10: 1570751951 ISBN 13: 9781570751950

From: Silver Arch Books (St Louis, MO, U.S.A.)

Bookseller Rating: 

FAITH: The courage of a restless heart

Pope at Santa Marta: The courage of a restless heart

2015-02-10 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) If you are looking for God you won't find him sitting on a comfortable couch flicking through a magazine, or sitting at your computer.  The search for God means having the courage to set out on a risky path, it means following our restless hearts, said Pope Francis at Mass Tuesday morning at Casa Santa Marta.   

Listen: 

The restless will see God

Pope Francis began his reflections drawing on the reading from Genesis that speaks of man's creation "in the image of God" . He spoke of the right and wrong paths that a Christian can take in search of his origins and identity. Pope Francis noted that we certainly cannot find the image of God "on a computer, or in encyclopedias".  Instead, there is only one way to find it and to "understand our own identity" that is to "set out on a journey".  Otherwise, said Pope Francis, "we will never know the face of God":

"Those who never set out on this journey, will never know the image of God, will never find the face of God. Sedentary Christians, lethargic Christians will not know the face of God: They do not know Him. They say: 'God is like this...', but those who are lethargic do not know Him. The lethargic. You need a certain restlessness to set out on this path, the same restlessness that God placed in each of our hearts and that brings us forward in search of Him".

A "caricature" of God

Pope Francis went on to say that of course "setting out on the journey and allowing God or life test us means taking a risk".  He added that this is what the giants [of Scripture] did, like the prophet Elijah, or Jeremiah, or Job, braving dangers and feeling themselves defeated by fatigue and distrust. But there is another way in which we risk being stationary and thus falsifying our search for God. Pope Francis pointed to it in the Gospel episode where the scribes and Pharisees rebuke Jesus because his disciples eat without having performed the ritual ablutions:
"In the Gospel, Jesus meets people who are afraid to set out on the path [in search of their identity] and who "content themselves with a caricature of God. It is a fake ID. These lethargic people have silenced the restlessness of their heart, they depict God with commandments and forget God: 'You, by neglecting the commandment of God, observe the tradition of men', and in doing so they turn away from God, they do not journey towards God and when they are insecure, they invent or make up another commandment".

The grace to remain on the right path

Pope Francis concluded that "people who act like this travel a "so-called path" a "path that goes nowhere, a slumberous path":

"Today the liturgy invites us to reflect on these two texts, which are two identity cards, which we all have. The Lord has made us this way. One tells us: 'Set out on the path and you will discover your identity, because you are the image of God, you are made in the likeness of God. Get up and seek God '. And the other: 'No, do not worry: fulfill all these commandments, and this is God. This is the face of God'. May the Lord give us all the grace of courage to always set out on the path, to seek the Lord's face, the face that one day we will see, but which we must seek here on Earth".

(from Vatican Radio)

Pope Francis: The devil is the root of jealousy, war

2015-02-09 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday evening visited the parish of San Michele Arcangelo in the eastern Roman district of Pietralata. The parish is on the peripheries of Rome, and home to 8,000 families.

On his way to the parish, the Holy Father made a surprise visit to a shantytown called  "Campo Arcobaleno", where he visited with residents for about 10 minutes.

Listen to our report: 

After arriving at the Parish Hall, Pope Francis met with a group of homeless people who are cared for by the Sant'Egidio Community.

"The fact that people do not know your name, and call you 'homeless' and you carry this: It is your cross, and your patience," said Pope Francis. "But there is something in the heart of all of you - of this, please be assured - there is the Holy Spirit."

He then held a meeting with parents whose children had been baptized in the previous year, and asked them to teach them the Faith well, and lamented there are "Christian children who cannot make the sign of the cross."

In his meeting with older children, many of whom were part of the Scouting movement, Pope Francis pointed out that wars are not only those – and he asked them to make a list - which kill children in Iraq, Ukraine, and Africa. Wars are come about much earlier in people who do not possess God.

"Who is the father of war?" Pope Francis asked.  "The devil!" the children answered.

Pope Francis said the devil is the "father of hate", "the father of lies" who seeks disunity.

"But God wants unity," Pope Francis said. "If in your heart you feel jealousy, this is the beginning of war.  Jealousies are not of God."

And this is the theme Pope Francis continued during his homily at Mass.

"It is sad when in a family, brothers do not speak because of something stupid," Pope Francis said.

"Because the devil takes stupidity and makes a world," he continued. "Then these enmities continue and multiply for years.  It destroys the family: Parents suffer because their children do not speak to each other, or with the wife of a son…And so this jealousy and envy, it is sowed by the devil.  And the only one who can drive out demons is Jesus.  The only one who can heal these things is Jesus. So to each of your: Have yourself healed by Jesus."

As he often does during parish visits, he urged the congregation to listen to Jesus in the Gospel, to read a passage and ask themselves, what does it say to me?

"Have this daily contact with the Gospel," Pope Francis said.  "Pray with the Gospel." 

(from Vatican Radio)

Pope Francis to visit Bosnia amid suffering

Pope Francis to visit Bosnia amid suffering

(Vatican Radio) The expected arrival of Pope Francis in Bosnia-Herzegovina is expected to be welcomed by the country's heavily Catholic Croat community at a time when the nation is preparing for a sad anniversary.   

Listen to the report by regional correspondent Stefan Bos: 

Pope Francis will visit Sarajevo while Bosnia-Herzegovina seeks unity to heal the wounds of the 1992-1995 Bosnian War, which claimed over 100,000 lives. 

Some two decades after the U.S. sponsored Dayton peace accords ended that conflict, the country is still deeply divided, complicating attempts to solve corruption, high unemployment and political polarization.   

Tensions remain especially between mainly Orthodox Serbs with their Serb Republic - or Republika Srpska - and the Federation, the other autonomous region dominated by Bosnian Muslims and Catholic Croats. 

Many still mourn over the thousands of people who were killed or taken to concentration camps during Serb efforts in the 1990s to drive out non-Serbs.

MASSACRE REMEMBERED

The pontiff is in Bosnia-Herzegovina at a time when the Balkan country prepares for the 20th anniversary of an atrocity on a scale not seen in Europe since the Holocaust.

On July 11, 1995, Bosnian Serb forces entered the town of Srebrenica, killing about 8,000 Muslim men and boys. 

Last Friday, the UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague upheld sentences of five men convicted over the Srebrenica massacre. Vujadin Popović and Ljubiša Beara were sentenced to life prisonment, while Drago Nikolić must serve 35 years', Radivoje Miletić 18 years' and Vinko Pandurević 13 years' behind bars. 

But for survivors the pain remains. "I was very much hurt by the fact that the word "genocide" was not mentioned at all in the reading of the convictions," said Munira Subasic, president of the Mothers of Srebrenica group. 

"The sentence of Miletic was even lowered, while he is responsible for killing children, killing and raping women and killing old people," she added.

BROTHERHOOD, PEACE 

Yet amid the suffering, Pope Francis has called for prayers. He wants this first papal trip to Sarajevo in 18 years to contribute to brotherhood and peace. 

Bosnia's small Catholic population is expected to answer his call to pray for the visit. 
  Despite difficulties, Croat Catholics often gather including in Medjugorje, a famous pilgrimage site at an altitude of 200 meters above sea level. 

Catholic aid workers have said there are some 440,000 Catholics in the Balkan nation, half the prewar figure. 

That's why prayers will reverberate throughout the mountains ahead of Pope Francis intention to personally encourage the country's Catholics not to give up hope.

(from Vatican Radio)

Eucharistic adoration: Benedict XVI

Vatican II did not downplay Eucharistic adoration, pope says

(CNS/Paul Haring)

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

ROME (CNS) Jun-7-2012  -- A misunderstanding of the Second Vatican Council has led some Catholics to think that eucharistic adoration and Corpus Christi processions are pietistic practices that pale in importance to the celebration of Mass, Pope Benedict XVI said.

"A unilateral interpretation of the Second Vatican Council has penalized this dimension" of Catholic faith, which is to recognize Jesus truly present in the Eucharist and worthy of adoration, the pope said June 7 during a Mass marking the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.

The evening Mass outside Rome's Basilica of St. John Lateran preceded a moment of silent adoration and the pope's traditional Corpus Christi procession with the Eucharist through the streets of Rome.

In his homily, the pope told the thousands of people gathered on the basilica lawn that it is important to recognize the centrality of the celebration of Mass, the moment in which the Lord gathers his people, nourishes them and unites them to himself in offering his sacrifice.

But if Christ is seen as present in the Eucharist only during Mass, "this imbalance has repercussions on the spiritual life of the faithful," who need to be aware of "the constant presence of Jesus among us and with us," the pope said.

"The sacrament of the charity of Christ must permeate all one's daily life," he said.

Celebration and adoration are not in competition, the pope said. "Worshipping the Blessed Sacrament constitutes something like the spiritual environment in which the community can celebrate the Eucharist well and in truth."

Pope Benedict said Mass is most meaningful when the faithful recognize that in the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord is present, "awaits us, invites us to his table and then, after the assembly disperses, remains with us with his discrete and silent presence."

Spending time in prolonged silence before the Eucharist "is one of the most authentic experiences of our being church," and it finds its complement at Mass when Catholics "celebrate the Eucharist, listening to the word of God, singing, approaching together the table of the bread of life."

Truly entering into communion with someone, he said, is accompanied by "exchanging glances and intense, eloquent silences full of respect and veneration."

"If this dimension is missing, even sacramental communion can become a superficial gesture on our part," the pope said.

Pope Benedict said another misunderstanding -- one influenced "by a certain secular mentality" of the 1960s and '70s -- was the idea that the Bible teaches that with the coming of Christ, rituals and sacrifices no longer should have meaning; basically, he said, some people believe "the sacred no longer exists."

It is true that Christ inaugurated a new form of worship, one tied less to a place and a ritual and more to his person, but people still need "signs and rites," the pope said. In fact, without its annual Corpus Christi procession, "the spiritual profile of Rome" would change.

Preceded by members of parish eucharistic associations, children who recently made their first Communions, religious, seminarians, priests, bishops and cardinals walking to the Basilica of St. Mary Major, Pope Benedict rode on the back of a truck facing the Blessed Sacrament, which was held in a gem-studded gold monstrance.

Thousands of people carrying candles walked behind the pope. People watching from the sidewalks behind metal barriers tossed flower petals in front of the truck and joined in singing eucharistic hymns and reciting litanies.

Darkness fell as the procession made its way to St. Mary Major, and the evening ended with the pope blessing the crowd with the Blessed Sacrament.

END

Link from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucharistic_adoration

Francis: consecrated persons must guide people to Jesus, and let themselves be guided by Him

Francis: consecrated persons must guide people to Jesus, and let themselves be guided by Him

Vatican City, 3 February 2015 (VIS) – The Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, 2 February, is the Day for Consecrated Life and yesterday afternoon, as is customary on this occasion, the Holy Father presided at Holy Mass in the Vatican Basilica with the members of the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life. The ceremony began with the blessing of the veils and the procession, and continued with the Eucharistic celebration, during which the Pope gave a homily emphasising the characteristics of consecrated life.

"Before our eyes we can picture Mother Mary as she walks, carrying the Baby Jesus in her arms", he began. "She brings him to the Temple; she presents him to the people; she brings him to meet his people. The arms of Mother Mary are like the 'ladder' on which the Son of God comes down to us, the ladder of God's condescension. This is what we heard in the first reading, from the Letter to the Hebrews: Christ became 'like His brothers and sisters in every respect, so that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest'. This is the twofold path taken by Jesus: He descended, He became like us, in order then to ascend with us to the Father, making us like Himself. In our heart we can contemplate this double movement by imagining the Gospel scene of Mary who enters the Temple holding the Child in her arms. The Mother walks, yet it is the Child who goes before her. She carries him, yet He is leading her along the path of the God who comes to us so that we might go to Him. Jesus walked the same path as we do, and shows us the new way, the 'new and living way' which is He Himself. For us, consecrated men and women, this is the one way which, concretely and without alternatives, we must continue to tread with joy and perseverance".

Francis continued, "Fully five times the Gospel speaks to us of Mary and Joseph's obedience to the 'law of the Lord'. Jesus came not to do His own will, but the will of the Father. This way – He tells us – was His 'food'. In the same way, all those who follow Jesus must set out on the path of obedience, imitating as it were the Lord's 'condescension' by humbling themselves and making their own the will of the Father, even to self-emptying and abasement. For a religious, to advance on the path of obedience means to abase oneself in service, that is, to take the same path as Jesus, who 'did not deem equality with God a thing to be grasped'. By emptying himself he made himself a servant in order to serve".

For consecrated persons, this path "takes the form of the rule, marked by the charism of the founder. For all of us, the essential rule remains the Gospel, yet the Holy Spirit, in His infinite creativity, also gives it expression in the various rules of the consecrated life which are born of the sequela Christi, and thus from this journey of abasing oneself by serving. Through this 'law' which is the rule, consecrated persons are able to attain wisdom, not something abstract, but a work and gift of the Holy Spirit. An evident sign of such wisdom is joy. The evangelical happiness of a religious is the fruit of self-abasement in union with Christ".

In the account of Jesus' Presentation in the Temple, wisdom is represented by two elderly persons, Simeon and Anna: "persons docile to the Holy Spirit, led by Him, inspired by Him", emphasised the Holy Father. "The Lord granted them wisdom as the fruit of a long journey along the path of obedience to His law, an obedience which likewise humbles and abases, but which also lifts up and protects hope, making them creative, for they are filled with the Holy Spirit. … Mary, the young mother, and Simeon, the kindly old man, hold the Child in their arms, yet it is the Child himself who guides them both".

The Pontiff noted that, on this occasion, it is the elderly, rather than the young, who are creative: "the young, like Mary and Joseph, follow the law of the Lord, the path of obedience. The elderly, like Simeon and Anna, see in the Child the fulfilment of the Law and the promises of God. And they are able to celebrate: they are creative in joy and wisdom. And the Lord turns obedience into wisdom by the working of His Holy Spirit". However, "at times God can grant the gift of wisdom to a young person, but always as the fruit of obedience and docility to the Spirit. This obedience and docility is not something theoretical; it too is subject to the economy of the incarnation of the Word: docility and obedience to a founder, docility and obedience to a specific rule, docility and obedience to one's superior, docility and obedience to the Church. It is always docility and obedience in the concrete".

In persevering along along the path of obedience, "personal and communal wisdom matures, and thus it also becomes possible to adapt rules to the times; indeed, true 'renovation' is the fruit of wisdom forged in docility and obedience. The strengthening and renewal of consecrated life are the result of great love for the rule, and also the ability to look to and heed the elders of one's congregation. In this way, the 'deposit', the charism of each religious family, is preserved by obedience and by wisdom, working together. By means of this journey, we are preserved from living our consecration "lightly", in an disembodied manner, as if it were some sort of gnosis which would ultimately reduce religious life to caricature, a caricature in which there is following without renunciation, prayer without encounter, fraternal life without communion, obedience without trust, and charity without transcendence.

"Today we too, like Mary and Simeon, want to take Jesus into our arms, to bring Him to his people", the Pope concluded. "Surely we will be able to do so if we enter into the mystery in which Jesus Himself is our guide. Let us bring others to Jesus, but let us also allow ourselves to be led by Him. This is what we should be: guides who themselves are guided".

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