The Roman Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch
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Monday, February 26, 2024
Sunday, February 25, 2024
Saturday, February 24, 2024
Thursday, February 22, 2024
St Charbel Makhlouf
Holiness is not luck; holiness is a choice. Do not expect it to be offered to you from outside; it is necessary to live it and to realize it inside. The kingdom of heaven is within you. Holiness is a grace and a decision: the grace is given to you by God, and it is up to you to make your decision. You are potentially saints; strive to be saints in reality.
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
Oscar Romero quotes
"You and I are responsible for seeing that Christ's message reaches everyone. "
Remember, I am trying to speak as a member of a people, of a diocese.
Although it is true that I am the bishop of the diocese, still I am not the only one with a prophetic mission.
It is my whole people, all of my priests, all my religious, the Catholic schools, and all who form the Catholic community.
In the name of all of you, beloved lay people who listen to me and reflect with me, I tell what our prophetic mission is, what we must preach with our witnessing and with our words before the Salvadoran people, who so much need this Christian light.
You and I are responsible for seeing that Christ's message reaches everyone. 112
JULY 15, 1979
I am glad, brothers and sisters, that our church is persecuted
precisely for its preferential option for the poor and for trying to become incarnate in the interest of the poor and for saying to all the people,
to rulers,
to the rich and powerful: unless you become poor, unless you have a concern for the poverty of our people as though they were your own family,
you will not be able to save society.
JULY 15, 1979
Christ arisen has put in history's womb the beginning of a new world
To come to Mass on Sunday
is to immerse oneself in that beginning, which again becomes present and is celebrated on the altar at Mass.
And we who go forth from Mass know we have proclaimed the death that saved the world and proclaimed the resurrection of Christ, who lives as hope,
so that all the universe of heaven and earth
may join together,
all things in heaven and on earth may come together in Christ.
JULY 15, 1979
Mary, Star of Evangelization 10
July 16 is an important date on the calendar of popular devo-tion. It is the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. I recall something very accurate that a missionary said in expressing his admiration for the deep hold that this devotion has among us.
He called Our Lady of Mount Carmel "our people's best mis-sionary."
Indeed, I believe there is not a village in El Salvador where the appeal of the Blessed Virgin under the title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is not felt on this feast day. This is so whether in the general rejoicing of a patronal festival or in a confraternity's simple observance, whether attending Mass or saying a prayer at the altar of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, whether in the village church or in some hamlet or in a home where a family preserves as a precious heirloom an image venerated by their grandparents.
Today, when pastoral experts in their deliberations and briefings are placing great importance on folk religion or popular devotion, the devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a phenomenon that deserves our attention. We should nurture it as
one of those providential resources that the church enjoys for performing its essential task of evangelizing.
In the Magna Carta of evangelization, the exhortation "Evan-gelization in the Modern World," the late Paul VI used the pastoral experience of the world's bishops to put forth effective norms for ascertaining the exceptional values of these popular devotions. There is no doubt that these enthusiastic religious displays include many deviations, such as fanaticism, supersti-tion, selfish interest, and even doctrinal error, along with the important positive elements of evangelization. But, when properly used, these expressions of our peoples soul are genuine worship of our God and, for many, perhaps the only opportunities for a meeting with the Lord
A pilgrimage to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, or the action of preparing to receive the classic scapular, or of recalling and renewing this alliance with Mary, can lead us to the goal of evan-gelization, which is sincere conversion and the expression, through the sacraments, of our adherence to the gospel and its hard demands. There should thus be no doubt that July 16 is a privileged day for our pastoral work.
The feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is thus a precious heritage of today's church, which is the timeless church. It must do with its inherited treasures what is done with any inheritance - not squander it but manage it well.
It would be unforgivable to destroy or to belittle these lovely and pious expressions of our people merely because they do not fit more sophisticated theological criteria. The wise thing to do is to take these means that our early evangelizers left us and enhance them with the resources of pastoral renewal.
To those whom the Lord has put in charge of church commu-nities, pastoral charity should suggest the norms to follow in regard to popular piety, which is so fruitful and yet at the same time so vulnerable. Above all, one must be sensitive to it, quick
to appreciate its inner nature and undeniable values, and ready to help it overcome its risks of deviation. When it is properly guided, this popular piety can increasingly become a genuine encounter with God in Jesus Christ for the masses of our people.''
If this is the case for popular piety in general, then the teaching of Paul VI will be even more valid when those masses of people surround the Virgin Mary like loving children. The same document becomingly calls her the Star of Evangelization.
JULY 13, 1979
Monday, February 19, 2024
Friday, February 16, 2024
Wednesday, February 14, 2024
Kolbe 14 Feb
Soon after their arrival from mission in Japan, Fr Kolbe was arrested by Nazi forces – simply for being a religious leader – and held for several months, while many of his community members were exiled.
Upon his release, Kolbe continued to publish the Knights of the Immaculata, but now, rather than demonstrating religious apathy, the Franciscan challenged the new Nazi regime. The German governor responded by shutting down the press, suppressing the congregation, dispersing the brothers, and imprisoning Kolbe. On May 28th, 1941, he was transferred to Auschwitz and branded as prisoner 16670
Benedict XVI 14 Feb ‘God and the World’ with Peter Seewald
Jesus is the Son of God, who comes from God and is at the same time true man. In him we meet not merely human genius and human heroism, but God, who becomes visible through him. One might say that in the body of Jesus, torn open on the Cross, we can see what God is like, that is, one who opens himself to us to this extent.
—-
In the end, we are making our feelings the measure for knowing who God is and how we should live. But feelings are changeable, and quite soon we come to realize for ourselves that we are building on treacherous foundations.
However obvious as a way forward that may seem at first
—there, again, I come across mere human ideas, which in the end remain dubious. The essence of faith, however, is that I do not meet with something that has been thought up, but that here something meets me that is greater than anything we can think of for ourselves.
—-
"God loved you first!" it says, in the teaching of Christ. And he loves you without respect for your origin or standing. What does that mean?
One should take this sentence as literally as can be, and I try to do that. For it is truly the great power in our lives and the consolation that we need. And it's not seldom that we need it.
He loved me first, before I myself could love at all. It was only because he knew me and loved me that I was made.
So I was not thrown into the world by some operation of chance, as Heidegger says, and now have to do my best to swim around in this ocean of life, but I am preceded by a perception of me, an idea and a love of me. They are present in the ground of my being.
What is important for all people, what makes their life significant, is the knowledge they are loved. The person in a difficult situation will hold on if he knows, Someone is waiting for me, someone wants me and needs me. God is there first and loves me. And that is the trustworthy ground on which my life is standing and on which I myself can construct it.
Buechner: The Sacred Journey
Jesus Christ refused the crown that Satan offered him in the wilder-ness, Buttrick said, but he is king nonetheless because again and again he is crowned in the heart of the people who believe in him. And that inward coronation takes place, Buttrick said, "among confession, and tears, and great laughter."
Tuesday, February 13, 2024
Elizabeth of the Trinity
"OH, JESUS, GUARD MY HEART; IT IS ALL YOURS; I HAVE ALREADY GIVEN IT TOTALLY TO YOU; IT
NO LONGER BELONGS TO ME..." Elizabeth of the Trinity
St Chromatius
St. Paul says [cf. Romans 13:11-14] - remaining awake and vigilant.
St. Chromatius of Aquileia wrote: "May the Lord remove such a danger from us so that we are never lulled into the sleep of infidelity; but may he grant his grace and his mercy so that we can always be vigilant in fidelity to him" [Sermon 32, 4]. JOHN PAUL II / BENEDICT XVI
IMITATION OF CHRIST
MY CHILD, in this life you are never safe, and as long as you live the weapons of the spirit will ever be necessary to you. You dwell among enemies. You are subject to attack from the right and the left. If, there-fore, you do not guard yourself from every quarter with the shield of patience, you will not remain long unscathed
Moreover, if you do not steadily set your heart on Me, with a firm will to suffer everything for My sake, you will not be able to bear the heat of this battle or to win the crown of the blessed. You ought, there-fore, to pass through all these things manfully and to oppose a strong hand to whatever stands in your way. For to him who triumphs heavenly bread is given, while for him who is too lazy to fight there remains much misery.
IMITATION OF CHRIST
Monday, February 12, 2024
Saturday, February 3, 2024
Friday, February 2, 2024
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