Dear Friends!
This day is a great opportunity for everyone in the Union to pray and offer mass for our Union. God guided us throughout this year:
1. (In February) God guided us in giving Fr. Tijo as our Union Superior for the second time.
2. (In May) God guided us to witness four of our brothers (Shyam, Darwin, Richard and Irudhaya Raj) to commit themselves totally to MSC.
3. In May also) God guide us in giving the Union one more priest: Fr. Joji Babu Kakumanu.
4. (In June) God guided us to pray for our brothers (Kumar, Rueben, Subash, Ambedkar, Rosario and Franklin) as they temporarily professed before the poeple of God.
5. (In October) God guided us throughout our Second Assembly in the presence of Rev.Fr. Arci in all our plans and dreams of the present and future MSC India.
6. (In November) God guided us in elevating three of our conferers (Irudhaya Raj, Peter Francis and Joseph Chinnabathini) to the order of Deacon.
May the same God continue to be generous with us all and all our endeavours.
Please remember to pray also for the following special intensions:
1. Mysore House Construction.
2. OLSH Parish Construction.
3. Andhra Mission.
I am giving you the website address which will take you to the Message of our Holy Father regarding World Peace.
http://www.adoremus.org/BXVI_HumanFamily.html
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Monday, December 31, 2007
World Day of Peace: MSC Indian Union
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Feast of the Holy Family
Reflections:
I remember once when Fr. Adrian Meaney was in Bangalore, he pointed out in one of his sermons that people of Israel came out of Egypt, a land of slavery and suffering. Today in the Gospel we witness Jesus and his earthly parents were asked to go to the same Egypt to be safe (to be away from slavery and suffering). My thoughts are not your thoughts...
- A family becomes holy when God is the central figure, devoid of our human nature. Mary and Joseph though humans, share the divinity of Godhead in the Incarnate Word - Jesus. (Aham Brahmasmi of Hinduism)
- Church is on a journey (II nd Vatican). Family is a natural church journeying with the Living Word though faced with trials, confusions and dissappointments. Spe Salve...
Joseph and Mary meditated on the future of Jesus (How to bring up Jesus) during their journey that:
as a child - He should be busy with the business of his Father
as a youngster - He should be aware and act on the prime principle, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.'
as an adult - He should set an example to the people, 'Learn from me: I am gentle and humble in heart.'
as a Leader - He becomes 'The Good Shepherd.'
All states in life, including student, teenager, and parent, offer abundant opportunities to grow in faith, hope, and love. That the nitty gritty of family life, if approached right, can be a road to profound personal transformation and communion with God.
- Both the parents and children should be aware of their responsibility thus, family in God’s plan, is a community where everyone has growing to do. Maybe that’s why Col 3 talks so much about forgiveness and forebearance!
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Saturday, December 29, 2007
Another MSC on the run? Fr Tardif Emiliano (Jun 6 1928 - June 9, 1999).
The MSCs are on yet another run, the beatification of As part of the eulogy, the following are the sentiments of great people:
Monsignor Francisco Jose Arnaiz:
His untimely death shocked the country and much of the Catholic world. We have been left in the odour of sanctity and smell crowd.
Bishop Flores:
We believe the father Emiliano as one of the great men of the Church in recent decades.
Father Ramiro Cantalamessa:
I have had several times said to exercise my ministry together with the father Emiliano Tardif, who I always admired, above all, its simplicity of heart, the father Emiliano was not considered a saint nor a taumaturgo, but simply one that had received a charisma and exercised 'utility for all.
Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez:
Whenever I saw him as a priest and missionary really aware of his own vocation. Emiliano was a virtuous man, straightforward, very friendly, deeply humble. I venture to assure that has been one of the most beloved priests. Beloved of God and men, his memory is a blessing.
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Go to the whole world! (Mt 28) Except Orissa!
Armed members of ‘Kui Samaj Samnyaya Samiti’ block the highway"One of the salient features of globalization is that it does not provide chances to the poor to become economically stable, developing nations to become stable. Criminalisation, aggression, violence, intolerance, social discrimination and injustice make inroad into the community life of the poor. Majority of those get affected are essentially dalits, tribals, women and other backward classes. Everything of human existence gets commodified - the body, mind, behaviours, dreams, desires, relationships et all. The media is taking the Indian masses to a world of trade and commerce creating false images. The culture of sharing resources with others is replaced by the culture of denial. The commercialization of value system conditions social relationships. Individual self is preferred to the "self-for-the-others".
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Doctrinal Note on some Aspects of Evangelization
Cardinal Levada
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Friday, December 28, 2007
Feast of the Holy Innocents
- They are both holy and innocent.
- One man's greed can cause the whole society to suffer and face a heavy loss.
- Quiet children's loud witnessing.
- A bad leader can never build a just society.
- Fr. Jules Chevalier - "I see a new world emerging..."
O Holy Innocents! Ora pro nobis
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Nennolina - A Saint at the age of 6?
She is Antonietta Meo. She was born in Rome in 1930. On Monday Pope Benedict XVI signed papers confirming her “heroic virtues.” She has a nickname 'Nennolina'. She was diagnosed with bone cancer at the age of five, thus the doctors amputated one of her legs. In her difficulties she wrote many prayers. Those prayers are according to the vatican sources, 'a truly extraordinary life of mystical union' with God. If canonised, she would be the youngest saint who did not die as a martyr.
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Feast of St. John the Evangelist
If there is one characteristic topic that emerges from John's writings, it is love… John, of course, is not the only author of Christian origin to speak of love. Since this is an essential constituent of Christianity, all the New Testament writers speak of it, although with different emphases. If we are now pausing to reflect on this subject in John, it is because he has outlined its principal features insistently and incisively. We therefore trust his words.
St. John! Ora Pro Nobis
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New Website from the Vatican: Biblia Clerus
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Benazir Bhutto: A Sad End
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Thursday, December 27, 2007
European MSCs Meet, Release a Document on Our Lady
1. At the initiative of the three Latin Provinces of Europe (Spain, France/Switzerland and Italy) 13 Missionaries of the Sacred Heart1 met for three days in Valladolid to reflect together on Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. One Spanish MSC sister was also with the group2.
2. An ambiance of joy and mutual trust facilitated fraternal and fruitful work among the members. Each was able to share, in simplicity and in an atmosphere of attentive listening, on the place and role of Mary in his or her life.
3. At the end of our meeting this communication is not presented as a final word. Rather it is offered as a fraternal sharing with all the members of the Chevalier Family which might open up a reflection and dialogue on Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. It is the beginning of a journey that we would wish to make together, to better honour her (Mary) who was at the origin of the works of Fr Chevalier.
4. To speak of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart today obliges of us a double fidelity: a fidelity to the wish of Fr Chevalier in calling Mary “Our Lady of the Sacred Heart”, and a fidelity to that which the Church proposes regarding Mary throughout the text of Lumen Gentium VIII and in the documents Marialis Cultus and Redemptoris Mater. We also considered the ecumenical document of the Dombes Group on Mary. We cannot ignore these documents which require us to examine our way of speaking of Mary.
5. Fidelity to Fr Jules Chevalier: for him Our Lady of the Sacred Heart is “the natural compliment to devotion to the Sacred Heart”. Mary is the one who will help us live a spirituality of the Heart. Her example, such as it is presented in the New Testament, invites us, according to the intuition of Fr Chevalier, to “take on the sentiments of the Heart of Christ” and make them our own, as she did. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart leads us to the source of salvation.
6. Fidelity to the Church: the text of Lumen Gentium is clear. It speaks of entering into the mystery of Christ and the Church through the assistance of Mary. Is she not the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of humanity who receives us as sons and daughters and as brothers and sisters of Jesus? What Paul VI, at the close of the Council, translated by the new term as “Mother of the Church”. We understand the encyclical Redemptoris Mater as a good “explanation” of the spirituality of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
7. Listening to our spiritual tradition in the heart of the Chevalier Family, and thanks to the reception of the teaching of the Church, we are led to make more precise the terms “devotion” and “spirituality” as applied to Mary. We believe that the concept of “devotion” to the Sacred Heart as employed by Fr Chevalier is better understood today by the use of the term “Spirituality of the Heart”.
8. Devotions are pious practices which can be transitional and sometimes ambiguous. They can stifle the Spirit. In its noble sense, a devotion expresses a personal link or connection to a saint, a place etc.. To express a spirituality external rites and practices (devotions) are necessary. The words “spirituality” and “devotion(s)” are therefore true companions.
9. In order to live we need to breathe. Spirituality is a way of living according to a particular spirit, which, for the Christian, is that of the Gospel. Spirituality of the Heart is a way inspired by this Spirit. For us, members of the Chevalier Family, this intuition is based on Love. A love which goes to the limits of love! The place of revelation of this love is the open heart of Christ. Our Lady, standing at the foot of the cross, invites us to contemplate this love as she does.
10. The Spirit of Christ comes to enliven all forms of devotion. Devotion(s) and Spirituality lead us to a relationship of faith. With Our Lady of the Sacred Heart we enter into a Covenant relationship with the Father, into a relationship of salvation with the Son, and into a relationship with the Spirit who pushes us to act according to the example of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart who allowed herself to be led by the Spirit. This Marian spirituality allows a dynamic of engagement (of begetting or bringing forth life) to germinate in us so that the new world which flows from the Heart of Christ may come.
11. Thus the Spirituality of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart is lived according to three accents: (1) contemplating with Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Christ in his relationship with the Father [Covenant]; (2) welcoming, with Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, the life which flows from the open heart of Christ [Easter] so that we ourselves might also live with his life; (3) with Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, in the Holy Spirit, we engage ourselves in the building of a new world [Pentecost] as members of the Church. Following Our Lady of the Sacred Heart we are both “participants” and “witnesses” of the love of God as we are reminded in the opening prayer of the Mass of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
12. On this spiritual journey Mary is understood as Mother, as Disciple, as Missionary. According to Redemptoris Mater, we are invited to take as our model “Mary’s pilgrimage of faith” (RM 17). This is how we understand the spirituality of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart which introduces us to a relational life. Fr Chevalier wanted this relationship of Mother and Son to be represented in the iconography of Our Lady. This maternal and filial link extends to us since we are drawn into this relationship. At the heart of this relationship: Our Lady; a presence which promotes and which engenders life.
13. Difficulties of language – even for languages with Latin roots (French, Spanish, Italian) – have prevented us from going as deeply as we would have liked. The list which follows is an invitation to go further in reflection on the many themes linked to the spirituality of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (the list is not exhaustive):
14. Hope. We know well the invocation: “Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, hope of the hopeless”. This expression is harder to use since LG VIII. Only Christ is the hope of humanity (the teaching of St Paul is clear on this subject). Mary is a “sign of certain hope” (LG 68). It seems important to us to express this concept in a dynamic and positive vision. From this point of view we readily take up the conclusion of the paper of Sr Merle Salazar3 at the Chevalier Congress (Issoudun, October 2007): “Our Lady of the Sacred Heart brings hope to those who live in situations which are apparently hopeless”. Further, the first reading of the Mass of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart invites us to take account of the maternal images of the prophet Isaiah as he preaches hope.
15. The treasurer of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The ineffable power of Mary over the heart of Jesus. Even if these terms appear ambiguous to us today we cannot ignore them since they form part of the intuition and expression of Fr Chevalier as he speaks of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. We need to look for a new language to speak of the mediation of Mary, paying attention to Conciliar teaching. John Paul II, in Redemptoris Mater, speaks of “mediation in Christ” (RM 38). We also need to deepen, by means of human, theological and biblical sciences, the notion of “relation” within the trilogy: Christ – Mary – Us.
16. The title, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, has an amazing capacity for inculturation and comprehension across all cultures. The fact that Mary is always seen as linked to Christ and never alone, takes us back to the heart of the mystery of the incarnation. It is undoubtedly the reason why the term “Our Lady of the Sacred Heart” is adopted by so may peoples with astonishing ease. The three representations of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (the one in the Chapel of Issoudun, the one from Rome and the Calvary in the Issoudun Basilica) retain all their merit.
17. At the heart of the Chevalier Family our women religious and the female laity, through their feminine sensitivity, can help us to understand better the title of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
18. We have a pastoral responsibility which demands of us a pedagogical effort to renew our way of speaking when we present Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. Respect for popular piety calls for us to educate the sensitivity and the mentality of people regarding a true Marian piety, as Marialis Cultus reminds us.
19. This pastoral requirement invites us to reflect on our different means of communication and on the way we speak of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. We have mentioned the Annales, our sanctuaries, hymns, novenas, statues, iconography. For example, certain terms used in the novena of Fr. Jouet present real difficulties for a post-Conciliar understanding of the place and role of Mary in the mystery of Christ and the Church. That calls, on our part, for a creative fidelity which, without disowning the intuition of Fr. Chevalier, allows us to translate, in today’s context, what is essential in a spirituality of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
20. Regarding the fidelity of Fr. Chevalier to the teaching of the Church, we can cay without doubt, that he took very seriously the Magisterial texts which we have re-read during our meeting. It is up to us also to follow this approach so that our way of speaking of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart might be truly renewed. As in any other area, we cannot be content with merely repeating formulas which originate in a cultural context different from our own. We are confident that this work can be undertaken in the heart of the Chevalier Family and that each member will draw from it the maximum benefit. We will be honouring, of course, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, and remaining faithful to the intuition of Fr Chevalier.
21. According to the traditional expression which asks that the “rule of prayer” be also the “rule of faith” we must be attentive that our expressions in prayer help us in a better understanding of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. Following the Council, the efforts of our elders in the updating of the Mass of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and of the Memorare found expression on the new Mass of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and in the prayer, “Remember, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart…”
22. We fraternally offer this document to all members of the Chevalier Family as an invitation to deepen the place and role of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in our lives today. All the effort that we have already made concerning devotion to and Spirituality of the Heart similarly needs to be undertaken with regard to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
23. We are convinced that Our Lady of the Sacred Heart will assist us on this journey of understanding our faith. She said at Cana to “do all that he tells you” and at the cross we receive her as our mother who by her posture – standing – invites us to live like her in the love of her Son so that his Kingdom may come.
24. At the end of these three days of work on Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, we would like the General Administration to prepare, if possible for the next General Chapter, some complementary numbers in our Constitutions, deepening the spirituality of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
Valladolid, 21st November 2007On the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
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Feast of St.Stephen
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Christian martyrdom – still current today – is “is exclusively an act of love towards God and all mankind including persecutors”: this was how Benedict XVI introduced today’s Angelus prayer on the feast of St Stephen, the first martyr of the Church. Speaking to the thousands of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s square, the pontiff recalled that “the deep bond which unites Christ to the first martyr Stephen, is divine Charity: the same love which pushed the Son of God to strip himself and be obedient onto death on the cross (cfr Fil 2,6-8), also pushed the Apostles and martyrs to give their lives for the Gospel”.
A sign of this “love” are prayers offered up for “enemies” and “persecutors”, by the many “sons and daughters of the church down through the centuries”. This sets Christian martyrs apart from those who are victims of self-held ideals.
Benedict XVI then underlined how martyrdom has always accompanied the profession of the faith and still today remains deeply actual: “still today – he said – we receive news from across the world of missionaries, priests, bishops, religious brothers and sisters, and lay faithful who are persecuted, tortured, imprisoned and denied their freedom or stopped from professing their faith because they are disciples of Christ or apostles of the Gospel: often some suffer and even die because of their communion with the universal Church and their loyalty to the Pope”.
The pope did not mention specific places or situations, but held up for examination, the “map of martyrdom” can be traced from nations in Latin America to Africa and Asia, in particular Islamic nations (“persecuted, tortured, imprisoned …”) and China (“some suffer and even die because of their communion with the universal Church and their loyalty to the Pope”). India can be added to the list, from where news reaches us today of Christians killed and churches burned.
Quoting from his recent encyclica Spe salvi (n. 37), he recalled how the experience of the Vietnamese martyr Paolo Le-Bao-Thin (who died in 1857), in which “sufferance was transformed into joy through the power of hope with faith provides”.
“The Christian martyr”, underlined Benedict XVI, “like Christ and through his intimate union with Him, accepts the cross, and through it transforms death into an act of love. That which on the outside is brutal violence, on the inside becomes an act of love and total giving. Thus violence is transformed into love and death into life’ (Homily at Marienfeld - Cologne, 20 August 2005). The Christian martyr realises the victory of love over hate and death”.
“Let us pray – concluded the pope – for all those who suffer because of their loyalty to Christ and his Church. Blessed Mary, Queen of Martyrs, help us to be credible witnesses of the Gospel, answering our enemies with the disarming power of truth and charity”.
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Spe Salve
The full text of the encyclical Spe Salvi (Saved by Hope) has been released on the Vatican website:
ENCYCLICAL LETTER
SPE SALVI
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
BENEDICT XVI
TO THE BISHOPS
PRIESTS AND DEACONS
MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS
AND ALL THE LAY FAITHFUL
ON CHRISTIAN HOPE
In case the Vatican website is slow, I've created a word document of the text and uploaded it here. CNA has published the text here. Zenit here (and PDF here). Reuters has published the excerpts it likes here.
Reuters coverage: "New Papal encylical blasts atheism, promises hope". CNA has coverage here.
John Allen has published his commentary here. More commentaries as I find them.
Udate: From today's Vatican bulletino:
FIRM HOPE IS NECESSARY FOR FACING DIFFICULTIES
SPE SALVI, THE POPE'S ENCYCLICAL ON CHRISTIAN HOPE
Update 2: CNS: "People need God to have hope, pope says in new encyclical" & Sandro Magister here.
I'll be printing out the encyclical today and reading the text over the weekend.
What a wonderful way to prepare for Advent!
[photo: REUTERS/Osservatore Romano (VATICAN)]
Labels: breaking news, encyclicals, Pope Benedict XVI
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Useful and informative websites regarding the Catholic Church
http://www.vatican.va/phome_en.htm
http://www.americancatholic.org/
http://www.catholic.com/
http://www.catholic-forum.com/
http://www.catholicexchange.com/en/home
http://www.catholic.org/
http://www.spiritdaily.com/
http://www.cwnews.com/
http://www.christusrex.org/
http://www.ewtn.com/
http://www.newadvent.net/
http://www.zenit.org/index.php?l=english
http://www.usccb.org/
http://www.catholic.net/
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Wednesday, December 26, 2007
We, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart give a special place to Mother Mary. In the words of our Founder, Fr. Jules Chevalier, "She has done everthing for us", we imitate her faith and complete surrender.
Please note that Fr. Julius Kumar is seated in the photo with the Generalate Community. This photo is taken from our mother website, http://www.misacor.org/en/. We wish him well in his studies as well as the works he is putting in the general administration.
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New Blog for the UNION OF INDIA
This blog is going to be used for sharing information regarding MSC Union of India. It would also serve as a platform to know facts on the Universal church. I know it is only a start to see a big picture about the Union digitally, but i am very sure that it will help the Union and the International community regarding the happenings within the Union. I request your prayers. Fr. Antony Lazar, msc
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