C.O.E. Reflection on TRINITY SUNDAY

In our Christian faith, what mystery could be more profound than that of
the Holy Trinity? Many brilliant minds in the Church, and even outside it,
tried to grapple with the concept of one God having three distinct persona
in His being - Father, Son and Spirit. One of the best Catholic thinkers,
St. Augustine, spent an inordinate amount of time (some say years)
pondering the mystery of a Triune God, only to give up when God gave him an
answer - in a dream. In what has now become a very famous story, it relates
the saint walking on the beach and encountering a little boy pouring water
into a small hole in the sand. Amused,
St. Augustine asked the boy what he was doing - to which the boy replied
that he wants to empty the entire ocean into the small hole. The saint
exclaimed that this was an impossible task, to which the boy remarked that
his task was much easier than understanding the Holy Trinity. Who can
really fathom the mind of God, much less comprehend His divinity? The
wisdom of He who created us so perfectly (Proverbs 8: 22-31) is above our
ways.

When reflecting on the Trinity, instead of trying to analyze it with our
intellect (which is so limitted anyway!), let us appreciate a God who is
forever in love with us, and wants to pour Himself out to us. In the Old
Testament, He is the authoritative but benevolent Father who has chosen the
Israelites to be the first recipients of His benefits here on earth. When
man continued to turn away from Him and reject His offer of Sonship, He
sent His only begotten Son to redeem mankind.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever
believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Jesus,
during His days on earth, personified the Father’s love - a love that He,
as the obedient Son, carried to perfection by the supreme sacrifice of the
cross. The love of the Triune God for us, did not stop with Jesus’ glorious
resurrection. Before He ascended to the Father, Jesus assigned to His
Church (His mystical body on earth) the Paraclete. St. John in his Gospel
(16: 13) relates Jesus promising, “the Spirit of truth, when He comes, will
guide you to all truth”, though the world will not recognize except for
God’s faithful ones.

There is indeed so much of His love that God has shown and poured upon His
people that still, somehow is not appreciated. For the world that we live
in is rife with materialism, worldly attachments and bondage which distract
us so much. Even the apostles, Jesus’ first and closest friends, were not
spared of deception. They had to struggle with their faith, time and again.
In this Sunday’s gospel, while standing face-to-face with the risen Lord,
“they worshipped Him, although some doubted” (Matthew 28:17).

But so great and constant is God’s love for us that, always He will be the
one to accommodate our lack of faith - He will be the one who will make the
adjustment. He will never abandon us - rather it will be us who will doom
ourselves if we reject that Love.  As St. Paul so eloquently put it in
Romans 5: 5,
“The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit
who has been given to us”. Let us thus exult in unison with our
responsorial
Psalm 8; “O Lord, how glorious is Your name over all the earth! You have
exalted Your majesty above the heavens….. .what is man that you should be
mindful of him……You have made him little less than the angels, but
crowned him with glory and honor”.


Council of Elders
St. James Parish Renewal Movement

Sitio Espeleta: SJRM Adopted Community

Saint James Renewal Movement has adopted Sitio Espeleta Pantalan, in Poblacion Muntinlupa City as the beneficiary of its outreach activities. It is a poor community adjacent to Laguna de Bay and under normal condition, it is inundated with water four to five months in a year. Generally, homes are made of light materials and most do not have toilets. Many residents are unemployed while others work as construction workers, domestic helps and garbage sorters.

The residents do not go to church on Sundays as it will entail transportation cost which will be an additional burden to their budget. We learned that other religious groups are trying to establish their presence in the area. The Parish Priest Fr. Rusti Cruz, who is also our Vicariate’s Head of Human Promotions realized the need for the support of other groups to take care of his parishioners  numbering to 130,000. SJRM’s Mission Ministry presented its Community Development Program and it was warmly  welcomed by the Parish Priest and the Pastoral Council.

What is Community Development Program? It is the adoption of a depressed community within the Diocese of Paranaque and Muntinlupa as the focus of SJRM’s different outreach progrrams. Our main objective is to bring the love of Christ to our brothers who are in need, by uplifting their spiritual, physical and economic conditions and restoring their human dignity through Spirit-led programs and activities. Some of these activities are: 1. Catechism 2. Feeding 3. Academic Tutoring 4. Talks on Life Issues  5. Growth Formation Seminars 6. Skills Development 7. Livelihood Programs.

Our long-term vision is to transform the community based on gospel values and help them improve their economic situations. Once transformed, SJRM will turn it over to the community leaders that have evolved out of the renewal activities that have been conducted. SJRM then will move to other depressed community within the vicariate in need of its programs.

The immediate concern before the launching  of the Community Development Program was the need for a venue that would be safe and could accommodate the different planned activities. This problem was solved through the generosity of a family which donated a lot and a corporation which shouldered  the construction of a Multi-Purpose Hall.

The Program will be launched at the turn over rites on March 25, 10 am, at Espeleta Multi Purpose Hall. SJRM members and Church parishioners are welcome to join us in this undertaking. You may contact Rene Quiroz 0917-8307592, Nito Cruz 0918-9251130, Ambho & Virghie Lee 0915-5494206.

Life’s Lessons

I was at the corner grocery store buying some early potatoes. I noticed a small boy, delicate of bone and feature, ragged but clean, hungrily apprising a basket of freshly picked green peas.

I paid for my potatoes but was also drawn to the display of fresh green peas. I am a pushover for creamed peas and new potatoes.

Pondering the peas, I couldn’t help overhearing the conversation between Mr. Miller (the store owner) and the ragged boy next to me.

‘Hello Barry, how are you today?’

‘H’lo, Mr. Miller. Fine, thank ya. Jus’ admirin’ them peas. They sure look good.’

‘They are good, Barry. How’s your Ma?’

‘Fine.. Gittin’ stronger alla’ time.’

‘Good. Anything I can help you with?’

‘No, Sir. Jus’ admirin’ th em peas.’

‘Would you like to take some home?’  asked Mr. Miller.

‘No, Sir. Got nuthin’ to pay for ‘em with.’

‘Well, what have you to trade me for some of those peas?’

‘All I got’s my prize marble here.’  



‘Is that right? Let me see it’ said Miller.



‘Here ’tis.. She’s a dandy.’

‘I can see that. Hmm mmm, only thing is this one is blue and I sort of go for red. Do you have a red one like this at home?’ the store owner asked.

‘Not zackley but almost.’

‘Tell you what. Take this sack of peas home with you and next trip this way let me look at that red marble’. Mr. Miller told the boy.

‘Sure will. Thanks Mr.. Miller.’

Mrs. Miller, who had been standing nearby, came over to help me.

With a smile she said, ‘There are two other boys like him in our community, all three are in very poor circumstances. Jim just loves to bargain with them for peas, apples, tomatoes, or whatever.


When they come back with their red marbles, and they always do, he decides he doesn’t like red after all and he sends them home with a bag of produce for a green marble or an orange one, when they come on their next trip to the store.’


I left the store smiling to myself, impressed with this man. A short time later I moved to Colorado , but I never forgot the story of this man, the boys, and their bartering for marbles.

Several years went by, each more rapid than the previous one. Just recently I had occasion to visit some old friends in that Idaho community and while I was there learned that Mr. Miller had died. They were having his visitation that evening and knowing my friends wanted to go, I agreed to accompany them. Upon arrival at the mortuary we fell into line to meet the relatives of the deceased and to offer whatever words of comfort we could.

Ahead of us in line were three young men. One was in an army uniform and the other two wore nice haircuts, dark suits and white shirts…all very professional looking. They approached Mrs. Miller, standing composed and smiling by her husband’s casket.

Each of the young men hugged her, kissed her on the cheek, spoke briefly with her and   moved on to the casket. Her misty light blue eyes followed them as, one by one, each young man stopped briefly and placed his own warm hand over the cold pale hand in the casket. Each left the mortuary awkwardly, wiping his eyes.

Our turn came to meet Mrs. Miller. I told her who I was and reminded her of the story from those many years ago and what she had told me about her husband’s bartering for marbles. With her eyes glistening, she took my hand
and led me to the casket.

‘Those three young men who just left were the boys I told you about.

They just told me how they appreciated the things Jim ‘traded’ them. Now, at last, when Jim could not change his mind about color or size….they came to pay their debt.’

‘We’ve never had a great deal of the wealth of this world,’ she confided, ‘but right now, Jim would consider himself the richest man in Idaho ..’

With loving gentleness she lifted the lifeless fingers of her deceased husband. Resting underneath were three exquisitely shined red marbles.

The Moral :
We will not be remembered by our words, but by our kind deeds. Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath.

Today I wish you a day of ordinary miracles
~ A fresh pot of coffee you didn’t make yourself….
An unexpected phone call from an old friend ….
Green stoplights on your way to work…
The fastest line at the grocery store…
A good sing-along song on the radio…
Your keys found right where you left them.

IT’S NOT WHAT YOU GATHER, BUT WHAT YOU SCATTER THAT  TELLS WHAT KIND OF LIFE YOU HAVE LIVED

SJRM Mission

Thank You Heavenly Father, for a family of believers who carry our burdens when we are weak.  Thank You for those who truly “weep with those who weep by sharing themselves.” 

 On behalf of the beneficiaries of SJRM October 4, 2009 Medical Mission…

MARAMING SALAMAT PO.

To Our Faith Family

When SJRM delivered goods last night (Sept. 27) at the rescue center , a deplorable sight beheld us..about 2,000 people were there sleeping on the cement floor ,babies and old folks alike. Place was unsanitary ,unkempt awaiting for an epidemic to break out anytime. Hopelessness, dire poverty, hunger and helplessness pervade the place.

We want to do more like sponsor feeding for a week, volunteer to clean up the place , seek assistance from nuns to put order in the place, etc.

Without funds, all these can not happen, thus our appeal to your most generous kind for financial and commodity assistance. May God bless us as we share His blessings with our brothers in need. Kindly contact Renewal Office(8076001) or Mission Ministry members if you want to share.

.

How to Read the Bible Theologically by David Powlison

 
To read the Bible “theologically” means to read the Bible “with a focus on God”: his being, his character, his words and works, his purpose, presence, power, promises, and precepts. The Bible can be read from different standpoints and with different centers of interest, but this article seeks to explain how to read it theologically.

The Bible: The Church’s Instruction Book

All 66 books of the Bible constitute the book of the Christian church. And the church, both as a whole and in the life of its members, must always be seen to be the people of the book. This glorifies God, its primary author.

God has chosen to restore his sin-spoiled world through a long and varied historical process, central to which is the creating—by redemptive and sanctifying grace—of what is literally a new human race. This unfinished process has so far extended over four millennia. It began with Abraham; it centers on the first coming of the incarnate Lord, Jesus Christ; and it is not due for completion till he comes again. Viewed as a whole, from the vantage point of God’s people within it, the process always was and still is covenantal and educative. Covenantal indicates that God says to his gathered community, “I am your God; you shall be my people,” and with his call for loyalty he promises them greater future good than any they have yet known. Educative indicates that, within the covenant, God works to change each person’s flawed and degenerate nature into a new, holy selfhood that expresses in responsive terms God’s own moral likeness. The model is Jesus Christ, the only perfect being that the world has ever seen. For God’s people to sustain covenantal hopes and personal moral ideals as ages pass and cultures change and decay, they must have constant, accessible, and authoritative instruction from God. And that is what the Bible essentially is.

This is why, as well as equipping everywhere a class of teachers who will give their lives to inculcating Bible truth, the church now seeks to translate the Bible into each person’s primary language and to spread universal literacy, so that all may read and understand it.

The Bible Is Canonical

God’s plan is that through his teaching embodied in the Bible, plus knowledge and experience of how he rewards obedience and punishes disobedience in a disciplinary way, his people should learn love, worship, and service of God himself, and love, care, and service of others, as exemplified by Jesus Christ. To this end each generation needs a written “textbook” that sets forth for all time God’s unchanging standards of truth, right, love and goodness, wisdom and worship, doctrine and devotion. This resource will enable people to see what they should think and do, what ideals they should form, what goals they should set, what limits they should observe, and what life strategies they should follow. These are the functions that are being claimed for the Bible when it is called “canonical.” A “canon” is a rule or a standard. The Bible is to be read as a God-given rule of belief and behavior—that is, of faith and life.

The Bible Is Inspired

Basic to the Bible’s canonical status is its “inspiration.” This word indicates a divinely effected uniqueness comparable to the uniqueness of the person of the incarnate Lord. As Jesus Christ was totally human and totally divine, so is the Bible. All Scripture is witness to God, given by divinely illuminated human writers, and all Scripture is God witnessing to himself in and through their words. The way into the mind of God is through the expressed mind of these human writers, so the reader of the Bible looks for that characteristic first. But the text must be read, or reread, as God’s own self-revelatory instruction, given in the form of this human testimony. In this way God tells the reader the truth about himself; his work past, present, and future; and his will for people’s lives.

The Bible Is Unified

Basic also to the Bible’s canonical status is the demonstrable unity of its contents. Scripture is no ragbag of religious bits and pieces, unrelated to each other; rather, it is a tapestry in which all the complexities of the weave display a single pattern of judgment and mercy, promise and fulfillment. The Bible consists of two separate collections: the OT, written over a period of about 1,000 years, and the NT, written within a generation several centuries after the OT was completed. Within such a composite array one would expect to find some crossed wires or incoherence, but none are found here. While there are parallel narratives, repetitions, and some borrowings from book to book, the Bible as a whole tells a single, straightforward story. God the Creator is at the center throughout; his people, his covenant, his kingdom, and its coming king are the themes unfolded by the historical narratives, while the realities of redemption from sin and of godly living (faith, repentance, obedience, prayer, adoration, hope, joy, and love) become steadily clearer. Jesus Christ, as fulfiller of OT prophecies, hopes, promises, and dreams, links the two Testaments together in an unbreakable bond. Aware that at the deepest level the whole Bible is the product of a single mind, the mind of God, believers reading it theologically always look for the inner links that bind the books together. And they are there to be found.

Theological Reading of the Bible: A Quest for God

Reading Scripture theologically starts from the truths reviewed above: (1) that the Bible is a God-given guide to sinners for their salvation, and for the life of grateful godliness to which salvation calls them; (2) that the Bible is equally the church’s handbook for worship and service; (3) that it is a divinely inspired unity of narrative and associated admonition, a kind of running commentary on the progress of God’s kingdom plan up to the establishing of a world-embracing, witnessing, suffering church in the decades following Christ’s ascension and the Pentecost outpouring of the Spirit; and (4) that the incarnate Son of God himself, Jesus the Christ, crucified, risen, glorified, ministering, and coming again, is the Bible’s central focus, while the activities of God’s covenant people both before and after Christ’s appearing make up its ongoing story. Theological reading follows these leads and is pursued theocentrically, looking and listening for God throughout, with the controlling purpose of discerning him with maximum clarity, through his own testimony to his will, works, and ways. Such reading is pursued prayerfully, according to Martin Luther’s observation that the first thing one needs to become a theologian through Bible reading is prayer for the illumination and help of the Holy Spirit. And prayerful theological Bible reading will be pursued in light of three further guiding principles, as follows.

First, revelation was progressive. Its progress, in its written form, was not (as has sometimes been thought) from fuzzy and sometimes false (OT) to totally true and clear (NT), but from partial to full and complete. “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days [the concluding era of this world’s life] he has spoken to us by his Son” (Heb. 1:1–2). In the Gospels, the Epistles, and the books of Acts and Revelation, readers are now faced with God’s final word to the world before Christ comes again. Theological Bible reading maintains this perspective, traversing the OT by the light of the NT.

Second, the Bible’s God-language is analogical. Today’s fashion is to call it “metaphorical,” which is not wrong, but “analogical” is the term that makes clearest the key point: the difference involved when everyday words—nouns, verbs, adjectives—are used of God. Language is God’s gift for personal communication between humans and between God and humans. But when God speaks of himself—or when people speak to him or about him—the definitions, connotations, implications, valuations, and range of meaning in each case must be adjusted in light of the differences between him and his creation. God is infinite and flawless; people are both finite and flawed. So when everyday words are used of God, all thought of finiteness and imperfection must be removed, and the overall notion of unlimited, self-sustaining existence in perfect loving holiness must be added in. For instance, when God calls himself “Father,” or his people in response call him their “Father,” the thought will be of authoritative, protecting, guiding, and enriching love, free from any lack of wisdom that appears in earthly fathers. And when one speaks of God’s “anger” or “wrath” in retribution for sin that he as the world’s royal Judge displays, the thought will be as free from the fitful inconsistency, irrationality, bad temper, and loss of self-control that regularly mars human anger.

These mental adjustments underlie the biblical insistence that all God’s doings, even those that involve human distress, are glorious and praiseworthy. This doxological, God-glorifying tone and thrust marks even books such as Job and Lamentations, and the many complaint prayers in the Psalter. The Bible writers practice analogical adjustment so smoothly, unobtrusively, and unselfconsciously that it is easy to overlook what they are doing. But the theological reader of the Bible will not miss this point.

Third, the one God of the Bible is Trinitarian and triune. God is three persons in an eternal fellowship of love and cooperation within the one divine Being. Each person is involved in all that God does. God is a team no less than he is a complex entity. In the NT this concept is apparent, but in the OT, where the constant emphasis is on the truth that Yahweh is the one and only God, the truth of the Trinity hardly breaks the surface. God’s triunity is, however, an eternal fact, though it has been clearly revealed only through Christ’s coming. Theological Bible readers are right to read this fact back into the OT, following the example of NT writers in their citing of many OT passages.

Theological Reading of the Bible: The Quest for Godliness

Theology is for doxology, that is, glorifying God by praise and thanks, by obedient holiness, and by laboring to extend God’s kingdom, church, and cultural influence. The goal of theological Bible reading is not just to know truth about God (though one’s quest for godliness must start there) but to know God personally in a relationship that honors him—which means serving Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, the world’s real though unrecognized Lord, who came to earth, died, rose, and ascended for his people, and has given them the Holy Spirit. To have him fill believers’ horizons and rule their lives in his Father’s name is the authentic form—the foundation, blueprint, scaffolding, and construction—of Christian godliness, to which theological Bible reading is a God-intended means. So, three questions must govern readers of the inspired Word:

First, in the passage being read, what is shown about God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? What does it say about what the holy Three are doing, have done, and will do in God’s world, in his church, and in lives committed to him? What does it reveal about God’s attributes, that is, God’s power and character, how he exists and how he behaves? One reason, no doubt, for God’s panoramic, multigenred layout of the Bible—with history, homily, biography, liturgy, practical philosophy, laws, lists, genealogies, visions, and so on, all rubbing shoulders—is that this variety provides so many angles of illumination on these questions for theological Bible readers’ instruction.

Second, in the passage being read, what is shown about the bewildering, benighted world with all its beautiful and beneficial aspects alongside those that are corrupt and corrupting? Discerning the world’s good and evil for what they are, so as to embrace the world’s good and evade its temptations, is integral to the godliness that theological Bible reading should promote.

Third, in the passage being read, what is shown to guide one’s living, this day and every day? The theological logic of this question, through which the reader must work each time, is this: since God, by his own testimony, said that to those people in their situation, what does it follow that he says to readers today in their own situation? The Holy Spirit answers prayer by giving discernment to apply Scripture in this way. Those who seek will indeed find.

—————

LITURGY

Laypeople’s Use of Oil

And More on Substituting the Psalm

ROME, JULY 28, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.

Q: There are chaplains who minister at a local Catholic hospital and one of them likes to use “oil” when she prays with the patients (Catholics and non-Catholics). I feel that this causes confusion. One of the chaplains attended a recent convention of chaplains and was told by a presenter that this practice is allowed as long as they tell the patients that they are not receiving the sacrament of the sick. I seem to recall that years ago the Vatican came out with a document on the use of oil by laypersons. Could you please comment? — A.S., Bridgeport, New York

A: The document you refer to is probably the 1997 instruction “On Certain Questions Regarding the Collaboration of the Non-Ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of Priest.” This is an unusual document insofar as it was formally issued by the Congregation for Clergy but was co-signed by no fewer than eight Vatican congregations and councils, including that of the Doctrine of the Faith. This gives the document a certain weight with respect to its authority.

The document first presents the theological principles behind its decisions before giving a series of practical considerations on aspects of lay ministry in the Church. Then, having laid the groundwork, it enunciates in 13 articles practical provisions and norms that outline the possibilities and limits of the collaboration of the lay faithful in priestly ministry.

The first article, on the “Need for an Appropriate Terminology,” attempts to clarify the multiple uses of the expression “ministry.” This responds to an intuition of Pope John Paul II who, “In his address to participants at the Symposium on ‘Collaboration of the Lay Faithful with the Priestly Ministry’ …, emphasized the need to clarify and distinguish the various meanings which have accrued to the term ‘ministry’ in theological and canonical language.”

The document accepts that the term “ministry” is applicable to the laity in some cases:

“§3. The non-ordained faithful may be generically designated ‘extraordinary ministers’ when deputed by competent authority to discharge, solely by way of supply, those offices mentioned in Canon 230, §3 and in Canons 943 and 1112. Naturally, the concrete term may be applied to those to whom functions are canonically entrusted e.g. catechists, acolytes, lectors etc.

“Temporary deputation for liturgical purposes — mentioned in Canon 230, §2 — does not confer any special or permanent title on the non-ordained faithful.”

However: “It is unlawful for the non-ordained faithful to assume titles such as ‘pastor,’ ‘chaplain,’ ‘coordinator,’ ‘moderator’ or other such similar titles which can confuse their role and that of the Pastor, who is always a Bishop or Priest.”

Another article, No. 9, is on “The Apostolate to the Sick.” Regarding our reader’s question on the use of oil in a non-sacramental way, the article is very clear:

“§1. […] The non-ordained faithful particularly assist the sick by being with them in difficult moments, encouraging them to receive the Sacraments of Penance and the Anointing of the Sick, by helping them to have the disposition to make a good individual confession as well as to prepare them to receive the Anointing of the Sick. In using sacramentals, the non-ordained faithful should ensure that these are in no way regarded as sacraments whose administration is proper and exclusive to the Bishop and to the priest. Since they are not priests, in no instance may the non-ordained perform anointings either with the Oil of the Sick or any other oil.

Ҥ2. With regard to the administration of this sacrament, ecclesiastical legislation reiterates the theologically certain doctrine and the age old usage of the Church which regards the priest as its only valid minister. This norm is completely coherent with the theological mystery signified and realized by means of priestly service.

“It must also be affirmed that the reservation of the ministry of Anointing to the priest is related to the connection of this sacrament to the forgiveness of sin and the worthy reception of the Holy Eucharist. No other person may act as ordinary or extraordinary minister of the sacrament since such constitutes simulation of the sacrament.”

To many it might appear that this document is excessively restrictive in its dispositions. Yet by providing clear guidelines and demarcations of proper competences based on solid theological reasons, it actually facilitates fruitful collaboration between priests and laity in a true spirit of charity and service to Christ, the Church and to souls.

* * *

Follow-up: Substituting the Psalm

In relation to our July 14 answer on the responsorial psalm, a New Zealand reader asked: “Are the first or second readings in the liturgy optional? I have attended Mass in New Zealand where either the first or second reading is omitted and the Gospel acclamation is completely ignored.”

The principles involved here are found in the Introduction to the lectionary.

Regarding Masses on Sundays and solemnities, No. 79 of the Introduction says: “In Masses to which three readings are assigned, all three are to be used. If, however, for pastoral reasons the Conference of Bishops has given permission for two readings only to be used, the choice between the two first readings is to be made in such a way as to safeguard the Church’s intent to instruct the faithful more completely in the mystery of salvation. Thus, unless the contrary is indicated in the text of the Lectionary, the reading to be chosen as the first reading is the one that is more closely in harmony with the Gospel, or, in accord with the intent just mentioned, the one that is more helpful toward a coherent catechesis over an extended period, or that preserves the semicontinuous reading of some biblical book.”

With respect to the weekday readings, No. 82 says:

“The arrangement of weekday readings provides texts for every day of the week throughout the year. In most cases, therefore, these readings are to be used on their assigned days, unless a solemnity, a feast, or else a memorial with proper readings occurs.

“In using the Order of Readings for weekdays attention must be paid to whether one reading or another from the same biblical book will have to be omitted because of some celebration occurring during the week. With the arrangement of readings for the entire week in mind, the priest in that case arranges to omit the less significant passages or combines them in the most appropriate manner with other readings, if they contribute to an integral view of a particular theme.”

Therefore, unless the New Zealand bishops’ conference has allowed the use of only two readings on Sunday, then three readings must be used. I have been unable to verify whether this is the case.

Although the lectionary offers ample possibilities for choosing various readings on weekdays, there is no provision for omitting one of the readings altogether. Hence, two readings and a psalm are always required.

On the other hand, the rubrics foresee the possibility of omitting the acclamation before the Gospel if it is not sung.

What Matters.

What would you do? The question is: Would you have made the same choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended.. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: “When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?”

Rick Warren of Purpose Driven Life

You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having ‘wealth’ from the book sales.
 
In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:
 
People ask me, What is the purpose of life?
And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.
One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body– but not the end of me.
I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.
We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn’t going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you’re just coming out of one, or you’re getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.
 We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that’s not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness..
 
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.
 
I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don’t believe that anymore.
 
Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it’s kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.
 
No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.
And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for..
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems:
 
If you focus on your problems, you’re going into self-centeredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain.’ But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.
 
We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her- It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
 
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.
 
Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.
It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don’t think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.
 So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.
 
First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases.
 
Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.
 
Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.
 
Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.
 
We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?
Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God’s purposes (for my life)?
 
When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don’t get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn’t put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He’s more interested in what I am than what I do.
That’s why we’re called human beings, not human doings.
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD..
If you do not pass it on, nothing will happen. But it will just be nice to pass it on to a friend…..just like I have done.
 
God’s Blessings be with you !!
     

Mother Teresa: The Path of Love

Bright Lights in a Dark World; Love Worth Finding.-Adrian Rogers

 
“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:13-16)

We are called to be the salt in the world! Salt and light … just what does that mean?

-When salt is applied, it dissolves inward and disappears. The salt speaks of the inward part, the character of the Christian.
-Jesus also described His people as being like light, which is on the outside. The light speaks of the testimony of a follower of Christ, revealing and illuminating the truth.

Let’s now look at the Scripture and ask: who, what, and how.

Who
Jesus was speaking to a crowd of just ordinary folks. Yet Christ said to them, “You are the light of the world.” And today, you are the light of the world. That’s how God intends to get his work done on earth today: through you!

And that’s how God intends to get his work done on earth today: through you! It’s not just pastors and missionaries who are the light; it’s everybody who loves the Lord.

You see, the world doesn’t understand. The world looks at Christians and thinks, “They don’t count.” God takes an ordinary person and uses them to share His message to people who needed Him. When we share our faith, we spread His light.

What
Jesus describes what we are in this passage - the light of the world, not the light of the church. That means we have to get beyond the church walls and take the light out to where it is dark.

You were saved to shine! Don’t hide your testimony or be ashamed to take your Bible to work. Don’t be afraid to pray over your lunch at school. Let others know that you love the Lord Jesus.

Jesus also talked of the strength of collective light. Each house in a city with its lights on cast a glow across the sky. As Christians come together, there is a glow for the Lord that we cannot create individually. We shine brightest when we shine together.

How
How can we shine for God? Jesus says that we are to let our lights shine before men in such a way that they will see our good works and glorify God. That’s how we do it. We live for God.

We have to surrender our lives to Him completely. Christ says we are to “let” our lights shine. In other words, when you get right with God and are filled with the Holy Spirit, He will simply shine through you. You can’t help it; light just pours forth. Are you willing to burn brightly for the Lord?

How can you become a bright light in a dark world? As we begin a new year, here are a few thoughts and questions to begin letting your light shine.

1. What does it mean to be “light”?
-Where do I find myself being light?

2. What do I do to cause my light to shine?
-Where do I struggle being light?

3. Why do you suppose God chooses to use ordinary people, rather than a few specially selected people, to reflect His light?
-Where does the world look for light, and where do they find it?

4. When am I tempted to conceal my light?
-What opportunities do I have for sharing my light with others?

So, now that you have a better understanding about your part in reflecting God’s light, take a few minutes and write a short testimony that you can share with non-Christians. Don’t just go over it in your head. Write it down, so that you know what you want to say. It should be about two minutes in length, following this outline:
-What was your life like before you met Christ?
-How did you meet Him?
-How has He changed your life since then?

THE LIFE IN THE SPIRIT SEMINAR

 

The Life in the Spirit Seminar is an introduction to Catholic charismatic spirituality and a life lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. Through a series of talks by area priests and laity, worship, Scripture teachings, song, and personal testimonies, participants explore faith topics, including the basic message of salvation, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, as well as the potential and the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Life in the Spirit seminar is intended for anyone who desires a new awareness and deeper relationship with God, especially through the working of the Holy Spirit, and to be more fully spiritually equipped in building the Church. Participants are invited to pray for the “Baptism of the Holy Spirit” which was evident in the Upper Room as the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Church at Pentecost. It is an invitation to “stir into flame” in a renewed Pentecost the gift of the Holy Spirit that was given at Baptism and Confirmation.

In speaking of the “New Pentecost,” Pope John Paul II described it as “a grace directed to sanctify the Church, to renew in her the taste for prayer, and to rediscover with the Holy Spirit the sense of thankfulness, of joyful praise, of confident intercession, and to be converted into a new fountain of evangelization.”

As Pope Benedict XVI (as Cardinal Ratzinger) notes:

At the heart of a world imbued with a rationalistic skepticism, a new experience of the Holy Spirit suddenly burst forth. And since then, that experience has assumed a breadth of a worldwide Renewal movement. What the New Testament tells us about the charisms—which were seen as visible signs of the coming of the Spirit—is not just ancient history, over and done with, for it is once again becoming extremely topical.

Blessing by Pope Benedict XVI: “Upon all of you I invoke an outpouring of the gifts of the Spirit, so that in our time too, we may have the experience of a renewed Pentecost.”

The Renewal and the Church

The charismatic experience, which began at Duquesne in 1967 and caught on campuses across the United States, soon moved beyond colleges and began to have an impact on regular parishes and other Catholic institutions. Loose organisations and networks were formed. Catholic charismatic conferences began to be held, drawing massive crowds. One conference held at Notre Dame campus in South Bend Indiana drew over 30,000 people. It soon caught the attention of the church.

Leon Joseph Suenens, the Cardinal of Malines-Brussels and one of the four moderators of the Second Vatican Council, was one of the first champions of the Charismatic renewal in the Catholic Church. After visiting some of the principal centers he understood “that pentecostal grace was at work, and that it was not a question of a movement - there was no founder, no rule, no precise structure - but the breath of the Spirit, which was vital for many aspects of life and indeed for all movements”.

After presenting his findings to Pope Paul VI, he recommended that the Pope invite the Catholic leaders of this Renewal on a pilgrimage to Rome with a view of witnessing to their faith and their faithfulness to the Church.

In the summer of 1975, some 10,000 Catholic charismatics gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica. Also present were prominent Protestants who were invited to take part as well, thus giving the movement a moving ecumenical dimension. In his homily, Pope Paul VI called the Charismatic Renewal “the good fortune for the Church and the World” and thereby gave his formal seal of approval to the movement.

Cardinal Suenens was asked to oversee the integration of the Catholic Renewal into the heart of the Church. He accepted the mission. From 1974-1986, he also drafted a series of six articles, the “Malines Documents,” which detailed the personalities and ideas he wanted fostered in the Charismatic movement, among them being ecumenism, social action, and the strange phenomenon of “slaying in the spirit.”

Encouraged by the leadership of Pope Paul VI and later by John Paul II, many Catholic bishops of the United States, Canada, Mexico, South America, and Europe wrote pastoral statements supporting and encouraging the Renewal.

Vatican II said this about the charisms: “It is not only through the sacraments and Church ministries that the Holy Spirit sanctifies and leads the people of God. He distributes special graces among the faithful of every rank. ‘The manifestation of the Spirit is given to everyone for profit’ (1Cor.12:7). These charismatic gifts, whether they be the most outstanding or the more simple and widely diffused, are to be received with thanksgiving and consolation, for they are exceedingly suitable and useful for the needs of the Church.”

Preacher: Holy Spirit Speaks Through Conscience, Father Cantalamessa Delivers 3rd Lenten

 
VATICAN CITY, MARCH 27, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The Holy Spirit speaks to a person through his conscience, indicating what is right and wrong, and helps him to make the decisions that correspond to the will of God, says the Papal Household preacher.

Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa explained in his third Lenten meditation that on reading the Scriptures we can discover how the Holy Spirit guides believers in a twofold manner: on one hand, through their conscience and, on the other, through the magisterium of the Church.

The preacher delivered the sermon today to Benedict XVI and the Roman Curia in the Vatican’s “Redemptoris Mater” Chapel. It was titled “All Who Are Guided by the Spirit of God Are Sons of God.”

Father Cantalamessa stressed that the Holy Spirit is not only the one who guides us “to the fullness of truth,” according to the words of John the Evangelist, but is also the “interior teacher,” as St. Paul describes him. “He does not just say what should be done, rather he also gives the capacity to do what he commands.”

The Capuchin explained that conscience is the ambit where the Holy Spirit exercises his function.

“Through this ‘organ,’ the guidance of the Holy Spirit goes beyond the Church, to all people,” specified the preacher.

Reasons of the heart

“In this personal and intimate realm of the conscience, the Holy Spirit instructs us with ‘good inspirations,’ or ‘interior lights,’” he continued, and stimulates us “to follow the good and avoid evil, attractions and inclinations of the heart that cannot be naturally explained, because they are often contrary to the direction that nature would want to take.”

However, the Holy Spirit also guides believers through the magisterium of the Church, Father Cantalamessa said.

“It is just as deadly to try to forego either of the two guides of the Spirit,” warned the preacher. “When the interior testimony is neglected, we easily fall into legalism and authoritarianism; when the exterior, apostolic testimony is neglected, we fall into subjectivism and fanaticism.

“When everything is reduced to just the personal, private listening to the Spirit, the path is opened to an unstoppable process of division and subdivision, because everyone believe they are right.”

“We should recognize however that there is also the opposite risk,” he noted, “that of making the external and public testimony of the Spirit absolute, ignoring the internal testimony that works through the conscience enlightened by grace.”

“It is the ideal of a healthy harmony between listening to what the Spirit says to me, as an individual, and what he says to the Church as a whole and through the Church to individuals,” said Father Cantalamessa.

Two goods

The preacher ended by explaining St. Ignatius of Loyola’s doctrine on discernment, which seeks to help the believer to choose “between a good and another good.”

Father Cantalamessa explained that sometimes “it is about seeing which one is what God wants, in a given situation. It was primarily to respond to this demand that St. Ignatius of Loyola developed his doctrine on discernment. He invites us to look at one thing above all: our own interior dispositions, the intentions (the ’spirits’) that are behind a decision.”

The preacher summarized the method of St. Ignatius: “When we are faced with two possible choices, it is useful to first consider one of them, as if we must follow it, and to stay in that state for a day or more; then we should evaluate how our heart reacts to that choice: Is there peace, harmony with the rest of our own decisions; is there something inside of you that encourages you in that direction, or on the contrary has it left a haze of restlessness… Then repeat the process with the second hypothesis. All this should be done in an atmosphere of prayer, abandonment to God’s will, and openness to the Holy Spirit.”

“The most favorable condition for making a good discernment is the habitual interior disposition to do God’s will in every situation,” Father Cantalamessa noted.

“Like talented actors,” he added “we should tend our ear toward the voice of the prompter that is hidden, so we can faithfully recite our part in the scene of life. It is easier than we think, because our prompter speaks to us from the inside, he teaches us all things, he instructs us in everything. It is enough to just give an interior glance, a movement of our heart, a prayer.”

Shoes in Church

I showered and shaved…… . ……. I adjusted my shirt.

I got there and sat……… …. In a pew just in time.

Bowing my head in prayer…… .. As I closed my eyes.

I saw the shoe of the man next to me….. Touching my own.. I sighed.

With plenty of room on either side…… I thought, “Why must our soles
touch?”

It bothered me, his shoe touching mine… But it didn’t bother him much.

A prayer began: “Our Father”….. ……… I thought, “This man with the
shoes.. has no pride.

They’re dusty, worn, and scratched. Even worse, there are holes on the
side!”

“Thank You for blessings,” the prayer went on.

The shoe man said…….. …… a quiet “Amen.”

I tried to focus on the prayer…… . But my thoughts were on his shoes
again.

Aren’t we supposed to look our best.. When walking through that door?

“Well, this certainly isn’t it,” I thought, Glancing toward the floor.

Then the prayer was ended……. …. And the songs of praise began.

The shoe man was certainly loud…… Sounding proud as he sang.

His voice lifted the rafters….. … His hands were raised high.

The Lord could surely hear.. The shoe man’s voice from the sky.

It was time for the offering…. … And what I threw in was steep.

I watched as the shoe man reached…. Int o his pockets so deep.

I saw what was pulled out……… . What the shoe man put in.

Then I heard a soft “clink.” as when silver hits tin.

The sermon really bored me………. To tears, and that’s no lie.

It was the same for the shoe man… For tears fell from his eyes.

At the end of the service….. . As is the custom here.

We must greet new visitors.. And show them all good cheer.

But I felt moved somehow….. …….. And wanted to meet the shoe man.

So after the closing prayer…… . I reached over and shook his hand.

He was old and his skin was dark….. And his hair was truly a mess.

But I thanked him for coming…… … For being our guest.

He said, “My name is Benito….. ….. I’m glad to meet you, my friend.”

There were tears in his eyes……. But he had a large, wide grin.

“Let me explain,” he said…….. . Wiping tears from his eyes.

“I’ve been coming her e for months…. And you’re the first to say ‘Hi.’”

“I know that my appearance.. …….”Is not like all the rest.

“But I really do try……… ……..” To always look my best.”

“I always clean and polish my shoes..”Before my very long walk.

“But by the time I get here…….. .”They’re dirty and dusty, like
chalk.”

My heart filled with pain…….. …. and I swallowed to hide my tears.

As he continued to apologize… …… For daring to sit so near..

He said, “When I get here…….. …”I know I must look a sight.

“But I thought if I could touch you..”Then maybe our souls might unite.”

I was silent for a moment…… …… Knowing whatever was said

Would pale in comparison.. . I spoke from my heart, not my head.

“Oh, you’ve touched me,” I said……”And taught me, in part;

“That the best of any man……… …”Is what is found in his heart.”

The rest, I thought,…. ……… … This shoe man will never know.

Like just how thankful I really am… That his dirty old shoe touched my
soul

(More articles inside SJRM-FORUM)