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Tuesday, September 10, 2013

CATHOLIC NEWS WORLD : TUES. SEPT. 10, 2013 - SHARE

 2013










POPE FRANCIS "JESUS IS THE WINNER WHO HAS WON OVER SIN..."

TODAY'S SAINT: SEPT. 10: ST. NICHOLAS OF TOLENTINO: D. 1305

CHRISTIANS KILLED IN DAMASCUS IN SYRIA

PRIEST AND 250 OTHERS HELD HOSTAGE BY MNLF IN PHILIPPINES

MEMORIAL MASS FOR UNBORN AT CATHEDRAL IN AUSTRALIA

TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : TUES. SEPT. 10, 2013

Vatican Radio REPORT: Christians are called to proclaim Jesus without fear , without shame and without triumphalism . Those were the words of Pope Francis at Mass this Tuesday morning at the Casa Santa Marta. The Pope also stressed the risk of becoming a Christian without the Resurrection and reiterated that Christ is always at the center of our life and hope . 

“Jesus is the Winner who has won over sin and death.” Those were the words of Pope Francis on Tuesday morning during his Homily at morning Mass. He was referring to the Letter of St. Paul to the Colossians in which the Saint recommends we walk with Jesus " because he has won, and we walk with him in his victory “firm in the faith." 

This is the key point, the Pope stressed: "Jesus is risen .

" But, the Holy Father continued, it is not always easy to understand . The Pope then recalled that when St. Paul spoke to the Greeks in Athens he was listened to with interest up to when he spoke of the resurrection. "This makes us afraid , it best to leave it as is." Pope Francis said.

Continuing his Homily the Pope recalled the Apostles, who closed themselves up in the Upper Room for fear of the Jews, even Mary Magdalene is weeping because they have taken away the Lord's Body . " …they are afraid to think about the Resurrection." The Pope noted that “there are also the Christians who are embarrassed. They are embarrassed to "confess that Christ is risen.

Finally, said Pope Francis there is the group of Christians who " in their hearts do not believe in the Risen Lord and want to make theirs a more majestic resurrection than that of the real one . These, he said are the “triumphalist” Christians.

" They do not know the meaning of the word ' triumph ' the Pope continued, so they just say “triumphalism”, because they have such an inferiority complex and want to do this ... 

When we look at these Christians , with their many triumphalist attitudes , in their lives, in their speeches and in their pastoral theology, liturgy , so many things , it is because they do not believe deep down in the Risen One . He is the Winner, the Risen One. He won. 

"This, the Holy Father added, is the message that Paul gives to us " Christ "is everything," he is totality and hope , "because he is the Bridegroom , the Winner " . 
SHARED FROM RADIO VATICANA
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TODAY'S SAINT: SEPT. 10: ST. NICHOLAS OF TOLENTINO: D. 1305

St. Nicholas of Tolentino

CONFESSOR
Feast: September 10
Information: Feast Day: September 10

Born: 1246 AD
Died: 1305 AD
Canonized: 5 June (Pentecost) 1446 by Pope Eugene IV
Patron of: animals; babies; boatmen; dying people; mariners; sailors; sick animals; souls in purgatory; watermen
This Nicholas was born in answer to his mother's prayers. Childless and in middle age, she had made a pilgrimage with her husband to the shrine of St. Nicholas of Bari to ask for a son whom she promised to dedicate to God's service. When her wish was granted, she named the boy Nicholas and he soon gave unusual signs of saintliness. Already at seven he would hide away in a nearby cave and pray there like the hermits whom he had observed in the mountains. As soon as he was old enough he was received into the Order of Augustinian friars. On account of his kind and gentle manner his superiors entrusted him with the daily feeding of the poor at the monastery gates, but at times he was so free with the friary's provisions that the procurator begged the superior to check his generosity. He was ordained in 1271 and said his first Mass with exceptional fervor; thereafter, whenever he celebrated the holy Mystery he seemed aglow with the fire of his love. His preaching, instructions and work in the confessional brought about numerous conversions, and his many miracles were responsible for more, yet he was careful not to take any credit for these miracles. "Say nothing of this," he would insist, "give thanks to God, not to me. I am only a vessel of clay, a poor sinner." He spent the last thirty years of his life in Tolentino, where the Guelfs and the Ghibellines were in constant strife. Nicholas saw only one remedy to the violence: street preaching, and the success of this apostolic work was astounding. "He spoke of the things of heaven," says his biographer St. Antonine. "Sweetly he preached the divine word, and the words that came from his lips fell like flames of fire. Among his hearers could be seen the tears and heard the sighs of people detesting their sins and repenting of their past lives." During the last years of his life St. Nicholas was bedridden and suffered grievously. He died surrounded by his community. In 1345 a lay Brother cut off the arms of his body intending to take them to Germany as relics, and the friars then hid his body to prevent further attempts of this kind. It has not been found to this day, but the arms have been preserved. It is recorded that they have bled on several occasions, usually, it is said, before some calamity that befell the Church or the world
http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/N/stnicholasoftolentino.asp


CHRISTIANS KILLED IN DAMASCUS IN SYRIA

AsiaNews sources report anti-Christian violence and persecution in the village where people still speak Aramaic. Islamist insurgents have broken into homes and seized at least six young Greek-Catholics. Dead bodies are lying in the streets as a warning to the inhabitants. In Damascus, the local Church tries to help the refugees, but "many families have been stranded in their homes. Nothing is known about them."


Maaloula (AsiaNews) - The bodies of Christians killed lie abandoned by the side of roads; houses and churches have been destroyed and plundered," this is Maaloula today, a village about 60 kilometres north of Damascus that was recently invaded by Islamist insurgents.
The town, the cradle of the Syrian Christian tradition and a unique place in the world where Aramaic is still spoken, is now a ghost town.
Sources, anonymous for security reasons, told AsiaNews that "the Islamist insurgents are breaking into village homes. Yesterday they killed three people and took six young Greek-Catholics Christians prisoners. Bodies have been left in the streets as a warning to the population. Many families are locked in their homes and cannot even escape. Nobody knows their conditions."
The situation is critical for those who were able to leave the village. "Several hundred people," sources said, "managed to save themselves, but had to leave all their belongings. A new ordeal is starting for them."
In the capital, parishes gave hospitality to fleeing families, but the food will not last for long.
"These people are traumatised," sources told AsiaNews. "Entire families have left their entire lives in Maaloula. They do not need only material goods such as food, water, a bed to rest but also spiritual support, especially the elderly, women and children. "
The rebels of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) invaded the village last Thursday, defeating government forces with the support of al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Brigades.
After taking control of the city, Islamists begun to desecrate Christian buildings, destroying the crosses on the dome of the Greek-Catholic monastery of Saints Sergius and Bacchus.
villager told AsiaNews that the leader of the local Muslim community condemned the attack saying it was against Islam.

"Violence cannot be carried out either in the name of Allah or Muhammad," the sheikh said, to no avail. (S.C.)

PRIEST AND 250 OTHERS HELD HOSTAGE BY MNLF IN PHILIPPINES

UCAN REPORT: Another priest and parishioners holed up in church as fighting goes on outside
<p>Soliders patrol Zamboanga City following MNLF assault (PIA 9)</p>
Soliders patrol Zamboanga City following MNLF assault (PIA 9)
  • ucanews.com reporter, Zamboanga City
  • Philippines
  • September 10, 2013

A Catholic priest was among some 250 civilians who were taken hostage by rebel Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) fighters in the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga on Monday.
Monsignor Chris Manongas, administrator of the Archdiocese of Zamboanga, said Father Michael Ufana was taken by MNLF gunmen from his parents’ house.
"They were not able to leave. The [MNLF] took over the house. That’s how it happened," he said.
The Mindanao Human Rights Action Center corroborated the report, citing an eyewitness who saw the taking of Ufana. Police officials confirmed Ufana was taken hostage.
Another Catholic priest, whose name was not released for security reasons, was also trapped in one of the villages taken over by the MNLF.
Manongas told ucanews.com he was able to talk with the second priest over the phone. "He is inside the church with some refugees. He said they have no food and water," said Manongas.
"[We are] having difficulty penetrating the place because it is cordoned off by the military. It is very dangerous because the fighting is around the church.”
Thousands of refugees, most of them Muslims from five villages taken over by MNLF fighters, have sought shelter in three churches in the area.
"We are helping. We are not afraid. Our social action center here is working hard. We are even putting our lives in danger just to be able to help these people," Manongas said.
"We condemn in the highest form this violent attempt to take over the city by the MNLF. We call on them to please listen to the voice of sanity," he added.
Heavy exchanges of gunfire continued on Tuesday as the standoff entered its second day. Rocket-propelled grenades and mortars were fired on the village of Talon-Talon.
As of 3pm on Tuesday several houses in the village of Santa Barbara were burning. The city government said four firefighters tried to get into the area but were advised by the military to wait for clearance.
Offices were earlier closed while city streets emptied. A curfew was declared last night across the city and in the nearby province of Basilan.
The death toll currently stands at six, with 24 wounded. President Benigno Aquino has said there is no need to declare a state of emergency in Zamboanga City, given the presence of government security forces.
The MNLF is demanding independence from the Philippine government.
SHARED FROM UCAN NEWS

MEMORIAL MASS FOR UNBORN AT CATHEDRAL IN AUSTRALIA

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese REPORT:
10 Sep 2013
An unusual but very special sight will be  displayed this Friday evening on the steps outside the west door of St Mary's Cathedral.

It will be 82 candles. The light of these candles will serve as a public memorial to the estimated 82 unborn children whose lives are tragically taken by abortion each day in New South Wales.

An initiative of His Eminence Cardinal Pell, and inspired by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles' Requiem Mass for the Unborn, the second annual Memorial Mass for the Unborn will be celebrated by Cardinal Pell and priests of the Archdiocese of Sydney this Friday evening (13 September) at 7.30pm at St Mary's Cathedral.

Chris Meney, the director of the Life, Marriage and Family Centre, says that the Mass is an important occasion for the Catholic community of Sydney to gather together to remember all those in our society who have been hurt by abortion:"We know that there are many families who have experienced or been affected by abortion and who grieve the loss of their unborn child.This Mass is an opportunity to remember and mourn these children, and to pray for their bereaved mothers and fathers, that they might experience God's love, forgiveness and healing."
The solemn sung Mass will feature the St Mary's Cathedral choir and a procession in which the 82 candles will be taken up to the altar by epresentatives of Sydney Catholic schools, university chaplaincies, parishes, pro-life and pregnancy support groups.  Following the procession, lights will be switched off and the Cathedral will be plunged into darkness for 82 seconds of silence to remember the 82 victims.  At the conclusion of Mass, the candles will be moved outside the West Door to the cathedral steps, as a public memorial to the unborn.

Mr Meney said that he hoped this year's Mass would be a sign of the love and concern of the Catholic community in Sydney for all those hurt by abortion and a sign of their belief in the dignity and value of every human life. "The hundreds of people who came to St Mary's last year for the Memorial Mass for the Unborn witnessed to their belief in the preciousness of life and the importance of standing in solidarity with women who are pregnant in difficult circumstances.During the Mass, we were able to pray for and recognise the victims of abortion, and the truth that the bearing of life is a responsibility that women must not be left to bear alone."
  
"Your presence and prayers at this year's Memorial Mass for the Unborn will be a consolation to all who have lost a child to abortion, and a powerful sign to our public authorities entrusted with the defence of life that these children have not been forgotten."   
See the flyer here 

TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : TUES. SEPT. 10, 2013

Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 438

Reading 1                    COL 2:6-15

Brothers and sisters:
As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him,
rooted in him and built upon him
and established in the faith as you were taught,
abounding in thanksgiving.
See to it that no one captivate you with an empty, seductive philosophy
according to the tradition of men,
according to the elemental powers of the world
and not according to Christ.

For in him dwells the whole fullness of the deity bodily,
and you share in this fullness in him,
who is the head of every principality and power.
In him you were also circumcised
with a circumcision not administered by hand,
by stripping off the carnal body, with the circumcision of Christ.
You were buried with him in baptism,
in which you were also raised with him
through faith in the power of God,
who raised him from the dead.
And even when you were dead in transgressions
and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
he brought you to life along with him,
having forgiven us all our transgressions;
obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims,
which was opposed to us,
he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross;
despoiling the principalities and the powers,
he made a public spectacle of them,
leading them away in triumph by it.

Responsorial Psalm                      PS 145:1B-2, 8-9, 10-11

R. (9) The Lord is compassionate toward all his works.
I will extol you, O my God and King,
and I will bless your name forever and ever.
Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
R. The Lord is compassionate toward all his works.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R. The Lord is compassionate toward all his works.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom
and speak of your might.
R. The Lord is compassionate toward all his works.

Gospel             LK 6:12-19

Jesus departed to the mountain to pray,
and he spent the night in prayer to God.
When day came, he called his disciples to himself,
and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles:
Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew,
James, John, Philip, Bartholomew,
Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus,
Simon who was called a Zealot,
and Judas the son of James,
and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

And he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground.
A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people
from all Judea and Jerusalem
and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon
came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases;
and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured.
Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him
because power came forth from him and healed them all.

CATHOLIC NEWS WORLD : MON. SEPT. 9, 2013

 2013










POPE FRANCIS "JESUS, HOPE, RENEWS EVERYTHING"


TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : MON. SEPT. 9, 2013
TODAY'S SAINT: SEPT. 9: ST. PETER CLAVER
(Vatican Radio) The virtue of hope, perhaps less understood than those of faith and charity, should never be confused with human optimism which is more a state of mind. For a Christian, hope is Jesus personified in the Eucharist and in the Word. That’s the essence of what Pope Francis said at this morning’s daily Mass at the Vatican guesthouse Santa Marta.
Hope is a gift from Jesus; hope is Jesus himself and bears his name, Pope Francis said in his homily. But it’s not the kind of hope that you find in a person who usually looks at “a half full glass” – that’s simply “optimism” and “optimism is a human attitude that depends on many things.”
  

Recalling the Gospel reading in which Jesus heals a man with a paralyzed hand and is criticized by the scribes and Pharisees, Pope Francis observed that through his miracle, Jesus shows them how their’s “is not the way of liberty.” “Liberty and hope,” the Pope said, “go together: where there is no hope, there can be no liberty.” And, the Pope said that with that gesture, Jesus shows us the power of renewal through Him.

“Jesus, hope, renews everything. He’s a constant miracle." Christ, the Pope said, embodies this “miracle of renewal” in the Church, “in my life, your life, in our life.” “Christ is the reason for our hope,” he said, “and this hope does not delude.”

The Holy Father also had a word for his fellow clergy. Noting that it’s “a little sad” when “one finds a priest without hope,” Pope Francis said it is beautiful to find one who arrives at the end of life “not with optimism, but with hope.” “This priest, he continued, is linked to Jesus Christ and the people of God need us priests to give them this sign of hope, living this hope in Jesus who renews all.” 

And he pointed to the Madonna’s great hope in her son, as an example for all to follow. Even in her darkest hour, he said, she had “That hope: She had it. It’s that hope that renews all.”

SHARED FROM RADIO VATICANA

TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : MON. SEPT. 9, 2013

Memorial of Saint Peter Claver, Priest
Lectionary: 437


Reading 1                COL 1:24–2:3

Brothers and sisters:
I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake,
and in my flesh I am filling up
what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ
on behalf of his Body, which is the Church,
of which I am a minister
in accordance with God’s stewardship given to me
to bring to completion for you the word of God,
the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past.
But now it has been manifested to his holy ones,
to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory
of this mystery among the Gentiles;
it is Christ in you, the hope for glory.
It is he whom we proclaim,
admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom,
that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.
For this I labor and struggle,
in accord with the exercise of his power working within me.

For I want you to know how great a struggle I am having for you
and for those in Laodicea
and all who have not seen me face to face,
that their hearts may be encouraged
as they are brought together in love,
to have all the richness of assured understanding,
for the knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ,
in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Responsorial Psalm                            PS 62:6-7, 9

R. (8) In God is my safety and my glory.
Only in God be at rest, my soul,
for from him comes my hope.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my stronghold; I shall not be disturbed.
R. In God is my safety and my glory.
Trust in him at all times, O my people!
Pour out your hearts before him;
God is our refuge!
R. In God is my safety and my glory.

Gospel                   LK 6:6-11

On a certain sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and taught,
and there was a man there whose right hand was withered.
The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely
to see if he would cure on the sabbath
so that they might discover a reason to accuse him.
But he realized their intentions
and said to the man with the withered hand,
“Come up and stand before us.”
And he rose and stood there.
Then Jesus said to them,
“I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath
rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to destroy it?”
Looking around at them all, he then said to him,
“Stretch out your hand.”
He did so and his hand was restored.
But they became enraged
and discussed together what they might do to Jesus

Monday, September 9, 2013

TODAY'S SAINT: SEPT. 9: ST. PETER CLAVER

St. Peter Claver

PATRON SAINT OF SLAVES

Feast: September 9
Information: Feast Day: September 7

Born: June 26, 1580, Verdu, Catalonia, Kingdom of Spain

Died: September 8, 1654, Cartagena, Colombia
Canonized: January 15, 1888, Rome by Pope Leo XIII
Major Shrine: Church of Saint Peter Claver
Patron of: Slaves, Colombia, Race relations, and African Americans
The Blessed Peter Claver was born at Verdu in Catalonia in the year 1581, of parents eminent for piety and virtue, who instilled like qualities into his infant heart from the very cradle. In youth his piety and love of study won general admiration, and every preferment was open to him, but zeal for his neighbor's salvation led him to enter the Society of Jesus. His reputation was such that he was instantly admitted on his application in August, 1602. After a fervent noviceship, he was sent to the college of Majorca and there had the inexpressible happiness of enjoying the direction of the Blessed Alphonsus Rodriguez, then porter of the college, an eminent contemplative, from whom Claver derived much spiritual profit, and even a knowledge of his future career. Before completing his studies, he solicited the American mission, and was sent out in 1610. From that time he never asked about Spain, and seemed to have forgotten everything but the land of his labors. Completing his studies at Santa Fe de Bogota, he was ordained at Carthagena in 1615, and from that moment devoted himself to the care of the Negro slaves. No sooner did a slaver reach the port than he hastened on board with his interpreters, a basket of delicacies for the sick, and other necessaries. The sick were the first objects of his zeal. Gaining their good will by his kind and gentle manner, he instructed them in the doctrines of Christianity; and if there was danger, baptized them. He then began his regular instructions for those in health, which he continued from day to day, till they were prepared for baptism. Then, on an appointed day, he administered the sacrament to all, after a touching exhortation to persevere in virtue, The amount of his toil may be conceived, when we learn that at that time ten or twelve thousand slaves were annually landed at Carthagena. Nor did this include all, as many slavers, to avoid the custom-house duties, landed their cargo on the coast and pretended that they belonged to former licensed importations, and were already baptized. The zeal of the servant of God was more active than the interest of the government officers; he discovered most of these Negroes, instructed and baptized them. Not wearied with these labors, he visited the hospitals, and especially that of the Incurables and Lepers, whom he nursed with the greatest charity. The poor forsaken Negroes, too, in their hovels, were never too forlorn or too distant to escape him. So long did he breathe the pestiferous atmosphere of these abodes of misery, that his taste and smell were entirely lost. Besides all this, his austerities were frightful: his life was a miracle, as nothing but a miracle could have sustained it in such a climate, where a scratch is often fatal. Over the Negroes, he maintained a general direction; he had regular masses, instructions and devotions for them; he was their pastor, their father, their protector. In their behalf he frequently exercised the miraculous powers with which God, in a most eminent degree, invested him. Among the Spaniards he labored reluctantly, as they had clergy in abundance; but the poor could always have recourse to him, and for them, as for Moors, and heretics or unbelievers, he spared no toil.
During the season when slavers were not accustomed to arrive, he traversed the country, visiting plantation after plantation, to give spiritual consolation to the slaves. For a time, also, he was sent to labor among the Indians near the Isthmus, the field of the labors of St. Louis Bertrand, but, being seized with a fatal fever, he was carried back to Carthagena; there, partly recovering, he renewed his labors, but was again prostrated, and for the last four years of his life was scarcely able to move. Such was the poverty and wretchedness of the Jesuits, that he had no attendant but a Negro boy, and men were actually tearing down the house when he died, on the 8th of September, 1654, at the age of 72, a faithful imitator of the great Xavier. His canonization was immediately undertaken and almost brought to a close in 1747; but the suppression of his order and the troubles in Europe deferred the publication of the brief till the 29th of August, 1848, when he was solemnly beatified by Pope Pius IX.
http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/P/stpeterclaver.asp