Good News for the Family - Aid to the Church in Need

Aid to the Church in Need
Farms of Hope, Brazil
Good News for the Family
14 - 2
Peace begins in the family - Colombia
‘Listen to this advice: don’t let the
sun set without making peace. Peace
is renewed each day in the family!’
(Cf. Ephesians 4:26)
to the spirit of love within Christian
marriage. The programme includes
courses, meetings and weekends of
shared living.
In Espinal, Colombia they take
this advice from Pope Francis very
seriously.
Reconciliation
within
the family, communication among
couples, faithfulness and consideration – all these things have to be
learnt, and the best way to teach
them, as always, is through living
examples and exchanging personal
experiences. That is why Bishop
Pablo Salas Anteliz has established
a programme for training married
couples, so that they in turn can
support other couples and witness
By now 15 couples have completed
their training and many other young
couples are interested. ‘The family is
the source of peace for the family of
mankind’ wrote Pope John Paul II for
the Year of the Family in 1994. Peace
in our societies begins with peace in
marriage. We have promised Bishop
Pablo our support for the teaching
materials, travel and accommodation costs for these weekends: it is a
small investment for the upholding of
peace within families.
•
A blessing for
the marriage
counsellors.
Bishop Pablo
and his helpers.
Aid to the Church in Need
helping the Church heal the world.
www.acnireland.org
Aid to the Church in Need
Contents
Page
Happy human relationships - Fr. Martin Barta . . . . . .......................................... 2
A new name for ACN? - Johannes Freiherr Heereman ..................................... 3
Where the Church has to start from scratch - Good news for the family ........... 4
The family in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......................................... 6
Where to find love - Farms of Hope, Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . ......................................... 8
Farms of Hope, Families of Hope - Sr. Maureen O’Connor DMJ...................... 10
Battling wind, waves and whirlpools - Pastoral transport ............................ 14
A LOOK IN THE
A chairde - Good News for the family. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................ 15
It is good to remember that Love begins at home - Bl. Mother Teresa ........ 16
The Prodigal Father . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....................................... 19
A Dutiful Son .......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....................................... 20
Anne’s Homecoming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................ 21
Real Stories about Real People - Fr. Dwight Longenecker ............................. 24
Ralph’s Christian Witness - Fr. Dwight Longenecker ........................................ 26
St. Fabiola - Patron Saint for difficult marriages . . . . . . ....................................... 28
The Characteristics of the Saints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....................................... 30
Editor: Jürgen Liminski. Publisher: Kirche in Not / Ostpriesterhilfe, Postfach 1209, 61452 Königstein, Germany.
De licentia competentis auctoritatis ecclesiasticae. Printed in Ireland - ISSN 0252-2535. www.acn-intl.org
Aid to the Church in Need
1
Dear Friends,
Being true to one’s word, being able to rely
on someone and place your trust in them
– these are the basic elements of a happy
human relationship. That is why deceitfulness, betrayal, and abuses of trust can cause
the most profound wounds in the soul.
Love demands the unconditional affirmation of the one we love; it presupposes a
binding, absolute commitment and grows
only when we perseveringly and faithfully
give of ourselves.
episcopal
ring
after his ordination as a bishop,
she
suddenly
became thoughtful and showed
him her own
silver wedding
ring, worn and
tarnished
by
hard work: ‘But, Giuseppe, you would not
have your episcopal ring on your finger
were it not for this wedding ring on mine.’
In a fickle world, which can not tolerate
This strength to love is nourished at its objective truth, it is becoming ever more
roots by our faith in the faithful God and difficult to say ‘I do’, to keep our promises.
in His merciful love
All the more urgently
for us. The whole
then, do we need God’s
‘This strength to love is
of Sacred Scripture
nourished by our faith in the truthfulness and mercispeaks to us of the
ful fidelity as a stable
faithful God and in His
faithfulness of God
beacon, in order to
merciful love for us’
who, despite the
weather the storm of
unfaithfulness of His
decay and decadence.
people, remains unshakeably true to His
covenant and tirelessly shows them signs In his diary King Baudouin of the Belgians
of His merciful love. If we are united with left behind this beautiful testimony to
God, our promises, our pledges and our the faithful love that united him with his
vows must never be an empty word.
wife, Queen Fabiola: ‘Jesus, I thank You
for having inspired in me such a great
The faithfulness of God finds its most love for my wife. I thank You for having
natural form and expression in the marital given me a spouse who loves me – after
union, a union which goes far deeper than You – above everything. Fill Fabiola with
mere feelings. The fidelity of married your holiness and give her a more positive
people precedes the fidelity of priests image of herself. May she know the trust
and consecrated souls.
and my admiration I have for her. Teach
me to respect her personality, with all its
When the mother of Giuseppe Sarto, the contradictions. Strengthen in me the love
future Pope Pius X, reverently kissed his for her that comes from You.’
2
Dear benefactors, our heartfelt thanks
go out to you too – for your faithfulness
to God, to the Church and to each other,
in good times and bad times, which has
given so many people throughout the
world the courage to stand firm and
remain faithful to God’s Word.
My priestly blessing on you
all.
Father Martin M. Barta,
Spiritual Assistant
Dear Friends,
Two years ago, Pope Benedict XVI
raised us to the status of a papal foundation. Since then ACN has continued
to grow and develop successfully. But
there is still one major challenge that
we need to address.
Within our 17 national fundraising
offices we currently have eight different
names for our charity – for example Aid
to the Church in Need, Kirche in Not,
Aide à l’Église en Détresse, Ayuda a la
Iglesia necesitada, Aiuto alla Chiesa che
soffre…. We fully intend to keep these
names and not change them, but at the
same time we are trying to find a common, overarching name for our charity
that will express its international character and unity in the Catholic Faith.
The upcoming generation, whom we
must also enlist in support of our work,
is accustomed to thinking and acting
globally. Above all on the Internet and
in such major international gatherings
as the World
Youth
Days
we need this
additional,
all-embracing
name.
The
best
thing
would probably be to find a name in Latin. The
more suggestions we have, the greater
our chance of success. So what could
be better than to ask you, our benefactors, for your own suggestions? If you
feel you have a good idea, then please
e-mail it to me at
[email protected]
Johannes Freiherr Heereman,
Executive President of ACN International
Aid to the Church in Need
3
Where the Church has to start from scratch
- Family apostolate
Zimbabwe is one of the countries with
the highest HIV/AIDS figures in the world.
More than a million children are AIDS
orphans. They are among the most vulnerable and defenceless in society. The
Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Africa
take them in and care for them in their
Youth Alive centre.
Years of begging and stealing followed,
and soon he was addicted to alcohol and
marijuana. Then he met the sisters and
came into the Youth Alive programme. ‘It
changed my life’, he says. He no longer saw
himself as ‘worthless and born to suffer’.
Today he lives as a trader, earning a wage
and has a room of his own, where he lives.
Obert is one of these orphans. Until
recently he lived on the streets. After
his parents died, an uncle took him in,
but he did not get along with his uncle’s
three wives. He worked hard in the fields
for them, and going to school was only
a dream. ‘Ndaishandiswa se dhongi’, he
said – ‘they used me like a donkey’. He
didn’t find it difficult to leave them; life
on the streets seemed to offer him more
hope. He was 16 at the time.
Many other children and young people
like Obert, aged between seven and 35,
attend the Youth Alive programme in the
diocese of Mutare, Zimbabwe. Auxiliary
Bishop Patrick Mutume who’s its chairman, sees its holistic educational and
training work as an effective weapon not
only against HIV/AIDS, but also as a way of
preventing violence, prostitution, human
trafficking and teenage pregnancies. ACN
will helps fund this grace-filled initiative.
Loving and joyful – the Daughters of Our Lady Queen of the Holy Rosary in
Larantuka, Indonesia run boarding schools for the children of migrant workers
from the logging camps of Borneo, and they also care for street children in
Jakarta. We are helping them with Aus$12,500.
4
Presov married couples are
studying to be trainers for
other couples, and courses
are held for couples- to-be
and also for the spiritual
strengthening of divorcees. But now that
winter is coming, the wind is blowing
through the Church hall’s rotting window
frames. ACN has promised to help fund
essential repairs.
Learning to love, from their earliest
years. Family Mass in Presov.
As the worldwide survey initiated by
Pope Francis has shown, knowledge
about Christian marriage and the family
is very basic. It has all but disappeared
among young people in the Former
Soviet Republics. These countries are
morally devastated and apathetic: abortion is seen by many as just another
lifestyle choice. Here the Church has to
start from scratch.
In Georgia a group of lay people are trying to rebuild a sense of morality, with the
help of religious sisters, by teaching young
people how to defend human life and the
true meaning of married love. It is about
dealing with emotions; the psychological
differences between men and women;
mutual consideration and responsibility –
in short the anthropology and the theology
of the body. ACN is assisting with the cost
of materials.
‘The family is the way of the Church’,
wrote Blessed John Paul II. As these projects in Zimbabwe, Georgia and many
other countries show, love takes many
paths, and sometimes it is the Church
who must substitute for the lack of the
family, the domestic church. That is
where ACN assists.
•
Love has
to be
taught –
a catechist
in Kutaisi,
Georgia.
In Slovakia they are providing real, practical help as well. In the family centre near
Aid to the Church in Need
5
The family in Africa
In 12 short years, the African Family Life
Federation (AFLF), which was founded on
the initiative of Blessed John Paul II, has
helped over 1 million people to better
understand and live the teaching of the
Church on marriage and the family. ACN
has supported the AFLF, right from the
beginning. We spoke to Christine du
Coudray, who heads our Africa section
and has also been involved since AFLF
was founded.
Why does ACN support this Association?
It is vitally important for the Church
and for the people. During the plenary session of the first Africa Synod
in 1994 the Holy Father warned of the
dangers that were emerging from international meetings and from such ideologies
as feminism and gender theories, which
were threatening to destroy the natural
family consisting of father, mother and
children. They were prophetic words.
Thanks to ACN alone, so far. Christine du
Coudray with Foundation specialists.
As a consequence a number of smaller
associations for the defence of life and
the family were able to join together
and – together with the John Paul II Institute for the Family in Cotonou, Benin
– establish the first such association for
French-speaking Africa.
They had no funding; only ACN stood by
them. For years the federation has fought
a David and Goliath battle against the
anti-family, anti-life and abortion-promoting policies of the UN and other massive
international organisations.
Defenders of life – young mothers at a
Family Foundation course.
6
Has David grown
since then?
Yes. Thanks to
the support of
our benefactors, the
federation is now present in 22 countries of
French-speaking and
English speaking Africa,
and embraces a total of
34 organisations. In the
last year alone 141 diocesan and expert groups
have trained tens of thousands of (mainly
young) couples in family values and also
instructed an additional 21,000 married
couples in natural family planning.
But these are only figures. The real success
lies in the fact that, thanks to the federation,
millions of people have come to discover
and live the happiness that resides in a
respectful attitude to life and sexuality.
Above all – and despite the massive pressures from a throwaway consumer society
that despises human values – tens of
thousands of young couples have learned
that fidelity and mutual respect and true
love can be lived and truly bring happiness. This is also true for young people
generally – and it is the best protection
against AIDS.
Who is supporting the AFLF?
So far, only ACN. In the years since
its foundation we have contributed
€4 million for a vast number of different projects. But given the number of
people helped, that works out at less than
€4 to make someone happy and live and
love in a manner pleasing to God.
We are very much hoping that other
organisations will soon get involved.
For there is an immense need for teaching materials, pamphlets, handbooks,
short films – and also for the teams of
experts who have to travel. The demand
is immense, the growth of the federation
has been remarkable, and the Church in
Africa is faithful, but poor.
A LOOK IN THE
How do you see the
future?
I am pinning great faith in
the Synod for the Family,
in autumn 2014 in Rome. It
will put a strong emphasis on John Paul
II’s Theology of the Body. This should give
a boost to the federation.
The current president of the Africa-wide
Bishops’ Symposium (SECAM) Archbishop Gabriel Mbilingi, from Angola
and the president of the pontifical council
Cor Unum, Cardinal Robert Sarah both
see the Family Life Federation as pivotal
for the future of Africa. For thanks to
its trans-diocesan infrastructure, it can
convey such human virtues as solidarity,
fidelity, respect and fraternal charity to
every corner of the continent. It is a lynch
pin of love. And I am of course hoping
that our benefactors will continue to be
as generous as before, so that this work of
love can still thrive and flourish.
•
Archbishop
Henryk Hoser,
from Poland,who
helped set up the
Foundation.
7
Where to find love - Farms of Hope, Brazil
‘Where you find no love, bring love yourself, and then you will find love there.’
These words of St John of the Cross were
the motto for the 30th anniversary celebrations of the Fazendas, the ‘Farms
of Hope’, which have now become an
international phenomenon. Tens of
thousands of young people – the psychologically sick and drug addicts – have
found their way back to healing and a
normal life through work and prayer in
these Fazendas, and are now bringing
this love back into the world with them.
Here are three examples:
Luciano was a particularly difficult case.
20 years ago he was dealing in drugs and
weapons, stealing cars and jewellery. He
was made gang leader, as he had a talent
for running operations. In the Fazenda he
learnt to see life with new eyes. After a
year he completed his time there and
they heard nothing more of him.
They make
these rosaries
– and pray
with them – in
the Fazendas.
Then one day, Frei Hans, the Franciscan
priest and co-founder of the Fazenda
movement, found a donation equivalent
to ten thousand Euros on the books. With
large sums like this he usually rings up, to
thank the donor personally. It was Luciano
who answered the phone. It was a joyful
moment; Luciano decided there and then
to fly from Rio de Janeiro to visit Frei Hans
- in his private jet.
He sat up half the night, telling the priest
how after the Fazenda he had done a
course of studies, then
Alive again and happy
– two girls from the built up a clinic for eye
Fazenda with the medicine and gathered a
founder Frei Hans. team of doctors around
him. They were now performing eye operations
all over the world. He had
succeeded in giving new
sight to so many people,
not only physically but
also spiritually. ‘Just like
the Fazendas did for me’,
he explained. He was
about to travel to Africa,
8
since in Mozambique there were just two
eye specialists who could conduct the kind
of operations he was doing. They wanted
him to perform 2,000 operations there in
the space of just a few weeks.
paid back his debts to the
drug dealers and brought
more than 50 other drug
addicts to the Fazendas and
to the chance of a new life.
Then there was Ricardo. He was adopted
as a small child, but when the first major
problems started, his grandmother commented, ‘He hasn’t got that from us.’ So
he ran away, lived on the streets, joined
a gang and slid into crime. There was a
shootout, and he was left wounded, the
only surviving member of his gang.
They are the outcasts and the despised,
the marginalised, the victims who have
become perpetrators – and they all have
a place in the Fazendas. Many come from
broken families, where the father was
absent, or perhaps alcoholic, the mother
desperate, or perhaps a prostitute. They all
come from the icy wastelands of society,
from the train stations, bridges or canal
tunnels of the big cities. They come from
places where there is no love and no hope.
The family courts gave him one more
chance. He was allowed to go to a
Fazenda. He was just 14 at the time. After
a year he decided to stay on; he became
a ‘responsible’ (as they call the leaders
in the Fazendas), went to school, did his
A-levels, studied at university and went
into politics. Today he is responsible for
combating drugs in one of the federal
states of Brazil.
In the Fazendas they rediscover their dignity, and not a few of them even find a
religious vocation. Thanks to your help,
they find open arms, ready to welcome all
the children of God. And they pass on this
love to others.
•
Or again, the young boy by the name of
Washington. A victim of the drugs scene
in a Rio slum, he came to the Fazenda
addicted and deeply in debt. After a year,
he asked Nelson Giovanelli Rosendo, the
co-founder of the Fazendas, ‘Where shall
I go now?’ ‘Go home’, Nelson told him.
‘You know where I come from...?’ ‘Yes.
You have found a new life here. Now you
should take it back there.’
Jubilation – over 3,000 young
people came to celebrate
the anniversary.
Since then Washington has set up a stall,
where he earns an honest living. He has
Aid to the Church in Need
9
Farms of Hope, Families of Hope
- Sr. Maureen O’Connor DMJ*
One of my most memorable moments
of WYD in Brazil was when we accompanied Pope Francis to Varginha a slum in
the poor quarters of Rio. Some 12 million people (and growing) live in Favillas
or slums in Brazil. These slums are deeply
steeped in the drug culture. Armed gangs
roam the streets, drug dealers fight the
police in open battles, corruption, insecurity, poverty, violence, inequality coupled
with lack of public services, all make for
sub-normal living conditions.
The Pope’s words on that rainy evening
went to the heart of the issue: drug barons
in the logic of power and violence dealing
in death and destruction to get money at
all costs, bringing misery to millions.
A depressing reality
gives birth to a future of hope
It began in 1983 when a German Franciscan Parish Priest Frei Hans Staple, called a
group in the parish to come together and
meditate on the Gospel before Mass every
day. Young Nelson age 18 was a member
of the praying group, when he heard Jesus
saying ‘Whatever you do to the least of
my brothers you do to me’. In response he
decided to reach out to troubled youths in
the parish and call them to pray. Thus with
the enthusiasm of Nelson, the support of
the community and the wise leadership
and resourcefulness of Father Frei Hans
began the Farms of Hope at Guaratingueta,
near the shrine of Our Lady of Aparacida in
the Province of Sao Paulo in Brazil.
Today there are some 64 Farms of Hope
in Brazil with another 24 farms outside
Brazil. The first farm outside Brazil was set
up in Germany in the outskirts of Berlin in
1988. The impressive growth of the farms
in Brazil encouraged other countries to
begin similar communities in Paraguay,
Uruguay, Colombia, Argentina, Guatemala, Mexico, Mozambique, Angola the
Philippians and in Europe, Germany and
Switzerland and Portugal.
Sr. Maureen with Frei Hans Staple Founder
of the Farms of Hope and chairman of
Aid to the Church in Need in Brazil.
10
At present there are more than 2,000 boys
and girls in recovery with 20,000 ‘graduates’ worldwide (The Farms of Hope have
an 84% success rate for young people
overcoming addiction).
A high point of their daily
journey is the celebration of
the Eucharist, nourishing and
strengthening them from their
first tentative step towards liberation, to the moment when they can feel
strong enough continue the journey back
home to their own environment. One year
is the recommended stay at the farms.
Mother Farm of Hope and chapel at
Guaratingueta, house and land donated by
one of many generous patrons who have
sustained the projects around the world.
I spent almost two weeks on the farm at
Guaratingueta in 2013 after WYD and my
experience was enriching and grace-filled.
I believe that the secret of success on the
farms lies in the integrated nature of the
approach to treating addiction.
The young people live as a family in
houses of 12-14 with a volunteer leader.
The gospel is the source of life and joy, they
listen to the word together and share it a
spirit of trust and dialogue. The comforting words of Jesus remain in their hearts
and the sense of his close presence invites
them to conform their lives to Him.
Chapel at Guaratingueta.
Tabernacle made from
Local stone.
Work is central to the life of the community, it is a source of self esteem and
sustenance. Many learn here for the first
time the value and dignity of work. It
starts early in the morning in tune with
the rising sun and the song of the birds.
On arriving at the farm the young people,
many of whom come from the poorest quarters of Rio and Sao Paulo, are introduced
to agriculture, horticulture and the care of
animals. Working with the soil promotes
an awareness of the processes operating in
nature and creates deeper understanding
of the interdependence of all life systems as
well as the sacredness of food.
It was fascinating to watch the boys and
girls, who in most cases had never seen
a farm tool, digging in fields, planting,
watering, caring for animals and rejoicing at the appearance of the first green
shoots. This connection with the land is
clearly part of the healing process and
very therapeutic. The fruits of their labour
in the fields are shared with other communities and when families came to visit
they are given a share of the produce also.
The skills learned here extend to fruit grow-
Aid to the Church in Need
11
ing and processing, jam and juice making,
and the breads from the bakery are delicious. All these items are sold locally in the
small shops to the pilgrims who visit the
farms, and even and as far away as Rio and
Sao Paulo the labels can be found.
Another adventurous and eco-friendly project they are engaged in is recycling plastics
from the city warehouses. Their machines
are basic but the end products are furniture, church fittings, doors and windows.
The farms have a contract with a company
making washing up liquid to make the plastic bottles, fill and package the bottles for
delivery to local supermarkets and other
outlets. This contract was initiated by the
director of the ACN office in Sao Paulo.
The young men and women can get an
opportunity to learn some of these new
skills according to their interest and ability.
It is hoped when they leave the farms they
will be able to earn a living and support
Pope Benedict XVI visiting the Farm of
Hope at Guaratinguet in 2007
12
a family. Pope John Paul II came to visit
the original Farm of Hope at Guaratinguet
1991, his visit was a sign of the Church’s
concern for those who are on the margins
of society, excluded, not accepted, those
who are labeled as thieves, troublemakers and unwanted.
In 2007, Pope Benedict XIV visited the
mother Farm of Hope at Guaratinguet.
For this historic occasion, more than 5,000
friends of the farms from 45 communities in
nine countries around the world gathered.
The Philippians was able to send a group of
14 patients, ex-patients and volunteers.
The Holy Father was deeply moved by the
testimonies of the young people , sharing
how through God’s grace and the love of
the community, they were able to find a
way out of addictions to enjoy a new life
in freedom again.
The same message of concern for the marginalised was conveyed by Pope Francis
during WYD at the inauguration of a drug
rehabilitation clinic in Sao Francisco hospital in Rio. He hugged former addicts and
listened to their stories. The Pope offered
words of comfort, while at the same stressing that we cannot close our eyes to the
lack of opportunity, to the drugs trade, to
criminal organizations, robberies, murders
the destruction of homes, family structures
and the dreams of the young.
An essential part of the
Farms of Hope is the ‘Family
of Hope’ the community
running the Farm centres
around the world. It received
the approval of its statutes from the Pontifical Council of the laity in 2010. Thanks
to this community and the generous support given towards this apostolate by Aid
to the Church in Need and other donors
over many years, thousands of young
people, lost in a world of drugs are regaining life and becoming in turn ambassadors
of hope as Pope Benedict expressed it.
Fazenda da Esperanca in Brazil celebrated
it’s 30th anniversary in 2013 as some 2,500
members from the 88 communities around
the world gathered in Guaratingurta Sao
Paulo to give thanks to God for the marvels
He is doing among his people.
•
* Sr. Maureen O’Connor DMJ(Daughters of Mary and Joseph),
is a returned Missionary Religious Sister and the Lead
Co-ordinator of Aid to the Church in Need. (Ireland)’s diocesan
preaching programme.
The Church has always been on the side
of the poor, this is her vocation and the life
at the farms of hope is a living witness to
God’s love, offering a spirituality which is
the foundation for moral living and leads to
a change of mindset and behaviour in the
young people who come seeking new hope
and freedom.
Aid to the Church in Need
13
Battling wind, waves and whirlpools - Pastoral transport
Cars, minibuses, motorbikes and motor
boats all serve as means for conveying the Gospel message. Without them
many missions and missionaries would
be brought to a halt and many regions
of this earth would be left in darkness.
They’re already
waiting for him
by the lakeside –
Bishop Philippe
Nkiere.
Mai-Ndombe Lake in the west of the
Democratic Republic of Congo is bewitchingly beautiful, but at the same time
treacherous. Whirlpools, winds and waves
claim dozens of lives each year; more than
200 in 2009.
But there is no other way of reaching
the parishes except by crossing it. And
so Bishop Philippe Nkiere Keana sets
out, following our Lord’s words, ‘duc in
altum’ (‘put out into the deep’), to visit
the people of his diocese – which is larger
than Portugal – and bring them the Good
News. Every year he covers more than
5,000 kilometres in his little boat. One of
his predecessors had already capsised on
one occasion and was saved only thanks
to some fishermen in canoes.
But the reason the diocese is turning to us
now is because ‘the fuel prices are enough
to make you tear your hair out’, as Father
Laurent put it. In this region 80% of the
thoroughfares are waterways. When the
bishop comes, it is an inspirational visit
for many people. They listen to him attentively. A small and economic motor boat
would be a blessing for his pastoral work,
we have promised to help.
14
In Indura, Belarus, very little would
be running at all if it were not for the
two sisters of the congregation of the
Handmaids of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. Every day they
manage to visit three different villages,
caring for young people and children,
providing religious instruction and tending
to the church.
But it is too much for just the two of
them and other sisters cannot get visas
to come and help. In such a situation the
car is a vital necessity. But it is old, and
liable to break down at any time. So a
new and reliable car is needed if they are
to be able to provide pastoral and social
care in the many different places. We will
help them.
•
A new car in Tanzania
It was a joyous occasion. The people of
the parish of Saint Charles Lwanga in
Mpepai, Tanzania were already waiting
for the car on the outskirts of the village,
and when it arrived, they ran alongside
it, dancing and singing, all the way to the
church.
‘It was a day of joy and happiness’, writes
Father Pichai Pillai, the parish priest. He
himself was astonished at the joyful way
the people celebrated the arrival of the
car, and for him it shows just how eagerly
the people had been waiting for it. ‘This
joy and this happiness is your doing;
through it you have brought a real big
smile to the faces of all the faithful in my
parish’, he writes, adding that this gift is
‘a great blessing, above all now, before
the rainy season’.
•
A LOOK IN THE
A chairde,
It is from within the small ‘domestic
churches’ of our families that we learn to
love and serve others for the love of God.
In truth Evangelisation begins at home, a
reality which is easily understood when
one appreciates ‘Evangelisation’ to mean
teaching someone ‘the Art of Living’.1
‘Broken’ families are of course an uncomfortable and widespread reality. Indeed
there is not a family anywhere in the
world which is not in one way or to some
degree ‘broken’.
This collection of short articles is a reflection on the issue of ‘broken’ families, the
‘broken’ lives which ensue and the Hope
and Healing that is readily available to
them and to all of us.
Fr. Michael Shields, ACN Ireland’s Evangelist-at-Large considers all of us to be
‘broken’ and those of us who have the
Faith, to be blessed. He is not wrong.
Beir Beannacht
J F Declan Quinn
1 Cardinal Ratzinger J. a.k.a. Pope Benedict XVI
A LOOK IN THE
15
It is Good to Remember that Love
begins at Home - Blessed Mother Teresa
t is good to remember this, especially nowadays when there’s so
much fear, so much pain, so much
suffering, so much distress. It is good to
remember that He will not forget you,
that He loves you, loves me, and that Jesus has come to give us that good news.
When we look at the cross, we will understand how He loved us, and how He wants
us to love one another as He has loved
each one of us.
And when He came into the light of Mary,
the most pure virgin, she accepted Him as
the handmaid of the Lord, and she did not
speak, but what did she do? Immediately,
in haste, she went to her cousin’s home
to do what? Just to serve, to do the small
works of a handmaid. And something very
strange happened: the unborn child in the
womb of Elizabeth, six months old, leaped
with joy. Strange that it was an unborn child,
the child that has become the target of so
much evil is who was the first human being
to recognise Him, to give Him a welcome, to
rejoice that God’s son Jesus has come.
And today, [it is] unbelievable that the
mother herself murders her own child,
afraid of having to feed one more child,
afraid to educate one more child: the
child must die. This is one of the greatest
poverties. A nation, a people, the family
that allows that, that accept that, are the
poorest of the poor. They are afraid. The
16
fear of that child. And so we see that. That
impossible thing has happened today, and
you and I have been taught to love, to love
one another, to be kind to each other, not
in words, but in life. To prove that love in
action as Christ has proved it. That’s why
we read in the Gospel that Jesus made
himself the Bread of Life to satisfy our
hunger for love. For He says: ‘Whatever
you do to the least of my brethren, you do
to me.’
How wonderful it is! We all long, we all
want even the disbeliever wants to love
God in some way or another, and where
is God? How do we love God, whom we
don’t see? To make it easy for us, to help us
to love, He makes himself the hungry one,
the naked one, the homeless one. And you
will, I’m sure ask me: ‘Where is that hunger
in our country?’ Yes, there is hunger. Maybe not the hunger for a piece of bread, but
there is a terrible hunger for love. There is
a terrible hunger for the word of God.
the loss of that virginity that
was the most beautiful thing
that a young man and a young
woman can give each other
because they love each other,
the loss of that presence, of what is beautiful, of what is great this is nakedness.
I never forget when we went to Mexico,
and we went visiting very poor families.
And those people we saw had scarcely anything in their homes, and yet nobody asked
for anything. They all asked us: Teach us
the word of God. Give us the word of God.
They were hungry for the word of God.
Here, too, in the whole world there is a
terrible hunger for God, among the young
especially. And it is there that we must find
Jesus and satisfy that hunger.
omelessness is not a lack of a homemade of bricks, but the feeling of
being rejected, being unwanted,
having no one to call your own. I
never forget, one day, I was walking down
the streets of London and I saw a man sitting there. He looked so sad, so lonely. So
I went right up to him. I took his hand and
I shook his hand and my hands are always
very warm. And he looked up at me and
he said: ‘Oooh, after such a long time I feel
the warmth of a human hand.’ It was so
small that little action was so small and
yet it brought a radiating smile on a face
that had forgotten to smile, who had forgotten what is the warmth of a human
Nakedness is not only for a piece of cloth.
Nakedness is for the loss of that human
dignity, the loss of that respect, the loss of
that purity that was so beautiful, so great,
‘Love begins by taking
care of the closest ones
- the ones at home’
Blessed Mother Teresa
A LOOK IN THE
17
hand. And this is what we have to find in
our country, in all other countries around
the world, everywhere.
And where do we begin? At home. And
how do we begin to love? By prayer. By
bringing prayer into your life, for prayer
always gives us a clean heart, always.
And a clean heart can see God. And if you
see God in each other, naturally you will
love another.
That’s why it is important to bring prayer
into the family, for the family that prays
together stays together. And if we stay together, naturally we will love one another
as God loves each one of us. So it is very
important to help each other to pray.
nd where do our sisters get that
strength to do what they are doing to take care of lepers, to take
care of the sick and the dying and pick
up people from the streets, not only
of Calcutta, but everywhere? Where is
that strength coming to the sisters to
take care of the poor of New York and
that other place in London and Calcutta
and all these places? It is the proof of
their union with Christ that comes from
the Bread of Life that Eucharist. Jesus
has made Himself to feed, to give us life.
And my advice to you is: make it a point
in your life at least once a week to go
and be alone with Jesus in the Eucharist, and you will find the strength and
the joy and the love that your heart is
hungry for.
18
Love, to be true, has to hurt. Some time
back in Calcutta, we had difficulty getting
sugar, and I do not know how a little boy,
four years old, had heard ‘Mother Teresa
has no sugar,’ but he went home and he
told his parents: ‘I will not eat sugar for
three days. I will give my sugar to Mother Teresa.’ After three days, the parents
brought this little one to our house. They
had never been before; they had never
given anything. But this little one, with a
little bottle in his hand, brought his family to our house. And from that little one
I learned how he loved with great love.
Not because he gave so much. For God it
is not how much we give, but how much
love we put in the giving. And that love
begins at home, right there.
•
The Prodigal Father
any years ago, Al Capone virtually
owned Chicago. Capone wasn’t
famous for anything heroic. He
was however notorious for enmeshing
the Windy City in everything from bootlegged booze and prostitution to murder.
Capone had a lawyer nicknamed ‘Easy Eddie.’ He was Capone’s lawyer for a good
reason. Eddie was very good. In fact, Eddie’s skill at legal manoeuvring kept Big Al
out of jail for a long time.
To show his appreciation, Capone paid him
very well. Not only was the money big,
but Eddie got special dividends, as well.
For instance, he and his family occupied a
fenced-in mansion with live-in help and all
of the conveniences of the day. The estate
was so large that it filled an entire Chicago
City block. Eddie lived the high life of the
Chicago mob and gave little consideration
to the atrocity that went on around him.
Eddie however did have one soft spot. He
had a son that he loved dearly and Eddie
saw to it that his young son had clothes,
cars, and a good education. Nothing was
withheld. Price was no object. And, despite his involvement with organized
crime, Eddie even tried to teach his son
right from wrong for Eddie wanted his
son to be a better man than he was. He
knew however that despite all his wealth
and influence, there were two things he
couldn’t give his son; he couldn’t pass on
a good name or a good example.
A LOOK IN THE
One day, ‘Easy Eddie’
reached a difficult decision.
He wanted to rectify wrongs
he had done so he decided he would go to
the authorities and tell the truth about Al
‘Scarface’ Capone, clean up his tarnished
name, and offer his son some semblance
of integrity. To do this, he would have to
testify against The Mob, and he knew that
the personal cost would be great.
Within a year,
‘Easy Eddie’s’ life
ended in a blaze
of gunfire on a
lonely Chicago
Street. But in
his eyes, he had
given his son the
greatest gift he
Al Capone
had to offer, at
the greatest price he could ever pay. Police removed from his pockets a rosary, a
crucifix, a religious medallion, and a poem
clipped from a magazine. The poem read:
he clock of life is wound but once,
And no man has the power to tell
Just when the hands will stop,
At late or early hour.
T
ow is the only time you own.
Live, love, toil with a will.
Place no faith in time.
For the clock may soon be still.’
N
19
A Dutiful Son
orld War II produced many heroes. One such man was Lieutenant Commander Butch O’Hare.
He was a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier Lexington in the South Pacific.
dove at the planes, trying to clip a wing or
tail in hopes of damaging as many enemy
planes as possible, rendering them unfit
to fly. Finally, the exasperated Japanese
squadron took off in another direction.
One day his entire squadron was sent on a
mission. After he was airborne, he looked
at his fuel gauge and realised that someone had forgotten to top off his fuel tank.
He would not have enough fuel to complete his mission and get back to his ship.
His flight leader told him to return to the
carrier. Reluctantly, he dropped out of formation and headed back to the fleet.
Deeply relieved, Butch O’Hare and his tattered fighter limped back to the carrier.
Upon arrival, he reported in and related the
event surrounding his return. The film from
the gun-camera mounted on his plane told
the tale. It showed the extent of Butch’s
daring attempt to protect his fleet. He had,
in fact, destroyed five enemy aircraft.
As he was returning to the mother ship, he
saw something that turned his blood cold;
a squadron of Japanese aircraft was speeding its way toward the American fleet. The
American fighters were gone on a sortie, and the fleet was all but defenceless.
He couldn’t reach his squadron and bring
them back in time to save the fleet. Nor
could he warn the fleet of the approaching
danger. There was only one thing to do. He
must somehow divert them from the fleet.
Laying aside all thoughts of personal safety, he dove into the formation of Japanese
planes. Wing-mounted 50 calibre’s blazed
as he charged in, attacking one surprised
enemy plane and then another. Butch
wove in and out of the now broken formation and fired at as many planes as possible
until all his ammunition was finally spent.
Undaunted, he continued the assault. He
20
This took place on February 20, 1942, and
for that action Butch became the Navy’s
first Ace of WWII, and the first Naval Aviator to win the Medal of Honour. A year later Butch was killed in aerial combat at the
age of 29. His home town would not allow
the memory of this WWII hero to fade, and
today, O’Hare Airport in Chicago is named
in tribute to the courage of this great man.
Butch O’Hare was ‘Easy Eddie’s’ son. Good
parenting matters and it carries a price.•
Butch
O’Hare
Anne’s Homecoming
’m a ‘revert’, and I can say without
reservation I believe God’s greatest
blessing in my life was placing me in
a Catholic family. Like many post Vatican
II Catholic families, we attended Mass on
Sundays and most Holy Days of obligation,
but we had very little involvement with the
Faith beyond that. While in public school I
attended CCD (Catholic Church Doctrine),
and went to our Parish school for a couple
of years, but only two of the four of us
children were confirmed and that only because we were attending Catholic school
when the time came for confirmation.
I never understood the Mass, I never understood the “Good News” that one of the
Sisters who taught me in middle school
spoke of, we never learned to pray the
rosary, though Dad did teach us to pray
the big three, Our Father, Hail Mary, and
Glory Be, along with the “Bless us o Lord”
before meals.
I don’t ever recall my parents going to confession, and we kids only did because it was
available at school. In many ways we were
cultural Catholics more than anything, I
certainly did not understand the Real Presence, and I assume no one in my family did,
in as much as it was never spoken of.
So not having much of a foundation in
the faith, and being rather an angry child
anyway, I bolted from the Church at the
first available opportunity, that being my
leaving for the University of Michigan.
A LOOK IN THE
What followed is about 20+
years of floundering around
in new age nonsense with the
anger turning into full blown depression. I
functioned in spite of my melancholy outlook on life, graduated college, got married,
and earned a Public Administration Masters
at the University of Southern California.
y Husband and I are entrepreneurs, and have been involved
in several successful businesses, really the American dream. All the
trappings of a successful life, and yet
the depression and anxiety, the vague
sense of being lost, the occasional moments I would pause on a Christian radio
broadcast and ponder. Not for too long of
course, we University-educated sophisticates need endure such things. Then
came the shoulder injuries.
I hurt both my shoulders so badly that I
could not dress myself. Not yet 40 years
old, I thought I might not ever be able to
move without pain again in my life, and
all I had on hand were the ‘Our Father’,
‘Hail Mary’, and ‘Glory Be’ prayed with
Dad as a child.
I cried out to God with these three prayers
and my elementary school comprehension of the things of God, and He being
the patient, kind loving Father that He is,
met me where I was, and answered my
prayer. For relief of pain in my shoulders
and for the gentle guidance He has pro21
vided ever since I have nothing to offer
other than the daily prayer of my life lived
for Him, consecrated to His Sacred Heart,
through the Immaculate Heart of His Beloved Mother and mine, Mary.
Interestingly enough, as I prayed and
asked God for guidance, I was not immediately led back to the Catholic Church. I
was led to an Evangelical Church where
the Gospel is presented at an elementary
school comprehension level, the perfect
place for someone such as myself who’s
comprehension of the Gospel was almost
non-existent.
Evangelicals tend to spend a great deal
of time studying scripture, and so I read
and read the bible, reading almost nothing but for over two years. My depression
lifted, never to return, and I came to understand that Christ’s atonement for our
sins is Good News. Indeed, Satan is a defeated foe, that a life lived with Jesus in
eternity as He originally intended trumps
any piddling little problem I may encounter here in Satan’s realm on earth.
owever, I gradually became uncomfortable with some inconsistencies
between what I was reading in the
scripture and the doctrine taught
in the Evangelical church. Probably even
more importantly, in scripture I came to
recognise the practices and Sacraments
of the Church, something I had never understood. And I was yearning for the Eucharist, though oddly enough I still did not
comprehend the Real Presence.
22
The clinchers for me were John’s Gospel,
Chapter 17, Christ’s Unity prayer in the garden, and Matthew 16:18 when Peter is given
the keys to the Kingdom. As I pondered disunity among Christians and the somewhat
constant attack on the Church of Rome, it
occurred to me Jesus did not abandon His
people and His Church for the first 1,500
years of Christianity, after all He tells us He
will be with us until the end of the age. Gee
the Church has it all wrong for 1,500 years
and then the reformers came along and got
it all squared away? I think not.
So without the prejudice of a lifetime
of being told the Catholic Church was
wrong, and with the immeasurable blessing of Grace I received at my Confirmation,
I began to read the Catechism and learn
the faith Christ has given His people, and
I knew I had to come home to Rome.
est of the story, after
14 years, our marriage
was con-validated December 2004, my Husband
was received into the Church
at Easter Vigil 2005, and we live our lives
in gratitude to the King of Kings, the Lord
of Lords, begging each day for the salvation of the souls of all those with whom
we have contact.
Praying to our Savior that just as Sister
Mary planted those little seeds of faith
back in middle school, we through the
prayer of our lives lived for Christ, and our
witness to His unfathomable Mercy and
Grace, plant the seeds of the message of
salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ
and the Grace he pours out to His people
through His Church here on earth. Alleluia, Amen.
•
‘How precious is the family
as the privileged place for
transmitting the faith’
Pope Francis
A LOOK IN THE
23
Talking about our Faith with Real Stories
about Real People - Fr. Dwight Longenecker
ow is the gospel best spread? By
talking about how the faith has
changed you. It is by telling faith
stories. It is by sharing the amazing,
simple and real experiences of the faith.
say tonight except that I love my wife Flossie’, and then he’d reach down to take her
hand and start to weep a bit. ‘The Lord has
given us to each other and not a day goes
by that I don’t thank him for Flossie.’
What is a “faith story”? A faith story is
a shared event in which the faith actually did what it was supposed to do: save
people, heal people, change lives and
change the world.
When all the theologians, scholars, philosophers and professional religious
people are done, this is the down-home,
heart-to-heart, rubber-meeting-road kind
of evangelisation. We don’t follow Christ
for what he can do for us, but we do expect our faith to work.
I am a convert to Catholicism from Evangelical fundamentalism. I grew up in an
atmosphere where it was natural to share
our faith stories. The Christian folk in our
church shared their faith with one another all the time. They spoke freely about
answered prayer, prayer requests and the
daily communication with God.
On Wednesday evenings we would meet
for fellowship and a prayer meeting. Part of
this weekly meeting was the pastor inviting
anyone who wanted to stand up and share
what God had done for them that week.
Housewives would give a brief answer
to prayer.
Businessmen would recount an experience sharing the faith.
Children would stand up and say what
they were thankful for.
Every week one dear old saint named
George would stand up, and in a trembling
voice say, ‘Well pastor, I don’t have much to
24
The problem with so many Catholics is
that they don’t really expect their religion to DO anything for them. They have
been taught to fulfil their duties and say
their prayers, and they give lip-service to
the beliefs
That Confession really absolves them
of their sins and heals them
That the Eucharist infuses supernatural
love into their lives and
That Anointing brings healing.
But they don’t expect the daily surge of
God’s power in their lives.
This is where faith stories become so important. As we share faith stories people
are inspired, faith grows. People come
more and more to believe, trust and expect God to do great things. This is one of
the reasons why I try to weave at least one
faith story into every homily. In teaching
confirmation class I tell faith
stories so the children not
only learn the facts of their
Catholic religion but also how
faith works and how God can
touch their lives.
Faith stories should be at the bedrock of
our lives as Catholics. We are sometimes
so intent on learning the Catechism or the
arguments for the Faith or apologetics,
but we neglect the real stories of real people whose lives are transformed by God.
Faith stories make up the heart of Sacred Scripture. Indeed the Bible is in large
measure a long and ancient collection
of faith stories: real stories of real people who made a transaction with God,
who set out on the great adventure and
changed the world.
Why do we tell and re-tell the lives of the
saints? Because they are our faith stories.
Pope Benedict XVI said that the saints are
‘lived theology’ and ‘the sacred Scriptures can only be interpreted through the
lives of the saints.’ It is in these faith stories that the Catholic religion lives and we
should not be ashamed to tell our stories,
and if we don’t have a faith story to tell?
Then we better get one soon!
Evangelisation takes place as real people
first live the faith, then share their experiences. As others see the example and
hear the stories they will be attracted and
inspired to follow the way and embark on
their own great adventure.
•
A LOOK IN THE
25
Ralph’s Christian Witness - Fr. Dwight Longenecker
ne of the sweet things about
being a priest is being able to
minister at a person’s deathbed. The veil between this world and
the next is very thin at that point, and
you can see so much.
When I say you can ‘see’ so much what I
mean is that so much is revealed. At that
point the person who is dying is usually
very vulnerable and open. Their worldly
facade is fading. Their accomplishments
and pride are forgotten. They realise
that all the stuff of this world will soon
be left behind.
Often the person is quietly sleeping. The
family is gathered around and there is no
response as the Last Rites are given. On
the other hand, sometimes the process
is very conscious. More than once I’ve
been called to visit a man or woman who
has called the parish office specifically
because they know they are dying and
they want to see a Catholic priest.
So it was that I once made my way to a
small apartment in a not-so-good part of
town. I was admitted to find a man in his
sixties with a haggard expression gasping
for air. Call him Ralph.
‘Are you a Catholic priest?’
‘I am.’
‘It’s about time. I’ve been calling all
around town for the last three weeks
trying to get hold of a Catholic priest.’
‘I’m sorry. It looks like you’re pretty sick.’
26
‘Yep. I’m dying. Doctor says only a few
more weeks. They can’t do anything
for me.’
‘What’s the problem?’
‘Lung cancer. It’s my own damned
fault. I couldn’t give up smoking,’
‘Uh huh. Why haven’t you seen a
priest up til now?’
‘I was in the hospice and when I asked
they sent some old guy around wearing
a blue shirt. That made me suspicious
so I asked him and he said he was a
Methodist. So a few days later I asked
again and they sent a woman.’
‘So why didn’t you send for your parish
priest? What church do you go to?’
Memento Mori
Remember, Dear Christian
You have but one soul to save,
One God to love and serve,
One eternity to expect.
Death will come soon,
Judgment will follow,
And then Heaven or Hell forever.
Therefore, O child of
Jesus and Mary,
Avoid sin and all
dangerous occasions of sin.
Pray without ceasing.
Go frequently to Confession and to
Holy Communion
Amen
asked and he laughs, then starts
coughing, really bad. I think he’s
going to cough his lungs up or what’s
left of them. Finally he stops laughingcoughing and says,
‘Hell, Father I haven’t been to church
for fifty years.’
‘Then why start now?’
‘Because the nuns told me when a
Catholic is dying you’re supposed to
call the priest. Right?’
‘Right.’
‘And I’m a Catholic and I’m dying so I
called a priest. What next?’”
‘Well, are you prepared to make your
confession and receive the sacrament
of healing?’
‘Is that the same as the Last Rites?’
‘Yes. Do you want to make your confession?’
‘That might take a long time…’ and he
tarts laughing-coughing again.
‘I’ve got as much time as it takes.’
o I began to hear his sad old
confession of a wasted life and
tragic losses. There were tears
on his side first, then on mine. I gave
him absolution and promised to bring
him Communion the next day, and that
Communion was one of the sweetest
things I can remember. He was like a
little child. He had faith. In fact he had
nothing but faith.
Then after Communion and a blessing he
lit up a cigarette. ‘You shouldn’t smoke.’ I
said. ‘Those things are going to kill you.’
He thought that was hilarious.
A LOOK IN THE
week later his carer
called and I went to
see Ralph again. This
time he was in bed in a
darkened room. There
were no family members there. He’d
screwed his friends, alienated his kids and
divorced his wife. He was alone.
I sat by his bedside. ‘Ralph, who is
with you right now?’
‘Nobody Father. Nobody, and it’s my
fault. I admit it.’
I took out my rosary. ‘Do you remember this?’
‘Sure. The nuns taught me to say the
rosary.’
‘That’s who is with you now.
Mother Mary.’
I give him the rosary. ‘You’re going
to die soon, but I want you to hold on
to this rosary as you go. She and your
guardian angel will see you across the
river. Are you good with that?’
He whispers, ‘Sure I’m good with that.’
Do you want me to say the prayers for
passing? He nods. I pray. He goes to
sleep, and a few days later at his funeral
his people are surprised to see a Catholic priest show up. Nobody knew Ralph
was a Catholic.
When I tell them how Ralph died there
was total silence and reverence, and
in some strange way Ralph, who was
a pretty lousy Catholic in life, bore a
radiant witness to Christ the King in
his death.
•
27
St. Fabiola - Patron Saint for difficult marriages2
n his introductory letter to the Mirror Fr Martin makes reference to the
great love which united King Baudouin (1930-1993) of the Belgians to his
wife Queen Fabiola (born 1928). Over
1,500 years earlier in the latter years of
the Western Roman Empire, a rich young
Roman lady who was to become the future St. Fabiola, was not nearly as fortunate in marriage.
The author Thomas J. Craughwell in his
book ‘Saints Behaving Badly ‘included
St. Fabiola in his collection of 28 ‘cutthroats, crooks, trollops, con men and
Devil worshippers’ who subsequently
became saints. Craughwell terms St Fabiola a ‘bigamist’ and here is how he
tells her story.
abiola was a Christian and a
patrician. No doubt her (first)
husband came from a distinguished family as well, but we do
not know if he was a Christian. We
do not even know his name. We do
know that he made Fabiola miserable, cheating on her on an epic scale.
St. Jerome says the man’s adulteries
were so numerous, so flagrant “not
even a prostitute or a common slave
could have put up with them”.
There came a point when Fabiola
would tolerate it no longer. She divorced her husband.
28
J Henners’ portrait
of St. Fabiola
While a Catholic may separate from
a spouse, he or she is forbidden to
divorce and remarry. Christ himself
forbade it in St. Matthew’s gospel, yet
Fabiola defied this law. She was still a
young woman. She found it too hard
to live without the company of a man,
so she obtained a civil divorce from
her first husband and, in a civil ceremony, married another, better man.
The Church could not recognize Fabiola’s divorce or her civil marriage.
Her actions, although understandable, placed Fabiola in the category
of a persistent sinner and barred her
from receiving the sacraments. For a
prominent Christian patrician to flout
the laws of the Church caused a public scandal.
hen the unexpected happened:
Fabiola’s second husband died.
She already placed herself outside the Church; she could have married for a third time if she wanted. But
grace touched Fabiola’s heart. One Sunday she appeared among the penitents
outside Rome’s Lateran Basilica, the
Church that is the Pope’s cathedral. In
the fourth century repentance and absolution were much more public than
they are today. Sinners did not slip into a
private confessional; they came to Sunday Mass dressed in miserable clothes,
unwashed and unkempt, so everyone
in the congregation would know that
they repented the wickedness they had
done. St. Jerome describes the scene,
saying noble Fabiola appeared before
the throng of Christians with “dishevelled hair, pale features, soiled hands
and unwashed neck”. That Sunday, the
pope absolved her of her sins.
ow that she was restored to the
Church, Fabiola devoted herself
to good works. She sold her jewels, her land, everything she owned.
With the money from the sale of her
property she opened the first hospital in the West, nursing, washing, and
feeding the patients herself. Her wealth
was so extensive, however, that Fabiola could expand her work, endowing
monasteries and convents, clothing the
poor of Rome, and supporting invalids.
With her hospital up and running,
Fabiola decided to make a pilgrimA LOOK IN THE
age to the Holy Land. That
is how she met St. Jerome:
he had settled in Bethlehem, where he was working on the authoritative
Latin translation of the Bible that has
come to be called the Vulgate. Fabiola
charmed Jerome, who could be thinskinned, cantankerous, and difficult to
get along with. She lingered in Bethlehem, and they became good friends.
Jerome thought Fabiola might stay in
the Holy Land permanently, but when
the Huns invaded Syria and Palestine,
Fabiola fled back to Rome. Soon afterward she died.
er funeral was more like an old
Roman triumph for a conquering hero than a requiem. The
churches were thronged with mourners praying for her soul, and as her
body was carried through Rome to its
tomb, “the streets, porches and roofs
from which a view could be obtained
were inadequate to accommodate
the spectators.” Her friend St. Jerome
wrote what could be her epitaph
“Where sin hath abounded, grace
hath much more abounded”’.
St. Jerome, the fourth century Doctor of
the Church who knew St. Fabiola well and
penned the most inspiring of eulogies
which can be read at www.acnireland.
org/index.php/mirror or by
scanning the code.
•
2 Craughwell Thomas J: ‘Saints Behaving
Badly’, Doubleday, 2006
29
The Characteristics of the Saints3
All saints are filled with the love of God.
hey have chosen God above all
others and made a definite commitment to God.
In her book Saint Watching (Viking
Press), Phyllis McGinley writes that
saints are human beings with an added
dimension. “They are obsessed by goodness and by God as Michelangelo was
obsessed by line and form, as Shakespeare was bewitched by language,
Beethoven by sound.”
All saints love other human beings.
t cannot be any other way. In the
First Letter of John (4:20) we read: “If
anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates
his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does
not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”
McGinley also says that, although saints
may be different in many ways, they are
always generous. You will never find a
stingy saint.
All saints are risk-takers.
hen God called, they answered.
For some it was taking a chance on
a new way of life in a new place. In
the Old Testament, we have the example of
Abraham, called at an old age to leave his
country and to go to the place God had selected for him. Even today, it is difficult for
older people to leave their level of comfort
and to face the new and unknown.
30
Abraham’s story is a marvelous example
of trust in God, but even more so of a
decision to plunge into the unknown.
Like Abraham, saints responded to the
graces that were given to them. Some
were called to be popes, bishops, abbots
or abbesses. Others found their calling in
a quiet, reserved life, far away from the
center of activity.
St. Julian of Norwich lived in a small cell
attached to a church. She was even walled
in, but that did not keep people away;
they came to her and asked for her spiritual advice.
St. Catherine of Siena lived at home, not
in a convent, as a person dedicated to
God. People flocked to her, but not because she wanted them to.
Others, whose names are not well-known,
lived simple lives among their families and
friends, serving God with all their hearts,
but never making a splash in the world.
The saints are humble, willingly and lovingly attributing to God all that they have
and all that they will ever be.
Humility has always had a poor press;
many people think that humility means
saying derogatory things about oneself.
Far from it! The saints showed their humility by using whatever gifts they had
to perfection, but never attributing these
gifts to themselves.
St. Augustine and St. Thomas
Aquinas were brilliant men
and they did not go around
saying how stupid they were.
They did acknowledge, however, that all they knew was as nothing
compared to the infinite wisdom of God.
Saints are people of prayer.
ome, especially members of religious orders, had entire days of
prayer. Others found their time with
God in other ways.
Dorothy Day—not canonised but recognized by many as a truly holy person—
started her day with prayer but said that
she met God daily in the crowds of the poor
who came to her hospitality house. None
of the saints saw prayer as a waste of time
or as an activity for only the weak or naive.
The saints are not perfect.
ach of the saints had human flaws
and faults. They made mistakes.
Even at the end of their lives, they
still found themselves in need of contrition, pardon and reconciliation.
St. Jerome, it is said, had a fearful temper.
When another scholar of his time, a former friend, Rufinus, questioned his conclusions, St. Jerome wrote pamphlet after
pamphlet blasting him.
St. Augustine
A LOOK IN THE
St. Aloysius apparently had bad timing in
his spiritual quest; the other novices were
just as happy when he was not there. He
was the kind of saint who did not seem to
31
know how to enjoy the things of this life.
Some saints misunderstood their own
visions. When St. Francis of Assisi was
told to rebuild the Church, he thought it
meant the local church building. It is interesting and amusing to note that Jesus did
not clarify the request for him until after
he had exerted a lot of sweat and energy
repairing an old church.
St. Joan of Arc was coerced into signing
a retraction of her visions, although she
later retracted that retraction.
St. John Vianney, “the Curé of Ars,” did
not believe the children of La Salette concerning their visions of the Virgin Mary.
During the time of the Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy at the end of the 14th century and beginning of the 15th, when one
pope resided in Avignon and another pope
in Rome, saints found themselves on opposite sides of the rival popes, as confused as
many of the common people were.
The saints are people of their times.
ne wonders how anyone escapes
being of his or her time. There
were injustices around the saints
that they did not speak out against. St.
Paul did not condemn slavery but encouraged slaves to obey their masters.
When we look at the lives of all the
saints, we can find faults, this should
encourage us!
•
3 Adapted from http://catechesisinthethirdmillennium.wordpress.com/2012/08/21/7-characteristics-of-the-saints/
32
Prayer for peace
in our Family
O Lord, we humbly beg, that
through the intercession of the
Virgin Mary, Mother of God
and St Joseph, You would firmly,
establish our families in Your
Peace and Grace.
Lord Jesus, make us to follow
continually, the example of Your
Holy Family, so that in the hour
of our death, Your glorious Virgin
Mother and Saint Joseph may
come to us and find us worthy
to be received by You into Your
eternal dwelling place.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
I give you my heart and my soul.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
assist me in my last agony.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
may I breathe forth my soul
in peace with You.
Amen
So many in need...
...Thank you
For those in greater need than me
I am 92 years old; I live alone and suffer
from various illnesses. I often think of your
work and I regularly pray the Holy Rosary for
the Church in Need. I am enclosing a small
donation, for I know that there are people
who are in much greater need than I am.
A benefactor from Italy
Dear Friends,
So many in need
There are so many dear people in need,
and you help so many of them. ACN
has grown into a huge, Christ-centered
organisation begun by Fr. Werenfried van
Straaten so many years ago. God must
have given him a crown of glory for his filial love and love for the poor, hungry and
destitute. You and ACN are in my daily
prayers. I ask Jesus to stretch out His loving hands over all of you and that He will
give you His enduring love.
A benefactor from the USA
A birthday gift in gratitude
Today I shall be 89 years old. I never
expected to reach this age, but having done
so has made me re-evaluate a few things.
I know that I am extremely fortunate having reasonable health; 4 lovely children
and grandchildren, and even great grandchildren! I was blessed with a lovely wife,
who shared with me 50 happy years. I have
a good occupational pension, and living
alone, not a lot to spend it on, so in gratitude for all these things I enclose a cheque
for £3,000. Even that seems a bit cautious,
I suppose we are, not knowing the future,
but I hope eventually to leave a larger
legacy to the wonderful work of ACN.
A benefactor in England
Each year thanks to the
• Donations
• Legacies and
• Massofferings
of its benefactors in Ireland and around
the world, ACN is able to:
• Provide sustenance and the means
of survival for approx. 20,000 priests
• Support approx. 18,000 seminarians
and religious and
• Distribute approx. 1.5 million catechetical books for children in over
170 languages.
Heartfelt thanks for all your prayers and
supportprovidedtoChrist’sSufferingand
Persecuted Church.
MaytheGoodLordcontinuetoblessyou
and your family, past and present, now
and always.
J F Declan Quinn
Director
Aid to the Church in Need (Ireland)
Where to send your contribution for the Church in Need:
Please use the Freepost envelope.
Aid to the Church in Need, 151 St. Mobhi Road,
Glasnevin, Dublin 9. TEL (01) 837 7516.
EMAIL [email protected]
WEB www.acnireland.org
Registered Charity Numbers: (RoI) 9492 (NI) XR96620.
If you give by standing order, or have sent a donation recently, please accept our sincere thanks. This Mirror is for
your interest and information.
Stand firm in the faith, be strong. (1 Cor. 16:13)
‘This strength to love is nourished
by our faith in the faithful God and
in His merciful love for us.’
Father Martin M. Barta, ACN Ecclesiastical Assistant.
‘In the case of the
family, the weakening
of these bonds is
particularly
serious
because the family is
the fundamental cell
of society, where we
learn to live with others
despite our differences
and to belong to one
another; it is also the
place where parents
pass on the faith to
their children’
Setting out on a journey of lifelong faithfulness: Pope Francis
with a newly married couple.
Pope Francis,
Apostolic Letter ‘Evangelii Gaudium’
Aid to the Church in Need
helping the Church heal the world.
151 St. Mobhi Road, Dublin 9.
TEL 01 837 7516
EmaiL [email protected]
www.acnireland.org
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www.godspeakstohischildren.org