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October 03, 2008 –  Friday of 26th Week in Ordinary Time       DAILY LITURGICAL/THEME MEDITATION: "He who rejects me rejects him who sent me" UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENT(S): Cardinal Lists 3 Focuses for Respect Life Sunday SAINT OF THE DAY St. Mother Theodore Guérin  GENERAL MARIOLOGY The Power of the Rosary: Simon de Montfort, Alan de Lanvallay and Othere DIVINE MERCY On Sanctity, Holiness: Divine Mercy Is Praised By Holy Souls  TEACHING/TESTIMONY/CONVICTION: Holy See to Atomic Energy Agency   Monthly Index

DAILY LITURGICAL MEDITATION

Friday (10/3): "He who rejects me rejects him who sent me" Scripture: Luke 10:13-16 13 "Woe to you, Chora'zin! woe to you, Beth-sa'ida! for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it shall be more tolerable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Caper'na-um, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades. 16 "He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me." Meditation: If Jesus were to visit your community today, what would he say? Would he issue a warning like the one he gave to Chorazin and Bethsaida? And how would you respond? Wherever Jesus went he did mighty works to show the people how much God had for them. Chorazin and Bethsaida had been blessed with the visitation of God. They heard the good news and experienced the wonderful works which Jesus did for them. Why was Jesus upset with these communities? The word woe is also translated as alas. It is as much as an expression of sorrowful pity as it is of anger. Why does Jesus lament and issue a stern warning? The people who heard the gospel here very likely responded with indifference. Jesus upbraids them for doing nothing! Repentance demands change – a change of heart and way of life. God's word is life-giving and it saves us from destruction – the destruction of soul as well as body. Jesus' anger is directed toward sin and everything which hinders us from doing the will of God and receiving his blessing. In love he calls us to walk in his way of truth and freedom, grace and mercy, justice and holiness. Do you receive his word with faith and submission or with doubt and indifference? "Lord Jesus, give me the child-like simplicity and purity of faith to gaze upon your face with joy and confidence in your all-merciful love. Remove every doubt, fear, and proud thought which would hinder me from receiving your word with trust and humble submission." Psalm 139 1 O LORD, thou hast searched me and known me! 2 Thou knowest when I sit down and when I rise up; thou discernest my thoughts from afar. 3 Thou searchest out my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. 5 Thou dost beset me behind and before, and layest thy hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it. 7 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, thou art there! If I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, "Let only darkness cover me, and the light about me be night," 12 even the darkness is not dark to thee, the night is bright as the day; for darkness is as light with thee. 13 For thou didst form my inward parts, thou didst knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise thee, for thou art fearful and wonderful. Wonderful are thy works! RETURN TO TOP

UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENTS

Cardinal Lists 3 Focuses for Respect Life Sunday Abortion Issue Has Good News and a Threat   WASHINGTON, D.C., OCT. 2, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research and the threat of a federal bill that could obliterate 35 years of pro-life gains are among the focus areas for this weekend's Respect Life Sunday. These areas were highlighted by Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, in a statement for the event marked by 195 U.S. parishes. The theme for this year is "Hope and Trust in Life." October is set aside as Respect Life Month, and parishes across the nation will sponsor conferences, prayer services, public witness events and fundraising activities. In his message, Cardinal Rigali first mentioned euthanasia. "Some medical ethicists wrongly promote ending the lives of patients with serious physical and mental disabilities by withdrawing their food and water, even though -- or in some cases precisely because -- they are not imminently dying," he explained. The cardinal noted that citizens of Washington state will face a vote on euthanasia in November. In neighboring Oregon, where euthanasia is already legal, "the state has refused to cover the cost of life-sustaining treatments for some patients facing terminal illness, while callously informing them that Oregon will pay for suicide pills," Cardinal Rigali lamented. He then turned attention to embryonic stem cell research, something that Michigan citizens will vote on in November. "The Catholic Church strongly supports promising and ethically sound stem cell research -- and strongly opposes killing week-old human embryos, or human beings at any stage, to extract their stem cells," the prelate clarified. "We applaud the remarkable therapeutic successes that have been achieved using stem cells from cord blood and adult tissues." On the decline The cardinal had good news to share regarding abortion. Most Americans favor banning all abortion or permitting it only in the rare cases of danger to the mother's life or cases of rape or incest, Cardinal Rigali noted. Referring to last month's study from the Guttmacher Institute, he reported that abortions in the United States declined 26% between 1989 and 2004. This decline is most marked for girls under 18, a trend the cardinal attributed to the fact that "teens increasingly are choosing to remain abstinent until their late teens or early 20s." Invalidating reason Despite the good news on the abortion front, Cardinal Rigali sounded an alarm about a federal bill that could be passed when Congress convenes in January. The "Freedom of Choice Act," the cardinal explained "establishes abortion as a 'fundamental right' throughout the nine months of pregnancy, and forbids any law or policy that could 'interfere' with that right or 'discriminate' against it in public funding and programs." He added: "If FOCA became law, hundreds of reasonable, widely supported, and constitutionally sound abortion regulations now in place would be invalidated. Gone would be laws providing for informed consent, and parental consent or notification in the case of minors. Laws protecting women from unsafe abortion clinics and from abortion practitioners who are not physicians would be overridden. "Restrictions on partial-birth and other late-term abortions would be eliminated. FOCA would knock down laws protecting the conscience rights of nurses, doctors and hospitals with moral objections to abortion, and force taxpayers to fund abortions throughout the United States." "We cannot allow this to happen," Cardinal Rigali urged. "We cannot tolerate an even greater loss of innocent human lives. We cannot subject more women and men to the post-abortion grief and suffering that our counselors and priests encounter daily in Project Rachel programs across America." "In this Respect Life Month, let us rededicate ourselves to defending the basic rights of those who are weakest and most marginalized: the poor, the homeless, the innocent unborn, and the frail and elderly who need our respect and our assistance," the cardinal concluded. "In this and in so many ways we will truly build a culture of life." --- --- --- Cardinal Rigali's full statement: http://www.zenit.org/article-23783?l=english   RETURN TO TOP

DAILY LITURGICAL SAINT

October 3, 2008 St. Mother Theodore Guérin (1798-1856)   Trust in God’s Providence enabled Mother Theodore to leave her homeland, sail halfway around the world and to found a new religious congregation. Born in Etables, France, Anne-Thérèse’s life was shattered by her father’s murder when she was 15. For several years she cared for her mother and younger sister. She entered the Sisters of Providence in 1823, taking the name Sister St. Theodore. An illness during novitiate left her with lifelong fragile health; that did not keep her from becoming an accomplished teacher. At the invitation of the bishop of Vincennes, she and five sisters were sent to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, to teach and to care for the sick poor. She was to establish a motherhouse and novitiate. Only later did she learn that her French superiors had already decided the sisters in the United States should form a new religious congregation under her leadership. She and her community persevered despite fires, crop failures, prejudice against Catholic women religious, misunderstandings and separation from their original religious congregation. She once told her sisters, “Have confidence in the Providence that so far has never failed us. The way is not yet clear. Grope along slowly. Do not press matters; be patient, be trustful.” Another time, she asked, “With Jesus, what shall we have to fear?” She is buried in the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana. She was beatified in 1998 and canonized in 2006. Comment: God’s work gets done by people ready to take risks and to work hard—always remembering what St. Paul told the Corinthians, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6). Every holy person has a strong sense of God’s Providence. Quote: During his homily at the beatification Mass, Pope John Paul II said that Blessed Mother Theodore “continues to teach Christians to abandon themselves to the providence of our heavenly Father and to be totally committed to doing what pleases him. The life of Blessed Theodore Guérin is a testimony that everything is possible with God and for God.”   RETURN TO TOP

GENERAL MARIOLOGY

The Power of the Rosary By St. Louis Marie de Montfort    Simon de Montfort, Alan de Lanvallay and Othere It is almost impossible to do real credit to the victories that Count Simon de Montfort Won against the Albigensians under the patronage of Our Lady of the Rosary. These victories are so famous that the world has never seen anything to match them. One day he defeated 10,000 heretics with a force of 500 men and on another occasion he overcame 3,000 with only 30 men. Finally, with 800 horsemen and 1,000 infantrymen he completely put to rout the army of the King of Aragon which was 100,000 strong, and this with the loss on his side of only one horseman and eight soldiers! Our Lady also protected Alan de Lanvallay, a Breton Knight, from great perils. He too was fighting for the Faith against the Albigensians. One day when he found himself surrounded by enemies on all sides Our Lady let fall 150 rocks upon his enemies and he was delivered from their hands. Another day when his ship foundered and was about to sink, the Blessed Mother caused 150 small hills to appear miraculously above the water and by means of them they reached Brittany in safety. He built a monastery at Dinan for the religious of St. Dominic, in thanksgiving to Our Lady for all the miracles that she had worked on his behalf in answer to his daily Rosary. Having become a religious himself he died a holy death at Orleans. Othere was also a Breton soldier, from Vaucouleurs, and he often put whole companies of heretics or robbers to flight unaided, wearing his Rosary on his arm or carrying it on the hilt of his sword. Once when he had beaten them his enemies admitted that they had seen his sword gleam and that another time they had noticed a shield on his arm which had pictures of Our Lord and Our Lady and the saints upon it. This shield made him invisible and gave him the strength to attack well. Another time he defeated 20,000 heretics with only 10 companies and without losing a single man. This so impressed the general of the heretics’ army that he came to see Othere afterwards, abjured his heresy and declared publicly that he had seen him surrounded by flaming swords during the battle.    RETURN TO TOP

DIVINE MERCY

Dairy from St. Faustina On Sanctity, Holiness Divine Mercy Is Praised By Holy Souls I understood that all striving for perfection and all sanctity consist in doing God's will. Perfect fulfillment of God's will is maturity in sanctity; there is no room for doubt here (Diary, 666). The mercy of the Lord is praised by the holy souls in heaven who have themselves experienced that infinite mercy. What these souls do in heaven, I already will begin to do here on earth (Diary, 753). † Oh, there would be many more saintly souls if there were more experienced and saintly confessors (Diary, 940).   RETURN TO TOP

CATHOLIC  TEACHING/CONVICTION/TESTIMONY

Holy See to Atomic Energy Agency   "The First Obligation We Share Is the Obligation of Working Together"   VIENNA, Austria, OCT. 2, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is the address Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Vatican secretary for relations with states, delivered at the 52nd session of the general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency, under way through Friday in Vienna. * * * Mr. President, 1. I have the honour of conveying to you, to the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Dr. Mohamed El Baradei, and to all the distinguished participants in this 52nd General Conference of the IAEA the best wishes and cordial greetings of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. In His Message for the 2008 World Day of Peace the Holy Father invited "every man and woman to have a more lively sense of belonging to the one human family, and to strive to make human coexistence increasingly reflect this conviction, which is essential for the establishment of true and lasting peace" (No. 15). This "lively sense of belonging to the one human family", a recognition of the unity of the human family, and attention to the innate dignity of every man and woman, today find renewed emphasis in the principle of the responsibility to protect. This was present implicitly at the origins not only of the United Nations, but of the International Atomic Energy Agency as well, and is now increasingly characteristic of the activity of these international organizations. The emphasis of the Pope on this "lively sense of belonging to the one human family" and the responsibility it entails is also the message that my Delegation would like to bring to this 52nd General Conference. Mr. President, During last year's session of the Agency's General Conference the Holy See underlined that «in the difficult crossroads in which humanity today finds itself, a crossroads characterized by an ever-increasing interdependence on the economic, political, social and environmental levels, the use of force no longer represents a solution sustainable through time: it nourishes a reciprocal diffidence and makes reference to a distorted sense of priorities that make use of enormous resources in a near-sighted way». […] It is necessary to re-define the priorities and the hierarchies of values on the basis of which one can focus a common effort to mobilize resources towards objectives of moral, cultural and economic development. In order to promote such an approach, it is indispensable to favour a serious multilateralism based on a renewed collective sense of security, one capable of building a real climate of peace and trust that recognizes that development, solidarity and justice are none other than the true name for peace, for a lasting peace in time and in space». 2. The IAEA is an important organization working to protect and promote life in a most crucial area of human endeavour: the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The more than 50-year history of the Agency bears testimony to the pressing need we have in today's world to work together for the one human family in order to deal constructively with a sector of human life that has become complex and many-faceted. The treatment of these pressing issues surrounding the peaceful use of nuclear technology offers possibilities for good or for bad in ways that previous generations did not have to face. That is why the first obligation we share is the obligation of working together, of sharing our expertise, of building up a common consensus through common effort and commitment. Thus, the overriding characteristic that must pervade the work the IAEA undertakes in the three areas of its mandate, namely, technology, safety and verification, should always be to unite and associate, not to divide and oppose. This characteristic stems from the spirit that called the Agency into existence and is expressed in the so-called "spirit of Vienna". It is reinforced by the demands that the content of our fields of expertise makes on us. 3. A first level of this "working together obligation" is working together for nuclear safety and security. The Holy See supports all the efforts to strengthen both the effectiveness and efficiency of the IAEA's safeguards system, as well as the elaboration and implementation through the Agency of an effective world-wide security regime, based on conventions, standards and assistance. The Holy See desires to see all States work together to be part of these instruments whose main purpose is to promote nuclear safety and security, ensure the non-diversion of nuclear materials and the absence of undeclared nuclear activities. These instruments will not only contribute to the fight against nuclear terrorism, but also to the concrete realisation of a culture of life and peace capable of promoting in an effective way the integral development of peoples. This is politically possible. 4. A second level of the "working together obligation" is working together for the use of peaceful and safe nuclear technology, respecting the environment and ever mindful of the most disadvantaged populations. A particular characteristic of the age in which we live is the phenomenon of globalisation and, intimately connected with it, the concern we must have for the good of people as a whole, for the well-being of society, for what we traditionally call the "common good". For the IAEA this will mean working together to contribute not only to a specific project or to a certain government or agency, but above all to the good of all the people of the world. Thus, the worth of a project will be measured by the impact it will have on cultural and other human values, as well as on the economic and social well-being of a people or nation. Promotion of the common good demands respect for the cultures of nations and peoples coupled with a sense of the solidarity of all peoples under the guidance of a common Father. In this sense, the Technical Co-operation Program of the IAEA is an efficient instrument for the purpose of peaceful nuclear development and an example of what can be achieved when we come together. The Holy See would like to take this occasion to reiterate its appreciation for the work and achievements of the IAEA technical co-operation, in particular in the fields of agriculture, hydrology, food security and medicine, and to encourage the IAEA to continue and to strengthen these activities. Another area of concern is the access to safe drinking water. The urgency of a solution to this world-wide problem, to which the IAEA can contribute in its own specific way, should not be underestimated since it is a precondition for any sustainable development. Indeed, it is increasingly evident that development policies demand a genuine international cooperation, carried out in accord with decisions made jointly and within the context of a universal vision, one which considers the good of the human family in both the present generation and in those to come. 5. A third level of the "working together obligation" is working together for nuclear disarmament. Since the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), as the cornerstone of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime, is the basis for pursuing nuclear disarmament and an important element for further development of nuclear energy applications for peaceful purposes, it must not be allowed to be weakened. Humanity deserves no less than the full co-operation of all States in this important matter. In this regard, Pope Benedict XVI wrote is his Message for the 2008 World Day of Peace: "Humanity today is unfortunately experiencing great division and sharp conflicts which cast dark shadows upon its future. Vast areas of the world are caught up in situations of increasing tension, while the danger of an increase in the number of countries possessing nuclear weapons causes well-founded apprehension in every responsible person....On a broader scale, one must acknowledge with regret the growing number of States engaged in the arms race. In difficult times such as these, it is truly necessary for all persons of good will to come together to reach concrete agreements aimed at an effective demilitarization, especially in the area of nuclear arms" (No. 14). For these reasons, the Holy See entreats and encourages those in authority to come together in order to resume with greater determination a progressive and mutually agreed dismantling of existing nuclear weapons. The Holy See makes this appeal also in the name of all those concerned for the future of humanity. Furthermore, global security must not rely on nuclear weapons. The Holy See considers the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) an important tool to achieve this aim, without mentioning the CTBT potential civil and scientific application through its International Monitoring System. I am honoured to have the name of the Holy See, as well my own name, on the list of countries that support the Ministerial Statement of the IV CTBT Ministerial Conference. The Holy See is convinced that, in working together, the signature, ratification and entry into force of the Treaty will represent a great leap forward for the future of humanity, as well as for the protection of the earth and environment entrusted to our care by the Creator. 6. In his recent Encyclical Letter, Spe Salvi, Pope Benedict XVI indicated that "[e]very generation has the task of engaging anew in the arduous search for the right way to order human affairs" (No. 25). For Christians, this task is motivated by the hope drawn from the saving work of Jesus Christ. That is why the Holy See, fully approving the goals of the IAEA, is a member of this Organization since its foundation and continues to support its mandate "to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world" (IAEA Statute, Art. 2). All this is something that the Catholic Church and the Holy See will continue to follow attentively and with great interest, seeing in the activity of the IAEA an example of how issues and conflicts concerning the world community can be subject to common regulation when we all work together. My concluding wish, Mr. President, is that the IAEA and its Member States will strive "to make human coexistence increasingly reflect the lively sense of belonging to the one human family", thus renewing their commitment to realising the dream and vision of "Atoms for Peace" for the security, development and well-being of the one human family. Thank you, Mr. President!   RETURN TO TOP

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