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November 25, 2008 –  Tuesday of 34th Week in Ordinary Time       DAILY LITURGICAL/THEME MEDITATION: "Take heed that you are not led astray" UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENT(S): Gaza Christians Going Without Mass SAINT OF THE DAY St. Columban  GENERAL MARIOLOGY The Virgin Mary in the New Testament, Part II: The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple DIVINE MERCY On Deify, Divinize Make My Heart Like Unto Yours  TEACHING/TESTIMONY/CONVICTION: Papal Address to Laity Council   Monthly Index

DAILY LITURGICAL MEDITATION

Tuesday (11/25): "Take heed that you are not led astray" Scripture: Luke 21:5-11 5 And as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, 6 "As for these things which you see, the days will come when there shall not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down." 7 And they asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign when this is about to take place?" 8 And he said, "Take heed that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name, saying, `I am he!' and, `The time is at hand!' Do not go after them. 9 And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified; for this must first take place, but the end will not be at once." 10 Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 11 there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. Meditation: How would you respond if someone prophesied that your church or place of worship would be destroyed?  In 1972 a violent earthquake ripped through the center of Managua and destroyed the great cathedral church. This was only the beginning of the troubles for the tiny nation and Christian community of Nicaragua which suffered great turmoil and loss in the civil war that ensued for more than a decade. Out of the ashes of destruction and the ravages of communism has emerged a humbler and more purified church. Jesus foretold many signs of God's action and judgment. To the great consternation of the Jews, Jesus prophesied the destruction of their temple at Jerusalem. The Jewish people took great pride in their temple, a marvel of the ancient world. The foretelling of this destruction was a dire judgment in itself. They sought Jesus for a sign that would indicate when this would occur. Jesus admonished them to not seek signs but rather to seek God's kingdom. There will be plenty of signs – such as  wars, famines, diseases, tidal waves and earthquakes – pointing to God's ultimate judgment. Jesus' prophecy is a two-edged sword, because it points not only to God's judgment, but also to his saving action and mercy. Jesus foretells the destruction of Jerusalem and the dire consequences for all who would reject him and his saving message. While the destruction of Jerusalem's temple was determined (it was razed by the Romans in 70 A.D.), there remained for its inhabitants a narrow open door leading to deliverance. Jesus says: "I am the door; whoever enters by me will be saved" (John 10:9).  Jesus willingly set his face toward Jerusalem, knowing that he would meet betrayal, rejection, and death on a cross. His death on the cross, however, brought about freedom, peace, and victory over sin and death – not only for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, but for all – both Jew and Gentile alike – who would accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Do you know the peace and security of a life submitted to the lordship of Jesus Christ? An American judge, named Robert H. Bork, wrote a book a few decades ago entitled, Slouching Towards Gomorrah. His message sounded an alarm about the moral crisis and decay of culture which he saw in Western society. We often don't recognize the moral crisis and spiritual conflict of our age, until something "shakes us up" to the reality of our present condition. The reward for doing what is right and just and the penalty for sin and wrong-doing are not always experienced in this life; but they are sure to come in the day of judgment. The Lord Jesus tells us that there will be persecution, suffering, and difficulties in this age until he comes again at the end of the world. God intends our anticipation of his final judgment to be a powerful deterrent to wrongdoing. God extends grace and mercy to all who will heed his call and his warning. Do you take advantage of this season of grace and mercy to seek God's kingdom and to pursue his will? "Lord Jesus, your grace and mercy abounds even in the midst of turmoil and destruction. Increase my hunger for your kingdom and help me to be faithful to your word. May nothing, not even the fear of death or the loss of all that I have, deter me from seeking you and the coming of your kingdom with hope and joy." Psalm 119:25-32 25 My soul cleaves to the dust; revive me according to thy word! 26 When I told of my ways, thou didst answer me; teach me thy statutes! 27 Make me understand the way of thy precepts, and I will meditate on thy wondrous works. 28 My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to thy word! 29 Put false ways far from me; and graciously teach me thy law! 30 I have chosen the way of faithfulness, I set thy ordinances before me. 31 I cleave to thy testimonies, O LORD; let me not be put to shame! 32 I will run in the way of thy commandments when thou enlargest my understanding!   RETURN TO TOP

UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENTS

Gaza Christians Going Without Mass Border Authorities Deny Entrance to Nuncio   JERUSALEM, NOV. 24, 2008 (Zenit.org).- As Palestinians stranded in Gaza face a humanitarian disaster due to blocked borders, Christians there also face beginning Advent without Mass. Israeli authorities Sunday refused to allow the papal nuncio in Israel, Archbishop Antonio Franco, and two priests of the Latin patriarchate to enter Gaza to celebrate Mass. The refusal came despite previous coordination with Israeli officials. The nuncio intended to celebrate Christ the King Mass with the faithful there. The parish in Gaza is vacant since the parish priest, Monsignor Manuel Mussallam, was allowed to leave Gaza last week after eight years to visit his family in West Bank. Meanwhile, as the United Nations marks this week the International Day of Solidarity With the Palestinian People, Caritas said the occasion should act as a moment to reflect on how the peace process can be rekindled in the Holy Land. Caritas had hoped that the 31st Day of Solidarity, Nov. 29, would be one of celebration with the creation of a Palestinian state and an end to the cycle of violence in the Holy Land, a statement from the aid organization said. Joseph Donnell, who heads the Caritas Internationalis delegation in New York, affirmed: "Without the political will to reach new demanding levels of local and regional partnerships, the acts of patient waiting can be cast aside as pathetic distractions from peace. "Without substantive engagement to address the well known root causes of this struggle for an independent state, Palestinian lives remain captive, barely existing in their anguished survival, mentally as well as physically." In the mean time, the aid organization continues to try to assist the 1.5 million people in Gaza, for example, bringing doctors and food to the stranded. RETURN TO TOP

DAILY LITURGICAL SAINT

November 25, 2008 St. Columban (543?-615)   Columban was the greatest of the Irish missionaries who worked on the European continent. As a young man he was greatly tormented by temptations of the flesh, and sought the advice of a religious woman who had lived a hermit’s life for years. He saw in her answer a call to leave the world. He went first to a monk on an island in Lough Erne, then to the great monastic seat of learning at Bangor. After many years of seclusion and prayer, he traveled to Gaul with 12 companion missionaries. They won wide respect for the rigor of their discipline, their preaching, and their commitment to charity and religious life in a time characterized by clerical slackness and civil strife. Columban established several monasteries in Europe which became centers of religion and culture. Like all saints, he met opposition. Ultimately he had to appeal to the pope against complaints of Frankish bishops, for vindication of his orthodoxy and approval of Irish customs. He reproved the king for his licentious life, insisting that he marry. Since this threatened the power of the queen mother, Columban was ordered deported back to Ireland. His ship ran aground in a storm, and he continued his work in Europe, ultimately arriving in Italy, where he found favor with the king of the Lombards. In his last years he established the famous monastery of Bobbio, where he died. His writings include a treatise on penance and against Arianism, sermons, poetry and his monastic rule. Comment: Now that public sexual license is approaching the extreme, we need the Church's jolting memory of a young man as concerned about chastity as Columban. And now that the comfort-captured Western world stands in tragic contrast to starving millions, we need the challenge to austerity and discipline of a group of Irish monks. They were too strict, we say; they went too far. How far shall we go? Quote: Writing to the pope about a doctrinal controversy in Lombardy, Columban said: “We Irish, living in the farthest parts of the earth, are followers of St. Peter and St. Paul and of the disciples who wrote down the sacred canon under the Holy Spirit. We accept nothing outside this evangelical and apostolic teaching.... I confess I am grieved by the bad repute of the chair of St. Peter in this country.... Though Rome is great and known afar, she is great and honored with us only because of this chair.... Look after the peace of the Church, stand between your sheep and the wolves.”   RETURN TO TOP

GENERAL MARIOLOGY

The Virgin Mary in the New Testament, Part I By Fr. Settimio M. Manelli, F.I.   The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Lk 2:22-40) After forty days the child Jesus was taken to the Temple in Jerusalem by Mary and Joseph, there to fulfill the precepts of the Law regarding the purification of the mother and the ransom of the firstborn. Pope Benedict XVI, in a homily for the liturgical feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and for the Day of Consecrated Life, February 2, 2006, underscored how Christ had become Mediator between God and man when he trod the path of obedience, pushed to its extreme limits (cf. Heb 5:7-9). The Pope then added that the Virgin Mary was in a unique way united with him, not only in the mystery of the Incarnation, but in that of the redemption as well, by way of a loving and sorrowful participation in his death and Resurrection. Here is how the Holy Father, beginning with the gospel episode of the Presentation, explains this singular role of Mary: The first person associated with Christ on the path of obedience, of proven faith and of sorrow shared, is his mother Mary. The gospel text reveals this in the act of offering her Son: an unconditional sacrifice engaging her in her own person. Mary is Mother of him who is "the glory of his people Israel" and "a light of revelation for the nations," but also of him who is "a sign of contradiction" as well (cf. Lk 2:32, 34). And she, too, in her immaculate soul, must be pierced by the sword of sorrow, thus showing how her role in the history of salvation is not finished with the mystery of the Incarnation, but is consummated in the loving and sorrowful sharing in the death and Resurrection of her Son. Carrying her Son to Jerusalem, the Virgin Mother offers him to God as the true Lamb who takes away the sins of the world; she hands him to Simeon and Anna as an annunciation of redemption; she presents him to all as light for a secure journey on the path of truth and love. From the literary point of view, and that of content, the account of the Presentation in the Temple is intimately linked with the general structure of Luke’s "accounts of the hidden life" (chapters 1-2). This pericope encloses two particularly significant oracles: the Nunc dimittis (2:29-32), the canticle with which Simeon accepts the child Jesus in the Temple, and the prophecy which he himself addresses to the Mother of Jesus (2:34-35). This last enjoys a special relevance to Mary, in so far as it is formally addressed to her and regards her in person. As can be gathered from the structure of the narrative, the Mariological aspect is united within the Christological one implied by the context, on which the Mariological substantially depends. (to be continued)  RETURN TO TOP

DIVINE MERCY

Dairy from St. Faustina On Deify, Divinize, Transform Transform Me Into Yourself O Jesus, my Lord, help me. Let what You have planned before all ages happen to me. I am ready at each beckoning of Your holy will. Enlighten my mind that I may know Your will. O God, You who pervade my soul, You know that I desire nothing but Your glory (Diary, 650). O my Jesus, transform me into Yourself by the power of Your love, that I may be a worthy tool in proclaiming Your mercy (Diary, 783). Transform me into Yourself and make me capable of doing Your holy will in all things and of returning Your love (Diary, 832). RETURN TO TOP

CATHOLIC  TEACHING/CONVICTION/TESTIMONY

Papal Address to Laity Council "Work in the Lord's Large Vineyard Needs 'Christifideles Laici'"   VATICAN CITY, NOV. 23, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is the address Benedict XVI delivered Nov. 15 upon receiving in audience participants in the 23rd plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. * * * Your Eminences, Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood, Dear Brothers and Sisters, I am pleased to meet all of you today, Members and Consultors of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, as you meet in Plenary Assembly. I greet Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko and Bishop Josef Clemens, President and Secretary of the Dicastery, and together with them the other Bishops present. I extend a special welcome to the lay faithful coming from diverse apostolic experiences and various social and cultural contexts. The theme chosen for your Assembly "20 Years From 'Christifideles Laici': Remembrance, Development, New Challenges and Work" directly introduces us to the service that your dicastery is called to offer to the Church for the good of the lay faithful of the entire world. The apostolic exhortation "Christifideles Laici" defined the magna charta for Catholic laity of our time is the mature fruit of the reflections and of the exchange of experiences and proposals and of the reflections of the 7th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which took place in the month of October in 1987 on the theme "Vocation and Mission of the Laity in the Church and in the World". It involved an organic revisiting of the Second Vatican Council's teachings in regard to lay people: the dignity of the baptized, the vocation to holiness, belonging to the ecclesial communion, participation in the building of the Christian community and the Church's mission, witness in all social contexts and commitment to service of the person for the individual's integral development and for the common good of society themes present above all in the Constitutions "Lumen Gentium" and "Gaudium et Spes," as well as in the decree "Apostolicam Actuositatem." While taking up again the teachings of the Council, "Christifideles Laici" orients the discernment, examination and orientation of lay efforts within the Church faced with the social changes of these years. In many different Churches lay participation has grown thanks to pastoral, diocesan and parish councils revealing itself to be very positive insofar as it is animated by an authentic sensus Ecclesiae. The clear awareness of the Church's charismatic dimension has brought about an appreciation and esteemed the more simple charisms that Divine Providence bestows on individuals as well as those that bring great spiritual, educational and missionary fecundity. Not by chance does the Document recognize and encourage the "new era of group endeavors of the lay faithful". It is a sign of the "richness and the versatility of resources that the Holy Spirit nourishes in the ecclesial community" (n. 29), which indicate the ecclesial "criteria" necessary on one side for the discernment of Pastors and on the other side for growth of the life of lay associations, ecclesial movements and new communities. In this respect I would like to thank the Pontifical Council for the Laity in a very special way, for the work completed during the last decades to welcome, accompany, discern, recognize and encourage these ecclesial realities, favoring the knowledge of their Catholic identity, helping them to insert themselves more fully into the great tradition and the living fabric of the Church, and promoting their missionary development. To speak of Catholic laity means to refer to the countless baptized persons working in multiple and various circumstances to grow as disciples and witnesses of the Lord and to rediscover and experience the beauty in the truth and joy of being Christians. The current cultural and social condition renders still more urgent this apostolic action to generously share in the treasure of grace and holiness, of charity, doctrine, culture and works, from which the stream of Catholic tradition flows. The new generations are not only the preferred audience of this transmission and sharing but also those whose hearts await truth and happiness in order to be able to give Christian witness, as happens already in an admirable way. I myself have been witness to it in Sydney at the recent World Youth Day. And therefore I encourage the Pontifical Council for the Laity to continue the work of this providential global youth pilgrimage in the name of Christ, and to work at the promotion of youth ministry and their authentic education everywhere. I also know of your commitment regarding issues of special importance, such as that of the dignity and participation of women in the life of the Church and of society. I have already had the opportunity to appreciate the Convention you sponsored 20 years from the promulgation of the apostolic letter "Mulieris Dignitatem" on the theme "Woman and Man, the Humanum in its Entirety". Man and woman, equal in dignity, are called to enrich themselves mutually in communion and collaboration, not only in matrimony and in the family, but also in society and all of its dimensions. Christian women are asked to be knowledgeable of and courageous in facing their demanding work, for which, however, they do not lack the support of a distinct tendency towards holiness, of a special acuteness in the discernment of our time's cultural currents, and of the particular passion for human care that characterizes them. Enough cannot be said for how much the Church recognizes, appreciates and values women's participation in her mission of service to the spreading of the Gospel. Allow me, dear friends, a last reflection regarding the secular nature that is characteristic of the lay faithful. The world within the scheme of family life, its working and social life is a theological place, an environment and a means in which and through which to realize their vocation and mission (cf. "Christifideles Laici," 15-17). Every milieu, circumstance and activity in which we engage that can become resplendent with the unity of faith and life is entrusted to the responsibility of lay faithful, moved by the desire to communicate the gift of encounter with Christ and the certainty of the human person's dignity. It is their duty to take up the witness of charity especially with the most poor, suffering and needy just as it is to assume every Christian task aimed to construct conditions of ever greater justice and peace within human coexistence, thus opening new horizons to the Gospel! Therefore I ask the Pontifical Council for the Laity to follow with diligent pastoral care the formation, witness and collaboration of lay faithful in the most varied situations, in which the authentic nature of human life in society is at risk. In a particular way, I confirm the necessity and urgency of the evangelical formation and pastoral accompaniment of a new generation of Catholics working in politics, that they be coherent with the professed faith, that they have moral firmness, the capacity of educated judgment, professional competence and passion for service to the common good. Work in the Lord's large vineyard needs "Christifideles Laici" who, like the Most Holy Virgin Mary, speak and live the "fiat" to God's plan in their life. With this prospective, I thank you, then, for your precious contribution to such a noble cause and I wholeheartedly impart the Apostolic Blessing to you and those dear to you.   RETURN TO TOP

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