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TRÁI TIM
MẸ: NƠI CON NƯƠNG NÁU - ĐƯỜNG ĐẾN VỚI CHÚA |
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"Chúa Giêsu muốn dùng con để làm
cho Mẹ được nhận biết và yêu mến" |
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January 19, 2009 - Monday in 2nd
Week of Ordinary Time
LITURGICAL/THEME MEDITATION:
"Can the wedding guests fast
while the bridegroom is with them?"
UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENT(S):
Benedict XVI Calls Families
to Unite;
Google to Team Up With
Vatican
SAINT OF THE DAY
St. Fabian
GENERAL
MARIOLOGY
Marian Devotion, the
Rosary, and the Scapular
Nature and Necessity
A
Special and Absolutely Unique Cultus: The Cultus of Hyperdulia
DIVINE MERCY
On Mercy
Thank You for Your Great Mercy
TEACHING/TESTIMONY/CONVICTION:
Cardinal George's Letter to
Obama
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DAILY LITURGICAL MEDITATION |
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"Can the wedding guests fast while the
bridegroom is with them?"
Scripture: Mark 2:18-22
18 Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people
came and said to him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the
Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" 19 And Jesus said to
them, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As
long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The
days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then
they will fast in that day. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on
an old garment; if he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from
the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old
wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is
lost, and so are the skins; but new wine is for fresh skins."
Meditation: Which comes first, fasting or feasting? The
disciples of John the Baptist were upset with Jesus' disciples because
they did not fast. Fasting was one of the three most important religious
duties, along with prayer and almsgiving. Jesus gave a simple
explanation. There's a time for fasting and a time for feasting (or
celebrating). To walk as a disciple with Jesus is to experience a whole
new joy of relationship akin to the joy of the wedding party in
celebrating with the groom and bride their wedding bliss. But there also
comes a time when the Lord's disciples must bear the cross of affliction
and purification. For the disciple there is both a time for rejoicing in
the Lord's presence and celebrating his goodness and a time for seeking
the Lord with humility and fasting and for mourning over sin. Do you
take joy in the Lord's presence with you and do you express sorrow and
contrition for your sins?
Jesus goes on to warn his disciples about the problem of the "closed
mind" that refuses to learn new things. Jesus used an image familiar to
his audience – new and old wineskins. In Jesus' times, wine was stored
in wineskins, not bottles. New wine poured into skins was still
fermenting. The gases exerted gave pressure. New wine skins were elastic
enough to take the pressure, but old wine skins easily burst because
they were hard. What did Jesus mean by this comparison? Are we to
reject the old in place of the new? Just as there is a right place and
a right time for fasting and for feasting, so there is a right place for
the old as well as the new. Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like
a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old
(Matthew 13:52). How impoverished we would be if we only had the Old
Testament or the New Testament, rather than both. The Lord gives us
wisdom so we can make the best use of both the old and the new. He
doesn't want us to hold rigidly to the past and to be resistant to the
new work of his Holy Spirit in our lives. He wants our minds and hearts
to be like new wine skins – open and ready to receive the new wine of
the Holy Spirit. Are you eager to grow in the knowledge and
understanding of God's word and plan for your life?
"Lord Jesus, fill me with your Holy Spirit, that I may grow in the
knowledge of your great love and truth. Help me to seek you earnestly in
prayer and fasting that I may turn away from sin and wilfulness and
conform my life more fully to your will. May I always find joy in
knowing, loving, and serving you."
Psalm 50:8-9, 16-17, 21, 23
8 I do not reprove you for your sacrifices; your burnt offerings are
continually before me.
9 I will accept no bull from your house, nor he-goat from your folds.
16 But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to recite my
statutes, or take my covenant on your lips?
17 For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.
21 These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I
was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before
you.
22 "Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I rend, and there be none
to deliver!
23 He who brings thanksgiving as his sacrifice honors me; to him who
orders his way aright I will show the salvation of God!"
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UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENTS |
Benedict XVI
Calls
Families to
Unite
Says They
Must
Mobilize to
Influence
Culture
By Karna
Swanson
MEXICO
CITY,
JAN. 18,
2009 ( Zenit.org).-
Benedict
XVI
encouraged
thousands
of
families
in
Mexico
and
around
the
world to
mobilize
themselves
to
promote
a
culture
and
politics
of the
family.
The Pope
said
this in
a video
message
he sent
to those
participating
in the
closing
Mass of
the VI
World
Meeting
of
Families,
which
ended
today in
Mexico
City.
The
five-day
international
event
was held
under
the
theme
"The
Family
as
Educator
in Human
and
Christian
Values."
The
video
message
was
scheduled
to be
shown
Saturday
during
the
celebration
of the
family
held at
the
Basilica
of Our
Lady of
Guadalupe,
but due
to rain
it was
postponed
and
shown
today
before
the
closing
Mass.
Attendance
to the
two
weekend
events
at the
Marian
shrine
was well
below
original
predictions,
due in
part to
the
sudden
cold
front
that
brought
rain and
a
significant
dip in
temperatures
to the
mountain
capital
since
last
Monday.
Organizers
told
ZENIT
that an
estimated
20,000
attended
the
celebration
of the
family
Saturday,
and on
Sunday
more
than
30,000
were
present
in the
basilica
and
atrium.
Thousands
more
were
watching
the
closing
Mass on
giant
television
screens
situated
on the
street
in front
of the
shrine.
More
than
10,000
turned
out for
each day
of the
theological-pastoral
congress
held
Wednesday
through
Friday,
exceeding
all
participation
records
of any
other
international
family
meetings.
In
Benedict
XVI's
video
message,
he noted
the
necessity
"to
develop
a
culture
and a
politics
of the
family,
that are
driven
in an
organized
manner
by the
families
themselves."
Incisive
action
With his
words,
the Pope
urged
families
"to
unite
yourselves
to the
associations
that
promote
the
identity
and
rights
of the
family,
according
to an
anthropologic
vision
that is
coherent
with the
Gospel."
He then
invited
"these
associations
to
coordinate
themselves
and
collaborate
with
each
other so
that
their
actions
be more
incisive."
The
Bishop
of Rome
called
the
family
the
"vital
cell of
society,
the
first
and
decisive
resource
for its
development,
and many
times
the last
refuge
for
those
whose
needs
aren't
meet by
the
established
social
structures."
"For
it's
essential
social
function,"
he
added,
"the
family
has the
right to
be
recognized
in it
proper
identity
and to
not be
confused
with
other
forms of
living
together."
The Holy
Father
said the
family
should
also be
able to
count on
"deserved
cultural,
legal,
economic,
social
and
medical
protection,"
and that
the
state
should
offer
families
school
choice.
The Holy
Father
said the
Christian
family,
"living
with
confidence
and in
filial
obedience
to God,
with
fidelity
and in
generously
accepting
children,
caring
for the
weakest
and
ready to
forgive,
becomes
a living
Gospel
that all
can
read."
In this
context,
the Pope
gave the
family
the work
of
presenting
"its
testimony
of life
and its
explicit
profession
of faith
in the
various
spheres
of its
environment,
such as
the
school
and
various
associations"
Likewise,
he asked
that
families
commit
themselves
"to the
catechetical
formation
of their
children,
and the
pastoral
activities
of their
parochial
community,
especially
those
related
to
marriage
preparation
or
directly
related
to
family
life."
"To work
for the
family
is to
work for
the
dignified
and
luminous
future
of
humanity
and for
the
building
of the
Kingdom
of God."
The
family,
he
concluded,
is
called
"to be
evangelized
and
evangelizer,
humane
and
humanizing."
Google to
Team Up With
Vatican
VATICAN
CITY,
JAN. 18,
2009 ( Zenit.org).-
Google,
a symbol
of the
seemingly
endless
possibilities
of the
Internet,
will
team up
with the
Vatican
Television
Center
and
Vatican
Radio in
a joint
venture
to give
Benedict
XVI his
own
YouTube
channel.
According
to the
Vatican
press
office,
texts
and
video
footage
of the
Pope's
speeches
supplied
by
Vatican
radio
and
television
would be
posted
directly
onto the
video-sharing
Web
site.
Details
of the
initiative
will be
announced
Friday
in
conjunction
with the
publication
of
Benedict
XVI's
message
for the
43rd
World
Communications
Day.
Saturday
is the
feast of
St.
Francis
de
Sales,
patron
of
journalists.
The
theme
for the
day,
which
will be
celebrated
May 31,
is "New
Technologies,
New
Relationships:
Promoting
a
Culture
of
Respect,
Dialogue
and
Friendship."
Henrique
de
Castro,
Managing
Director
Media
Solutions
for
Google,
will be
present
at the
press
conference
to
announce
the
initiative
between
the
Internet
company
and the
Vatican.
Also
present
will be
Archbishop
Claudio
Maria
Celli,
president
of the
Pontifical
Council
for
Social
Communications,
Monsignor
Paul
Tighe,
secretary
of the
same
council,
and
Jesuit
Father
Federico
Lombardi,
director
of
Vatican
Radio,
Vatican
Television
Center
and the
Vatican
press
office.
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DAILY LITURGICAL SAINT |
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St. Fabian
(c.
250)
Fabian
was a Roman layman who came into the city from his farm one day as
clergy and people were preparing to elect a new pope. Eusebius, a Church
historian, says a dove flew in and settled on the head of Fabian. This
sign united the votes of clergy and laity and he was chosen unanimously.
He led the Church for 14 years and died a martyr’s death during the
persecution of Decius in a.d. 250. St. Cyprian wrote to his successor
that Fabian was an “incomparable” man whose glory in death matched the
holiness and purity of his life.
In the catacombs of St. Callistus, the stone that covered Fabian’s grave
may still be seen, broken into four pieces, bearing the Greek words,
“Fabian, bishop, martyr.”
Comment:
We can go confidently into the future and accept the change that growth
demands only if we have firm roots in the past, in a living tradition. A
few pieces of stone in Rome are a reminder to us that we are bearers of
20 centuries of a living tradition of faith and courage in living the
life of Christ and showing it to the world. We have brothers and sisters
who have “gone before us marked with the sign of faith,” as the First
Eucharistic Prayer puts it, to light the way for us.
Quote:
“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church” (Tertullian).
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GENERAL
MARIOLOGY |
Marian Devotion, the Rosary, and the Scapular
By Fr.
Etienne Richer
The
following article is an excerpt from a chapter in the recently published
Marian anthology, Mariology: A
Guide for Priests, Deacons, Seminarians, and Consecrated Persons,
Seat of Wisdom Books, A Division of Queenship, 2008. Fifteen
international Mariology experts contributed to the text. The book
features a foreword by Archbishop Raymond L. Burke and has 17 chapters
divided into four parts: 1. Mary in Scripture and the Early Church; 2.
Marian Dogma; 3. Marian Doctrine; and 4. Marian Liturgy and Devotion.
The book is now available from Queenship Publications. To obtain a copy,
visit
queenship.org.
Visit
books.google.com and search on "Mariology: A Guide" to view the book
in its entirety, or simply
click here.
Asst. Ed.
Nature and Necessity
In
paragraphs 66, 67 of the Constitution Lumen Gentium already
cited, which treats explicitly the question of Marian devotion, the
Second Vatican Council affirms with clarity the legitimacy of this
rightful veneration and recalls its nature and foundations:
Mary
has been exalted by grace above all angels and men to a place second
only to her Son, as the most holy Mother of God who was involved in the
mysteries of Christ: she is rightly honored by a special
cultus in the Church… This cultus, as it has always existed
in the Church, for all its uniqueness, differs essentially from
the cultus of adoration which is rendered to the incarnate Word
and to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and promotes it in a special way
(LG 66).
A
Special and Absolutely Unique Cultus: The Cultus of Hyperdulia
With
these words the Constitution Lumen Gentium recalls the
characteristics of Marian devotion. In willingly underscoring with
precision its special and absolutely unique character, the
Second Vatican Council affirms the irreducible specificity of Marian
veneration which cannot and must not be confused either with the
cultus of the adoration due to God alone (latria), or even
with the cultus of the saints (dulia). Even though the
terms latria, dulia and hyperdulia, classically
employed in theology, were not explicitly employed either in the
Constitution Lumen Gentium or in the post-conciliar documents, it
is not useless to recall here their existence and always-valid
significance. Certainly, in the depth of popular consciousness, clear
conception of what distinguishes the homage rendered to God from what is
rendered to Mary, to the saints or to holy things, is often missing, and
this is understandable. But theologically speaking, the religious
cultus, an expression of the moral virtue of religion, has been made
the object of a triple distinction well-established by St. Thomas
Aquinas and St. Bonaventure, then taken up by the majority of Catholic
theologians since the thirteenth century (16): "Since, therefore, the
Blessed Virgin is a mere rational creature, the worship of latria
is not due to her, but only that of dulia: but in a higher degree
than to other creatures, inasmuch as she is the Mother of God. For this
reason we say that not any kind of dulia is due to her, but
hyperdulia" (17).
One
must distinguish very carefully, then, the kinds of veneration which are
indicated by the three following expressions:
a)
the cultus of latria, or the veritable worship or
adoration which is due to God alone and to the holy humanity of Christ
by virtue of the hypostatic union.
b)
the cultus of hyperdulia, or the special veneration which
is due to the Virgin Mary, by virtue of her uniqueness as Mother of the
incarnate Word and as cooperator absolutely without parallel in the work
of the redemption.
c)
the cultus of dulia, or the simple veneration due to the
saints, inasmuch as they are the faithful friends of God.
With
the rather dry sobriety proper to juridic style, canon 1255 of the 1917
Code of Canon Law had the merit of clearly summarizing these
distinctions: "To the Most Holy Trinity, to each of the persons who
belong to it, to Christ our Lord, even under the sacramental species, is
due the cultus of latria; to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the
cultus of hyperdulia; to the others who reign with Christ
in heaven, the cultus of dulia" (18).
In a
more ample perspective the French Mariologist René-Marie de la Broise
knew how to recapitulate with clarity the profound spiritual sense which
these distinctions evoke:
In
the manifestation of our respect and confidence, in our acts of
reverence and invocation, we conform to the various means which connect
us with God, with the Holy Virgin, and with the saints. And the
special manner in which the Church honors and prays to the Mother of
God, exactly expresses her pre-eminent dignity, and corresponds to the
rank which she occupies above saints and angels. To God alone belongs
"latria," or adoration properly so-called, for he is the only Creator
and the only Almighty. To angels and saints belongs the inferior worship
or "dulia," for they are princes of the heavenly court, and we recognize
ourselves as their servants and dependants. To Mary, and to her alone,
belongs the worship "hyperdulia," that is to say, a superior worship to
that of the other saints and of the angels, and this because of the
divine motherhood which has given her a particular affinity with God. To
her then must be paid the greatest honor; upon her must we place the
most entire and absolute dependence; to her must ascend the most
frequent prayers, most sure of being granted. … The eyes of the Church
are always raised towards her, recognizing by this her limitless power
and universal mediation.
From
the doctrine and preaching of the pastors, from the teaching of
Christian leaders, from the communities filled with the spirit of the
faith, the faithful draw the true idea of Mary and the sentiments which
they must entertain towards her. She is the Mother of God, the queen of
the world, the all-holy, and by these titles she is worthy of all
respect and of all honor. She is the pattern of all the virtues, and her
example encourages more especially purity without stain, humility, and
love towards God and man. She is the Mother, the Mother of Jesus whom
the child learns to know by seeing him represented in her arms; the
Mother of Christ’s brethren by that more than earthly motherhood before
which all Christian mothers bow themselves and teach their children to
bow. Mother of Jesus and our Mother, she is worthy of the most filial
love. Compassionate to the sorrows of her children on earth, and
influencing the heart of her Son in heaven, she deserves and inspires a
confidence which, as witnessed through all ages, has never been deceived
(19).
Without having employed the slightly technical term hyperdulia
which was habitually used before the Second Vatican Council, and
whose sense is so well described by de la Broise, it is certainly the
same sense of the word which is expressed in Lumen Gentium 66.
The absence of the word, actually unused in the East, but which figured,
however, in one of the eight successive redactions of the conciliar text
(20), should not then be interpreted as its rejection from Catholic
vocabulary for the Church of our times (21). If the nature of Marian
devotion, which differs essentially from the cultus of adoration
rendered to God, is qualified as absolutely unique (singularis
omnino quamquam est) this is certainly in comparison with the
veneration of the other saints, as Monsignor Philips, one of the
principal redactors of the text explained (22). It is moreover possible
to recognize in this expression a trace of the influence of the great
Italian Mariologist G.M. Roschini on the "principal of transcendent
singularity": "Mary most holy, being an altogether singular creature who
transcends all others so as to constitute an order unto herself, is also
the subject of privileges which are altogether singular and which have
been granted to no other creature" (23).
G.M.
Roschini alludes here to a fundamental truth, all too often passed over
in silence in our days, namely "the belonging of the Virgin Mary to the
order of the hypostatic union" (24) according to metaphysical
terminology which has proven itself. There exist in effect three orders
of reality which are irreducible but ordained among themselves "in view
of a more and more intimate communication of the Divinity" (25): the
order of nature, the order of grace and the hypostatic order. This last
is most certainly distinct from the hypostatic union which designates
the union of the two natures, human and divine, in the one divine person
of Christ. But the hypostatic union is the principle of an order
which includes two members, namely the human nature of Christ (which
does not subsist apart from his divine person) and the Mother of God. As
the French Dominican Mariologist M.J. Nicolas explains: "There are two
in this order because God wished to bring about the Incarnation by means
of birth and not by way of creation" (26). In the final analysis, this
is to take into account the fact that the Virgin Mary is party to the
divine decree, constitutive of the hypostatic order, which ordained the
Incarnation of the Word. It is this belonging of Mary to the hypostatic
order which fully justifies the Church’s practice of rendering to the
Mother of God a cultus which is entirely special, having as its
foundation a grace of another order than that venerated in the other
saints, that is to say the grace of the divine maternity:
Mary,
by her divine maternity is above the entire order of common grace and
comes closer to God than any other creature. That is why we owe her an
exceptional veneration. It is not only the incarnate Word whom we honor
in her, it is she herself in her own person, for her own greatness with
which she is ever endowed from her relation to HIM (27).
The
fact that this belonging of Mary to the hypostatic order is no longer
taught in our days (28) probably contributes to explaining why in
numerous post-conciliar publications there is often a unilateral
insistence on the specific difference between the veneration of Mary and
the cultus of adoration reserved for God, which nevertheless
causes no difficulty, but is made at the cost of a second important
difference, that of recognizing and stating, although more subtly, that
which exists between Marian devotion (hyperdulia) and the
cultus of the saints (dulia).
Moreover, the ordinary Papal Magisterium has addressed itself to this
issue on several occasions. Pope Paul VI wanted to return to the
teaching of Vatican II "to remove doubts and, especially, to help the
development of that devotion to the Blessed Virgin which in the Church
is motivated by the Word of God and practiced in the Spirit of Christ"
(29). The mere reading of the introductions of the respective apostolic
exhortations Signum Magnum (1967) and Marialis Cultus
(1974) suffices to show the doctrinal and pastoral solicitude of this
pope to reaffirm that to the altogether special place which Mary
occupied in the redemptive plan of God corresponds a special and
totally unique cultus towards her.
More
recently, Pope John Paul II, whose Marian Magisterium is of an
unequalled depth and richness, devoted an entire catechesis on the
nature of Marian devotion which constitutes a prolongation of that of
Paul VI and a precious commentary on Lumen Gentium 66 and its
authentic interpretation:
Although the veneration of the faithful for Mary is superior to their
devotion to the other saints, it is nevertheless inferior to the
cultus of adoration reserved to God, from which it essentially
differs. … Nonetheless, there is a continuity between Marian devotion
and the worship given to God. The honor paid to Mary is ordered and
leads to adoration of the Blessed Trinity. The Council recalled that
Christian veneration of the Blessed Virgin "is most favorable to" the
worship of the incarnate Word, the Father and the Holy Spirit. … Since
the Church’s earliest days, Marian devotion has been meant to foster
faithful adherence to Christ. To venerate the Mother of God is to affirm
the divinity of Christ. In proclaiming Mary Theotókos, "Mother of
God," the Fathers of the Council of Ephesus intended to confirm belief
in Christ, true God. … Marian devotion also encourages adoration of the
Father and the Holy Spirit in those who practice it according to the
Church’s spirit. By recognizing the value of Mary’s motherhood,
believers discover in it a special manifestation of God the Father’s
tenderness. … The titles of Comforter, Advocate, Helper—attributed to
Mary by popular Christian piety—do not overshadow but exalt the action
of the Spirit, the Comforter, and dispose believers to benefit from his
gifts. Lastly, the Council recalled the "uniqueness" of Marian devotion
and stressed its difference with regard to the adoration of God and the
veneration of the saints. This devotion is unrepeatable because it is
directed to a person whose personal perfection and mission are unique
(30).
Already in his encyclical on The Mother of the Redeemer (1987),
Pope John Paul II formulated this affirmation: "This cultus is
altogether special: it bears in itself and expresses the profound
link which exists between the Mother of Christ and the Church"
(RM 42). If the Second Vatican Council didn’t hesitate to present
Mary as a member of the Church, it was to specify that she is such in a
way that is "supereminent and altogether singular" (LG 53).
Moreover, as Pope Pius XII pointed out, this is not a new doctrine:
"Although it is true that, like ourselves, the Blessed Virgin is a
member of the Church, still it is no less true that she is a unique
member of Christ’s Mystical Body" (31). The divine maternity, ordained
to the redemptive Incarnation, cannot be purely and simply located among
the ministries and functions in the Church. As a Montfortian commentator
on the Marian encyclical of John Paul II well expressed it, there is
truly "her double relation to Christ and to the Church (the second
rooted in fact in the first) which allows us to discover the true
countenance of the Virgin. It is also from inside this double relation
that our attitude toward Mary should be formulated" (32). To the Mother
of the Redeemer who is also Mother of the Church, of which she is a
member in a "supereminent and altogether singular" way, is due a
veneration which is absolutely unique.
However, there is still a question: is the cultus of the Virgin
Mary unique in its degree as well as in its kind? The very
few theologians who have occupied themselves with this question continue
to propose various responses according to whether or not they consider
the divine maternity as the formal object of hyperdulia.
According to Garrigou-Lagrange "It is the more common and more probable
opinion that hyperdulia differs from dulia not in degree
only but in kind, just as the divine maternity belongs by its term to
the hypostatic order, which is specifically distinct" (33). The Italian
ecclesiologist Gherardini also argues in this sense:
Between the Most Holy Virgin and the other saints considered
individually or together, there cannot be a more or less limited
difference … no saint will ever be able to be compared to Mary in
holiness because no saint will ever be distinguished by the unparalleled
value of the divine maternity. The difference resides here: not in the
greater or lesser exercise of the virtues, but in the qualitative
difference of being (34).
Without definitively settling the question of knowing if the cultus
of hyperdulia due to the Virgin Mary is unique in its degree and
also in its kind, the conciliar and Papal Magisterium of the second half
of the twentieth century was intent to recall in season and out of
season that "among the saints of heaven, the Virgin Mary, Mother of God,
is the recipient of a more exalted cultus" (Pius XII, Mediator
Dei) (35), "special" and "absolutely unique" (LG 66), and
whose specific character should not be attenuated (cf. Paul VI,
Marialis Cultus 32). The cultus rendered to Mary "in East and
West, identical in its motivation of faith but different in its
expression, is a part of the great common patrimony of Catholics and
Orthodox" (36), as Pope John Paul II loved to underscore. The hymns to
the Mother of God of the Byzantine tradition beautifully evoke the
mystery to be contemplated:
It is
fitting and right to call you blessed, O Theotókos:
You are ever-blessed and all-blameless and the Mother of our God.
Higher in honor than the cherubim and incomparably more glorious than
the seraphim,
In virginity you gave birth to God the Word.
You are truly Mother of God: you do we exalt (37).
There
is no doubt that it is truly right to bless and magnify the Mother of
God. But what does it mean that it is truly necessary to do this and
that this veneration is still more necessary than devotion to the other
saints? If God does nothing by forced necessity, how can one speak of
the "necessity" of Mary to God and to men?
(to be
continued)
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DIVINE MERCY
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On Mercy
Thank You for Your Great Mercy
I will show my gratitude unceasingly
to God for His great mercy towards me (Diary, 224).
The more miserable my soul is, the more I feel the ocean of God's mercy
engulfing me and giving me strength and great power (Diary, 225).
Thank You, Jesus, for the great favor of making known to me the whole
abyss of my misery. I know that I am an abyss of nothingness and that,
if Your holy grace did not hold me up, I would return to nothingness in
a moment. And so, with every beat of my heart, I thank You, my God, for
Your great mercy towards me (Diary, 256).
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CATHOLIC TEACHING/CONVICTION/TESTIMONY |
Cardinal
George's
Letter
to
Obama
"We
Will
Consistently
Defend
the
Fundamental
Right
to
Life"
WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 18, 2009 ( Zenit.org).- Here is the text of the message Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago and president of the U.S. episcopal conference, sent last week to president-elect Barack Obama, who will take office as the president of the United States on Tuesday.
* * *
Dear Mr. President-elect,
As our nation begins a new year, a new Administration and a new Congress, I write to outline principles and priorities that guide the public policy efforts of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). As President of the Bishops' Conference, I assure you of our prayers, hopes and commitment to make this period of national change a time to advance the common good and defend the life and dignity of all, especially the vulnerable and poor. We continue to seek ways to work constructively with the new Administration and Congress and others of good will to pursue policies which respect the dignity of all human life and bring greater justice to our nation and peace to our world.
As Bishops, we approach public policy as pastors and teachers. Our moral principles have always guided our everyday experience in caring for the hungry and homeless, offering health care and housing, educating children and reaching out to those in need. We lead the largest community of faith in the United States, one that serves every part of our nation and is present in almost every place on earth. From our experience and our tradition, we offer a distinctive, constructive and principled contribution to the national dialogue on how to act together on issues of economic turmoil and suffering, war and violence, moral decency and human dignity.
Our nation now faces economic challenges with potentially tragic human consequences and serious moral dimensions. We will work with the new Administration and Congress to support strong, prudent and effective measures to address the terrible impacts and injustices of the economic crisis. In particular, we will advocate a clear priority for poor families and vulnerable workers in the development and implementation of economic recovery measures, including new investments while strengthening the national safety net. We also support greater accountability and oversight to address irresponsible abuses of the system that contributed to the financial crisis.
The Catholic Bishops of the United States have worked for decades to assure health care for all, insisting that access to decent health care is a basic human right and a requirement of human dignity. We urge comprehensive action to ensure truly universal health care coverage which protects all human life including pre-natal life, and provides access for all, with a special concern for the poor. Any such legislation ought to respect freedom to choose by offering a variety of options and ensuring respect for the moral and religious convictions of patients and providers. Such an approach should seek to restrain costs while sharing them equitably.
On international affairs, we will work with our leaders to seek a responsible transition in an Iraq free of religious persecution. We especially urge early, focused and persistent leadership to bring an end to violent conflict and a just peace in the Holy Land. We will continue to support essential U.S. investments to overcome poverty, hunger and disease through increased and reformed foreign assistance. Continued U.S. leadership in the fight against HIV-AIDS and other diseases in ways that are both effectively and morally appropriate have our enthusiastic backing. Recognizing the complexity of climate change, we wish to be a voice for the poor and vulnerable in our country and around the world who will be the most adversely affected by any dramatic threats to the environment.
We will work with the new Administration and Congress to fix a broken immigration system which harms both our nation and immigrants. Comprehensive reform is needed to deal with the economic and human realities of millions of immigrants in our midst. It must be based on respect for and implementation of the law. Equally it must defend the rights and dignity of all peoples, recognizing that human dignity comes from God and does not depend on where people were born or how they came to our nation. Truly comprehensive immigration reform will include a path to earned citizenship with attention to the fact that international trade and development policies influence economic opportunities in the countries from which immigrants come.
We stand firm in our support for marriage which is a faithful, exclusive, lifelong union of a man and a woman and must remain such in law. In a manner unlike any other relationship, marriage makes a unique and irreplaceable contribution to the common good of society, especially through the procreation and education of children. No other kinds of personal relationships can be justly made equivalent to the commitment of a man and a woman in marriage.
With regard to the education of children, we will continue to support initiatives which provide resources for all parents, especially those of modest means, to choose education which best address the needs of their children.
We welcome continuing commitments to empower faith-based groups as effective partners in overcoming poverty and other threats to human dignity. We will work with the Administration and Congress to strengthen these partnerships in ways that do not encourage government to abandon its responsibilities, and do not require religious groups to abandon their identity and mission.
Most fundamentally, we will work to protect the lives of the most vulnerable and voiceless members of the human family, especially unborn children and those who are disabled or terminally ill. We will consistently defend the fundamental right to life from conception to natural death. Opposed to abortion as the direct killing of innocent human life, we will encourage one and all to seek common ground that will reduce the number of abortions in morally sound ways that affirm the dignity of pregnant women and their unborn children. We will oppose legislative and other measures to expand abortion. We will work to retain essential, widely supported policies which show respect for unborn life, protect the conscience rights of health care providers and other Americans, and prevent government funding and promotion of abortion. The Hyde amendment and other provisions which for many years have prevented federal funding of abortion have a proven record of reducing abortions. Efforts to force Americans to fund abortions with their tax dollars would pose a serious moral challenge and jeopardize the passage of essential health care reform.
This outline of USCCB policies and priorities is not complete. There are many other areas of concern and advocacy for the Church and the USCCB especially: religious freedom and other civil and human rights, news media and communications, and issues of war and peace. For a more detailed description of our concerns please see Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship (USCCB 2008), pages 19-30.
Nonetheless, we offer this outline as an agenda for dialogue and action. We hope to offer a constructive and principled contribution to national discussion over the values and policies that will shape our nation's future. We seek to work together with our nation's leaders to advance the common good of our society, while disagreeing respectfully and civilly where necessary for preserving that same common good.
In closing, I renew our expression of hope and our offer of cooperation as you begin this new period of service to our nation in these challenging times. We promise our prayers for you, that the days ahead will be a time of renewal and progress for our nation and that we can work together to defend human life and dignity and build a nation of greater justice and a world at peace.
Sincerely yours,
Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Archbishop of Chicago
President
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