TRÁI TIM MẸ:  NƠI CON NƯƠNG NÁU - ĐƯỜNG ĐẾN VỚI CHÚA

"Chúa Giêsu muốn dùng con để làm cho Mẹ được nhận biết và yêu mến"

January 10, 2009 - Saturday after Epiphany      DAILY LITURGICAL/THEME MEDITATION: "This joy of mine is now full" UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENT(S): Cardinal Discounts "Tension" Over Gaza Comment; Aid Groups Urge Look at Rights Violations in Gaza SAINT OF THE DAY St. Gregory of Nyssa  GENERAL MARIOLOGY The Mother of God The Council of Ephesus (431) DIVINE MERCY On Trust A Pledge of Mercy for Souls  TEACHING/TESTIMONY/CONVICTION: POPE ON SOLEMNITY OF MARY, MOTHER OF GOD     Monthly Index

DAILY LITURGICAL MEDITATION

Saturday (1/10): "This joy of mine is now full" Scripture: John 3:22-30  (alternate reading: Luke 4:14-22) 22 After this Jesus and his disciples went into the land of Judea; there he remained with them and baptized. 23 John also was baptizing at Ae'non near Salim, because there was much water there; and people came and were baptized. 24 For John had not yet been put in prison. 25 Now a discussion arose between John's disciples and a Jew over purifying. 26 And they came to John, and said to him, "Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness, here he is, baptizing, and all are going to him." 27 John answered, "No one can receive anything except what is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. 29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice; therefore this joy of mine is now full. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease." Meditation: Do you know the joy of the Lord? When the associates of John the Baptist complain that all are now going to Jesus, John in his characteristic humility exclaimed that he was not the Messiah but only the messenger sent to prepare his way. John describes the Messiah as the Bridegroom and himself as the friend of the Bridegroom. The image of marriage and the wedding feast is used throughout the scriptures to describe God's joy in his people, who are regarded as his bride. As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you (Isaiah 62:5). John acted as the best man in arranging the marriage and in making preparations for the marriage feast. John and his disciples rejoice that the Bridegroom has come to make his bride, the church, ready for the marriage feast. We see this fulfilled in the New Jerusalem in the marriage feast of the Lamb and his Bride (see Revelations 21-22). Do you look with joyful anticipation to the consummation of God's plan for his people at the end of the ages? "Lord Jesus, help me to fix my eyes on your kingdom and to pray with eager longing and with joyful hope for the day when your people will be fully united with you in the heavenly marriage feast. May there be no nothing in my life which might hinder me from giving you may all, you who are my joy and life". Psalm 149:1-9 1 Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful! 2 Let Israel be glad in his Maker, let the sons of Zion rejoice in their King! 3 Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with timbrel and lyre! 4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with victory. 5 Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their couches. 6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands, 7 to wreak vengeance on the nations and chastisement on the peoples, 8 to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, 9 to execute on them the judgment written! This is glory for all his faithful ones. Praise the LORD!   RETURN TO TOP

UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENTS

Cardinal Discounts "Tension" Over Gaza Comment Affirms That War Zone Is Contrary to Human Dignity   ROME, JAN. 9, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Cardinal Renato Martino says his comment Wednesday that compared the Gaza Strip to a "big concentration camp" cannot be interpreted as anti-Israeli, after certain Jewish leaders protested the reference. Some media reports said the cardinal, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and his comparison could have compromised Benedict XVI's trip to the Holy Land planned for May. Commentators agree, however, that that trip is perhaps already on shaky ground, considering the continuing bloodshed in the area. But Cardinal Martino told the Italian daily "La Repubblica," which first reported the comparison, that the situation in the Gaza Strip is indeed "horrible," and "contrary to human dignity." He said to journalist Marco Politi, "I say that the conditions people are living in there should be looked at: surrounded by a wall that is difficult to cross, in conditions contrary to human dignity. What is happening during these days is horrible. But when I speak, may people take into account the whole of what I say." The cardinal affirmed that both sides are "guilty" and that it is "necessary to separate them, like two fighting siblings are separated," and make them "sit down to negotiate." "Hamas missiles are not confetti," he continued. "I condemn them. Israel certainly has the right to defend itself and Hamas should take that into account. But what can be said when so many children are killed, when U.N. schools are bombed, while possessing the technology that allows one to make out an ant on the ground?" "If Israel wants to live in peace, it needs to make peace with the rest," Cardinal Martino contended. On the other hand, "Hamas does not represent all the Palestinians. I do not defend Hamas: If they want a house, if they want a Palestinian state, they should understand that the path they've begun is wrong." Aid Groups Urge Look at Rights Violations in Gaza  U.N. Puts Aid Efforts on Hold for 2nd Day GENEVA, Switzerland, JAN. 9, 2009 (Zenit.org).- A coalition of Catholic groups is urging the United Nations to investigate violations of international law committed by both sides in the Gaza-Israel conflict. In a statement today from Caritas Internationalis, the aid organization reported that in conjunction with Dominicans for Justice and Peace, International Young Catholic Students on Peace-Building, and Pax Romana, they wrote to the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council appealing for an investigation. The joint statement urges all parties to protect the lives of civilians and to enforce international humanitarian law and international human rights law. "We are calling on the Human Rights Council to investigate and to assess the human rights violations and the humanitarian situation in Gaza and Israel," said Father Robert Vitillo, the leader of the Caritas international delegation in Geneva. "We are calling on Israel to end indiscriminate collective punishment of the civilian population in Gaza and stop their excessive use of force. We are urging Hamas to end their unlawful rocket attacks on civilians in Israel." They further urged international cooperation in ensuring the protection of civilian populations in Gaza and Israel, especially the most vulnerable, in accordance with international law. The Catholic organizations, like the United Nations itself, are calling for an immediate ceasefire to get humanitarian relief into Gaza and to protect human life. The United Nations put aid deliveries to Gaza on hold for a second day due to safety concerns after an aid truck driver was killed Thursday by Israeli fire. Caritas spokesman Patrick Nicholson explained to ZENIT that while Caritas has not suspend its aid efforts, it and other agencies depend on the United Nations to get aid through to the areas in need. Neither Israel nor Hamas are respecting a call made by the U.N. on Thursday night for an immediate ceasefire. News reports put the Palestinian death toll of the two-week conflict at 777, half of whom are civilians. ETURN TO TOP

DAILY LITURGICAL SAINT

January 10, 2009 St. Gregory of Nyssa (c. 330-395)   The son of two saints, Basil and Emmilia, young Gregory was raised by his older brother, St. Basil the Great, and his sister, Macrina, in modern-day Turkey. Gregory's success in his studies suggested great things were ahead for him. After becoming a professor of rhetoric, he was persuaded to devote his learning and efforts to the Church. By then married, Gregory went on to study for the priesthood and become ordained (this at a time when celibacy was not a matter of law for priests). He was elected Bishop of Nyssa (in Lower Armenia) in 372, a period of great tension over the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Christ. Briefly arrested after being falsely accused of embezzling Church funds, Gregory was restored to his see in 378, an act met with great joy by his people. It was after the death of his beloved brother, Basil, that Gregory really came into his own. He wrote with great effectiveness against Arianism and other questionable doctrines, gaining a reputation as a defender of orthodoxy. He was sent on missions to counter other heresies and held a position of prominence at the Council of Constantinople. His fine reputation stayed with him for the remainder of his life, but over the centuries it gradually declined as the authorship of his writings became less and less certain. But, thanks to the work of scholars in the 20th century, his stature is once again appreciated. Indeed, St. Gregory of Nyssa is seen not simply as a pillar of orthodoxy but as one of the great contributors to the mystical tradition in Christian spirituality and to monasticism itself. Comment: Orthodoxy is a word that raises red flags in our minds. It connotes rigid attitudes that make no room for honest differences of opinion. But it might just as well suggest something else: faith that has settled deep in one’s bones. Gregory’s faith was like that. So deeply imbedded was his faith in Jesus that he knew the divinity that Arianism denied. When we resist something offered as truth without knowing exactly why, it may be because our faith has settled in our bones. RETURN TO TOP

GENERAL MARIOLOGY

The Mother of God  By Fr. Manfred Hauke    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. (continued)   The Council of Ephesus (431) (57) At the end of the fourth century, the title Theotókos was already widely diffused and was regarded as a part of the deposit of faith, first of all in Egypt. For this reason St. Cyril of Alexandria spoke of a "worldwide scandal" (skándalon oikumenikón), when the word was questioned. The controversy began when Nestorius, an eloquent monk from Antioch, was appointed patriarch of Constantinople in 428. He spoke out against the word Theotókos, preferring to speak of Mary as Christotókos (bearer of Christ). His difficulties, typical for the Antiochene school, came from his position against the communication of idioms, by which Christ’s human actions and sufferings can be attributed to the divine person. He suspected an influence of Arianism in the use of the title Theotókos that presented the divine Word as a creature, subject to the passions. Nestorius spoke of a single "person" in Christ (prosopon), but he intended by this word only a moral union between two individual subjects. In Theodore of Mopsuestia and Nestorius a correct appreciation of the Blessed Virgin is blocked by their Christology: for their approach, "the humanity of Christ takes the position attributed in the traditional theology to Mary, ‘temple’ or bearer of God" (58). The title Theotókos was defended by Cyril of Alexandria: when we say that the divine Word was born and has suffered, we do not intend to say that the divinity was born or has suffered, but we mean the humanity united to God. Mary is the Mother of God because she has born the eternal Son who has assumed human flesh, that is, she has born God according to the flesh. Nestorius and Cyril both appealed to Pope Celestine, who took the part of Cyril. The Council of Ephesus (431), summoned by the emperor, accepted as its foundation the second letter of Cyril to Nestorius: The Word is said to have been begotten according to the flesh, because for us and for our salvation he united what was human to himself hypostatically and came forth from a woman. For he was not first begotten of the holy virgin, a man like us, and then the Word descended upon him; but from the very womb of his mother he was so united and then underwent begetting according to the flesh, making his own the begetting of his own flesh. … So shall we find that the holy fathers believed. So have they dared to call the holy Virgin, Mother of God (Theotókos), not as though the nature of the Word or his Godhead received the origin of their being from the holy Virgin, but because there was born from her his holy body rationally ensouled, with which the Word was hypostatically united and is said to have been begotten in the flesh (59). In other words: Jesus Christ, God and man, is one person, and for this reason Mary must be recognized as Mother of God. The activity of Mary as "God-bearer" is relevant regarding the human generation of Jesus, but not the divine generation of the Second Person of the Trinity. The Word is born from Mary "according to the flesh." Mary is not the mother of the "Trinity," but of God’s eternal Son. The term "God" is referring only to the person of the divine Word. Mary is not called "mother of the Godhead." Cyril of Alexandria began the council before the arrival of the representatives sent by the Pope and without the Syrian bishops (from the Antiochene region). The representatives of the Holy Father consented to the proclamations of the council, but it was only two years later, in 433, that Cyril could establish an agreement with the Antiochene bishops in which they accepted the title Theotókos: We confess … that our Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, perfect God and perfect man …, generated from the Father before the centuries according to the Godhead, born, for us and for our salvation, at the end of the times by the Virgin Mary according to the humanity, of the same substance of the Father according to the Godhead, and of the same substance as us according to the humanity. As a matter of fact, the union of the two natures came through, and for this reason we confess only one Christ, only one Son, only one Lord. According to this concept of non-confused union, we confess the holy Virgin Mother of God, because the Word of God incarnated himself and became man, uniting to himself from the time of conception the temple assumed from her (60). This dogmatic agreement cleared the terminology, because Cyril had spoken of "one nature of the Word incarnate" and of "one hypostasis" of the Word. The difference between nature and hypostasis had not been evident, whereas by 433 even the patriarch of Alexandria accepted and began to speak of "two natures" in one single subject, the eternal Word, the Son of God. The creed of reunion in 433 prepared for the definition of the Council of Chalcedon in 451, which accentuated that there are two natures in the hypostatic union of Christ that are neither separated nor mixed. In this context we once again find the title Theotókos: One and the same Son … begotten before the ages from the Father as regards his divinity, and in the last days the same for us and for our salvation from Mary, the virgin God-bearer, as regards his humanity (61). The intention of the Council of Ephesus to correct the doctrine of Nestorius was renewed by the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, which formally approved the twelve anathemas of Cyril of Alexandria against Nestorius (at Ephesus they had only been collected in the Acts without receiving any formal approval) (62). In the first anathema, we read: "If anyone does not confess that the Emmanuel is God in truth, and therefore not confess that the holy Virgin is the Mother of God (for she bore in a fleshly way the Word of God become flesh), let him be anathema" (63). The council gives some more assessments, especially the following condemnation: "If anyone affirms that the holy glorious and perpetual Virgin Mary is Mother of God only in an improper sense but not truly … let him be anathema" (64). The synod also speaks of the "two births" of the divine Word, "one before the ages from the Father, above time and incorporeal, and the other in these latest times" from Mary (65). The Council of Ephesus was accompanied by the enthusiasm of the faithful (from which Nestorius had to escape): The night on which the decrees were promulgated, crowds of the faithful took to the streets and shouted enthusiastically, "Hagia Maria Theotókos," "Holy Mary, Mother of God." … The proclamation of Mary as Theotókos … thus caused great joy among the local populace who accompanied the Fathers of the council to their homes with lights and singing (66). The Council of Ephesus inspired the most famous Marian homily of antiquity, attributed to St. Cyril of Alexandria. The Egyptian patriarch describes Mary as "scepter of the true faith" (67). In an enthusiastic praise of the Blessed Virgin, the divine motherhood is also shown to have spiritual consequences for our salvation: Through thee, the Trinity is glorified; through thee, the Cross is venerated in the whole world … through thee, angels and archangels rejoice, through thee, demons are chased … through thee, the fallen creature is raised to heaven … through thee, churches are founded in the whole world, through thee, peoples are led to conversion (68). The invocations of Mary’s universal mediation with the formulation "through thee" finish with the words: "through thee … kings reign, in the name of the Trinity" (69). It seems that Mary is presented here as personal instrument for the operation of the Triune God, similar to the Trinitarian function of the Church (70). "This is a statement of Mary’s mediation, an inspired utterance by a man privileged to unite his personal intuition with the revealed truth of God" (71). We find in these words the intrinsic link between the divine maternity and Mary’s relation with the Most Holy Trinity, with the mystery of the Church and the universal mediation of grace. The Council of Ephesus gave a strong impulse for the development of Marian devotion. A typical example is architecture. At the time of the council, some churches were already dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, for instance at Ephesus (the council took place in the church of St. Mary). But after the council, many more churches were consecrated to the Mother of God. The most famous case is the construction of the Basilica of St. Mary Major (Santa Maria Maggiore) at Rome by Pope Sixtus III soon after the council. The mosaics of the triumph arch manifest the Church’s faith in the divine motherhood (72). (to be continued)  RETURN TO TOP

DIVINE MERCY

Dairy from St. Faustina On Trust A Pledge of Mercy for Souls I feel that I am being completely transformed into prayer in order to beg God's mercy for every soul. O my Jesus, I am receiving You into my heart as a pledge of mercy for souls (Diary, 996). I often receive light and the knowledge of the interior life of God and of God's intimate disposition, and this fills me with unutterable trust and a joy that I cannot contain within myself; I desire to dissolve completely in Him. ... (Diary, 1102). RETURN TO TOP

CATHOLIC  TEACHING/CONVICTION/TESTIMONY

SOLEMNITY OF MARY, MOTHER OF GOD AND 42nd WORLD DAY OF PEACE HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI St Peter's Basilica Thursday, 1st January 2009   Venerable Brothers, Mr Ambassadors, Dear Brothers and Sisters, On the first day of the year, divine Providence brings us together for a celebration that moves us each time because of the riches and beauty of its correspondence: the civil New Year converges with the culmination of the Octave of Christmas on which the divine Motherhood of Mary is celebrated, and this gathering is summed up felicitously in the World Day of Peace. In the light of Christ's Nativity, I am pleased to address my best wishes to each one for the year that has just begun. I address them in particular to Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino and his collaborators of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, with special gratitude for their precious service. I also address them to the Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and to the entire Secretariat of State; and likewise, with deep cordiality, I address them to the large number of Ambassadors present today. My good wishes echo the good wishes that the Lord himself has just addressed to us in the liturgy of the Word. A Word which, starting with the event in Bethlehem, recalled in its historical actuality by the Gospel of Luke (2: 16-21) and reinterpreted in all its saving importance by the Apostle Paul (Gal 4: 4-7), becomes a Blessing for the People of God and for all humanity. Thus the ancient Jewish tradition of blessing is brought to completion (Nm 6: 22-27): the priests of Israel blessed the people by putting the Lord's Name upon them: "so shall they put my name upon the people of Israel". With a triple formula present in the First Reading the sacred Name was invoked upon the faithful three times, as a wish for grace and peace. This remote custom brings us back to an essential reality: to be able to walk on the way of peace, men and women and peoples need to be illumined by the "Face" of God and to be blessed by his "Name". Precisely this came about definitively with the Incarnation: the coming of the Son of God in our flesh and in history brought an irrevocable blessing, a light that is never to be extinguished and offers believers and people of good-will alike the possibility of building the civilization of love and peace. The Second Vatican Council said in this regard that "by his Incarnation, he, the Son of God, has in a certain way united himself with each man" (Gaudium et spes, n. 22). This union confirms the original design of a humanity created in the "image and likeness" of God. In fact, the Incarnate Word is the one, perfect and consubstantial image of the invisible God. Jesus Christ is the perfect man. "Human nature", the Council reaffirms: "by the very fact that it was assumed... in him, has been raised in us also to a dignity beyond compare" (ibid.). For this reason the earthly history of Jesus that culminated in the Paschal Mystery is the beginning of a new world, because he truly inaugurated a new humanity, ever and only with Christ's grace, capable of bringing about a peaceful "revolution". This revolution was not an ideological but spiritual revolution, not utopian but real, and for this reason in need of infinite patience, sometimes of very long periods, avoiding any short cuts and taking the hardest path: the path of the development of responsibility in consciences. Dear friends, this is the Gospel way to peace, the way that the Bishop of Rome is called to reproprose with constancy every time that he sets his hand to writing the annual Message for the World Day of Peace. In taking this path it is at times necessary to review aspects and problems that have already been faced but that are so important that they constantly require fresh attention. This is the case of the theme I have chosen for the Message this year: "Fighting poverty to build peace". This is a theme that lends itself to a dual order of considerations which I can only mention briefly here. On the one hand the poverty Jesus chose and proposed and on the other, the poverty to be combated in order to bring the world greater justice and solidarity. The first aspect acquires its ideal context during these days in the Christmas Season. The Birth of Jesus in Bethlehem reveals to us that God chose poverty for himself in coming among us. The scene that the shepherds were the first to see and that confirmed the angel's announcement to them, was a stable in which Mary and Joseph had found shelter, and a manger in which the Virgin had laid the newborn Child wrapped in swaddling clothes (cf. Lk 2: 7, 12, 16). God chose this poverty. He wanted to be born thus but we can immediately add: he wanted to live and also to die in this condition. Why? St Alphonsus Maria Liguori explains it in a Christmas carol that is known all over Italy: "You, Creator of the world had no clothes, no fire, O my Lord. My dear Divine Child, how I love this poverty, since for love you made yourself poorer still". This is the answer: love for us impelled Jesus not only to make himself man, but also to make himself poor. Along these same lines we can quote St Paul's words in the Second Letter to the Corinthians: "For you are well acquainted", he writes, with "the favour shown you by our Lord Jesus Christ: how for your sake he made himself poor though he was rich, so that you might become rich by his poverty" (8: 9). St Francis of Assisi was an exemplary witness of this poverty chosen for love. The Franciscan charism, in the history of the Church and of Christian civilization, constitutes a widespread trend of evangelical poverty which has done and continues to do such great good for the Church and for the human family. Returning to St Paul's wonderful synthesis on Jesus, it is significant also for our reflection today that it was inspired in the Apostle precisely while he was urging the Christians of Corinth to be generous in collecting money for the poor. He explains: "I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of equality your abundance at the present time should supply their want" (2 Cor 8: 13). This is a crucial point that brings us to the second aspect: there is a poverty, a deprivation, which God does not desire and which should be "fought" as the theme of this World Day of Peace says; a poverty that prevents people and families from living as befits their dignity; a poverty that offends justice and equality and that, as such, threatens peaceful co-existence. This negative acceptation also includes all the non-material forms of poverty that are also to be found in the rich and developed societies: marginalization, relational, moral and spiritual poverty (cf. Message for the World Day of Peace 2009, n. 2). In my Message I wanted once again, following in the wake of my Predecessors, to consider attentively the complex phenomenon of globalization and its relation to widespread poverty. In the face of widespread scourges such as pandemic diseases (ibid., n. 4), child poverty (ibid., n. 5), the food crisis (ibid., n. 7), I have unfortunately had to return to denouncing the unacceptable arms race. On the one hand the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is being celebrated, and on the other, military expenditure is increasing, thereby violating the Charter of the United Nations, which endeavours to reduce this expenditure to the minimum (cf. art. 26). Furthermore, globalization eliminates certain barriers but it can build others (op. cit. Message for the World Day of Peace 2009, n. 8). The international community and the individual States must therefore always be alert; they must never lose sight of the dangers of conflict. On the contrary, they must strive to keep the level of solidarity high. The current global financial crisis must be seen in this regard also as a bench test: are we ready to interpret it, in its complexity, as a challenge for the future and not only as an emergency to which we must find short-term solutions? Are we prepared to undertake a profound revision of the prevalent model of development in order to correct it with concerted, far-sighted interventions? In reality, this is required by the state of the planet's ecological health and especially the cultural and moral crisis whose symptoms have been visible for some time in every part of the world, far more than by the immediate financial problems. Thus it is necessary to seek to establish a "virtuous circle" between the poverty "to be chosen" and the poverty "to be fought". This gives access to a path rich in fruits for humanity's present and future and which could be summarized thus: to fight the evil poverty that oppresses so many men and women and threatens the peace of all, it is necessary to rediscover moderation and solidarity as evangelical, and at the same time universal, values. More practically, it is impossible to combat poverty effectively unless one does what St Paul wrote to the Corinthians, in other words if one does not seek "to create equality", reducing the gap between those who waste the superfluous and those who lack what they need. This entails just and sober decisions, which are moreover made obligatory by the need to administer the earth's limited resources wisely. When he says that Jesus Christ "for [our] sake became poor", St Paul offers an important indication not only from the theological point of view but also at the sociological level; not in the sense that poverty is a value in itself, but because it is a condition that demonstrates solidarity. When Francis of Assisi stripped himself of his possessions, it was a decision to witness that was inspired in him directly by God, but at the same time it shows everyone the way of trust in Providence. Thus, in the Church, the vow of poverty is the commitment of some, but it reminds all of the need to be detached from material goods and of the primacy of spiritual riches. This is therefore the message for us today: the poverty of Christ's Birth in Bethlehem, as well as being the subject of adoration for Christians, is also a school of life for every man. It teaches us that to fight both material and spiritual poverty, the path to take is the path of solidarity that impelled Jesus to share our human condition. Dear brothers and sisters, I believe that the Virgin Mary must have asked herself this question several times: why did Jesus choose to be born of a simple, humble girl like me? And then, why did he want to come into the world in a stable and have his first visit from the shepherds of Bethlehem? Mary received her answer in full at the end, having laid in the tomb the Body of Jesus, dead and wrapped in a linen shroud (cf. Lk 23: 53). She must then have fully understood the mystery of the poverty of God. She understood that God made himself poor for our sake, to enrich us with his poverty full of love, to urge us to impede the insatiable greed that sparks conflicts and divisions, to invite us to moderate the mania to possess and thus to be open to reciprocal sharing and acceptance. Let us trustingly address to Mary, Mother of the Son of God who made himself our brother, our prayer that she will help us follow in his footsteps, to fight and overcome poverty, to build true peace, which is opus iustitiae. Let us entrust to her the profound desire to live in peace that wells up in the hearts of the vast majority of the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, once again jeopardized by the outbreak of violence on a massive scale in the Gaza Strip, in response to other violent incidents. Even violence, even hatred and distrust are forms of poverty perhaps the most appalling "to fight". May they not get the upper hand! In this regard the Pastors of those Churches, in these distressing days, have made their voices heard. Together with them and their beloved faithful, especially those of the small but fervent parish of Gaza, let us place at Mary's feet our anxieties for the present and our fears for the future, and likewise the well-founded hope that with the wise and far-sighted contribution of all it will not be impossible to listen to one another, to come to one another's help and to give concrete responses to the widespread aspiration to live in peace, safety and dignity. Let us say to Mary: accompany us, heavenly Mother of the Redeemer, throughout the year that begins today, and obtain from God the gift of peace for the Holy Land and for all humanity. Holy Mother of God, pray for us. Amen.   RETURN TO TOP

Monthly Index              General Archive 2008 General Archive 2007 General Archive 2006 General Archive 2005 General Archive 2004

Hits since 3/16/2004 Màn điện toán toàn cầu của Thiếu Nhi Fatima được bắt đầu với trang Main từ ngày 9/12/1999, nhưng mãi tới Mùa Hè 2001 mới tạm xong, cuối cùng đã được chỉnh trang về cả hình thức lẫn nội dung từ mùa hè năm 2002, để rồi chính thức tái ra mắt vào ngày 25/3/2003 cho đến nay.   TNFatima.org do Thiếu Nhi Fatima chủ trương và thực hiện Mọi ý kiến đóng góp xin gửi về Webmaster