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January 27, 2009 - Tuesday in 3rd Week of Ordinary Time     LITURGICAL/THEME MEDITATION: "Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother" UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENT(S): Obama Disappoints With Mexico City Reversal SAINT OF THE DAY St. Angela Merici  GENERAL MARIOLOGY Marian Devotion, the Rosary, and the Scapular By Way of Conclusion DIVINE MERCY On Mercy The Fount of God's Mercy  TEACHING/TESTIMONY/CONVICTION: In the Wake of the World Family Meeting

DAILY LITURGICAL MEDITATION

"Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother" Scripture:  Mark 3:31-35 31 And his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting about him; and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers are outside, asking for you." 33 And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" 34 And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother." Meditation: Who do you love and cherish the most? God did not intend for us to be alone, but to be with others. He gives us many opportunities for developing relationships with family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. Why did Jesus, on this occasion, seem to ignore his own relatives when they pressed to see him? His love and respect for his mother and his relatives was unquestionable. Jesus never lost an opportunity to teach his disciples a spiritual lesson and truth about the kingdom of God. On this occasion when many gathered to hear Jesus he pointed to another higher reality of relationships, namely our relationship with God and with those who belong to God. What is the essence of being a Christian? It is certainly more than doctrine, precepts, and commandments. It is first and foremost a relationship – a relationship of trust, affection, commitment, loyalty, faithfulness, kindness, thoughtfulness, compassion, mercy, helpfulness, encouragement, support, strength, protection, and so many other qualities that bind people together in mutual love and unity. God offers us the greatest of relationships – union of heart, mind, and spirit with himself, the very author and source of love (1 John 4:8,16). God's love never fails, never forgets, never compromises, never lies, never lets us down nor disappoints us. His love is consistent, unwavering, unconditional, and unstopable. Nothing can deter him from ever leaving us, ignoring us, or treating us unkindly. He will love us no matter what. It is his nature to love. That is why he created us – to be united with him and to share in his love and unity of persons (1 John 3:1). God is a trinity of persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – and a community of love. That is why Jesus challenged his followers and even his own earthly relatives to recognize that God is the true source of all relationships. God wants all of our relationships to be rooted in his love. Jesus is God's love incarnate – God's love made visible in human flesh (1 John 4:9-10). That is why Jesus describes himself as the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep and the shepherd who seeks out the sheep who have strayed and lost their way. God is like the father who yearns for his prodigal son to return home and then throws a great party for his son when he has a change of heart and comes back (Luke 15:11-32). Jesus offered up his life on the cross for our sake, so that we could be forgiven and restored to unity and friendship with God. It is through Jesus that we become the adopted children of God – his own sons and daughters. That is why Jesus told his disciples that they would have many new friends and family relationships in his kingdom. Whoever does the will of God is a friend of God and a member of his family – his sons and daughters who have been ransomed by the precious blood of Christ. An early Christian martyr once said that "a Christian's only relatives are the saints" – namely those who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ and adopted as sons and daughters of God. Those who have been baptized into Jesus Christ and who live as his disciples enter into a new family, a family of "saints" here on earth and in heaven. Jesus changes the order of relationships and shows that true kinship is not just a matter of flesh and blood. Our adoption as sons and daughters of God transforms all of our relationships and requires a new order of loyalty to God first and to his kingdom of righteousness and peace. Do you want to grow in love and friendship? Allow God's Holy Spirit to transform your heart, mind, and will to enable you to love freely and generously as he loves. "Heavenly Father, you are the source of all true friendship and love. In all my relationships, may your love be my constant guide for choosing what is good and for rejecting what is contrary to your will." Psalm 24:7-10 7 Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors!  that the King of glory may come in. 8 Who is the King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle! 9 Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors!  that the King of glory may come in. 10 Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory! [Selah]   www.dailyscripture.net   RETURN TO TOP

UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENTS

Obama Disappoints With Mexico City Reversal US Bishops and Vatican Voice Dismay   WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 26, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Cardinal Justin Rigali called President Barack Obama's decision on day 3 of his presidency to reverse the Mexico City Policy to be "very disappointing." Obama issued an executive order Friday to restore an 8-year ban on U.S. funding of organizations that perform and promote abortion in developing nations. The chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities said in a statement that "an administration that wants to reduce abortions should not divert U.S. funds to groups that promote abortions." Obama repeatedly insisted during the presidential campaign that he wasn't for abortion, but rather for reducing the number of abortions without making the procedure illegal. Cardinal Francis George, president of the U.S. episcopal conference, wrote to Obama before last week's inauguration urging him to retain this policy: "'The Mexico City Policy, first established in 1984, has wrongly been attacked as a restriction on foreign aid for family planning. In fact, it has not reduced such aid at all, but has ensured that family planning funds are not diverted to organizations dedicated to performing and promoting abortions instead of reducing them." "Once the clear line between family planning and abortion is erased," the cardinal added, "the idea of using family planning to reduce abortions becomes meaningless, and abortion tends to replace contraception as the means for reducing family size." "The worst" Criticism from the Vatican came Saturday when Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, that "among the many good things that he could have done, Barack Obama instead has chosen the worst." "If this is one of the first acts of President Obama, with all due respect, it seems to me that the path toward disappointment has been very short," the archbishop added. Archbishop Elio Sgreccia, the retired president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, told the Italian news agency ANSA that the president's move "deals a harsh blow not only to us Catholics, but to all the people across the world that fight against the slaughter of innocents that is carried out with abortion." Obama received some praise from the Church for signing an executive order Thursday to ban torture. Bishop Howard Hubbard of Albany, chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the U.S. episcopal conference said the bishops welcomed the order, and that the ban "says much about us -- who we are, what we believe about human life and dignity, and how we act as a nation." RETURN TO TOP

DAILY LITURGICAL SAINT

January 27, 2009 St. Angela Merici (1470?-1540)   Angela has the double distinction of founding the first teaching congregation of women in the Church and what is now called a “secular institute” of religious women. As a young woman she became a member of the Third Order of St. Francis (now known as the Secular Franciscan Order), and lived a life of great austerity, wishing, like St. Francis, to own nothing, not even a bed. Early in life she was appalled at the ignorance among poorer children, whose parents could not or would not teach them the elements of religion. Angela’s charming manner and good looks complemented her natural qualities of leadership. Others joined her in giving regular instruction to the little girls of their neighborhood. She was invited to live with a family in Brescia (where, she had been told in a vision, she would one day found a religious community). Her work continued and became well known. She became the center of a group of people with similar ideals. She eagerly took the opportunity for a trip to the Holy Land. When they had gotten as far as Crete, she was struck with blindness. Her friends wanted to return home, but she insisted on going through with the pilgrimage, and visited the sacred shrines with as much devotion and enthusiasm as if she had her sight. On the way back, while praying before a crucifix, her sight was restored at the same place where it had been lost. At 57, she organized a group of 12 girls to help her in catechetical work. Four years later the group had increased to 28. She formed them into the Company of St. Ursula (patroness of medieval universities and venerated as a leader of women) for the purpose of re-Christianizing family life through solid Christian education of future wives and mothers. The members continued to live at home, had no special habit and took no formal vows, though the early Rule prescribed the practice of virginity, poverty and obedience. The idea of a teaching congregation of women was new and took time to develop. The community thus existed as a “secular institute” until some years after Angela’s death. Comment: As with so many saints, history is mostly concerned with their activities. But we must always presume deep Christian faith and love in one whose courage lasts a lifetime, and who can take bold new steps when human need demands. Quote: In a time when change is problematic to many, it may be helpful to recall a statement this great leader made to her sisters: “If according to times and needs you should be obliged to make fresh rules and change certain things, do it with prudence and good advice.” http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/SaintofDay RETURN TO TOP

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. By Way of Conclusion: St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, the apostle of "true devotion to the Holy Virgin," would have approved without hesitation the well-known affirmation of Edith Stein with regard to "genuine prayer": It is not a question of placing the inner prayer … as "subjective" piety in contrast to the liturgy as the "objective" prayer of the Church. All authentic prayer is prayer of the Church. Through every sincere prayer something happens in the Church, and it is the Church itself that is praying therein, for it is the Holy Spirit living in the Church that intercedes for every individual soul "with sighs too deep for words" (Rom 8:26) (111). If the approaches and the forms which express the cultus of hyperdulia addressed to the Virgin Mary are multiple, it is always the Holy Spirit who is the interior Master and artisan of the living Tradition of Christian Marian prayer. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992) took care to specify that if "the Church loves to pray in communion with the Virgin Mary, to magnify with her the great things the Lord has done for her and to entrust supplications and praises to her" it is "because of Mary’s singular cooperation with the action of the Holy Spirit" (CCC 2682). St. Louis-Marie de Montfort speaks of the mystery of the Virgin Mary as of a "secret" revealed by the Holy Spirit: Happy, indeed sublimely happy, is the person to whom the Holy Spirit reveals the secret of Mary, thus imparting to him true knowledge of her. Happy the person to whom the Holy Spirit opens this enclosed garden for him to enter and to whom the Holy Spirit gives access to this sealed fountain where he can draw water and drink deep draughts of the living waters of grace (SM 20). The pastoral guidance of Marian devotion does not have as its purpose the multiplication or accumulation of practices of piety, however good and laudable in themselves. What is essential is to promote a "contemplative discovery of the mystery of the Virgin Mary," that is to say an intimate lived and transcendent knowledge, which creates "an interior attitude and causes a filial impulse which bursts from the depths" as the Carmelite Marie-Eugène of the Child Jesus so well explained (112). In this dynamic of growth in the love of Jesus in Mary which surpasses all knowledge, de Montfort, the author of the Secret of Mary, distinguishes three stages (or degrees): The first consists in fulfilling the duties of our Christian state, avoiding all mortal sin, performing our actions for God more through love than through fear, praying to Our Lady occasionally, and honoring her as the Mother of God, but without our devotion to her being exceptional. The second consists in entertaining for Our Lady deeper feelings of esteem and love, of confidence and veneration. This devotion inspires us to join the confraternities of the holy Rosary and the scapular, to say the five or fifteen decades of the Rosary, to venerate Our Lady’s altars and shrines, to make her known to others, and to enroll in her sodalities. This devotion, in keeping us from sin, is good, holy and praiseworthy, but it is not as perfect as the third, nor as effective in detaching us from creatures, or in practicing that self-denial necessary for union with Jesus Christ. The third devotion to Our Lady is one which is unknown to many and practiced by very few. This is the one I am about to present to you. Chosen soul, this devotion consists in surrendering oneself in the manner of a slave to Mary, and to Jesus through her, and then performing all our actions with Mary, in Mary, through Mary, and for Mary (SM 25-28). In order that what has been exposed in this present chapter should be put to the service of a devotion to Mary which is not only genuine but perfect, because it consists in giving oneself entirely to her and to Jesus through her, it is necessary for the reader to complete the route undertaken by the attentive study of the chapter which treats specifically of consecration to Mary, described by John Paul II as "the most genuine form of devotion to the Blessed Virgin" (113).  RETURN TO TOP

DIVINE MERCY

Dairy from St. Faustina On Mercy The Fount of God's Mercy O God of fathomless mercy, who allow me to give relief and help to the dying by my unworthy prayer, be blessed as many thousand times as there are stars in the sky and drops of water in all the oceans! (Diary, 835). †  O human souls, where are you going to hide on the day of God's anger: Take refuge now in the fount of God's mercy. O what a great multitude of souls I see! They worshiped The Divine Mercy and will be singing the hymn of praise for all eternity (Diary, 848). RETURN TO TOP

CATHOLIC  TEACHING/CONVICTION/TESTIMONY

In the Wake of the World Family Meeting Interview With Superior-General of Regnum Christi   MEXICO CITY, JAN. 26, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The key phase of the World Meeting of Families is just now getting under way, as families put into practice what they learned, says the superior-general of the lay Regnum Christi movement. Legionary of Christ Father Álvaro Corcuera was one of the speakers at the World Meeting, which was held Jan. 14-18 in Mexico City. He spoke with ZENIT about what the World Meeting of Families means for the Church and why Christians should view the future of family life with hope. Q: How does God act during events like the World Meeting of Families? What fruits can we expect? Father Corcuera: I am convinced that during these days, God has worked in a profound way and has sown seeds of grace in many hearts. The meeting has ended, but these seeds will grow little by little. The Pope reminded us in June, in the port of Brindisi, that the characteristic and unmistakable style of God is that he tends to bring about the greatest things in the simplest and most humble way; his work is always silent and non-spectacular, but these humble and discreet gestures, such as the beginning of the Church in Galilee, have a great renewing strength. Christ wants to rein in the "small and decisive world that is the heart of man" -- to use the Pope's words -- and in every home. This World Meeting of Families has been like a Pentecost, where we have asked the Holy Spirit to transform us. In turn, I think that he asks us, in these times that are not easy, to live like Jesus Christ, with an urgency to do good, in a state of mission, forming one heart and one soul among all, just like the first Christians. Q: During your intervention at the theological congress of the World Meeting, you stressed faith, hope and charity as pillars of Christian life and as a challenge for Catholic families. Why? Father Corcuera: If we Christians want to build up the family, we cannot lose sight of the essential of Christian life, which is to live faced to God. The theological virtues are the properly Christian way to relate with God, the backbone that keeps the family united and going forward, even though other things might be lacking. If faith is lacking, or hope and charity, the Christian family will not survive even in the best of external circumstances. And the family is the spontaneous place where children learn to live [these virtues] naturally and spontaneously. They learn not as a theory but with testimony, that faith is not fulfilling some commandments out of obligation, but rather a living response to the love of God, where the gratuitousness of love is a decisive factor. That Christ is not an idea, but rather the center of our life and the answer to every problem; that the sacraments are not social events, but a true celebration of the presence of God in our lives, an encounter with him. In the family, one learns to live the faith without falling into routine, but as something alive that is renewed and grows, that is shared without fears, that unites in love. In the family, children learn from the parents and the older siblings to speak with God, to listen to him, to follow his will, to go beyond suffering and sadness. And in the family, love is learned, which gives meaning to everything and without which, nothing would have meaning. Forgiveness is learned, and compassion, patience, justice; one learns to pardon, to speak well, to think well, to flee from criticism and all that which could make the soul die. In seeing their parents live like this, children open themselves to the ultimate realities of life, and discover the value of time faced to eternity. Within the family is where one understands that God is Father and that loving him is man's greatest happiness. The family becomes, even in the midst of difficulties, a paradise on earth. And this world needs little paradises that irradiate the transforming strength of the love of God. Q: Let's talk about hope. With all of the statistical data and the gradual decline of the family, what can be a basis for hope in this reality? Father Corcuera: Benedict XVI said it very clearly at the end of the meeting: "The Christian response to the challenges … consists in intensifying trust in the Lord and the vigor that springs from one's faith, which is nourished by attentive listening to the Word of God." And also at the end of the World Meeting of 2006 in Valencia, he insisted that if couples remain open to the Spirit and ask his help, he will not fail to communicate to them the love of God the Father manifested in Christ, helping the couple to collaborate with him to reflect him and incarnate him, and stirring up the desire for the encounter with Christ. God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit: He is the base of our hope. The testimonies of families from all over the world, which we have shared in this meeting, are a sign that God acts when his children open ourselves to his grace, despite our limitations, weaknesses and falls. He is the example of the perfect Father, of the perfect Son, of the perfect Brother and the perfect Friend. As he is, that's how he teaches us to be in the world. It is the Spirit that works and we collaborate with him. It is also very important that joy is lived in the family, as an essential characteristic of the virtue of hope. An authentic joy, which is like one who already reflects the beauty of heaven in the home. And from this virtue, also in the family one learns to take advantage of time, because he becomes aware, above all before the events that are lived together, of the brevity of our life and that it is worthwhile to take each day faced to eternity, each day as the only day of our lives. It's there also that the family participates together in the apostolate, being missionaries of Christian hope, because they go teaching with their words and their example that everything brings us to heaven, to the eternal embrace with God. Q: What relationship is there between the family and personal happiness? Is the family irreplaceable? Father Corcuera: We are happy when we are loved and we love. The family is the privileged place to experience this profound love, which is most similar to the love of God, because in the family, we are loved without conditions, because of who we are, not because of what we do or have; [our family] doesn't love us because of our qualities or capacities or fail to love us because of our limitations and defects. This unconditional-ness and gratuitousness in love, though we are not always capable of loving this way, is a reflection of the love of God. They see us as God sees us. Parents are a privileged witness of the infinite value of the life of children. They have participated in the miracle, but they know they are not the authors, that not everything has been in their hands. Thus they get a glimpse of the gift that is life, the divine that is in it. The family is the suitable and irreplaceable place, according to the plans of God, for the encounter with Christ, because it is called to be a mirror of the love of God. The family becomes a true home, like in Nazareth, where joys and sadnesses are shared, and where it can be said that the attitude is formed of being just one body, one soul and one heart. The base of this is found in prayer, and in particular, in family prayer. How right indeed was Father Peyton, when he said that "the family that prays together stays together." We can also say that the family is happier in the measure in which it gives and supports, like in the missionary family. In this case too we could say that the family that prays together, and that together does good by spreading the Gospel, remains even more united. Q: What is God asking today of the Regnum Christi movement you direct so as to respond to the challenges that families face today? Father Corcuera: Regnum Christi and the Legion of Christ only have meaning in the Church and for the Church, and God speaks to us through our pastors. Last December, Cardinal Franc Rodé, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, visited the works of Regnum Christi in Chile and Brazil. And during the conference that he gave in Santiago, he left the families of Regnum Christi with the guideline of making Christ present always and everywhere. And he told us: "Live your spiritual and apostolic charism in plenitude, grow to arrive to more people, and form yourselves very well. The world of today needs apostles who can guide their brothers in the good and the truth." A few days later in Brazil, he reminded us that we should always be "joyful men and women who transmit Christ, the true joy of every human being." This is what God asks us: to share the discovered gift. This is something that we see simply as servants, with humility, because this gift is not a fruit of our qualities, but rather it is something received for the good of men, our brothers. If we value this gift, it is because we believe that it is a sign of the love of God and it makes us unite ourselves intimately with other groups, movements and realities in the Church, in the common mission of bringing the love of God. It makes us support and learn, so that in the end, more people come to discover the most marvelous truth of life: that God loves us.   RETURN TO TOP

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