Charles de Foucauld, "the universal brother," to be canonized on May 15
He discovered his religious and missionary vocation at the same time as his faith, and put himself at the service of the most destitute in the Algerian Sahara, where he died a martyr. A biographical sketch.
José Luis Domingo-May 3, 2021-Reading time: 5minutes
May 15, 2022. This is the date announced by the Pope for the canonization of Charles de Foucauld and seven other blessed: Lazarus Devasahayam; César de Buspriest, founder of the Congregation of the Fathers of Christian Doctrine; Luis Maria Palazzolopriest, founder of the Institute of the Sisters of the Poor; Justino Russolillo, founder of the religious order of the Vocationists; María Francisca de Jesúsfoundress of the Capuchin Sisters of Mother Rubatto and the Mother Maria Domenica Mantovani, co-foundress of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family.
Biography of Charles de Foucauld
Charles de Foucauld was born on September 15, 1858 into an aristocratic family in Strasbourg. At the age of five he lost his mother and five months later his father. The orphans were entrusted to his maternal grandfather, Colonel de Morlet.
During his studies, Charles gradually loses his faith. "At the age of 17 I was pure selfishness, pure vanity, pure impiety, pure desire for evil, I was like mad...", "I was in the night. I no longer saw God or men: I was only interested in myself," he recalls.
After choosing a military career, with a fiery temperament, he multiplied his excesses. Nicknamed the "fat Foucauld", he admitted: "I sleep too much, eat too much, think too little". Having inherited a large fortune after the death of his grandfather, he squandered it organizing parties. In 1880, his regiment was sent to Algeria. A few months later, he was discharged for "indiscipline coupled with notorious misconduct". On 8 April 1881 he was discharged from the rolls but, learning that his regiment was to take part in a dangerous action in Algeria, he asked to be reinstated and was readmitted. For eight months he proved to be an excellent officer, appreciated by both his commanders and soldiers. His squadron returned to Mascara on 24 January 1882; but garrison life bored him....
Seduced by North Africa, he resigned from the army and moved to Algiers. For more than a year, he prepared scientifically and at his own expense the exploration of Morocco, which he traveled for eleven months, disguised as a rabbi. There he was overwhelmed by the encounter with Muslims who lived "in the continuous presence of God". On his return to France, he began to take a new interest in Christianity. At that moment, the young officer's life changed. On October 30, 1886, he went to confession, following the advice of his cousin, in the Parisian church of Saint-Augustin. The young convert chose to give everything to God. After a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he entered the monastery of Notre-Dame des Neiges, with the Trappists of Ardèche, on January 16, 1890: "As soon as I believed that there was a God, I understood that I could do nothing but live only for Him; my religious vocation dates from the same hour as my faith. God is so great. There is so much difference between God and all that is not Him...", she wrote.
The prayer of abandonment
In 1897, desiring to "follow Our Lord in his humiliation and poverty," he left the Cistercian order to lead a hidden life for three years as a servant of the Poor Clares of Nazareth. "In my wooden hut, at the foot of the Tabernacle of the Poor Clares, in my days of work and my nights of prayer, I found what I was looking for so well that it is evident that God was preparing that place for me." It was during these years that she wrote her famous text that would become the Prayer of Abandonment:
My FatherI abandon myself to You.Make of me what you will.What you make of meI appreciate it.I am ready for anything,I accept everything,As long as your willbe done in meAnd in all your creatures.I wish for nothing more, my God.I place my life in your hands.I give it to you, my God,With all the loveof my heart.Because I love youAnd because for meto love you is to give me,To give myself into your handswithout measure,With infinite confidence,For you are my Father.
In 1900, he returned to France to begin studying for the priesthood. He was ordained a priest on June 9, 1901, at the age of forty-three.
At his request, he was sent to the Trappist monastery of Akbes. "I felt called immediately to 'the lost sheep', to the most abandoned souls, to the most forsaken, to fulfill with them the duty of love: 'Love one another as I have loved you. By this all will know that you are my disciples'. Knowing from experience that there was no people more abandoned than the Muslims of Morocco, of the Algerian Sahara, I asked and obtained permission to go to Béni Abbès, a small oasis in the Algerian Sahara near the border with Morocco," he wrote to his friend Gabriel Tourdes in 1902.
Later, from 1905, he lived in Tamanrasset, in the Hoggar desert. In the hermitage he built with his own hands, he lived "offering his life for the conversion of the peoples of the Sahara". He records his feelings in this biographical note of the beginnings : "Today, I have the happiness of placing - for the first time in the Tuareg area - the Holy Reserve in the Tabernacle". "Sacred HEART of JESUS, thank you for this first Tabernacle in the Tuareg zone! May it be the prelude to many others and the announcement of the salvation of many souls! Sacred HEART of JESUS, radiate from the bottom of this Tabernacle on the people who surround you without knowing you! Enlighten, direct, save these souls whom You love!".
By dint of generosity, hard work in translating the scriptures, including the production of a Tuareg-French dictionary, acting in a completely disinterested manner, he won the recognition and esteem of the Tuaregs, who even took care of him when he fell seriously ill. "My apostolate must be the apostolate of kindness. If I am asked why I am meek and good, I must say, 'Because I am the servant of someone much better than I am.'"
He fought against the slavery that still existed in this village, and used the money that his relatives sent him from France to buy slaves and free them. "He discovered that Jesus" - in the words of Benedict XVI in 2005, during the beatification ceremony - "came to join us in our humanity, inviting us to the universal brotherhood that he experienced in the Sahara, to the love that Christ gave us as an example". Faith, hope and charity without fail: "Tomorrow it will be ten years since I said Holy Mass at the hermitage of Tamanrasset, and not a single convert! We must pray, work and wait". Incessant work that eludes subterfuge: "I am persuaded that what we must seek for the natives of our colonies is neither rapid assimilation nor simple association nor their sincere union with us, but rather progress that will be very uneven and that must be achieved by often very different means: progress must be intellectual, moral and material".
Fearing bands of looters, with more or less political objectives while Europe was torn apart by the First World War, the hermit had an "bordj" (fort) built in Tamanrasset for the Tuaregs to take refuge. It was there, on December 1, 1916, that he died, killed by a shot fired by his guardian. He was 58 years old.
His desire for martyrdom, always present, was expressed in a spiritual note of 1897: "Think that you must die a martyr, stripped of everything, lying on the ground, naked, unrecognizable, covered with blood and wounds, violently and painfully killed... And wish it to be today... So that I may grant you this infinite grace, be faithful in watching over and carrying the cross. Consider that it is to this death that your whole life must lead: see by this the unimportance of many things. Think often of this death to prepare yourself for it and to judge things at their true value".
"Charles de Foucauld, at a time when there was no talk of ecumenism and even less of interreligious dialogue, without having to speak on a theological level with those who did not share his faith, was an interlocutor who was the man of charity. That is Charles de Foucauld the universal brother," Father Bernard Ardura, postulator of the cause of canonization of Father de Foucauld, explained to Vatican News in 2020.
Since then, communities of priests, religious and lay people have emerged to form the spiritual family of Charles of Jesus. Through their diversity, these communities show the unity of their origin and mission.
At the beginning of May, the month of Mary, the month of the Mother, a letter to the one whom, every day, we call Mother with the certainty that she listens to us.
May 3, 2021-Reading time: 3minutes
Hi Mommy, how are you?
I'm still here, inside this huge ball, how I wish I could see your face already! To caress your cheeks, to feel your hugs and smell your hair; but, for now, I think I have some time left to stay here. I like talking to you, because I know that you listen to me, that you are watching over me, and that you tell daddy things about me.
I can't imagine how others don't do what you and I usually do: chat; give each other a little touch to know that we are together, even if one is on one side and the other on the other; explain our things to each other, even if I can't hear you clearly as people hear each other when they talk. Sometimes it is a burden to be here, you know? There are many things that oppress me, there are days when I feel bad and I would like to leave at once, but as soon as I explain it to you, it goes away. I feel wrapped up by you, protected, safe.
My words are very poor in here. Sometimes, all I do is repeat and repeat the same thing 50 times, but you love it because, at that moment, I am with you and many words are unnecessary when what we say to each other is "I love you".
I am so lucky to have a mother! I believe that nothing is more like God than a mother. You create life within you and give yourselves as nourishment; you correct, but always forgive; you help your offspring in their needs and provide them with everything they need; you stake your life on each new creature and, when the time comes, you are able to give it for them. There is no word that resembles mother more than love.
Photo: Fernando Navarro
But you are a special mother, because you are not only my mother, but the mother of all, and your name is the sweetest of names: Mary.
Those of us who live inside this enormous ball that is the world, we address you in a special way in this month of May where, in the middle of the planet, spring is blooming. We long to meet you on the other side, in heaven, and to be able to see you in person because you are already there in body and soul. We multiply our prayers because we know that you hear us and intercede for us before God our Father.
Millions of people would not know how to live without having contact with you, without invoking you often. Faced with the hardships of life, we turn to you for comfort and we like to feel wrapped under your mantle. Among the ways in which we turn to you, in this month that we dedicate to you, we do so mainly with the RosarioIn which, by your hand, we contemplate how much your Son loved us and we repeat up to 50 times words full of affection.
How lucky I am to have you as my mother! In the height of the gift, when your Son had already given me everything, He wanted to leave me in your care and that I also had the privilege of being able to call you Imma (mom).
Dear Imma:
In this month of May I want to tell you again how much I love you and need you; and I want to ask you to help me to become small, as small as a baby, so that I can, with you as my mother, and as your Son invited us to do, be born again.
Journalist. Graduate in Communication Sciences and Bachelor in Religious Sciences. He works in the Diocesan Delegation of Media in Malaga. His numerous "threads" on Twitter about faith and daily life have a great popularity.
The series dedicated to the relics of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ continues, this time focusing on the tunic that, according to the Gospel, Christ wore and was chosen by lot among the Romans.
The Holy Robe or Holy Tunic is a garment that Jesus wore before being crucified. He would wear it inside other outer garments, and therefore it was not visible.
According to the custom of the time, a Jew - Jesus Christ was a Jew - would wear three garments: an undergarment - an underrobe - an undergarment - an undergarment - an undergarment - an undergarment - an undergarment - an undergarment.interula- more or less long depending on the economic position of the individual, with short sleeves or half sleeves; a long tunic -tunic- and long to the feet; and finally, a cape - a cape that istoga- that was dressed to go out of the house. The tunic could be made of wool, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
The Catholic Church has endowed the holy robe with a very particular symbolism, based on the way it appears in Sacred Scripture. Specifically, from the reference made in the Gospel of John 19:23-24: "When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and made four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his robeAnd it was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. Then said they among themselves, Let us not divide it, but cast lots for it, to see whose it shall be. This was that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture they cast lots. And so did the soldiers".
Traditional meaning and tokens of piety.
As we will see below, there are three specimens that claim to be the authentic sacred tunic. Faced with this uncertainty -which one would be the true one- the Church can only consider it as a symbol.
The fact that, as the Holy Gospel says, it is a single woven piece, without seams, has led to the allegory of unity as a fundamental feature of the constitution and vitality of the Church. In certain sources it is mentioned that Jesus' garment may have been woven by his Mother, St. Mary.
Also the fact that the holy tunic was not distributed - cut up - among the soldiers, but raffled, has traditionally invited us to consider the confluence in the Church of the human and visible element on the one hand, and on the other the spiritual aspect, the continuous assistance of the Holy Spirit that vivifies it.
There are those who associate the holy robe to the modesty and dignity of man, as opposed to the meaning of the violent outburst by the soldiers when they stripped Jesus, as referred to in the Holy Gospel, which would represent the degrading treatment of the human body according to the vice of impurity.
There are many pious traditions that venerate the holy tunic, such as the multitude of pilgrimages to Trier that have taken place since the early sixteenth century, where, as we shall see below, the most renowned relic of the holy tunic is preserved. It should be noted that since the 20th century these pilgrimages have had an ecumenical character, that is, any Christian, and not only Catholics, are called to them.
Different specimens of the holy tunic. Provenance according to tradition, authenticity and state of conservation.
There are several relics that claim to be the tunic that Our Lord wore before the beginning of his passion or via crucis. They are found in Germany, France and Russia. Each one comes from a different tradition that justifies why they are found where they are.
The Church has not pronounced on the authenticity of any of them, although it admits their veneration as long as they are considered representations that help to live the faith devoutly.
Trier (Germany):
According to tradition, it was the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, St. Helena, who in the fourth century recovered the holy tunic on one of her pilgrimages to the Holy Land. However, the accounts that have come down to us of the saint's stay in Jerusalem refer only to the encounter with the cross of Christ, and say nothing about the holy tunic.
It was not until the ninth century that the existence of the holy tunic in Trier was written about, and it is indeed attributed to St. Helena. But between that century and the 19th century it was taken from one place to another -Coblenz, Cologne, Augsburg, among other cities- until it returned to Trier, where it is today.
It is worth noting that Luther himself in the 16th century strongly denigrated the authenticity of the relic and its provenance. He wondered - ridiculing its devout venerators - how it could be that a garment of Christ could be discovered several centuries after the death of Christ, and how it could have come from Palestine to Trier, which was not at all clear. He would accuse the emperor of forging the holy robe in order to reinforce his authority.
In favor of the veracity of the tradition of this version of the holy robe it should be noted that archaeologists have discovered in the excavations of the ancient cathedral of Trier several graffiti attesting to a series of prayers or petitions to Jesus Christ, and in a place separate from the temple, which would justify that there was the relic for the veneration of pilgrims.
As for the state of conservation of the relic, it should be noted that this version of the holy tunic has several layers superimposed on the original for its preservation. And about its age, already in the twentieth century an examination was carried out that dated it to the first century.
Argenteuil (France):
Since the middle of the ninth century we have evidence of the existence of this copy of the holy tunic in the church of the Benedictines of Argenteuil. It also seems to have been in Constantinople and Jerusalem, but Charlemagne transferred it to Argenteuil for its final custody.
Due to Viking attacks, during a certain period the relic was hidden inside a wall of the church, during which time it was not exhibited to the public for veneration. In the middle of the 16th century the Benedictine abbey was burned down; however, the holy robe was preserved, and illustrious personages such as King Henry III, Maria de Medicis, or Louis XIII were able to venerate it. In the 17th century, Pope Innocent X officially recognized such veneration, from which time the relic received many more visits.
At the end of the French Revolution, the Benedictine monastery of Argenteuil was abolished and the holy robe was transferred to the parish church. However, in view of the attacks that other relics were suffering, the abbot decided to cut the tunic into pieces and hide the different parts in different places. The abbot was imprisoned, and when he was released he recovered practically all the pieces of the tunic, and was able to reconstitute it almost in its entirety.
In the 19th century, in order to protect it, its different parts were sewn into a white silk tunic, as a support for these recomposed pieces.
Several studies have been carried out to date it. The most decisive conclusions of its authenticity are those related to its dyeing, which would be from the 1st century. In addition, it was concluded that it was woven in a single piece, and through a procedure similar to that used in Syria and Palestine in the 1st century.
Unlike the Trier Holy Shroud, the Argenteuil one has blood stains. The analyses carried out conclude that they are similar to those of the Turin shroud, even in the blood group, although the first one would present drops of blood from a body in movement - external layer - while the Turin shroud - internal layer - would be that of a static body.
In the 21st century, carbon-14 tests were carried out on the holy tunic, and the date reached was from the 7th century, but it was justified by pointing out that it could be due to a possible contamination of the sample taken into account.
Mtskheta (Georgia):
Finally, after having referred to the holy robes of Trier and Argenteuil, which, although not authentic, do exist, we have a third copy of this relic, which in turn has several versions.
Shortly after the death of Jesus Christ, the relic came into the hands of Sidonia, a young woman living in the Georgian town of Mtskheta, in the Caucasus, today's Georgia.
As with the other versions - German and French - of the Holy Robe, the Mtskheta version would be cut up and distributed throughout St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev and other Russian cities. Always for reasons of preservation against possible attacks to its integrity.
Tradition has it that when the Romans cast lots for the tunic of Jesus, a Georgian subject, Elioz, was in Jerusalem. He managed to get hold of the robe and took it to his country, giving it to his sister, Sidonia. The latter, who would be proclaimed a saint, when she saw it, grabbed it with such fervor and impetus that she died on the spot, being buried with her. There would grow a cedar of Lebanon, which would last for centuries and centuries, and before which generations and generations would pray. The first Georgian church would be built on that site, and through the wood of the cedar a series of miracles were worked.
It was from the 11th century that the fame of the relic began to spread. In the 14th century the church of Mtskheta in which the holy robe was deposited was destroyed, but the relic was saved by being preserved until its reconstruction in the treasure chamber.
In the 16th century, an event took place that again reflects the existence of this version of the holy robe: the delivery of the so-called "Georgian holy robe" from the church of Mtskheta to the Muscovite patriarch is documented. It was then that the monastery of the new Jerusalem of Istra was erected in his honor, to which the holy robe was brought.
Pope Francis: "In today's dramatic situation, Mother of God, we have recourse to you".
The Pope's prayer at St. Peter's has launched the Rosary prayer chain, to ask the Blessed Virgin for an end to the pandemic, which will last throughout the month of May and will connect Marian shrines around the world.
Emilio Mur-May 2, 2021-Reading time: 2minutes
At 6:00 p.m. Rome time, in St. Peter's Basilica and before the image of Our Lady of Help, venerated since the 7th century, the Pope began the chain of prayer of the Rosary to pray for the end of the pandemic, which will last until May 31. On that day, the last day of May, the Holy Father will also close the prayer chain, which each day of the month will be dedicated to a different Marian shrine around the world.
After praying the five mysteries and singing the Salve and the Litany of the Laurel, Francis addressed a special prayer to the Blessed Virgin: "In the present dramatic situation, full of suffering and anguish that envelops and besets the whole world, we turn to you, Mother of God and our Mother, and seek refuge under your protection. The Pope then blessed the rosaries that will be sent to the thirty shrines that will be responsible for leading the prayer of the Rosary in their countries, and which everyone will be able to join through the media.
The monastery of Montserrat, in Spain, has been selected for the prayer on May 22, and among the other shrines are those of Our Lady of Walsingham in England, Częstochowa in Poland, the Annunciation in Nazareth, Aparecida in Brazil, Luján in Argentina, Loreto in Italy or the Immaculate Conception in the United States.
Also at the Regina Coeli today, May 2, when Mother's Day is celebrated in many places, the Pope once again turned his gaze to Mary to ask her to "help us to remain in Christ, in his love, in his word, so as to bear witness to the Risen Lord in the world".
From the pontifical apartments overlooking St. Peter's Square, the Pope addressed those present, limited in number due to known health reasons, and the whole world. In his remarks after the midday Marian prayer, he echoed the request of Myanmar Catholics to dedicate one Hail Mary of the daily rosary to pray for peace in their country.
In his commentary on the Gospel of this Fifth Sunday of Easter, which contains the parable of the vine and the branches, the Holy Father highlighted Jesus' insistence on the verb "to remain": "Remain in me and I in you" (John 15:4), Jesus says; and he repeats it six other times in the passage proposed by the liturgy. Francis explained that it is a question of an "active" permanence, he explained, and also of a "reciprocal" permanence. In fact, "without the vine the branches can do nothing, they need the sap to grow and bear fruit; but the vine also needs the branches, because the fruit does not sprout from the trunk of the tree".
We Christians need Jesus, because without Him we cannot be good Christians. But also, "Jesus, like the vine with the branches, needs us". In what sense? The Holy Father answers: "He needs our witness".
This is precisely the fruit that we must bear, like branches. To proclaim to the world the good news of the Kingdom in word and deed is the task of all Christians, ever since Jesus ascended into heaven with his Father. And it is union with Christ, especially in prayer, that assures us of "the gifts of the Holy Spirit, so that we can do good to our neighbor and to society, to the Church. The tree is recognized by its fruits. A truly Christian life bears witness to Christ".
Other mentions of the Holy Father after the Regina Coeli were for the recent beatification in Venezuela of the physician Jorge Gregorio Hernandez, and for the Orthodox Christians and those of the Eastern Churches who celebrate Easter today, in accordance with their liturgical tradition.
Avenues of evangelization: Has science buried God?
A science without openness to human and divine wisdom becomes a perverse, terrible power. On the other hand, good humanism rightly directs the meaning of science to the service of man.
This is the question posed in the title of one of his books (Rialp, Madrid 2020) by the mathematician, emeritus professor of philosophy of science at Oxford University, John C. Lennox.
He affirms that sometimes some people confuse the true God with mythological divinities, with gods fabricated to "...".plug the holes". That is to say, religion would be the explanation of what we do not understand, until science arrives and explains it; and, then, there are no more magical gods.
But, in reality, the revealed God is the one who created everything, not only what we do not understand: he is the one who gives reason for everything that exists. Faith is not a superstition to fill in the gaps, but the first foundation and the ultimate meaning of life. The question "who created god?" serves for idols, mere unreal deformations, not for the true uncreated God. He is the cause of all that exists.
Materialists pretend that there is an unavoidable alternative between science and God, but in reality this image of God that they propose is nothing more than a caricature. Moreover, their science claims to be reductively the only consistent and verifiable knowledge, capable of explaining everything, excluding other sources of knowledge; and this in an aprioric and dogmatic way, with no scientific basis to support it.
Certainly, scientific explanations are valid, but partial and limited. There are other types of plausible and complementary explanations. Wise scientists avoid the absurd arrogance of pretending that their knowledge and method is the only acceptable one. There are other valid and necessary approaches and perspectives.
The book
TitleScience has buried God?
AuthorJohn C. Lennox
EditorialRialp : Rialp
Pages: 278
Year: 2021
Indeed, science does not answer questions of meaning or of anthropology and ethics; it cannot do so because its method of working does not allow it. Philosophy, morality and culture, on the other hand, based on metaphysical logic, on the best traditions of peoples and on common experience, provide answers to the search for meaning in human life and action, including scientific activity. A science without openness to human and divine wisdom becomes a perverse and terrible power. On the other hand, good humanism rightly directs the meaning of science to the service of man.
The great deception of exclusionary positivism is the claim that the laws of nature explain the very reality of nature. This is the case, for example, with gravity, energy, time: science investigates their structure, but does not reach their essence and ultimate cause in the universe as a whole. For science explains at a certain level. But it must have humility and openness to other sources of knowledge, because to affirm that science is the only valid knowledge is false, ridiculous and unscientific.
Science explains at a certain level. But it must have humility and openness to other sources of knowledge.
José Miguel Granados
Moreover, it is also wise to welcome the supernatural revelation of the personal God who communicates with mankind. The Christian faith is not a mere fiction contrary to the evidence: it is not blind but luminous. In fact, it offers abundant signs and proofs for belief, such as miracles, prophecies, the logic and beauty of Christian doctrine, which satisfies the deep desires of the heart, the admirable figure of Christ, the holiness of so many believers' lives, the human and civilizational fulfillment brought about by the Gospel.
The reductionism of materialistic and atheistic scientism, which claims that the world lacks purpose and creative intelligence, leads to chaos or absurdity. However, genetic codes, with billions of signs in perfect order, speak of a superior ordering mind. Chance or randomness as an explanation of nature is irrational, illogical and impossible. There is an intelligent design that refers to a personal Designer. There is a language in creation that refers to its transcendent Author.
Atheistic and materialistic scientists claim to trust their brain as a mere organic function, but paradoxically they do not believe in a creative Reason at its origin. Human rationality is also evidence of a personal creative Reason as its cause. Without a God who is the supreme Reason of nature, who is the Mind of the universe, science does not emerge from pure irrationality, and is doomed to determinism, fatality or meaninglessness.
As stated in the prologue of St. John's Gospel, "in the beginning was the Word", the Logos, which is the divine Reason and the original Meaning of the cosmos. "By him all things were made." In all creatures he leaves the imprint, the imprint of his harmony and balance, according to a purpose, to an original intelligent design. He is the key to the cosmos and to history.
The sciences discover and describe the laws of nature, with great efforts and achievements, but also with enormous limitations. On the other hand, God creates those laws, that order: he is their cause. In short, true science buries the pretendedly scientific materialistic atheism, because to do science requires the personal God-eternal and wise, all-powerful and good-as the foundation of rationality and the order of nature.
"Theology: a before and after in my way of conceiving the world".
The longing for God beats in hearts, whether we know it or not. Many lay people are looking for ways to get closer to the faith and know it better. Isabel Saiz, who studied Law and Business Administration and Management (ADE), explains how studying Theology influenced her way of conceiving the world, and talks about the desire for God.
For centuries, several exclamations of St. Augustine have been known in his works, especially in the Confessions. One of them can be seen in many Catholic temples: "You made us for yourself and our heart is restless until it rests in you". Another is the famous "Late have I loved thee, late have I loved thee, O beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved thee! And behold, thou wast within me, and I was without, and without I sought thee; and deformed as I was, I threw myself upon these beautiful things which thou hast created. You were with me, but I was not with you".
When reviewing those phrases, a few days ago, I remembered a poem by Nietzsche, dedicated to the unknown God. There, when he was 20 years old, the German philosopher said in 1864: "I want to know you, Unknown One, you who delve into my soul, who furrows my life like a storm, you, ungraspable, my fellow man! I want to know you, I want to serve you". I have seen it commented by the professor of Theology, Ramiro Pellitero, collaborator of Omnes.
Pope Francis reflected a few years ago, on August 28, on the restlessness of St. Augustine, and said that "in these words is the synthesis of his whole life". And he asked himself: "What fundamental restlessness does Augustine live in his life? Or perhaps I should say rather: what restlessness does this great man and saint invite us to awaken and keep alive in our lives? I propose three: the restlessness of spiritual search, the restlessness of the encounter with God, the restlessness of love".
These days I have been engrossed in a book written by Fulgencio Espa, entitled A path to be discovered. Introduction to theologyby Ediciones Palabra. It is included in an ambitious collection directed by Professor Nicolás Alvarez de las Asturias,Seeking to understandbut could be called, for example, Theology for allor within everyone's reach. It is aimed at anyone interested in deepening their faith, without needing more initial formation than that received on the occasion of the reception of the sacraments of Christian initiation. There will be five volumes per year, until 2024.
TitleA path to be discovered. Introduction to theology
AuthorFulgencio Espa
Editorial: Word
Pages: 122
Year: 2021
Knowing the faith better
Some people used to say to St. Augustine: "I must understand in order to believe". And the holy Bishop of Hippo replied: "Believe in order to understand". In the end, as he himself acknowledged, "we both speak the truth. Let us agree. Indeed, "one believes in order to understand and one understands in order to believe. Theology is precisely that knowledge: the science dedicated to deepen the faith and its mysteries: the Trinity, Christ, grace, the Virgin, the Church...", writes Espa.
Increasingly, it is true that many lay people are looking for ways to come closer to the faith and to know it better. In parishes, in groups, with friends. There are materials available. For example, the Compendium of the Catechism of Christian Doctrine, many works... This Collection of the Word can be one of these aids.
"We have to have the courage to explain faith," said University of Notre Dame professor Tracey Rowland at an Omnes Forum a few days ago. Well, today we chat with Isabel Saiz Ros, who writes a couple of books in the Collection, on Theological Anthropology, and who will soon explain what that consists of.
This Madrilenian is a good example of a person with civil studies, Law and Business Administration, who works in a business consultancy, and who explains how studying Theology in Rome has "changed" her, to the point of obtaining the Baccalaureate of Theology with university rank, in this case at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
Before entering into the conversation, Isabel Saiz acknowledges at the outset: "It is true that this has meant a before and after in my way of conceiving the world... In this sense, I would love it if everyone could 'access' theology and make 'their personal discoveries'".
First of all, a brief review of its trajectory...
-I studied law and business administration mainly for a practical reason, thinking about the breadth of career opportunities. Maybe also because it was the fashionable career and because my parents have a business consultancy. I liked the career, although it cost me a lot (especially the number subjects).
As I progressed through my studies, it seemed to me that, on the one hand, I was more capable of understanding how the world we live in works: the reasons for economic crises, the functioning of political systems, the legal relationships behind each reality, etc. But, at the same time, the underlying ideas - the whys, let's say - that I managed to grasp in each subject seemed to me contradictory, biased and insufficient, sometimes too ideological.
Each teacher spoke according to his own way of understanding the world, his own vision of man, his personal philosophy or ideology. The great contrast I saw between the way of understanding the world that had been transmitted to me at home and the one I could perceive around me, fueled my desire for a deeper Christian formation, so I considered the possibility of going to Rome to study theology.
Certainly the study of Theology has exceeded my expectations, and by far.
What has studying theology brought you?
-Theological studies have given me a complete and unifying vision of reality. They make you able to see everything in unity, to build a clear story, with a beginning and an end, in which each piece fits. Dogmas are not as "dogmatic" as they seem, because they are "to a certain extent" explainable, morality is actually the way to become truly happy, evil can be explained and pain and suffering acquire a deep value and meaning... Theology allows you to acquire a knowledge that penetrates the reasons, to see reality with a new depth and beauty. In the end, you find the reason for everything in a God who is Love and whose Face is Christ.
At the same time, paradoxically, although it seems that "everything could be explained," in reality nothing can ever be fully explained. God seems to show Himself and to veil Himself at the same time. Theology has helped me to understand that the proper attitude to approach things is humility, for the Mystery can never be fully apprehended. Reasonableness and mystery go hand in hand.
In the classes they repeated a lot this idea that when a theologian reached a summit he always found a saint there. It is true, in order to enter into the mysteries of the merciful heart of God, theology is not enough, but prayer is also necessary. Doctrine and piety. Theology and personal relationship with Christ.
You also teach theology, can you tell Omnes visitors and readers about the interest you have found in teaching it to ordinary people, and the difficulties you encounter?
-I think that interest is something you have to know how to awaken and for that it is important to play the right keys. Although we may not express it in the same way or we may not be aware of it in the same way, in reality we all long for the same thing. To bring out that deep desire for God that we all have, it is important to know, on the one hand, what we men and women of today connect with, what worries us, what hurts us, what frightens us....
And also, on the other hand, the languages and ways to use to connect and transmit the message. Basically, it is to be able to know who you have in front of you and to get to know them. For example, when explaining Creation, you could start from evolutionism, since it is something we all understand, and from there, explain how God creates from nothing, which is perfectly compatible with evolutionism.
In this sense, the difficulties are exactly the same as those I may have. In order to be able to understand the faith in all its beauty and depth, one must start from an adequate philosophy, but philosophical formation is increasingly poor, so we must start from the bottom, from the basics, without taking anything for granted.
Interest is something you have to know how to awaken and for that it is important to play the right keys.
Isabel Saiz
The study of the Trinity, for example, is based on a series of philosophical concepts -substance, accident, person...-, which I need to know beforehand. One of the consequences of the loss of philosophical realism is the relativism in which - consciously or not - we live. This is another great difficulty, to come to understand that things are as they are, and I discover them.
In order to be intellectually open to know the faith, I have to start from the idea that it is a matter of making a journey to go deeper into the truth of things. The truths of faith are not just another vision of the world, a theory like any other, but realities that I am invited to discover.
What challenges do you perceive in trying to explain to people theological anthropology, of which you are going to publish a book? I don't think people know what it means?
-I believe that the great challenge in teaching theology is no different from the challenge facing the Church: to be able to show the true face of Christ to men and women of every time and place.
What was said above is valid for this. It is important to get to know the person in front of you and, starting from his conception of the world, try to show him Christ. It is a matter of connecting not only intellectually but also affectively: to reach the head and fill the heart.
Let's go to theological anthropology...
-When I told my family that I had been asked to collaborate in the preparation of a book on theological anthropology, one of my brothers asked me if theological anthropology consisted of studying how different peoples and cultures have seen and view God, the divinity.
I was amused because it is just the opposite. More than studying how men see God (what could be called "anthropological theology"), it is about deepening the vision of God towards man: it is about understanding the human being in all his depth and beauty, from God.
And this understanding passes through the study of the creation of man and woman in the image and likeness of God, created for happiness, which is identified with communion with the Creator, with the free response to God's love, with collaboration with Him in the perfection of the world, through their work and procreation.
And further down the road?
-Secondly, theological anthropology studies how, at the beginning of time, human beings freely decided to reject God. This sin committed at the beginning (original sin) explains evil, pain, death and the deep wounds that each of us can see in our heart, in our being: our difficulty to know what is good, to desire it and to realize it.
But God's love and mercy do not stop at this rejection of man; on the contrary, they lead God to give himself to him to the point of becoming man and dying on a cross, so that with his Life, Death and Resurrection man can once again be in communion with God, can once again become a child of God and participate in his eternal happiness.
It is about discovering that each one of us is called to happiness with capital letters.
Isabel Saiz
Theological anthropology delves into the meaning of the life of grace: that great gift that God has given us to make us his children, to make us sharers in his own life.
In Christ man discovers what he is called to, to communion with the Father through union with Him, to be truly man, woman, which is nothing other than allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us into Christ. In Christ I can see what I am called to be, my best version, my fullest and most authentic self, and it is Christ himself who transforms me, through grace and my free collaboration.
How could you synthesize it?
-In short, it is a matter of discovering that each one of us, despite our wounds and our weaknesses - and often thanks to them - is called to happiness with a capital letter, to communion with God, to the life of grace given to us in Christ.
Comment on what comes to your mind about some current issues. It seems that the reception of the sacraments is decreasing, do we know what the sacraments are?
-The secularization of Western society -not only in Spain- is an indisputable fact. It is not surprising that the data reveal less and less affection for the Church and less religious practice. This is the trend in our societies, not for decades, but for centuries.
There are many studies that analyze the ultimate causes of this secularization, the philosophical roots that have caused the "paradigm shift", the passage from medieval "Christianitas" to modern secularism, passing through the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, Modernism, etc. I think it is necessary to know how things have been happening historically, how and why we have arrived at the society in which we live. But not so much to "look for culprits" and lament for a past that perhaps never existed, but to be able to understand today's world and today's man in all his depth. With its lights and shadows. With his weaknesses and his strengths. With his sins and his virtues. We cannot look at the past with regret, at the present with rejection and at the future with dread.
Perhaps knowing history also helps to relativize "the drama of secularism," which is not to deny it and look the other way, but to put it in its place. In every age, Christians have had to face a multitude of difficulties, misunderstandings and inconsistencies both "inside" and "outside. Christianity is scandalous because Christ is scandalous and always will be.
In some countries, persecution may follow.
-I believe that this situation of secularization, even intellectual, legislative and cultural persecution, can be an opportunity that God gives us for Christians in the West to rediscover precisely this, that persecution-whether violent and conspicuous or silent but even more insidious-is part of the Christian's life.
It is also a time for us to grow in trust in God, in hope. If we can no longer expect anything from social structures, from the State, from laws, we will have to expect it from God. And from a God who is the Lord of History and directs it. It can also be a good moment to grow in the responsibility that each one of us has to bring the world to God, to bring the world closer to God and God to the world, through our work, our prayer, our sincere dedication to all, our social concern, etc. Perhaps God will also allow this so that we go to the essential, so that we rediscover that what is truly important is my personal relationship with Christ.
I don't want to sound negative, but the interest of young people in religion is low, according to several studies..
-When I studied, religion was compulsory and counted for the average -which was an incentive to study it, which is not the case now. Religion teachers have it very difficult, they are real heroes because they have everything against them, especially in certain environments.
Photo: CNS
But all that effort is not in vain, as Pope Francis says in Evangelii GaudiumSince we do not always see these sprouts, we need an inner certainty and that is the conviction that God can act in any circumstance, even in the midst of apparent failures [...]. It is knowing with certainty that those who offer and give themselves to God out of love will surely be fruitful (cf. Jn 15:5). Such fruitfulness is often invisible, unsearchable, it cannot be counted. One knows well that his life will bear fruit, but without pretending to know how, or where, or when. He has the assurance that none of his labors carried out with love are lost, none of his sincere concern for others is lost, none of his acts of love for God are lost, no generous fatigue is lost, no painful patience is lost [...]" (Evangelii Gaudium, 279)..
My experience is that the Christian proposal continues to fill with light the hearts of young people who encounter Him, sometimes in the most unexpected way. In any case, the "apparent failure" of religion classes, of catechesis, of the different ways and instruments to show Christ, serves as an apprenticeship and encourages us to think of new ways and means, to rethink, to reinvent ourselves again and again, which is not to say something different, but the same message in new ways.
And solidarity in our country is, however, high, and has been shown during the pandemic.
-I believe that we young people have been inculcated, in one way or another, with concern for the needy. At least that is my experience. I don't remember anyone telling me, right off the bat, "no, I'm not into that" or anything like that, to a proposal to do something as a volunteer. And of course it is incredible how many initiatives there are and are emerging, of all types and modalities, to try to help the needy in some way (from bringing hot coffee to the homeless to spending two months in Calcutta with the poorest of the poor).
The pandemic has also seen an explosion of solidarity: young people who have taken food to the most affected neighborhoods, non-practicing doctors who have volunteered to care for covid patients, even volunteers for clinical trials of vaccines, and so on.
In this sense, the latest reflections of Pope Francis on universal fraternity in his encyclical "Fratelli Tutti", and his personal example of sincere and profound love for those most in need, are a continuous stimulus to look at others, not only those closest to me, but everyone.
We conclude our conversation with Isabel Saiz, whose positive and hopeful outlook is encouraging. You can read it in the collection Seeking to UnderstandEdiciones Palabra, directed, as mentioned above, by Professor Nicolás Alvarez de las Asturias. Through him, you will be able to contact the authors, among whom are, among others, José Manuel Horcajo, doctor in Theology as Fulgencio Espa, and parish priest also in Madrid.
The seven invocations that the Pope added to the Litany of Saint Joseph
The Holy See today published the letter that the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments sent to the episcopal conferences around the world to announce the introduction of seven new invocations in the Litany of St. Joseph.
These invocations, as indicated by the letterThe Pope's speeches were taken from the interventions of the Popes who reflected on some aspects of the figure of the Patron of the universal Church. The feast of St. Joseph the Worker was the framework for this announcement, which is part of the 150th anniversary of the declaration of St. Joseph as patron of the universal Church and the year dedicated to the Holy Patriarch.
New invocations
Lan invocations that will join the current ones are the following:
Custos Redemptoris (cf. St. John Paul II, Exhort. Apost. Redemptoris custos);
Serve Christi (cf. St. Paul VI, homily of 19-III-1966, cited in Redemptoris custos n. 8 y Patris corde n. 1);
Minister salutis (St. John Chrysostom, quoted in Redemptoris custos, n. 8);
Fulcimen in difficultatibus (cf. Francis, Apostolic Letter. Patris cordeforeword);
Patrone exsulum (Patris corde, n. 5).
Patrone afflictorum (Patris corde, n. 5).
Patrone pauperum (Patris corde, n. 5).
The letter further states that "it is up to the Bishops' Conferences to translate the Litanies into the languages of their competence and to publish them; such translations shall not require the confirmatio of the Apostolic See. According to their prudent judgment, the Conferences of Bishops may also insert, in the appropriate place and preserving the literary genre, other invocations with which St. Joseph is particularly honored in their countries."
Litanies to St. Joseph (Guiding translation)
Lord, have mercy on us
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ hear us.
Christ hear us.
God our heavenly Father, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, pray for us.
St. Joseph, pray for us.
Illustrious descendant of David, pray for us.
Light of the Patriarchs, pray for us.
Custodian of the Redeemer, pray for us.
Bridegroom of the Mother of God, pray for us.
Chaste guardian of the Virgin, pray for us.
Nourishing Father of the Son of God, pray for us.
Jealous defender of Christ, pray for us.
Servant of Christ, pray for us.
Minister of Salvation, pray for us
Head of the Holy Family, pray for us.
Joseph, most just, pray for us.
Joseph, most chaste, pray for us.
Joseph, most prudent, pray for us.
Joseph, most courageous, pray for us.
Joseph, most faithful, pray for us.
Mirror of patience, pray for us.
Lover of poverty, pray for us.
Model workers, pray for us.
Glory of domestic life, pray for us.
Custodian of Virgins, pray for us.
Column of families, pray for us.
Support in difficulties, pray for us.
Comfort of the unfortunate, pray for us.
Hope of the sick, pray for us.
Patron of exiles, pray for us.
Patron of the afflicted, pray for us.
Patron of the poor, pray for us.
Patron of the dying, pray for us.
Terror of demons, pray for us.
Protector of the Holy Church, pray for us.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world: forgive us, O Lord. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world: hear us, O Lord, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world: have mercy on us. V.- Established him as master of his house. A.- And head of his entire estate.
Let us pray: O God, who in your ineffable providence, deigned to choose St. Joseph as the Spouse of your Blessed Mother: grant, we pray, that we may merit to have as our intercessor in heaven the one whom we venerate as our protector on earth. Thou who livest and reignest for ever and ever. Amen.
Western societies are intensely juridified. State law invades everything. Citizens are crowding the courts, waiting for the oracle of justice to solve their problems.
May 1, 2021-Reading time: 2minutes
A few years ago, many problems were solved without the need to go to a judge or a court of law. This was possible because there was a shared moral substratum. This is not the case today.
Religious groups cannot escape this juridification. And not because religions want it, but because what Carl Schmitt called "motorized legislation" (i.e. the unbridled production of state norms to fix everything) is present in sectors of civil society that were previously entrusted to the free arrangement of individuals and groups, including the religious sector.
That is why, in view of the judicial news that populates the press, I am increasingly convinced that churches do not only need fervent believers, exemplary ministers of worship or beautiful places of worship. They also need good lawyers. And no small dose of legal mindedness.
One example among many. On February 22, 2021, the Spanish Supreme Court had to rule, in the face of a resolution of the Spanish Data Protection Agency unfavorable to the Jehovah's Witnesses, on what specific personal data of a former member can be kept by a religious denomination. What is less important is the ruling, ratifying that only the minimum data can be kept so that the religious denomination can fulfill its purposes. What is more important is the substantive debate. That is to say: it could be argued, not without some foundation, that religions are autonomous or independent of State Law: they enjoy autonomy in the management of their internal affairs, the libertas ecclesiae that made its way in the Middle Ages against the temporal power. But at the same time, every action carried out by a religious group or a part of it has a juridical dimension that cannot be ignored, indeed, that must be taken into account... This leads us to a delicate operation of demarcation of competences between the sacred and the profane.
As the United States struggles to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic, the Church in the United States is wondering what its future will look like. With many churches closed for months and attendance still down, some bishops fear that post-pandemic attendance could fall between 20% and 40%.
May 1, 2021-Reading time: 2minutes
The bishops' concern in the U.S. has been heightened by a recent Gallup poll that showed that the percentage of Catholics who say they are members of the Church has fallen from 76% to 58% over the past 20 years, double the percentage drop for Protestants.
And even before the pandemic, a 2019 survey by the Pew Research Center suggested that as many as 70% of American Catholics believe that the bread and wine used for Communion are "symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ," contrary to Church teaching.
It's not all bleak. The Vatican's Statistical Yearbook of the Catholic Church says that in 2019 the United States was fourth in baptized Catholics, including children under the age of seven, and tied for the lead in priestly ordinations, along with India. Cross-sectional studies show a decline in sacramental marriages and baptisms, and there is no doubt that the Catholic Church in the United States faces growing challenges as it struggles to maintain a large infrastructure of parishes, schools and hospitals.
According to the Gallup poll, church membership of any kind in the U.S. has declined dramatically over the past 20 years, an unprecedented drop below 50% for the first time and extending across all demographic groups. At the same time, the number of "nones" - those with no religious affiliation - is growing, with nearly one-third of those under 35 in this category. This suggests that there are broader cultural forces affecting all religious groups.
The Church's response is the subject of much debate. Although the bishops struggle with their own divisions, they seem to be united in their desire to focus greater attention on the Eucharist as a necessary starting point. The auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, Robert Barron, has been encouraging a Eucharistic renaissance and a greater evangelization effort.
Barron, who called the results of the Pew Survey a "a massive failure on the part of Catholic educators and catechists, preachers and teachers", has also expressed concern about the ideological divisions that divide the American Church. The difficult challenge facing U.S. Church leaders as they attempt to chart a post-pandemic future is to find a way to renew the Church internally and engage with an increasingly secular and diverse public culture.
One point of encouragement: The U.S. Church is not alone. Pope Francis and many Church leaders in developed countries are also trying to address what the Pope calls this "change of era".
The Pope in March. Letting oneself be resurrected to be a witness of mercy
April began during Holy Week. It moved forward in awe, between the cross and the resurrection. Amazement before the Lord's surrender, the strength of his life now with us, and his mercy, which is poured out through his wounds, always open for us for all.
The pandemic, the social and economic crisis and armed conflicts continue, Francis reminded in his message urbi et orbi. But in the risen Christ is our wonder and our hope. He urges us to allow ourselves to rise with him to a new life (more coherent from now on), to a life of witness and mercy.
Awe and confidence before the cross
Already during the Palm Sunday liturgy, as an introduction to the whole celebration of the Paschal Mystery, the Pope had expressed, and proposed to all, a sense of wonder for "the fact that he comes to glory by the way of humiliation." (homily 28-III-2021). "God is with us in every wound, in every fear. No evil, no sin has the last word. God wins, but the palm of victory passes through the wood of the cross.
That's why the palms and the cross are together." (ibid.). This is why we must ask for the grace of wonder; without it, Christian life becomes gray and tends to take refuge in legalism and clericalism. We must overcome routine, remorse, dissatisfaction and, above all, lack of faith. We need to open ourselves to the gift of the Spirit, to that "grace of wonder". Astonishment at discovering that we are loved by God, that we are loved by God, that we are loved by God, that we are loved by God. "knows how to fill even dying with love". (ibid.).
On Holy Wednesday, Pope Francis presented the celebration of the Paschal Mystery - in the context of these days - as a renewal or reliving "the way of the innocent Lamb slain for our salvation." (general audience, 31-III-2021).
The following day, at the Chrism Mass, he explained the necessity of the cross, as Jesus manifested in his preaching, in his life and in his self-giving, "the hour of joyful proclamation and the hour of persecution and the Cross go together." (homily, April 1, 2011). As a consequence, the Pope proposed, especially for the priests present, two reflections. In the first place, the presence of the Cross as a horizon, "before" those unfortunate events were unleashed, as an "a priori" (something prophesied and foreseen, accepted, assumed and embraced). And not as a mere consequence or collateral damage determined by circumstances. "No. The cross is always present, from the beginning. In the cross there is no ambiguity." (ibid.).
"We will be amazed at how the God's greatness is revealed in the smallness, how its beauty shines in the simple and the poor".
Secondly, if it is true that the cross is an integral part of our human condition and of our fragility, the cross also contains the bite of the serpent, the poison of the evil one who seeks to do away with the Lord. But what he achieves, as St. Maximus the confessor explains, is the opposite. For in encountering infinite meekness and obedience to the will of the Father, it became a poison for the devil and an antidote that neutralizes his power over us.
In short: "There is a Cross in the proclamation of the Gospel, it is true, but it is a Cross that saves.". Therefore, we should not be frightened or scandalized by the cries and threats of those who do not want to hear the Word of God; nor should we pay any attention to the legalists who would like to reduce it to moralism or clericalism. For the proclamation of the Gospel receives its efficacy not from our words, but from the power of the cross (cf. 2 Cor 1:5; 4:5). For this reason we must also have recourse to prayer, knowing that "to feel that the Lord always gives us what we ask for, but he does it in his divine way.". And that is not masochism, but love to the end.
"Go to Galilee": to start again
In the Gospel, and also in our lives, all this leads to the Easter invitation: "He goes ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him." (Mk 16:7). "What does it mean for us to go to Galilee?"Francis asked in his homily at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday (April 3, 2011).
Going to Galilee means three things for us. First of all, to always start again, despite failures and defeats, from the rubble of the heart, even after these dark months of the pandemic, never to lose hope, because God can build with us a new life, a new history.
Third, it means going to the frontiers: to those who have difficulties in their daily lives., their enthusiasm or resignation, their smiles and tears: "We will be amazed at how God's greatness is revealed in littleness, how His beauty shines in the simple and the poor.". And so we will be able to break down barriers, overcome prejudices, overcome fears, discover "the grace of the everyday".
Be merciful and become merciful
The risen Christ appears to his disciples. He consoles and strengthens them. They are "merciful" and become merciful. They are merciful "by means of three gifts: first Jesus offers them peace, then the Spirit, and finally the wounds." (homily on the Second Sunday of Easter, April 11, 2011).
Jesus brings them peace, peace of heart, which makes them move from remorse to mission. "It is not tranquility, it is not comfort, it is going out of oneself. The peace of Jesus frees from the paralyzing closures, breaks the chains that imprison the heart.". He does not condemn or humiliate them. He believes in them more than they believe in themselves; "He loves us more than we love ourselves." (St. John Henry Newman).
"The peace of Jesus frees from the paralyzing closures, breaks the chains that imprison the heart".
He gives them the Holy Spirit and, with Him, the forgiveness of sins. This helps us to understand that "at the center of Confession is not us with our sins, but God with his mercy." (ibid.). It is the sacrament of the resurrection: pure mercy.
He offers them his wounds. "The wounds are open channels between Him and us, pouring mercy on our miseries." (ibid.). At every Mass we adore and kiss those wounds that heal and strengthen us. And there the Christian way always begins again, to give something new to the world.
They used to argue about who would be the greatest. Now they have changed because they have discovered that they have in common the Body of Christ and, with Him, forgiveness and mission. And so they are not afraid to heal the wounds of those in need. And Francis encourages us to ask ourselves if we are merciful or, on the contrary, if we live a "half-belief". To let ourselves be resurrected in order to be witnesses of mercy.
Overcoming the virus of indifference
In the same vein, the Pope encouraged the bishops of Brazil - one of the largest episcopal conferences in the Church - to be instruments of unity. Unity that is not uniformity, but harmony and reconciliation.
In a video message on April 15, he urged them to "work together to overcome not only the coronavirus, but also another virus, which has long been infecting humanity: the virus of indifference, which is born of selfishness and generates social injustice."
"Working together to overcome not only coronavirus, but also the virus of indifference, which is born of selfishness and generates social injustice".
The challenge - he reminded them - is great; but with the words of St. Paul, the Lord "he did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of fortitude, charity and temperance." (2 Tim 1:7). And there, in the risen Jesus, in his forgiveness and his strength, is our hope.
To be open to wonder before the life of Christ and to rise with Him, beginning again through the confession of sins. And to be witnesses of love and mercy that transforms life. Such is the proposal for this Easter in hard times.
Social networks - I am referring to Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Twitch... - are companies with the goal of making business by collecting our information. The discovery of this truth can push us to instinctive reactions that are completely ineffective. It happened months ago worldwide, for example, when millions of users decided to abandon WhatsApp to subscribe to other applications such as Telegram or Signal: in doing so, however, they did not reflect on the fact that the logic of algorithms is the same. And so? How to survive algorithms by using them to our advantage? How to take advantage of the enormous potential of technology without falling into the traps it presents? Many books try to answer this very topical dilemma.
I suggest, first of all, to check on the web what followers the author has. "Where there are truck drivers you can never go wrong"This saying to indicate the quality of the restaurant has always been effective. Only those who use the web know how to explain how to stay on it without getting trapped.
The second criterion is evangelical. Our age, increasingly interconnected, opens new frontiers for sharing positive, educational and, therefore, also evangelical content. Christ must be brought to every creature and in the world of social networks live millions of people, many of them young people.
And here is the third criterion for choosing books that can help us: a healthy critical spirit. We need that balance in which the author explains that not everything is good but not everything is bad either, and for this he tells with sincerity his recipe for using social networks. With an intelligent guide we will learn to remain free to think for ourselves without plagiarizing our thoughts and actions: willing to move as protagonists in the social universe.
The first 500 years of the Gospel in the Philippines
In 1521, five hundred years ago, the first Mass was celebrated in the Philippines, beginning a process of evangelization that would bear great fruit both in that country and elsewhere in Asia and around the world. The author explains the historical significance of this date.
May 1, 2021-Reading time: 3minutes
On March 31, 1521, Easter Sunday, the first Mass was celebrated in the Philippines, and since then the Word of God has spread throughout those islands, to successive generations and in the lands of the Far East, up to the present day. The words of Sacred Scripture have been fulfilled to the letter: "By their fruits ye shall know them." (Lk 6:43), because there are not only faithful communities of Filipinos in the archipelago, but throughout the world, evangelizing so many nations with their example and their word.
Pope Francis wanted to join in the joy of the whole Church with a solemn Eucharistic celebration in St. Peter's Basilica on March 14. In his homily he wanted to highlight two great features of that evangelizing task, which involved the whole Church in Spain.
First, he referred to joy and trust in God as part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which have taken root in the soul of the Filipino people: "You have received the joy of the Gospel: that God so loved us that he gave his Son for us. And this joy is seen in your people, in your eyes, faces, songs and prayers.". Immediately, he pointed out how the call of Jesus Christ to preach to all nations soon found an echo in the Filipino people, who from the beginning became the missionary people of Asia, and expressed his gratitude: "I want to thank you for the joy you bring to the whole world and to Christian communities.".
(CNS photo/Cristian Gennari)
There were two very significant events in the ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica: the representatives of the Church in the Philippines went on pilgrimage to Rome with the Santo Niño of Cebu and with the processional cross that they took to the Magellanic Islands. Precisely, the evangelization of those islands was characterized by the impulse of devotions and popular piety: invocations of the Virgin in all the cities, to St. Joseph, to the saints, as well as the constitution of confraternities. Regarding the processional cross of Magallanes, it is a gesture of gratitude to Spain and, specifically, to the Patronato de Indias, which mobilized the material means and people to bring the faith to the Philippines by sending missionaries of the regular and secular clergy, and works of art, altarpieces, gold and silver work, to decorate the first Christian temples with dignity, as well as the construction of hospitals, orphanages and asylums for the elderly. Likewise, the name Magellan recalls the Spanish sailors who led the ships to those remote lands and who, thanks to Legazpi and Urdaneta, found the sea currents that made it possible to open a maritime route from Mexico to Manila in 1565.
Since then, evangelization gained new momentum and missionaries from various religious orders arrived from Spain, via Mexico: the Augustinians, who in 1572 had already built their first convent in Manila; and in 1579, the Franciscans. In 1579 the first episcopal see was erected in Manila and the first bishop of the archipelago, the Dominican Fray Domingo de Salazar, was consecrated.
Finally, the Jesuits arrived in the archipelago. By the end of the 16th century there were already almost five hundred missionaries from different orders working alongside priests of the secular clergy. The evangelizing method they followed was the same that had been implemented in America years before: the call of the twelve apostles, consisting of learning the language of the natives and their customs and, immediately, speaking to them directly about Jesus Christ and his saving doctrine, to finally invite them to believe in Him and, if they did, to prepare themselves to receive baptism, and then the other sacraments. In the middle of the 17th century, there were two million native Christians in the Philippines.
In 1987, Pope John Paul II, in his Pastoral Exhortation Redemptoris missio, the various steps of evangelization up to the establishment of the diocesan Church, the application of the Tridentine Decrees, the establishment of diocesan synods and the first diocesan seminaries.
The high positions that governed those lands -virreyes, presidents of the Audiencias, governors- were selected by the Council of the Indies among honest people of good intellectual level and, after a few years, they returned to Spain after being submitted to the so-called judgment of residence. Thanks to these mechanisms and other experiences incorporated into the laws of the Indies, it must be recognized that it was a much less controversial colonization than the American one.
On the other hand, the laws of the Indies were applied according to the spirit of the testament of Isabella the Catholic, and the natives were treated as true free men and subjects of the crown of Castile, evangelized according to the requirements of the donation of Pope Alexander VI in the Bulls. Inter Coetera 1503 to the Catholic Monarchs. Finally, another milestone in the evangelization of the Philippines, in continuity with that of America, was the early erection (1611) of the University of Santo Tomas de Manila, a sign of the importance given to university education and literacy.
Member of the Academy of Ecclesiastical History. Professor of the master's degree in the Causes of Saints of the Dicastery, advisor to the Spanish Episcopal Conference and director of the office of the Causes of Saints of Opus Dei in Spain.
At the same time that children and adults applauded the health workers from the balconies, while doctors and nurses were described as heroes, at the very moment when the struggle for life, for health, seemed to be the center of concern in Spain, the government approved, through the back door and with worrying haste, the law on euthanasia, raising assisted death to the category of a right. The approval of a law with the characteristics of the Spanish one is worrying from all angles and, therefore, its approval, apart from being a failure, should be considered, for all those who recognize the dignity of the human being, an incentive to continue changing the utilitarian and "throwaway" framework that gives rise to a law of these characteristics.
The entry into force of the new law on euthanasia not only decriminalizes the option of taking one's own life (which means euthanasia, even if the expression is more aseptic than throwing oneself out of a window) but, by considering it a right to a service, transforms the "right to die" into an action for which the State must provide the means, both material and "formative". It is shocking if one takes into account the fact that, in Spain, palliative care has no law to protect it: the elimination of life is considered a right, while the care and protection of life is at the mercy of "the market". Today, the development of palliative medicine and palliative care completely shatters the idea that death is accompanied by suffering. Compassion is shown by helping not to suffer and not by helping to die. In fact, as the president of the College of Physicians of Madrid, Manuel Martínez Sellés, points out, "the problem is that the population is being presented with the duality of euthanasia or suffering. But that is not the duality.
Those who consider life as a gift that deserves to be cared for and respected from beginning to end are now faced with the exciting challenge of working to change the current frameworks of interpretation with which public opinion works on this issue. These frameworks of interpretation include such delicate points as the approach to compassion, the concept of "dignified life", the trivialization of death, the commercialization of life or the consideration that progress is nothing more than a mad race to conquer supposed individual rights. In the words of Professor Torralba, "we must all be moved by the conviction that there are truths such as the value of life, which society should not forget".
Forcing doctors and health professionals to work for death and not for the care and improvement of life seriously injures the spinal cord of a healthy and truly humane society whose characteristic should be the attention, care and promotion of the weakest.
As described by one of Omnes' collaborators, Javier Segura, "those who throw the weakest as a burden will walk faster, they may even run, but they will do so towards their own destruction".
The Vatican procedural system will be the same for everyone
Cardinals and bishops will be judged by the Tribunal of Vatican City State, like everyone else, eliminating the possibility of recourse to a Court of Cassation presided over by a cardinal as in the past.
The Holy See has published a new Motu proprio of Pope Francis, effective May 1, which modifies the judicial system of Vatican City State.
The change occurs in Article 24 of the ordinance, which provided that cardinals and bishops accused of criminal offenses in the Vatican State could appeal to the Court of Cassation.
From now on they will be judged by the Tribunal of Vatican City State, like everyone else. The need for the prior authorization of the Pontiff to bring cardinals and bishops to trial remains in force, however.
The Pope himself has recalled in the publication of this Motu Proprio the words pronounced last March 27 during the Opening of the Judicial Year and in which he appealed to the need to establish a system of "equality of all members of the Church and their equal dignity and position, without privileges".
Text of the Motu Proprio
According to the Conciliar Constitution Lumen GentiumIn the Church all are called to holiness and have attained to the same faith through the justice of God; in fact, "there is an authentic equality among all in the dignity and action common to all the faithful for the building up of the Body of Christ" (n. 32). (n. 32). The Constitution Gaudium et Spes also affirms that "all men ... have the same nature and the same origin. And because they are redeemed by Christ, they enjoy the same vocation and the same destiny" (n. 29). This principle is fully recognized in the 1983 Code of Canon Law, which states in canon 208: "there is among all the faithful ... a true equality in dignity and action...".
The awareness of these values and principles, which has progressively matured in the ecclesial community, demands today an ever more adequate conformity with them also in the Vatican order.
In this regard, in my recent address at the opening of the Judicial Year, I wanted to recall "the priority need that - also through appropriate normative changes - in the current procedural system the equality of all members of the Church and their equal dignity and position come to the surface, without privileges that date back to other times that are no longer in keeping with the responsibilities that correspond to each one in the aedificatio Ecclesiae. This requires solidity in faith and consistency in behavior and actions.".
On the basis of these considerations, and without prejudice to what is provided for in universal law for some specific cases expressly indicated, it is now necessary to proceed with some further modifications to the judicial system of the Vatican City State, also to guarantee to all an articulated trial of multiple degrees in line with the dynamics followed by the most advanced legal experience at the international level.
Having said this, with this Apostolic Letter in the form of a Motu Proprio, decree that:
1. In the Law on the Judicial Order of 16 March 2020, n. CCCLI, in art. 6, the following paragraph is added after paragraph 3: "4. In causes involving the Most Eminent Cardinals and the Most Excellent Bishops, outside the cases provided for in canon 1405 § 1, the tribunal judges with the prior assent of the Supreme Pontiff";
2. In the Law on the Judicial Order of 16 March 2020, n. CCCLI, art. 24 is repealed.
I so decree and establish, notwithstanding any provision to the contrary.
I decree that this Apostolic Letter in the form of a Motu Proprio be promulgated by publication in L'Osservatore Romano and enter into force on the following day.
Given at Rome, from the Apostolic Palace, on April 30, 2021, the ninth year of my Pontificate.
This work has been carried out by the prefect of music of the Cathedral of Tui, Daniel Goberna, with the collaboration of María Mendoza in the arrangements and several young diocesan parishioners and the Colegio San José de Cluny in the recording.
The Vigo parish of St. Joseph the Worker and St. Rita will be the setting for this presentation during the Eucharist that will be presided over on Saturday, May 1 at 8:00 p.m. by Bishop Luis Quinteiro Fiuza, Bishop of Tui-Vigo. Luis Quinteiro Fiuza, Bishop of Tui-Vigo.
It is not the only action around the year dedicated to the Holy Patriarch in the Galician diocese. In addition to 5 temples dedicated to St. Joseph, the Pastoral Vicariate has dedicated the entire month of March to pray the prayer recommended by the Pope. And so, during the 31 days of March, the text has been published accompanied by one of the images of the holy patriarch among those venerated in the diocese of Tui Vigo.
Martínez-Sellés: "The deadlines of the euthanasia law are accelerated".
The Spanish euthanasia law has been drafted "behind the back of the medical profession", and "the deadlines are very short, accelerated", said Dr. Manuel Martínez-Sellés at an online meeting of the Centro Académico Romano Fundación (CARF).
Rafael Miner-April 30, 2021-Reading time: 2minutes
The regulation of euthanasia that will come into force on June 25 "will mean a breakdown in the doctor-patient relationship of trust", and has been prepared "behind the back of the medical profession", by being processed "without consulting the doctors", said the dean of the College of Physicians of Madrid, Dr. Manuel Martínez-Sellés, in an online meeting organized by the CARF on "The truth about euthanasia".
"It is also surprising that the procedures provided for in the law are so accelerated," said Martínez-Sellés, who is head of Cardiology at the Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid. In his opinion, "all the deadlines that are given are very short". For example, two days are prescribed to the physician between the first request for what the law calls "assistance in dying" and "a deliberative process" on the diagnosis, therapeutic possibilities and expected results, as well as on "possible palliative care," a specialty that does not exist in Spain or in the Netherlands, he stressed.
The dean of Madrid physicians reiterated that euthanasia "is not a medical act. We are not in the business of killing, but of curing", and the law goes "against the very essence of medicine". He also recalled that the World Medical Association has condemned euthanasia and assisted suicide, "most recently in October 2019." "We physicians must remain faithful to our Hippocratic oath," concluded Manuel Martínez-Sellés before answering the numerous questions from those attending the meeting, which was attended by nearly 700 people.
In the May issue of Omnes Dr. Martínez-Sellés' statements are included, especially in relation to conscientious objection. The Madrid dean considers "a blacklist of euthanasia objectors" to be "unacceptable". In his opinion, "conscientious objection is obviously recognized. What worries us are the possible consequences of this conscientious objection, that is what I find most worrying, the Register of objectors, we do not know what consequences it could have, and we are analyzing proposals".
The Church beatifies José Gregorio Hernández, the "doctor of the poor".
The Venezuelan doctor José Gregorio Hernández, known as the "doctor of the poor", to whom there is great devotion in the country, will be beatified today, April 30. Cardinal Parolin will not be able to attend because of the pandemic.
Rafael Miner-April 30, 2021-Reading time: 8minutes
As announced by the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference (CEV), the beatification ceremony of Venerable Dr. José Gregorio Hernández will take place on April 30 at the university stadium of the Central University of Venezuela. The beatification mass will be presided over by Monsignor Aldo Giordano, Apostolic Nuncio in Venezuela. Yesterday, the Pope named him Co-Patron of the Cycle of Studies in Peace Sciences of the Pontifical Lateran University of Rome.
The ceremony will not be attended by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Parolin, who "for reasons of force majeure," according to a communiqué from the Holy See Press Office, "linked above all to the Covid-19 pandemic, will not be able to travel to Venezuela, as was his wish, on the occasion of the beatification of the Venerable Servant of God José Gregorio Hernández."
The Cardinal hopes that this event "will contribute to deepen the faith of Venezuelans and their Christian life, in imitation of the new Blessed, to face together the humanitarian crisis and to promote plural and peaceful coexistence".
At the press conference held at the headquarters of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference, Cardinal Baltazar Porras, Archbishop of Merida, Apostolic Administrator of Caracas and President of the National Commission for the Beatification of Dr. Jose Gregorio Hernandez, explained that the Apostolic Letter signed by Pope Francis, set the date for the liturgical celebration of Dr. Jose Gregorio Hernandez as October 26 of each year, which coincides with the date of his birth and that "it is already a tradition for Venezuelans to celebrate him on that day".
More than 70 years of process
On June 19, 2020, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints promulgated the decree with the authorization of Pope Francis for the beatification of Venerable Dr. José Gregorio Hernández, the fourth Venezuelan Blessed. More than 70 years have passed since the beginning of the process of beatification and canonization of the "doctor of the poor", in 1949, by the then Archbishop of Caracas, Monsignor Lucas Guillermo Castillo.
Subsequently, on January 16, 1986, José Gregorio Hernández was declared venerable by Pope John Paul II. Already under the pontificate of Pope Francis, on January 9, 2020, the Medical Commission of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, approved the miracle attributed to his intercession, the healing of a girl hit by a bullet in the head, shot by men who wanted to rob her father. The same happened on April 27, 2020 with the Theological Commission.
The beatification of José Gregoria Hernández should mean "a transformation for the Venezuelan people".
Bishop Tulio Ramirez. Vice-postulator of the case
Tulio Ramirez, vice-postulator of the Cause, pointed out that the beatification should mean "a transformation for the Venezuelan people", since he is a reference of peace for all. He emphasized the spiritual sense of the Beatification ceremony, and the importance of "not remaining a festive act; the transcendence that this act carries with it is very essential for the conversion of the heart".
Surrender to others
Dr. Hernandez's career has been summarized as "a life dedicated to the people he cared for", especially at the time of the epidemic known as 'Spanish flu', whom he supported with his dedication and for whom he gave his life. Born in 1864, he was run over by a car as he was leaving a pharmacy in Caracas on June 29, 1919, where he had bought medicines for an elderly patient.
Cardinal Baltazar Porras pointed out that "the beatification comes at the most opportune moment", "in the midst of a global crisis and a pandemic that highlights the weakness of the human condition and the need to care for and preserve integral health, there is no better balm than to have recourse to the intercession of the doctor of the poor (...). José Gregorio is at this time the best point of convergence of all Venezuelans, without distinction of any kind. He summons us to work together for the good of the people".
Reproduced below is an article and interview published in Palabra by Marcos Pantin in 2013.
Dr. José Gregorio Hernández: a man of science and a doctor of the poor.
The life of every saint points to a path that leads to God. When that life is so normal that it could well be mine, my neighbor's or that of millions of Christians, the saint can drag us with him on the road to God. And if he exercises this influence today, it is well said that he is a saint of today.
In these lights we can appreciate the life of Venerable José Gregorio Hernández, a Venezuelan physician who died in 1919. His cause for beatification was opened in 1949 and Blessed John Paul II approved the Decree of the heroicity of his virtues in 1986.
Msgr. Fernando Castro AguayoAuxiliary Bishop of Caracas and current Vice Postulator of the Cause of Beatification gives us some information about the life of the venerable servant of God.
Monsignor, how can you draw a profile of Dr. José Gregorio Hernández?
-The life of Dr. Hernandez is very rich. It can be said that he excelled in the practice of medicine as a service. He attended rich and poor, and he treated all with the same dedication, even making use of his personal assets in favor of the neediest. José Gregorio Hernández has been recognized in every way: as a citizen who rendered admirable services to his country, as a medical professional, as an academic and rigorous man of science, and above all as a man of faith who practiced the Christian life heroically in every moment of his life.
A professor of great stature and a lover of the university, he was always a tireless physician with a deep vocation for service. Dr. Razetti affirms "As a practical physician, Dr. Hernandez has had in Caracas one of the most brilliant clientele and his patients have a special affection for him because of the gentleness of his character, the culture of his manners and the interest with which he attends his patients", and then he praises, with affectionate envy, his accurate diagnoses.
Being a rigorous academic and scientist, how did he harmonize his science and his faith?
-Everyone who knows the life of Dr. Hernandez is attracted by his manhood, his citizenship and his Christian life. He is an example of faith in Jesus Christ and of availability to God in the exercise of his profession, promoting medical science, in the midst of the theories and scientific advances of the time.
The most complimentary testimonies come from his scientific colleagues, many of them won over to materialistic positivism and atheistic evolutionism. Luis Razetti, a physician and researcher of international stature, with whom he became close friends when they started medical research in Venezuela, stated: "Even though Dr. Hernandez and I belong to diametrically opposed philosophical schools, a sincere friendship has always united us and I have been pleased at all times to proclaim the indisputable merits he possesses as a professor, as a man of science and as a citizen of immaculate conduct". And Dr. Rafael Caldera adds: "It would be enough to read the judgments about Hernandez, of most of the most renowned scientific values of his time to see how they considered miraculous that a man of so many and so versed knowledge in experimental sciences could be a Christian.
So renowned as a physician and scientist, what is his reputation for sainthood?
-Devotion to Dr. José Gregorio Hernández is extremely widespread. In the middle and popular sectors of Venezuela, practically, 90% have turned to his intercession, and approximately 10 or 15% claim to have received some favor or miracle through his intercession. In the public hospital or in the modern private clinic, there is no lack of prayer cards for private devotion, at the patient's bedside, in the nurses' station or in the Intensive Care Unit.
People gather outside the church in Caracas, Venezuela, where the remains of Jose Gregorio Hernandez Cisneros rest, Oct. 26, 2020. Hernandez, a Venezuelan doctor known for treating hundreds of poor patients for free and who died in 1919, will be beautified in Caracas April 30. (CNS photo/Fausto Torrealba, Reuters)
The fame of sanctity of Dr. Hernandez is touched from the moment of his death. A doctor of the poor, he was laid to rest with the honors of a professor in the auditorium of the University. From there he was taken to the Cathedral. After the funeral, he was carried on his shoulders to the Cemetery. The news flies through the streets and the moved city waits in front of the temple. In the cathedral the people shouted at the doors: "Doctor Hernandez is ours...! When the coffin came out, the people snatched it from the students who were carrying it and there was no way to avoid it". It was the most crowded and sincere funeral procession ever recorded in Caracas.
If his devotion is so widespread, shouldn't the cause for his beatification be moving faster?
-It is surprising the abundance of favors obtained through the intercession of José Gregorio Hernández. However, the reason why he has not yet reached the altars is that everyone considers him a saint and few feel the obligation or desire to put in writing the miracles or favors they receive through his intercession.
What can you tell us about your work as Vice Postulator?
-Since a year ago I have been appointed Vice Postulator of the Cause. During this time many small communities have been created in different parts of Venezuela that are committed to pray, spread devotion to the Servant of God and collect the necessary data to support the miracles.
In addition, a new impulse has been given to the Cause with the printing of four million stamps for private devotion that are being distributed throughout Venezuela and some countries of America.
And what is expected from the diffusion of the print as an evangelizing element?
-First of all, the prayer of the prayer card is addressed to Our Lord Jesus Christ so that He may grant a favor through the intercession of the Servant of God. Then, we hope that the use of the prayer card will encourage prayer in the family, among neighbors and friends, that is, communal prayer. And thirdly, through the prayer card we aspire to collect data to support the miracles and introduce them to the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
Is it easy to keep the general fervor for the Physician of the Poor within the canons of private devotion?
-For many people who have a devotion to Joseph Gregory, it has been a real discovery to see that the prayer on the prayer card is addressed to Jesus Christ, the Mediator between God and mankind. This reference has been a very important evangelizing element. It has oriented many simple people who possibly take the devotion to Dr. Hernandez in a somewhat superstitious way. This insistence on directing private prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ has helped them to rekindle their faith, because personal and community prayer directed to Jesus Christ is always a source of good and orients man to the Redeemer of the world, the Savior of humanity and Lord of History.
How does the Venezuelan Hierarchy support this promotion of the Cause of Beatification?
-Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino, Archbishop of Caracas, last October addressed a rather extensive pastoral letter in which he underlines the heroic life of the Venerable, gives guidelines for a righteous devotion and encourages the Catholic people of Venezuela and other countries to collect the data to support the miracle required for beatification.
This pronouncement is very timely. It comes to light at the beginning of the Year of Faith. Certainly, the beatification of Dr. José Gregorio Hernández would be a great good for Venezuela because it would recognize the sanctity of an honest citizen, a rigorous scientist, a man of faith and diligent charity, very Creole, very Venezuelan, who lived the Christian life to the last consequences.
José Gregorio Hernández
Born in Isnotú (Venezuelan Andes) on October 26, 1864. He received his Doctorate in Medicine in Caracas in 1888. In 1889 he was sent to Europe to specialize and bring to Venezuela the latest advances in Medicine. For two years he worked in the laboratories of the Faculty of Medicine in Paris. He accumulated experience in Berlin and Madrid where he received academic recognition.
In 1891 he brings to Venezuela the equipment to build the Laboratory of Experimental Medicine of the Central University. Founded three new university chairs and the Institute of Experimental Medicine. Founding member of the National Academy of Medicine, however, he maintains the medical practice, hospital care and university teaching.
He died in Caracas on Sunday, June 29, 1919, run over by an automobile during his usual round of visits to the sick poor.
The image, the work of sculptor Enrico Nell Breuning, was in St. Peter's with Pope Pacelli in 1956 and has accompanied Francis on several occasions. The image belongs to the Christian Association of Italian Workers.
"He who is faithful in a little is faithful also in much; he who is unjust in a little is unjust also in much" (cf. Lk 16:10). With this verse begins the Apostolic Letter in the form of a motu proprio of Pope Francis with some provisions on transparency in the management of public finances. It sets the tone for the reforms being carried out in the economic and financial sphere of the Holy See.
A new "anti-corruption law
With this new "anti-corruption law," the Pope requires all employees at managerial levels of the Holy See, and all those in active administrative, jurisdictional or control functions, to sign a declaration assuring that they have not received any final convictions, that they are not subject to pending criminal proceedings or investigations for corruption, fraud, terrorism, money laundering, exploitation of minors and tax evasion.
Likewise, the motu proprio requires these persons not to have cash or investments in countries with a high risk of money laundering or terrorist financing, in tax havens or holdings in companies that operate contrary to the Social Doctrine of the Church.
A commitment of Francis
This measure is a consequence of the tireless work being carried out to achieve greater transparency in Vatican finances, and the commitment that the pontificate of Francis has proposed in this area.
The new law is in line with that of May 19, 2020, when Pope Francis promulgated the new public procurement code. It was necessary, the Pope explains, because corruption "can manifest itself in different modalities and forms, even in sectors other than public procurement, and for this reason the regulations and best practices at the international level provide for those who perform key functions in the public sector particular obligations of transparency in order to prevent and combat, in each sector, conflicts of interest, clientelistic modalities and corruption in general." For this reason, the Holy See, which has acceded to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, "has decided to conform to best practices in order to prevent and combat" this phenomenon "in its various forms."
The Holy See has adhered to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, "has decided to conform to best practices to prevent and combat" this phenomenon in its various forms.
The measures
Pope Francis has therefore decided to to add articles to the General Regulations of the Roman CuriaThe new system, with a measure that concerns all those at the functional levels, from cardinal heads of dicasteries to vice-directors with five-year management contracts, and all those with active jurisdictional administration or control and supervision functions, will have to sign a declaration at the time of hiring and every two years thereafter, so as to ensure commitment to good practices. They will have to sign a declaration at the time of hiring and every two years thereafter, so as to ensure commitment to good practices.
In addition, they are required to testify that they have not been convicted by a final judgment, either in the Vatican or in other States, and that they have not benefited from a pardon, amnesty or grace, and have not been acquitted due to statute of limitations. In addition, they must also declare that they are not subject to pending criminal proceedings or investigations for participation in a criminal organization, corruption, fraud, terrorism, laundering of proceeds of crime, exploitation of minors, trafficking or exploitation of human beings, tax evasion or avoidance.
Transparency statement
They must also declare that they do not hold, even through intermediaries, cash or investments or shares in companies or enterprises in countries included in the list of jurisdictions with a high risk of money laundering (unless their family members are resident or domiciled for proven family, work or study reasons).
They must guarantee, to the best of their knowledge, that all goods, movable and immovable, owned or held by them, as well as remuneration of any kind they receive, come from licit activities. Also significant is the request to "not have" shares or "interests" in companies or enterprises that operate for purposes contrary to the Social Doctrine of the Church.
No 40 euro gifts
The Secretariat for the Economy may carry out checks on the veracity of the declarations made on paper by the declarants, and the Holy See, in case of false or mendacious declarations, may dismiss the employee and claim damages.
Finally, it is forbidden - and this novelty affects all employees of the Roman Curia, the Vatican City State and related bodies - to accept, by reason of their office, "gifts or other benefits" of a value greater than 40 euros.
It is forbidden to accept or solicit, for oneself or for persons other than the Entity in which one serves, by reason of or on the occasion of one's position, gifts, presents or other goods whose value exceeds forty euros.
General Regulations of the Roman CuriaArticle 40, paragraph 1, n)
Undoubtedly, the Holy See is being a reference with the reforms it is carrying out in the area of financial transparency, perhaps because it had much to change in this area. This new law adds to the already good number of reforms that have been taken in this sense. And it seems that they will continue to work along the same lines.
On the occasion of the May Day, International Workers' DayCaritas has made public its annual Solidarity Economy Report in which it reports on the work of Caritas delegations throughout Spain in relation to employment in the year 2020. The report highlights the difficulties that the Covid pandemic brought to the development of Caritas programs. However, Caritas was able to maintain the pace of response of its employment and social economy programs.
DATO
60.055
people participated in Caritas employment and social economy programs in 2020.
In 2020, a total of 60,055 people participated in these programs, of which 10,153 managed to find a job, which represents more than 17% of the total number of participants. An action that involved an investment of 85,685,576 euros in the 70 Diocesan Caritas throughout Spain and the work of 1,195 people hired and 2,166 volunteers, leading activities in four complementary areas: reception and job orientation, training, labor intermediation and self-employment initiatives.
Among the participants in these programs, more than half are women, accounting for 65.61 PTW2W and 34.41 PTW2W men (20,674). By national origin, 45.8% are Spanish (27,492), 48.5% are of non-EU origin and another 5.7TP2T are from EU countries (3,417).
As the report itself highlights, Caritas' commitment to accompanying vulnerable people in search of employment focuses on four objectives:
- Promote employability through the improvement of personal, transversal and basic labor competencies for job search and job maintenance.
- Promote the implementation of training actions adapted to the characteristics and real needs demanded by the productive fabric.
- To promote learning experiences through internships in a real work environment, through collaboration with companies and organizations.
- Bringing people closer to the business network through intermediation and raising awareness of inclusive employment among companies.
- Generate protected employment through the implementation of Social Economy initiatives (Insertion Companies and Special Employment Centers).
Other aspects included in the Report focus on the areas of Fair Trade, Social Economy and Ethical Finance.
Key aspects for the future
In addition to this, the Caritas Study Team has analyzed the effects of the crisis caused by the pandemic in the field of employment, which would be defined by three major factors: the significant destruction of employment as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, the strong exposure of essential productive sectors to contagion and precariousness, and the serious difficulties for labor and social integration.
In this sense, they wanted to emphasize how the destruction of employment has affected women and young people under 30 years of age much more intensely.
Caritas also wanted to point out key points for a sustainable and fair development in the field of employability in Spain, highlighting, among others, the need to create inclusive employment that really allows a decent life as well as a necessary adjustment of retraining and adaptation to the future production model and wanted to point out the negative consequences of the rupture of the social contract for the vital development of young people for whom work is blurred as a key element for their integration as well as the reality that employment is not the way of social integration for all people.
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St. Catherine of Siena: working for the freedom of the Church
Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Catherine of Siena. A key woman in the history of the Church, she is one of the few women with the title of Doctor of the Church. Her figure and her example are more relevant today than ever.
Catherine of Siena is an admirable woman. She was born in 1347 into a family of artisans. She loved solitude since she was a child, dedicated much time to prayer and recollection, and at the age of 6, she experienced her first vision of Jesus Christ, which decided her spiritual path: she took a vow of virginity and intensified her life of penance and prayer, amidst the resistance of her family.
As an adult, she established herself as a mantellatea tertiary sister of the Dominicans. Her spiritual life is strengthened and she discovers how Christian intimacy is always inhabited by God: "You must know, my daughter, what you are and what I am. If you learn these two things you will be happy. You are that which is not, and I am that which I Am". The young Catherine became more and more familiar with God, experiencing especially the providence of the Father. From these experiences will be born her most famous work: the Dialogue with Divine Providence.
In the year 1366 she lived her fundamental mystical experience of betrothal to Jesus Christ, who appeared to her as her Spouse, giving her a splendid ring, seen only by her, and which marked her spirituality forever. A relationship of intimacy, fidelity and love was born: "My beloved daughter, just as I took your heart, which you offered me, I now give you mine, and from now on I will be in the place where yours used to be".
"It is Christ who lives in me."
Truly Catherine actualizes the ideal of the Gospel: it is not I who lives, it is Christ who lives in me (Gal 2:20). The paschal mystery permeates and shapes its entire spirituality: Jesus Christ, with his words and above all with his self-giving life, is the Pontiff, literally acting as the bridge that leads us to heaven. His body on the Cross is the symbol of the ascent to holiness, in three successive steps: the feet, the side and the mouth of Jesus, which express the classic stages of the spiritual life of combat with sin, the practice of virtue and the sweet and affective union with God.
In the following years the visions multiplied: of hell, purgatory, heaven, culminating in the mystical experience of the stigmata in 1375, outwardly invisible, but inwardly sensitive for her.
Her communion with the Crucified One is translated into a call to be in solidarity with the plague patients and other poor people of her time: "Remember Christ crucified, set Christ crucified as your goal". Her fame of holiness attracts many, and a group of disciples is generated around Mamma Dulcisima. Her spiritual motherhood seeks the neighbor, who becomes the occasion of our love: for Catherine, every virtue that pleases God is realized through the neighbor that Providence puts in our way.
This same fame also generated suspicion. The Dominicans became interested in this spiritual daughter of theirs, and sent Friar Raymond of Capua to investigate the charismatic woman of Siena. The result was not only favorable to Catherine, but Raymond was fascinated, became her disciple, her confessor and her biographer, before later becoming Master General of the Order.
Involvement in the destiny of the Church
This is where the political dimension of his life must be situated, in the best sense of the word, because Christian spirituality must always take an apostolic form.
Catherine will be involved and will address letters to the great personalities of the Church and the Italian republics, seeking peace between the cities, mediating in the conflicts of the high nobility, and even questioning the Popes, asking for an intense reform of the clergy and pleading for the return to Rome of the successor of Peter from Avignon, where they had sought refuge at the beginning of the century, but where they were also in the political orbit of the French kings. Catherine died in 1380, in Rome, at the side of the Holy Father, her "sweet Christ on earth".
Her spiritual motherhood, which she sought for everyone, is expressed today with her doctorate, and also with her patronage of the Eternal City, of Italy and of the whole of Europe. She is our mother also because of that intercession: that historically asked for the freedom of the Holy Father, but that, in the last analysis, aimed at the freedom of the whole Church.
The authorJaime López Peñalba
Professor of Theology at the University San Dámaso. Director of the Ecumenical Center of Madrid and Vice-consiliary of the Cursillos of Christianity Movement in Spain.
During the month of May, at the request of Pope Francis, a 'marathon' of prayer will be dedicated to invoke the end of the pandemic, which has been ravaging the world for more than a year now, and for the resumption of social and work activities. This is reported by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, an initiative that will unite the shrines of the world in prayer to invoke the end of the pandemic.
Of the whole Church...
"Pope Francis wanted to involve all the Shrines of the world in this initiative, so that they can become instruments of the prayer of the whole Church. The initiative is carried out in the light of the biblical expression: 'Prayer went up unceasingly to God from the whole Church' (Acts 12:5)," reads the communiqué of the Pontifical Council.
The Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, to which the Pope has entrusted the organization of the event, in addition to providing the liturgical resources for this initiative (the Omnes reader can download them at here), informed today of the thirty representative shrines throughout the world chosen to lead the Marian prayer on one day of the month.
Sanctuaries
These are the Shrines Our Lady of Walsingham in England; Jesus the Savior and Mary Mother in Nigeria; Our Lady of Częstochowa in Poland; Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth; Holy Virgin of the Rosary in South Korea; Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil; Our Lady of Peace and of the Good Journey in the Philippines; Our Lady of Luján in Argentina; Holy House of Loreto in Italy; Our Lady of Knock in Ireland; Our Lady of the Poor in Belgium; Our Lady of Africa in Algeria; Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima in Portugal; Our Lady of Health in India; Our Lady Queen of Peace in Bosnia; the Cathedral of Saint Mary in Australia; Immaculate Conception in the U.S.A.; Our Lady of Lourdes in France; Virgin Mary in Turkey; Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre in Cuba; Our Lady of Nagasaki in Japan; Our Lady of Montserrat in Spain; Our Lady of Cap in Canada; Our Lady of Ta'Pinu in Malta; Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico; Mother of God in Ukraine; Black Virgin of Altötting in Germany; Our Lady of Lebanon in Lebanon; Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of Pompeii in Italy.
The prayer at each of these Shrines will be transmitted through the official channels of the Holy See at 6:00 p.m. Rome time. In addition, "each Shrine in the world is invited to pray in the form and language in which the local tradition is expressed, to invoke the resumption of social life, work and the many human activities that were suspended during the pandemic. This common convocation is intended to be a continuous prayer, distributed throughout the meridians of the world, which the whole Church unceasingly raises to the Father through the intercession of the Virgin Mary".
With the participation of the people
Hence the Shrines "are called to promote and solicit as much as possible the participation of the people, so that, thanks to communication technologies, everyone can dedicate a moment to daily prayer, in the car, in the street, with the Smartphone for the end of the pandemic and the resumption of social and work activities".
The Holy Father will open and close the prayer, together with the faithful from around the world, from two significant locations within the Vatican. On May 1, Pope Francis will pray before Our Lady of Help, an icon venerated as early as the 7th century, depicted in a fresco above the altar of St. Leo in the south transept of the early Vatican Basilica, and then placed, where it still stands today, inside the new Basilica of St. Peter, built by Pope Gregory XIII in 1578, in the Gregorian Chapel, where, in addition, the relics of St. Gregory Nazianzen, Doctor and Father of the Church, are preserved.
A gift from the Pope
The Holy Father will bless rosaries specially designed for the occasion, which will then be sent to the thirty shrines directly involved. Some families from the parishes of Rome and Lazio will take turns praying and reading, together with young representatives of the Movements of the New Evangelization. On May 31, instead, Pope Francis will conclude the prayer from a significant place in the Vatican Gardens, about which more information will be given later.
"A system change is needed where people are at the center."
The Catholic-inspired entities that promote the Church for Decent Work (ITD) initiative celebrate the Solemnity of St. Joseph the Worker, patron saint of workers, recalling the consequences that the pandemic has had on the most vulnerable workers.
The entities that make up the initiative Church for Decent Work have issued a manifesto on the occasion of the upcoming celebration, on May 1, International Labor Day and the Solemnity of St. Joseph the Worker.
In this manifesto they wanted to emphasize that the "crisis has highlighted the need for a change in the productive system, based on jobs that add value, subject to decent working conditions, and where people are at the center".
Taking as an example the figure of St. Joseph, from whom Jesus himself learned the value of work, ITD stressed "the importance of work as a human activity that enhances the dignity of each person and their families".
Increased job instability due to Covid
The impact of the pandemic is one of the factors that "has accelerated the processes that weaken the right to work, and impoverish, make precarious and discard millions of workers, mainly women and young people".
Among the consequences that Covid has had on family and global economies, these entities point to the destruction of thousands of jobs and the layoffs in which many of the ERTEs have ended, as well as the ineffectiveness of "the social protection measures designed to alleviate the effects of the crisis that have not reached the people who need it most, as has not happened with the temporary subsidy provided for domestic workers or the minimum vital income".
Working points for a system change
For all these reasons, Church for Decent Work has in the need to unite in prayer as a Church and "adopt the necessary measures to make decent work a reality accessible to all people, with conditions that make it possible to maintain a dignified life and social protection that reaches all those who need it" through the following points:
- Redefining the idea of work as a human activity and shaping new policies - care, shorter working hours, etc. - that ensure that every working person has "some way of contributing his or her skills and efforts" to the construction of the common good.
- Promote work with rights, secure, "free, creative, participatory and supportive" (EG 192) in any work relationship and for all people, regardless of age, sex or origin.
- Guarantee access to social protection measures for those who are unable to work or whose working conditions do not allow them to "make ends meet".
- To achieve social and labor recognition of jobs that are essential for life, with decent working conditions.
- Promote a dialogue with the entire political community, society and institutions to shape a new social contract based on the centrality of the person, decent work and care for the planet.
- Promote the incorporation of youth into the labor market in a society hit by a social and economic health crisis by creating real opportunities for access to decent work.
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More than half of the students choose Religion as a subject of study
More than 3 million students have chosen to attend the subject of Catholic Religion during this academic year in Spain. The figure, which represents around 60% of the total student body, has decreased slightly compared to last year.
The Episcopal Commission for Education and Culture of the Spanish Bishops' Conference has made public, as it does every school year, the statistical data of the students who choose Religion as a subject of study Catholic in this 2020-21 academic year.
The figure reflects the actual data obtained by the 69 diocesan teaching delegations corresponding to 15,029 public, subsidized and private schools.
As for the choice of Catholic Religious education at the beginning of this complicated school year, from Pre-school to Baccalaureate, there are 3,255,031 students in Spain, in all types of centers, which means 60.59% of the student body. A comparison of this percentage with that of the previous year (63%) reveals a slight decrease.
DATO
3.255.031
Students, from kindergarten through high school, have chosen to take the subject of Religion in the 2020 - 2021 academic year.
The data reveal that, in spite of the uncertainty that both the pandemic and the media debate about the LOMLOE and the instability that has been poured on the subject, the majority of students continue to choose this modality in Spain.
A fact that the Commission appreciates, given that they are framed "within the framework of a pluralistic society of growing cultural and religious diversity". Likewise, this publication is an incentive to work and improve the curriculum of the subject of Religion with the objective of responding to the demands of society and families in today's world. The Commission also wanted to encourage "families to maintain their commitment, as the first responsible for the education of their sons and daughters, requesting the teaching of religion as part of their integral education".
Don't miss the section Educationwhere you will find all the information on this subject published in Omnes
The first two who followed Jesus asked him: "Rabbi, where dwellest thou?". We translate as dwell the Greek meneinin Latin, manere. "He answered them, Come and see." They wanted to know where he lived because they wanted to live with him. When he tells them "come and see".We can understand that he was also referring to the three years together, during which he would reveal to them the important places of his dwelling: where they could find him and dwell with him. We find these places by following the verb meneinThe word "to dwell" is very important in the fourth gospel.
The first dwelling revealed: after the Samaritan woman tells that she has found the Messiah, "Samaritans came to where he was, and asked him that he might morara with them. And he stayed there for two days.". Jesus dwells among heretics and sinners.
In the discourse on the bread of life, Jesus says: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood blackberry in me I in him".. Jesus dwells in the one who eats his flesh and drinks his blood. In the eighth chapter: Jesus said to the Jews who believed in Him, "If you you dwell in my word, you are truly my disciples, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free".. Jesus dwells in his word and asks us to choose it as our dwelling place. In the dialogues of the Last Supper, after Philip's question about the Father, he asks us to choose him as our dwelling place: "The words that I speak to you I do not speak of myself. The Father who blackberry in me, he performs his works".. The Father dwells in Jesus and Jesus in the Father. Further on: "I will pray the Father and He will give you another Paraclete, so that you may more with you always. You know him because blackberry at your side and it is in you".. The Holy Spirit dwells in us. "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode in him.". The Father and the Son, that is, the whole Trinity, also dwell in us.
In the discourse of the vine and the branches, the verb to dwell is very present: "Morad in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in the vine. you dwell in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who blackberry in me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. If anyone does not blackberry in me is cast forth as the branches, and withers; then they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you dwell in me and my words moran in you, ask what you will, and it shall be given to you"..
The first disciples had asked the right question, and Jesus, throughout those years, answers in a way unimaginable to them. The chief dwelling of Jesus is in us, and with sinners, and we dwell in him. Through his flesh and blood. Through his word. Through his love.
Pope Francis focused today's catechesis on a form of prayer: meditation. "For a Christian to "meditate" is to seek a synthesis," the Pope affirmed. "It means to place oneself before the great page of Revelation in order to try to make it our own, assuming it completely. And the Christian, after having received the Word of God, does not keep it closed within himself, because that Word must encounter "another book", that the Catechism calls "the one of life" (cfr. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2706). This is what we try to do every time we meditate on the Word".
A widespread practice
Francis reflected on the general practice of meditation, which is widespread today among people of other religions as well, even among people who do not have a religious vision of life. "We all need to meditate, to reflect, to find ourselves again." "Above all," the Pontiff continued, "in the voracious Western world, meditation is sought after because it represents a high embankment against daily stress and the emptiness that spreads everywhere."
We all need to meditate, to reflect, to find ourselves again.
Pope FrancisGeneral Audience, April 28, 2021
"There is, therefore, the image of young people and adults sitting in recollection, in silence, with their eyes half closed... What are these people doing? They meditate. It is a phenomenon to be looked at with good eyes: in fact we are not made to run ahead, we have an inner life that cannot always be trampled on. Meditating is therefore a necessity for everyone".
Jesus Christ is the door to prayer
"But we realize that this word, once accepted in a Christian context, assumes a specificity that must not be cancelled. The great door through which the prayer of a baptized person passes - we remind you once again - is Jesus Christ. The practice of meditation also follows this path. The Christian, when he prays, does not aspire to full transparency of self, he does not set out in search of the deepest core of his self; the Christian's prayer is above all an encounter with the Other with a capital O. If an experience of prayer gives us inner peace, or self-mastery, or lucidity about the path to take, these results are, so to speak, collateral effects of the grace of Christian prayer, which is the encounter with Jesus".
If an experience of prayer gives us inner peace, it is the result of the grace of Christian prayer, which is the encounter with Jesus.
Pope FrancisGeneral Audience, April 28, 2021
The term "meditation" throughout history has had different meanings. The Pope affirms that "even within Christianity it refers to different spiritual experiences. Nevertheless, some common lines can be drawn, and in this we are also helped by the Catechism, which says: "The methods of meditation are as diverse as the spiritual masters are diverse. [But a method is only a guide; the important thing is to advance, with the Holy Spirit, along the one way of prayer: Christ Jesus" (n. 2707).
Forms of meditation
The Pope considered the variety of ways to meditate. There are many methods of Christian meditation: some are very sober, others more articulate; some emphasize the intellectual dimension of the person, others rather the affective and emotional. "All are important and worthy of being practiced, insofar as they can help the experience of faith to become a total act of the person: it is not only the mind of man who prays, just as it is not only his feelings that pray. In ancient times they used to say that the organ of prayer is the heart, and thus they explained that it is the whole man, starting from his center, that enters into relationship with God, and not only some of his faculties".
The method is a path, not a goal
Francis wanted to remind and encourage us not to forget "that the method is a way, not a goal: any method of prayer, if it wants to be Christian, is part of this method. sequela Christi which is the essence of our faith. The Catechism specifies: "Meditation involves thought, imagination, emotion and desire. This mobilization is necessary to deepen the convictions of faith, to arouse conversion of heart and to strengthen the will to follow Christ. Christian prayer is preferably applied to meditating on 'the mysteries of Christ'" (n. 2708).
The grace of Christian prayer
"This is therefore the grace of Christian prayer," the Pope affirmed: "Christ is not far away, but is always in relationship with us. There is no aspect of his divine-human person that cannot become for us a place of salvation and happiness. Every moment of Jesus' earthly life, through the grace of prayer, can become contemporary for us. Thanks to the Holy Spirit, we too are present at the Jordan River when Jesus is immersed in it to receive baptism. We too are guests at the wedding feast of Cana, when Jesus gives the most good wine for the happiness of the spouses".
Christ is not far away, but is always in relationship with us.
Pope FrancisGeneral Audience, April 28, 2021
In conclusion, the Holy Father empathized with our personal situation: "We too are amazed at the millions of healings performed by the Master. And in prayer we are the cleansed leper, blind Bartimaeus who recovers his sight, Lazarus who comes out of the tomb... There is no page of the Gospel in which there is no place for us. Meditating, for us Christians, is a way of encountering Jesus. And in this way, and only in this way, we can find ourselves again".
A few days after U.S. President Joe Biden convened the Climate Leaders Summit on April 22-23, which included a video message from Pope Francis, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City and Bishop David J. Malloy of Rockford, respective chairs of the Domestic Justice and Human Development and International Justice and Peace Committees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), have issued a statement in support of the Holy Father.
In the joint statement, they affirm that they share the message issued by the Holy Father to the leaders gathered at the White House Climate Leaders' SummitFrancisco affirmed that "our concern is to see that the environment is cleaner, healthier and preserved, and to take care of nature so that it takes care of us".
The bishops have praised this common concern and the Biden Administration's decision to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement. In addition, the Climate Leaders Summit "reflects renewed U.S. leadership on climate change," the bishops say, as well as "the pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% from 2005 levels by 2030 is an ambitious national goal and is welcome."
In keeping with the Holy Father's call for integral ecology, Coakley and Malloy remind that the movement toward a net-zero emissions world must also emphasize just transition so that working families who depend on the energy sector are not left behind.
José Miguel Granados recommends reading Little Dorritas an example of the cultivation of a look of love, as an attitude that "magnifies the person, always right in his actions and spreads the eternal beauty around him".
Amy is the young protagonist who gives the title to one of Charles Dickens' great stories: Little Dorrit. Born in the painful prison for debtors, where she lives with her father, she is always helpful, kind and smiling.
Amy's look of affection
He constantly puts a brushstroke of bright color in a gray environment, a note of generosity and joy in a dirty, selfish and sad world. Her brother and sister, frivolous and profiteering, are imbued with a superficial and worldly vision. She, on the other hand, possesses the wisdom of the heart, the clairvoyance of one who loves and transmits to all the beauty of living.
Book
TitleThe Little Dorrit
AuthorCharles Dickens
EditorialAlba
Pages: 840
Amy always looks fondly at her father who, in his condition of miserable poverty, maintains his ridiculous pride of caste: he likes to receive the nickname of prison father (Father of the Marshelsea), and accepts handouts as "acknowledgements". Amy also takes care of Maggy, a handicapped woman with the mind of a child, who calls her her "little mother". To support her father, she goes out every day to work as a seamstress in the house of Mrs. Clenam, a woman haunted by her past, due to her strict and anguished conscience.
Educating the gaze
Educating the gaze is an essential task in life. Especially for the conjugal and family vocation and mission. When, at the beginning of falling in love, the burning affectivity prevails, it is spontaneous and easy to look at the loved one with enthusiasm. But feelings fluctuate, moods soon tend to lose their intensity, and the fervor of passion tends to fade gradually. Over time, the perception of the other person's faults will come to the surface, to the point that living together becomes arduous and, at times, unbearable.
For this reason, it is necessary to work wisely and tenaciously on inner attitudes, through the cultivation of human virtues: courageous patience to endure the difficulties of coexistence and character; smiling kindness to love with disinterested affection; simplicity and good humor that foster an environment of affection; humility and serenity to overcome arrogance and fits of anger; kindness and understanding that avoid condemnatory judgment; eagerness to serve that does not seek reward; a positive sense to overcome discouragement and renew enthusiasm.
Gift of grace: the gaze of Christ
This gaze of love is obtained in a special way when we have recourse with perseverance to the sources of divine grace, such as prayerful listening to the word of God, frequent recourse to the sacraments, spiritual accompaniment or participation in the life of the Christian community. The Holy Spirit then grants us the gift of a look of mercy towards the faults of others or our own: a look of forgiveness, according to the model of Christ, who always welcomed sinners; a look of charity, which "rejoices in the truth, forgives all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (1 Cor 13:6-7); a look of hope that always believes in people's capacity for conversion and improvement.
Blessed with the requited love of Arthur, Mrs. Clenam's son, Amy continues her existence pouring out tenderness. Descending the stairs of the chapel where they were married, they "descended into a simple, useful and happy life". They shower affection on everyone, and especially on their brothers, whose superficial attitude led them down disastrous paths.
For, in the final analysis, the gaze of love-acquired as a stable disposition, through the proper education of the heart-constitutes the proper attitude that ennobles the person, is always right in his actions and spreads eternal beauty all around him.
Manuel Martínez-Sellés to address the reality of euthanasia
An online meeting, organized by Centro Académico Romano Fundación, will analyze, with Manuel Martínez-Sellés, the consequences of the recently approved euthanasia law in Spain.
The President of the Illustrious Official College of Physicians of Madrid, Professor of Medicine and Head of Cardiology at the Gregorio Marañón Hospital, Manuel Martínez Sellés will address, this Thursday 29 April at 20:30h., the main questions surrounding this response to the end of life: what is euthanasia? what are its consequences? why should we suffer? Questions that Martínez Sellés will address from a scientific, human, dignified perspective for the patient and, above all, Christian.
Through the 'Journey to Narnia' project, young people are introduced, through fantasy, to the main teachings of Christianity contained in the work of C.S. Lewis.
In times of pandemic it is necessary to reinvent oneself. That is what the project 'Journey to Narnia' of the Teaching Delegation of the Diocese of Getafe has done in this edition of the year 2021, taking advantage of what is apparently a difficulty to turn it into an opportunity.
Journey to Narnia is a project led by Religion teachers based on the classic children's book 'Chronicles of Narnia' by the British writer C.S. Lewis. A work with a symbolic Christian background that allows the youngest children to learn about the main teachings of Christianity through fantasy.
In its pages we can find stories that refer us to creation in 'The Magician's Nephew', redemption in 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' or scatology in 'The Last Battle'.
DATO
6.000
Each year, students gather in an emblematic, magical place to recreate the Narnian world for a day.
It is not surprising, therefore, that this group of teachers has chosen the reading of these books as a propitious framework to help children understand and become interested in Christianity. And they have done it in the format of a great event, because more than one hundred and twenty schools and institutes participate in this educational experience. More than six thousand students gather each year in an emblematic, magical place to recreate, for a day, this wonderful world. Games, workshops, moments of prayer, concerts and many other activities fill a day that takes place in the incomparable setting of the gardens and palaces of the royal sites of Aranjuez and La Granja de San Ildefonso.
Every year... except this one. The pandemic makes this big event format impossible, but once again this year six thousand children and teenagers took part in the Narnian adventure in an original way.
Specifically, this year the activity has been carried out in the educational centers themselves, so that possible crowds have been avoided. Different dynamics and games have been worked on, as in previous years, but this time in the small groups that are possible in these circumstances. The support of new technologies to through the web page that has been opened for the project. and the youtube channel, have been essential for the realization of this edition of 'Journey to Narnia'. The White Witch, Mr. Tumnus or the Pevency brothers have become youtubers in order to address the participants.
Aslan, the protagonist of all the chronicles of Narnia, is none other than Jesus, the lion of Judah.
Javier Segura
Although, undoubtedly, the most significant aspect of 'Journey to Narnia' this year has been the educational background. Aware of the psychological difficulties that the students are going through, the project has focused this time on providing the psychological and spiritual tools to grow and mature in times of coronavirus.
The messages of the characters in the videos were aimed at overcoming the psychological consequences of the pandemic: fear, emotional distance, individualism, sadness and lack of horizon. Ginés García Beltrán, Bishop of Getafe, raised the eyes of the participants to fight for the good, betting on Jesus, with concrete day-to-day actions. He did so from the Cerro de los Angeles, with the image of the Heart of Jesus in the background. Aslan, the protagonist of all the chronicles of Narnia, is none other than Jesus, the lion of Judah.
The Chronicles of Narnia
AuthorClive Staples Lewis
Year: 1950-1956
Genre: Adventure novel
All this material and the dynamics that have been established for the classroom, such as the construction of the door of life, the call to commitment and personalization, have been used by the teachers to work with the students on all these vital aspects that touch them very closely.
An educational experience that places the Religion class at the forefront of teaching, faithful to its evangelizing mission, while responding to the current educational needs of our students.
However, we are waiting for the next event in which all participants can join again in the Real Sitio de La Granja de San Ildefonso or in Aranjuez, which for thousands of children have already become the real kingdom of Narnia.
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Ecumenical dialogue has facilitated a greater understanding in recent times of the differences between the Free Churches of Protestant origin and other new religious movements.
The difference between the Free Churches and other new religious movements of Protestant origin is now better understood. Ecumenical dialogue has facilitated this. It is not easy to define a common identity for these ecclesial communities, since there is no exact definition. The expression itself is of late appearance, in the 19th century.
They are Christian communities that respond to some general characteristics, but with great diversity among them. They constitute a special type of ecclesial community, founded on baptism (often of adults), and they feel that they are heirs of the principles of the Reformation, especially that of sola ScripturaBut each of them has arisen because of a specific historical situation - a founder - or, often, a separation or expulsion.
1. Methodism
The Methodism is the movement initiated by John Wesley (1703-1791), Anglican parish priest, university professor and one of the most famous preachers of his time: "His way of preaching," writes Algermissen, "was simple and popular, but penetrating. He carried out a great missionary work, also helped by lay people; his objective was not to found a new Church, but the renewal of religious life and above all of the student environment in which he carried out his activity. For the regularity of their meetings, works of charity and practices of piety, they received in Oxford the ironic name of "Methodists". In the years 1735-1737 Wesley worked in America as an Anglican parish priest. There he met German colonists trained in Pietism: from them he took the principle of "sola fide" and the need for penance. After his return to London in 1738, Wesley experienced a new awareness of faith.
The notions of "enthusiasm" and personal conversion occupy a central place in his praxis. The doctrinevaries slightly with respect to its origins. In the Bible, Methodists do not recognize the deuterocanonical books but only those originally used in the liturgy (protocanonical), and preach the universality of sin and the corruption of human nature. There is a certain primacy of the word of God over the sacraments of baptism and the supper. Unlike Pietism, Methodism aimed at the conversion of the masses: the care of souls and an intense community life were at the center of its evangelizing activity. The women and men who participated in them, usually of modest and working class backgrounds, prayed freely during the meetings, confessed their sins to each other, and offered mutual support to lead a holy life.
Within the Church of England there was an "evangelical awakening" that met the needs of a neglected people: a certain number of clergy had experienced conversion first hand and were burning with zeal to awaken the people spiritually. The typically Protestant emphases of salvation by faith, the centrality of the Bible and its preaching, came to the fore. This was a typical current of the Low ChurchIt was endowed with a clear social vocation and blessed with a special diffusion among the working masses. This movement has a predominantly practical-pastoral character: with a fundamentally biblical preaching, they proclaim conversion and salvation. The first evangelical missionaries traveled the country as itinerant preachers, but they saw the danger of damaging the parish system and the ecclesiastical order, so they were marginalized and expelled from the Anglican institutions.
2. Amish, Baptists and Quakers
TheMennonites or amish take their name from a Dutch Catholic priest, Menno Simons (ca. 1496-1561). They are pacifists and sometimes opposed to technical progress. They differed from other Protestants in their baptismal practice: they only baptized adults between 14 and 17 years of age who, after adequate preparation, made a profession of faith and expressed their willingness to convert to follow Christ. It is administered with water in the name of the Trinity, and considered valid by the Catholic Church, by immersion or infusion. They recognize the baptism of a baptized child when he/she converts later with a free and conscious decision, so that there is no second Baptism in the community (with some exceptions).
The Baptist current emerged with the radicalization of Zwingli's Reformation in the 17th century, although at the same time in contrast with him. There is also a Calvinist background in its doctrine and a strong emphasis on freedom of conscience, rejecting the concepts of church, dogma, liturgy and priesthood. In ecclesiological matters, the most absolute ecclesiastical democracy reigns. Each community is autonomous and can make its decisions independently; its relationship with others is in terms of a "covenant", to which they freely associate themselves. An experience of salvation is necessary before receiving baptism. Evangelizing activity is an inalienable feature of these communities, which seek to bring those who are far from the Gospel closer: their aim is to awaken in people the following of Christ and communion with God.
George Fox (1624-1691), founder of the Quakers, contemplated the turbulent time of power struggles in England between Catholics, Anglicans and Puritans. In his personal search for God and true religion none of them succeeded in showing him the way. In 1647, between the "tremors" (English: to quake), he came to the conviction that everyone carries within himself the answer to the question of God: there is something divine in everyone and it is found in silence. God speaks there. It is therefore a matter of reaching an "inner light" that takes away sins and unites each one with Christ. In this we are all equal, and this feeling of equality was fundamental to the Quakers. With his followers, Fox led an ascetic, neighbor-oriented life. He refused to take oaths and pay ecclesiastical taxes; he decided in favor of non-violence, and preached his message throughout England, where he was persecuted.
Still during the time of hardship the Quaker William Penn (1644-1718) obtained the grant to found an English colony in New Jersey, where he founded the State of Pennsylvania in 1681, as a political realization of the Quaker religiosity, which fought tirelessly against slavery. The Quakers understand themselves as part of the Church of Jesus Christ, although they are a "religion without dogma". The revelation of God is not a closed event in the past, but can happen at any time in the heart of those who sincerely seek God. The liturgy is above all meetings for "silent prayer", in simple places without crosses or particular objects; they do not admit sacraments (neither baptism nor supper), nor feast days, nor solemn actions. This very minimal doctrinal and celebratory body contrasts with the ethical demands, based on the discovery of God's message in each person.
3. Evangelical communities
Sometimes they have been qualified as "Churches of the laity", because in them there is no difference between the ordained and the non-ordained, or it is less than in other communities. In them the Spirit calls every Christian to the priesthood; there are no essential differences in the community, but simply a diversity of charismatic functions: they do not want to be "Churches of pastors", even if there is the office of preacher or pastor. They practice baptism by immersion. From the 16th and 17th centuries, on the occasion of the English religious controversies against the Anglican Church, "independent" communities emerged: the current "free evangelical communities" proper to "Congregationalism" feel themselves heirs of the "awakening" movement of the 19th century. They gave rise to pietist communities, with faithful who separated themselves from everything that contrasted with the divine: the secular" and, therefore, also from the historical or institutional Church, which they considered "dead" and "secularized".
They started from the principle that the Christian community is born where the disciples of Jesus are united in obedience to his Word under the guidance of the Spirit. These communities have their own powers and total autonomy, independent of secular power, but also of bishops and synods. They are grouped worldwide in the International Alliance of Free Evangelical Communities. The structure is congregationalist, and the Alliance is understood as a "spiritual communion of life and service among the independent Communities". In terms of doctrine, they are close to the postulates of the Calvinist Reformation, with Pietist and Baptist influences.
In these evangelical communities, the concept of sacrament does not exist, although they celebrate baptism and the Lord's Supper. They reject infant baptism, because according to Scripture, it must be preceded by conversion. Adults, and only adults, are baptized in the name of the Trinity by immersion; they leave it to the conscience of each one whether or not, when they wish to enter the community, they should be re-baptized. The Lord's Supper is usually celebrated once a month, independently or integrated into the usual liturgy, also celebrated by a lay person. It is understood as a "banquet of communion" that unites the faithful with Christ and with each other, as a "banquet of hope" in the expectation of the return of the Lord who ascended to the Father.
4. Adventists
Seventh-day Adventist Christian churchesThey arose in the 19th century, in a climate of lively awareness of the return of Christ in glory, which had spread in numerous free Churches. The very name "Adventists" underlines the expectation of the advent of Christ, and the sanctification of the Sabbath - the seventh day - and not of Sunday. It was founded by William Miller (1742-1849), who established exclusively personal eschatological theories on the second coming of Christ. Its origin goes back to the preacher Ellen G. White (1827-1915) and other visionaries, who are considered prophets of the end of the world, and who possessed the gift of prediction (concretely, he thought a date of 1844). When this prediction of the end of the world was not fulfilled, he came to the conclusion that the whole Church should be always vigilant waiting for the return of the Lord, as the center of the Bible, which relativizes all historical ecclesiastical tradition.
They confess the primacy of the Bible and the doctrine of the sola fidesThe Adventists were born as a community in 1863, while rejecting the Calvinist doctrine of predestination. The Adventists emerged as a community in 1863. They do not constitute an extra-biblical doctrine, nor do they contradict the trinitarian faith of the New Testament; neither do they have a pretension of exclusivism, and they have even entered into dialogue with other churches. They insist on the Ten Commandments, the sanctification of the Sabbath, the importance of tithes, and the expectation of the imminent coming of Christ. They do not admit the baptism of children and it is celebrated by immersion; they receive the communion in the supper four times a year.They pay special attention to a healthy physical life through an orderly discipline of life. They defend religious freedom and the separation of church and state.
5. Pentecostals
The insistence on spiritual "awakening" and conversion, and the aspiration for a higher Christian life in sanctification gave rise to the Pentecostals in Los Angeles in 1910, who sought a full experience of the Gospel. Christians are led to a holy life in witness and service moved by the Spirit. This outpouring, as at Pentecost in Jerusalem, becomes the so-called "baptism of the Spirit," with gifts such as glossolalia and physical and mental "healing." The first Pentecostal experiences took place mainly in African-American communities, where a "movement of those who speak in tongues" arose, which spread to Europe and all over the world. There are international relations among them, although they reject a world structure, although the World Pentecostal Conference exists.
The doctrine they usually hold is that the process of salvation happens in three steps: conversion, sanctification and baptism in the Spirit. Scripture is the basis of faith, which is open to interpretation by the Spirit. Christ has worked justification and forgiveness, but redeems and sanctifies through the Spirit. Everything is the work of the Spirit: conversion, rebirth and growth in the Christian life. Baptism is practiced only on adults by immersion and in the name of the Trinity. On the necessity of a second baptism, it is decided by the person who aspires to enter the community and was previously baptized in another. In some communities, however, it is usually rebaptized.
They see in the Bible a sacred book, whose writers were inspired by the Spirit, which contains the word of God and, therefore, his unconditional rule of faith and conduct. Like other Protestant communities, they believe in original sin, and in particular in the figures of Satan, Adam and Eve; as well as in the possibility of human sanctification through religious practice and faith. The Pentecostals consider themselves part of the "Church of Christ", without having great disagreements with historical Churches such as Presbyterian or Baptist; some Pentecostals, however, are against ecumenism. The Pentecostal liturgy varies in each Pentecostal Community, organization or current; but its main activity consists of the reading of both the Old and New Testament. During the ceremonies hymns and other songs of praise of varied styles are usually interpreted, accompanied by music, applause, choruses, dances and exclamations of jubilation.
In addition to promoting a certain ethical perfectionism, supernatural experiences take precedence over the everyday, ecstasy over daily asceticism. It is a Christianity that lacks dogmas and structures: each of the faithful, as a member of Christ, receives directly the inspirations of the Spirit and can have a series of mystical experiences, which were previously reserved for only a few. The Communities and their pastors are usually organized according to the congregationalist style and, at present, it constitutes numerically the third largest group of Christians - after the Catholic and Orthodox Churches - with 300 million faithful.
6. Conclusion
"In reality," Algermissen concludes, "the history of Protestantism has so far been the history of a progressive split, which even the intense and delicate work of ecumenism in the coming years has not put an end to. Beginning with the divisions that occurred already in Luther's time (Zwingli, Bucer, Oecolampadius, Karlstadt, Müntzer and the Anabaptists...), up to the doctrinal developments of Melanchthon after the death of the German Reformer, Protestantism has been led by theologians and personalities of genius, who have left their profound mark in their own continuing developments over time. The Reformation has thus been continually reformed and refounded, and has been marked from the beginning by continuous theological disputes. The successive divisions and reunifications (first in the historic or national Churches, and later in the free Churches or evangelical communities) have left a picture of the situation that is difficult to follow. The final result could be the one that can be seen in the following genealogical tree of the different Protestant denominations:
Nomadland has been the big winner of the night of the Oscars. In addition to the statuette for Best Picture, it also won two other main awards: Best Director and Best Leading Actress.
José María Garrido-April 26, 2021-Reading time: 2minutes
Chinese-American director Chloé Zhao (b. 1982) rounds off a trio of minority social realism in the USA. She has grown in her independent filmmaking and in the harvest of awards: first with Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015),then with The Rider (2017), and finally with this picture of labor nomadism in the American West, following a sexagenarian woman who takes to the road to get her life back together.
DistributorSearchlight Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures
In 2011, the closure of a building materials factory causes the exodus of the already minimal population of Empire (Nevada), turning the town into a ghost. Also the protagonist, Fern - a disheveled Frances McDormand, who is vying for her third Oscar - stocks up a van and goes nomadic with temporary jobs wherever she can get them. She runs away melancholy, ready for anything. We learn who she is and what happens to her through nights and days on wheels, with or without work, on the road or parked, on lonely walks or in lively conversation in a real nomadic community. The film, adapted from a book, does not follow a classic script, it begins on the road, it misleads, and it is not until the end that it fully expresses the true grief on wheels of this sociable woman who resists loneliness.
The vital refuge of the protagonists, especially hers, omits the transcendent and personal God. Instead, it appeals to human immortality, not just memory, and evokes the renewal attainable to the human heart through simple work, the love of nature - so many sequences whose magic lies in Joshua James Richards' photography and color, accompanied by Einaui's music - and, of course, the care of our peers: those fruitful exchanges of Fern and her colleagues, providential or untimely.
Chloé has confirmed her habit of giving a role to someone who has never been a professional actor; and in this one, the gentle and attractive old woman Linda May stands out. Does Zhao like to show that cinema gives us life itself, and life itself becomes a great cinema? In fact, his camera loses no detail, and follows the characters when they wake up early or sleep, and even settles in the not at all intriguing intimacy of the bathroom, like an angel from behind. Nothing in vain for Nomadlandwhich won an unprecedented double, Best Film at the Venice International Film Festival and the Audience Award at Toronto. It also won two Golden Globes 2021: best film (drama) and best direction. The climax was the night of the Oscars. It won three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Leading Actress.
The director is working these months in post-production on a non-stop action film that breaks with her track record. If she succeeds in turning Marvel's tortilla around again, she will have gained expertise in special effects, direction of a great lineup of actors and quite a few dollars. The eternalThe Chinese Zhao, a kind of immortal, are to save mankind. With them, the Chinese Zhao, who had so far brought ordinary people from remote reservations in the USA back from the ashes, becomes a national director with strategies to save humanity. Star-system and superpowers.
On the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, Pope Francis ordained nine priests of the Diocese of Rome in St. Peter's Basilica and reiterated the criterion of "service to the brethren" for those who consecrate their lives to God. Unfortunately, the number of seminarians in the world does not reflect an encouraging figure.
"We give thanks to the Lord because he continues to raise up in the Church people who, out of love for him, consecrate themselves to the proclamation of the Gospel and the service of their brothers and sisters". Pope Francis said this at the Regina Coeli on Good Shepherd Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Easter, when the "World Day of Prayer for Vocations" was also celebrated throughout the Church.
A true service
Shortly before, in St. Peter's Basilica, the Pontiff ordained nine new priests of the Diocese of Rome, of which he is Bishop. In his homily, he delved into this aspect of "service to the brethren" that corresponds to those who consecrate their lives to the Lord. Nothing to do with what can be defined as a "career", Pope Francis recalled. Rather, it is a "service, a service like that which God has done for his people".
We thank the Lord because he continues to raise up in the Church people who, out of love for him, consecrate themselves to the proclamation of the Gospel and the service of their brothers and sisters.
Pope Francis
Thus, the Pope presented the "style" that these servants of the Gospel should assume: closeness, compassion, tenderness, without "closing their hearts to problems" and without being afraid to "carry their crosses", moving away from "vanity, from the pride of money".
In the Message written for the 58th Day of Prayer for Vocations, and dedicated to the figure of St. Joseph, in the Year in which the Church dedicates a special devotion to him, this aspect of service, emblematic of the life journey of the Spouse of Mary, also reappears.
So much so that "he lived in everything for others and never for himself. His attitude of "attentive and solicitous care" - writes the Holy Father - "is the sign of a successful vocation", and is "the witness of a life touched by the love of God".
Worldwide figures
And yet, at the statistical level, the figures coming in worldwide on priestly vocations are not encouraging. According to figures appearing in the 2019 Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae, published by the Holy See at the end of March, there has been a drop of almost 2 percentage points compared to the previous year, from 115,880 to 114,058. The variation is -2.4% across the Americas, reaching -3.8% in Europe, to -5.2% in Oceania. The only positive data comes from Africa, where the number of seminarians increased by about 500 between 2018 and 2019.
However, the continent with the largest number of seminarians is Asia (33,821), followed by America (30,664), Europe (15,888) and Oceania (964).
DATO
414.336
is the number of Catholic priests in the world.
Unfortunately, the number of "professed religious" is also decreasing, by -1.8% worldwide, due to the sharp contraction in the Americas, Europe and Oceania. In Africa the rate is +1.1% and 0.4% in Southeast Asia.
On the other hand, the population of "permanent deacons" is growing, with an increase of 1.5% over the previous figure, from 47,504 to 48,238 units. It should be noted that 97% of them reside in Europe. The number of priests has also increased slightly, from 414,065 to 414,336, as has the total number of Catholics, which has risen by 16 million (1.12%) to 17.7% of the world population (1,345 million).
Good Shepherd Sunday: "Jesus defends, knows and loves every sheep".
During the prayer of the Regina Coeli, Pope Francis reflected on the figure of the Good Shepherd, stressing that "for each and every one Jesus gave his life".
On Good Shepherd Sunday, Pope Francis, after celebrating the priestly ordination of nine priests, prayed the Regina Coeli from the window of the Apostolic Palace.
"On this Fourth Sunday of Easter, called the Sunday of the Good Shepherd," Francis began, "the Gospel (Jn 10:11-18) presents Jesus as the true shepherd, who defends, knows and loves his sheep. He is opposed to the 'hireling', who does not care about the sheep, because they are not his own. He does this work only for the pay, and does not care about defending them: when the wolf comes, he flees and abandons them (cf. vv. 12-13). Jesus, however, true shepherd, defends us and saves us in many difficult and dangerous situations, through the light of his word and the power of his presence, which we experience especially in the Sacraments.
"The second aspect," the Holy Father continued, "is that Jesus, the good shepherd, knows his sheep and the sheep know him (v. 14). How beautiful and consoling it is to know that Jesus knows each one of us, that we are not anonymous to him, that our name is known to him! For Him we are not a "mass", a "multitude", no. We are unique persons, each one with his or her own unique personality. We are unique persons, each one with his own history, each one with his own value, both as a creature and as one redeemed by Christ. Each one of us can say: Jesus knows me! It is true, it is so: He knows us as no one else does. He alone knows what is in our hearts, our intentions, our most hidden feelings. Jesus knows our strengths and our weaknesses, and He is always ready to take care of us, to heal the wounds of our mistakes with the abundance of His grace. In him is fully realized the image of the shepherd of God's people outlined by the prophets: he cares for his sheep, gathers them together, binds up the wounded, heals the sick... (cf. Ez 34:11-16)" (cf. Ez 34:11-16).
The figure of the Good Shepherd is familiar to Francis: "Jesus the Good Shepherd defends, knows and above all loves his sheep. For this reason he lays down his life for them (cf. Jn 10:15). Love for his sheep, that is, for each one of us, leads him to die on the cross, because this is the will of the Father, that no one be lost. Christ's love is not selective, it embraces everyone. He himself reminds us of this in today's Gospel, when he says: "I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must lead them also, and they will listen to my voice; and there will be one flock, one shepherd" (Jn 10:16). These words attest to his universal concern: Jesus wants everyone to be able to receive the love of the Father and to have life.
"The Church is called to carry out this universal mission of Christ. In addition to those who frequent our communities, there are many people who do so only in particular cases or never. But this does not mean that they are not children of God, whom the Father entrusts to Christ the Good Shepherd. For each and every one Jesus gave his life. And to each and every one we Christians have to witness his love, with a humble and fraternal attitude".
The Pope concluded by affirming that "Jesus defends, knows and loves each of his sheep. May the Blessed Virgin Mary help us to welcome and follow the Good Shepherd first, so as to cooperate with joy in his mission".
The next wednesday, april 28 we will have a new edition of our Dialogues with authors. A virtual meeting, exclusively for collaborators of Omnes in which we will have, on this occasion, the journalist and contributor to Omnes, Antonio Morenoknown for his famous Twitter evangelist threads.
With him, our collaborators will be able to share experiences, curiosities and learn from one of the most influential people in the Catholic communication scene today.
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Antonio Moreno
Antonio Moreno has a degree in Information Sciences and a Bachelor's Degree in Religious Sciences.
He works as a journalist in the Media Delegation of the Diocese of Malaga. He collaborates with media and television programs such as "El Espejo" or Periferias. Married and father of seven children, he has been recognized with the Bravo award for his evangelization work on Twitter.
His evangelistic threads through his Twitter account, @antonio1moreno are read by millions of people all over the world, especially Spain and America. A compilation of the 40 best yarns are collected in his book "La Caja de los hilos".
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Athletes for Life launches popular races on June 27th
On the last Sunday of June, physical and virtual races will take place in Valdebebas Park in Madrid and throughout Spain, in which athletes and families will celebrate their commitment to life.
Rafael Miner-April 26, 2021-Reading time: 4minutes
The platform Athletes for Life and FamilyThe organization, chaired by Javier Jáuregui, has called a great popular race in Valdebebas (Madrid) on June 27, with the aim of demonstrating that athletes are willing to give the best of themselves in favor of nascent and suffering human life, from conception to natural death.
The races Deportistas por la vida, respecting the health conditions due to Covid-19, will have two modalities: one with physical presence, with a maximum of 500 runners, and a circuit of 5 or 10 km. in the Valdebebas Park in Madrid, and other virtual ones, with unlimited runners in any city and with a free route also between 5 and 10 km. In both modalities they will wear the t-shirt of the platform Sí a la vida, on its tenth anniversary.
Athletes and families wishing to participate in the popular races, in both modalities, have more information about the races at deportistasporlavidaylafamilia.com.
There will also be a 0 bib for support, at a price of 5 euros, as can be seen on the website. The godmother of honor of the race will be Isabel de Gregorio, widow of the first director of INEF Madrid, José María Cagigal.
Athletes' Manifesto
In the Manifesto to be read in Valdebebas, the athletes affirm their "commitment and loyalty to life; they underline their desire for life to be "exalted, encouraged and protected in any circumstance, situation or period of life", and defend it "as lovers and practitioners of physical activity and sport, as descendants of our parents or caregivers, who gave us life and the opportunity to experience and improve our human qualities thanks to sport".
The text of the Manifesto continues as follows:
"Because we want Life to be exalted, encouraged and protected in any circumstance, situation or period of Life.
Because we believe that Life must be defended against inappropriate rules that want to end the Life of those who cannot defend themselves due to their innocence, physical or mental condition.
Because the act of being born is the first sporting gesture performed by the human being, after the long period of learning, of training, in the maternal womb.
Because the cry of the newborn, when he or she comes out into earthly life, is a cry of overcoming, of effort and illusion. Like an athlete.
Because a personal misfortune is not a reason to prevent a Life. Neither is a disability.
Because from Plato, Newton or Usain Bolt, we are all disabled.
Spanish athletes, and all those who wish to adhere to this manifesto for Life, commit ourselves to defend the Life of those who have less material and social means and personal capacities".
Petitions
Accordingly, the protesters ask:
"To Spanish women and men: Do not be afraid to be parents: be daring. You will win the only gold medal that deserves to be won in Life. You will wear it around your neck, close to your heart, for the rest of your days. But, above all, share your Life with a new being. Let him play and play with him".
"To Spanish public and private entities: To help the birth rate and unprotected mothers; so that children have the opportunity to be born in freedom, to move, without ties and without fear, through true gardens of fantasy and adventure".
(To be proclaimed on June 27th at the "Athletes for Life" race at Valdebebas Park in Madrid).
Those who wish to do so, can send their adhesion to this manifesto to the address of the first signatory indicating name and surname, sport, degree, city."
The first twenty signatories are José Javier Fernández Jáuregui ([email protected], whatsApp 629406454), Javier Arranz Albó, Fernando Bacher Buendia, Miguel Ángel Delgado Noguera, Manuela Fernández del Pozo, Leonor Gallardo Guerrero, Víctor García Blázquez, Mariano García-Verdugo Delmas, Francisco Gil Sánchez, Juan Pedro González Torcal, Manuel Guillén del Castillo, José Luis Hernández Vázquez, Javier Lasunción Ripa, Diego Medina Morales, Francisco Milán Collado, Juan Rodríguez López, Marc Roig Tió, Raúl Francisco Sebastián Solanes, Francisco Sehirul-lo Vargas, and Jordi Tarragó Scherk.
Sports andlife
In this short video, the president of the platform, Javier Jáuregui, points out that the world of sport wants to put itself at the service of human life, and explains the popular races on June 27, and its commitment to life:
"The race is directed from and towards the world of sport, and is promoted by athletes (of whatever party or religion they may be...)," explains Jáuregui. "As you can see, the Manifesto of the athletes is aimed at sports professionals, and the race's honorary godmother will be Isabel de Gregorio, widow of the first director of INEF Madrid, José María Cagigal."
"The Race for Life is like an extension of the events of the 10th anniversary of the activity of the Yes to Life Platform," he adds. "Sunday, June 27 will be a day of unity among all pro-life associations in Spain, a day of sport, a day of health, a day of joy for the new lives that are on the way."
Also in European capitals
The organizers hope that at least a thousand people will be virtually associated with this race, running in their own cities on the same date with the same T-shirt, giving testimony of their commitment to life and family.
In addition, in order to continue promoting the defense of nascent life, the purpose of the platform is to disseminate this race in different European capitals. Contact has been made with the North American association Liferunners.
This group of pro-life runners currently has more than 16,150 members and is located in 39 countries. They started in 2008 with 12 runners in four states, and over the years they have grown. The first team of runners created in Spain is in Barcelona.
Short story contest
To give more visibility to the virtual race, the organization has launched a short story contest on the following topics The gift of life and sportThe simple rules can be consulted at here.
The aim is to pay tribute to the caregivers of the most fragile life by collecting short stories inspired by the world of sports and the vulnerability of human life. Its length may not exceed three pages written on one side only, single-spaced, in 11-point font, and people of any nationality may participate with original and unpublished stories. The admission of texts begins on April 27 and ends on June 7, 2021. The winning story will be read during the physical race at the Valdebebas Park in Madrid.
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José Miguel Granados recommends reading Brant Pitre's books, in which he explores the Hebrew roots of the Gospel and Christianity, both in the Old Testament and in ancient Jewish literature.
"Scripture must be the soul of theology." affirmed the Second Vatican Council. D. in the New Testament and in ancient Judaism from the University of Notre Dame Brant Pitre is a professor of Sacred Scripture at the University of Indiana. Augustine Institute of Denver. He lectures frequently, and has published the following titles: Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary; Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist; Jesus the Bridegroom: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told; Jesus and the Last Supper; The Case for Jesus; Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist; Jesus and the Bridegroom: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told..
At the moment, these books have not been translated into Spanish, but several conferences are available at Youtube and podcast. To the conference on Jesus and the Jewish roots of the Eucharist The cover page shown in the illustration refers to one of the Lighthouse Talks published by the Augustine Institute. We also reproduce the cover of the book of the same title.
The heart of Professor Pitre's teachings lies precisely in the investigation of the Hebrew roots of the Gospel and of Christianity, both in the Old Testament and in ancient Jewish literature. His vast erudition, combined with a splendid informative capacity, allows us to better understand each of the teachings and actions of Jesus, who was incarnated in a family of the people of Israel and lived according to their mentality and customs, their worship and their culture.
In addition, Professor Pitre also contributes to dismantling the prejudices of rationalist exegesis, with its demystifying pretension, in order to demonstrate the veracity and consistency of the teaching of the Catholic faith, based on the proper interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, in conformity with authentic Tradition.
"Thy word is a lamp unto my steps, a light unto my path." (Ps 119:105). The Word of God illuminates our journey, orients the situations of our existence, teaches us the good that we have to do and directs us towards heaven. "The master way to discover our path is the frequent reading of the Scriptures inspired by God."said St. Basil the Great.
Unfortunately, many flounder confused by the toxic smoke of false ideologies, but those who are grounded in the Word of God share in the consistency of the eternal God. For, as Christ assured us, "he who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on a rock".(Mt 7:28); "Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away." (Mt 24:35; cf. Is 40:8).
Source of life
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a Word of life and hope, a luminous and powerful Word, a Word of truth and wisdom, a Word of love that leads to fraternal charity, a Word of full salvation. "Jesus Christ is the fountain of life; therefore he invites us to himself as to a fountain (cf. Jn 7:37-38); drink from him who loves him, drink from him who feeds on his Word. If you are thirsty, drink from this fountain of life." (St. Columbanus).
Those who do not read and meditate assiduously on the Word of God become irremediably worldly, they remain in the dark, with a false, materialistic and reductive perspective; they lose the vision of faith, which the Lord's gaze gives us, and they are left without energy for spiritual combat. This is what happens to so many of the baptized who stop attending liturgical assemblies and separate themselves from Sacred Scripture. Without the divine Word, which is the nourishment of the soul, the soul languishes and withers. For "man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God". (Mt 4:4; cf. Dt 8:3).
Gifts of the Holy Spirit
At the same time, meditation on the Word of God provides various gifts of the Holy Spirit: joy and gentleness (cf. Ps 119:103; Ez 3:3), peace and consolation (cf. Rom 15:4), purity of heart (cf. Jn 15:3), fortitude (cf. Pr 30:5), salvation (cf. 1 Pet 2:2-3), wisdom (cf. Pr 4:5), truth (cf. Jn 17:17), faith (cf. Rom 10:17), charity (cf. Lk 16:29; Jn 13:34-35; 1 Jn 2:2-10) and hope (cf. Rom 15:4; 1 Pet 3:15-16).
For evangelization
St. Paul exhorts his disciple Timothy to profit from the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, which confer the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus; moreover, he encourages him to teach sound doctrine (cf. 2 Tim 3:10-4:5). Therefore, the charity of Christ urges us to evangelize (cf. 2 Cor 5:14). The proclamation and witness of the Word of God constitute the heart of evangelization.
Only the Word of God-as divine seed (cf. Mt 13:1-9; Mk 4:1-9; Lk 8:4-8), soaked in the blood of Christ and in the grace of the Holy Spirit-is capable of fertilizing the cultures of peoples; only it can bring about an authentic humanism, a true civilization of love.
The purpose of the proclamation of the Gospel, the center of divine revelation, is the confession of faith in Christ Jesus and full adherence to him, in order to obtain the salvation and eternal life that he offers us. The acceptance of the Word of God in the communion of his ecclesial body constitutes a fundamental and indispensable element for living in Christ.
For all these reasons, the Church, mother and teacher, urges everyone to become more familiar with the Word of God, seeking through it to encounter the Lord. "Let us explore this magnificent garden of Holy Scripture, a garden that is fragrant, soft, full of flowers, that gladdens our ears with the song of manifold spiritual birds, full of God; that touches our heart and comforts it when it is sad, soothes it when it is irritated, fills it with eternal joy." (St. John Damascene).
Spanish bishops propose a "living will" to avoid euthanasia
The plenary assembly of the Spanish Episcopal Conference also created an advisory service for diocesan offices for the care of victims and the prevention of abuse.
The Spanish bishops have approved a document that will serve as a manifestation of advance directives, advance directives or living wills about the medical treatment to be applied in the event of a near death. In order to be valid, the living will must be duly registered with the appropriate official body.
The text is proposed to any person who wishes to express his or her desire that "if I should become seriously and incurably ill or suffer a serious, chronic and disabling illness or any other critical situation; that I be given basic care and appropriate treatment to alleviate pain and suffering; that I not be given aid in dying in any form, whether euthanasia or 'medically assisted suicide', nor that my dying process be unreasonably and unreasonably prolonged". It also includes the request for "help to assume my own death in a Christian and humane manner and for this purpose I request the presence of a Catholic priest and that the pertinent sacraments be administered to me".
The intention of the Episcopal Conference (CEE) is to disseminate this possibility throughout Spain, although the different dioceses must take into account the specific regulations in the corresponding Autonomous Community.
The plenary assembly, on the other hand, approved the lines of pastoral action of the EEC for the years 2021-2025. The document considers how to evangelize in today's Spanish society, and responds on the basis of three axes: pastoral conversion, discernment and synodality. The Cardinal Juan José Omella, president of the EEC, said in the inaugural speech of the assembly that "our objective is that the Church in Spain, both in its social presence and in its internal organization, in its mission and in its life, sets out towards the promised Kingdom, on a missionary outreach, on an evangelizing journey".
The context is the fact that "in Spain there is a growing and serious problem called social inequality", and that "it is a challenge that we have to address to ensure the dignity of all and the necessary social justice that is always a guarantee of social peace. This is not the time for inert disputes between political parties, it is not the time for easy and populist solutions to serious problems, it is not the time to defend particular interests. Now is the time for true politics, which brings together all parties and works for the common good of society as a whole and the strengthening and credibility of the institutions on which our democratic system is based".
Among the various topics discussed in the plenary session, two others stand out, both for their intrinsic importance and their social relevance.
Counseling on children and education issues
The first is the creation in the EWC of a counseling service for diocesan offices for the protection of minors and abuse prevention. There is no plan, according to Bishop Luis Argüello, Secretary General of the Conference, to open a general historical investigation into past abuses.
He reported that the draft General Decree of the EEC on this matter has received a favorable opinion from the Holy See, except for three minor modifications and a consultation process still open. Some interesting data on the numerical relevance of these scandalous conducts was communicated to the EEC by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on April 20: since 2001, 220 procedures related to abuses by priests have reached the Congregation (144 secular and 76 regular, of which respectively 101 and 50 have already been resolved).
Argüello recalled that it is not only a problem of the Church, although perhaps "we have gone slowly for a stretch of the road," he said, but it is "a real social problem. For this reason, the Church is willing to collaborate with the various social bodies to combat it in all areas, setting aside its own experience.
The other issue of major relevance in the plenary assembly meetings has been the educationin the context created by the new educational law. The main effort is aimed at updating the curriculum of the Catholic Religion area, in order to adapt it to the framework of the so-called LOMLOE or "Celáa law". As we have reported, the process began with the organization in March of the forum "Towards a new religion curriculum", with the participation of experts from all educational fields and with satisfactory results, in the opinion of the organizers and the participants.
The Spanish bishops have also studied the implementation of Pope Francis's letter Spiritus DominiThe formation plan for the stable institution of lay people as lectors and acolytes is foreseen. The preparation of a formation plan for the persons to be installed for these lay ministries is foreseen.
An event to study the dissolution of marriage in favor of the faith
A conference will study the Instruction Potestas Ecclesiae from different points of view, twenty years after its publication, focusing on the dissolution of marriage in favorem fidei.
On April 27th, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in collaboration with the Pontifical Lateran University, is promoting a Study Day on the theme: "The dissolution of marriage. in favorem fidei. Twenty years after the Instruction Potestas Ecclesiae (2001-2021)". The event is aimed at students of pontifical universities and collaborators of diocesan curias.
The morning, opened by the greetings of the Rector Magnificent Prof. Vincenzo Buonomo and the Prefect Cardinal Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, S.I., will be dedicated to the theological and juridical study of the Instruction, while the afternoon will be reserved for the examination of some practical cases in study groups, meeting in online mode and moderated by an expert. For those who do not attend from Italy, groups will be set up according to language.
Depending on the pandemic situation and possible restrictions in place, it will be possible to follow the morning presentations both in person and via live streaming. Other speakers include: Msgr. Giordano Caberletti, Prelate Auditor of the Roman Rota; Prof. Luigi Sabbarese, C.S., Pontifical Urbaniana University; Rev. Johannes Furnkranz, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; and Prof. Francesco Catozzella, Pontifical Lateran University.
The morning lectures will be given in Italian and can also be followed by those who have not formally registered, through live streaming on the YouTube channel of the Pontifical Lateran University:
The text of the Living Will proposed by the Spanish bishops is as follows
During these days, in which the Spanish bishops have been meeting in their Plenary Assembly, the Episcopal Subcommission for the Family and Defense of Life, the Episcopal Subcommittee for the Family and Defense of Lifehas submitted to the Assemblya report on euthanasia and living wills and the proposal for a new text of the Declaration of Advance Directives and Advance Directives, which was approved by the Plenary.
The text, which can be used by any person in its entirety or as a model, clearly states the will to receive "adequate care to alleviate pain and suffering; the rejection of "euthanasia or "medically assisted suicide" and also the "abusive and irrational prolongation of my dying process".
Full text of the Living Will
To my family, to the health personnel, to my parish priest or Catholic chaplain:
If the time comes when I am unable to express my will about the medical treatments to be applied to me, I wish and request that this Declaration be considered as a formal expression of my will, assumed in a conscious, responsible and free manner, and that it be respected as a document of advance directives, living will, advance directives or legally recognized equivalent document.
I consider that life in this world is a gift and a blessing from God, but it is not the absolute supreme value. I know that death is inevitable and puts an end to my earthly existence, but from faith I believe that it opens the way to a life that does not end, together with God.
Therefore, I, the undersigned .............................................................................................. (name and surname), of sexo..................................., born on.............................. with date ......................, with DNI or passport nº.................................. and health card or personal identification code nº..........................................., of nationality.........................., with address at...................................................... (city, street, number) and with telephone number .................................,
MANIFESTO
That I have the necessary and sufficient legal capacity to make decisions freely, I act freely in this particular act and I have not been legally incapacitated to grant the same:
I request that, should I become seriously and incurably ill or suffer a serious, chronic and disabling illness or other critical situation; that I be given basic care and appropriate treatment to alleviate pain and suffering;that the aid in dying benefit not be applied to me in any of its forms, be it euthanasia or "medically assisted suicide", nor that my dying process be unreasonably and abusively prolonged.
I also ask for help to assume my own death in a Christian and human way and for this purpose I request the presence of a Catholic priest and that the relevant sacraments be administered to me.
I wish to be able to prepare myself for this final event of my existence, in peace, with the company of my loved ones and the consolation of my Christian faith.
I subscribe to this Declaration after mature reflection. And I ask that those of you who have to take care of me respect my will.
I appoint...................................., DNI ......... , address at ......................... and telephone.............. as my legal representative in the event that I am unable or unwilling to exercise this representation, and I appoint......................................, DNI ......... , address at ......................... and telephone.............. as substitute for this legal representative in the event that I am unable or unwilling to exercise this representation.
I empower these same persons so that, in this case, they may make the pertinent decisions on my behalf.
If I am pregnant, I ask that the life of my child be respected.
I am aware that I am asking you for a grave and difficult responsibility. It is precisely in order to share it with you and to relieve you of any possible feelings of guilt or doubt that I have written and signed this statement.
It has been 21 years since the death of Rafael Matesanz Martín, priest and poet of recognized prestige. His figure and work are gaining the cultural prominence they deserve.
José Miguel Espinosa Sarmiento-April 23rd, 2021-Reading time: 3minutes
Born in the town of Prádena, Segovia (Spain). He was born on October 22, 1933. He grew up in a Christian environment surrounded by the beauty of the mountains. In his poem Predena of my roots expresses his mountain roots in which he was able to see the footprint of the Creator:
I love my people, Lord, /everything in it speaks to me of You:/ the junipers, monks of the forest,/ always faithful to their salmic prayer of dark green silence/ and to their austere contemplative solitude;/ the oaks, vegetal monuments to the fortress,/ armed knights of peace,/ with noble scars in their entrails/ to host secluded doves and shy birds;/ the holly trees, permanent Christmas of the mountain landscape,/ whose smile is enlivened/ with the icy winds of the north/. The caves, stony beauty of its fertile entrails.
The honesty and honesty of the people, along with the other elements of the environment would awaken in him his poetic vocation, and soon after, at the age of 17, his priestly vocation. He graduated in Theology from the Pontifical University of Salamanca. Several parishes in the diocese of Segovia benefited from his ministry. Also the young people of Catholic Action, the young women of the Residence of the Parish Action Missionaries, the members of the Rural Apostolate, the Cistercians of San Vicente el Real.
He was the soul, for many years, of the veneration of the Virgen de la Fuencisla, Patroness of the city, from his position as vice president of the royal brotherhood. And his work for more than three decades in the Andrés Laguna Institute of Segovia is very noteworthy for the sowing of truth, freedom, love and beauty that he spread among his students.
His creative facet was constant. Small diaries are preserved where he wrote as he went along, taking advantage of the inspiration of the moment. Not only inspiration, but also work, because he looked for synonyms, crossed out and corrected so many hendecasyllables that he unites as an outstanding sonneteer. Among his published works we can highlight: This light (1969), High silence (1989), Segovia, Home with Mother (1983), In God's home (1993), Letters to Heaven (1999), Paradise Subsidiary(1999). He has a large collection of poems, most of them unpublished. Among his awards is the XVII Fernando Rielo World Prize for Mystical Poetry (1997).
His poetic art knew how to unite love for God with love for man and the landscape, in that vital fusion as priest and poet. In his work, depth, simplicity and tenderness are combined with the joyful amazement of his convictions as a man of faith.
The sonnets that Rafael wrote during the 36 days he was in the hospital suffering from a fatal illness, which he lived exemplarily, are well known. In them the illness appears as rupture, decadence, weeping, defeat, bankruptcy, cross, pain. His dialogue with God leads him to focus on Him, to feel His presence better, to accept the divine plan, to ask Him for strength, to seek His face, to thank Him. It is also shown as a balance of his life: he consecrated his springs to Him, he knows he is on fire in his bonfires of love, he sowed affection for God, he hopes to reach the madness of divine love that he was looking for.
He was able to celebrate his last Mass on December 23, 1999 on the 38th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. At dawn on Friday, December 31, he gave his soul to God. He wanted to deserve this epitaph: His time was always Christmas;/ his steps, the opening of paths; his gaze, the sowing of smiles; his heart, the home of the WORD. As a testament he wrote in his last sonnet: We must be a perennial spring/ that receives Love, thrice holy/ God is Love, you know! And so much, so much, / that tastes the tree and recovers it.
We count on this valuable instrument of evangelization: the poetry of a contemporary priest in love with his vocation.
"We reiterate our willingness to dialogue with educational administrations."
Bishop Alfonso Carrasco, President of the Episcopal Commission for Education and Culture, and Raquel Pérez Sanjuán, Secretary of the same commission, presented the final summary document of the Forum "Towards a New Religion Curriculum".
Within the framework of the Plenary Assembly of the Spanish Bishops, the Episcopal Commission for Education and Culture has released the conclusions drawn from the Forum "Towards a New Religion Curriculum", which brought together Religion teachers, diocesan delegates and educators in four sessions from February 15 to March 22.
Bishop Alfonso Carrasco highlighted the good reception that this Forum has had among the teachers of Religion in our country and pointed out that "religious education is prepared to contribute to the improvement of education and society in general. He also stressed that the new curriculum of this subject promotes a "creative and proactive Religion class for the challenges of the school and the society of the 21st century".
Bishop Carrasco Rouco wanted to reiterate the will of dialogue "from this Episcopal Commission for Education and Culture with the educational administrations. Let us hope that the developments of the LOMLOE, which are yet to be known, will guarantee religious education the necessary space so that it can contribute effectively to the integral formation of our students and to the improvement of our educational system".
Main conclusions of the Forum
Raquel Pérez Sanjuán was in charge of presenting two documents prepared as a result of the Forum "Towards a New Religion Curriculum".
The first of these is dedicated to the participation figuresThe main results of the program are: access to the web and viewing of videos, submission of forms, etc. Among the figures, it is worth mentioning the more than 16,000 visits to the website and the majority participation of Religion teachers, especially those belonging to the public education system and to the Primary and Secondary stages.
The document summaryThis has involved a conscientious work of synthesis of all the sources of participation in this Forum, the reading of the material received and a new listening of each session to extract from each of them, the most significant and recurring issues expressed in each of them, as highlighted by Raquel Pérez Sanjuán.
The secretary of the commission has listed the ten key points of the conclusions
A Church that is committed to the centrality of the person in education: The conclusions of this Forum on the new Catholic Religion curriculum must emphasize, first of all, that the ecclesial framework of our time has been taken into account.
The European Education Area and the growing concern for humanization: the Forum program has responsibly embraced the international framework for education.
The LOMLOE: a new pedagogical framework for curricula in all areas and subjects: the program of the Forum has taken into account, from the very beginning, the attention to the pedagogical novelties of the curricular framework of the LOMLOE. The new Catholic Religion curriculum will have to be planned in line with the pedagogical framework of the LOMLOE, that is to say, in terms of competencies and in reference to its descriptors in the exit profiles to be established by the educational administrations.
Theology as an epistemological source of the Catholic Religion curriculum: The revision of the sources of the curriculum has helped to return to theology as an academic discourse on faith, capable of inspiring the selection of essential content for reflection on the Christian message.
Faith-culture dialogue as a foundational attitude in the teaching of religionIt will be necessary that the contributions of the new Catholic Religion curriculum to the integral development of the person, enable him/her to engage in intercultural and interreligious dialogue.
A Catholic Religion curriculum in line with the school's own purposes.The new curriculum will have at its center personal and social formation, taking care of emotional development and the life project; and it will have to accompany spiritual awakening and the search for answers to questions of meaning.
A Catholic Religion curriculum with a competency-based approach: shall define its specific competencies in each of the educational stages, linking them to the eight key competencies and indicating their educational contribution to the exit profiles, shall list the basic learning as well as establish the evaluation criteria for each stage.
A curriculum that can be programmed by areas in a globalized and interdisciplinary manner..
A curriculum open to active and cooperative methodologies: The Forum also highlighted some good practices that connect Religion classes with the environment and, in addition to proposing their own learning, relate constructively with the social and cultural environment of the context.
A common curriculum contextualized to local environments: In the case of Catholic Religion, although it has not been defined, the proposals aim at combining the common elements of the curriculum with others that are closer to local realities.
The president wanted to point out that the Forum has given "renewed arguments for dialogue about the place of the Religion class in our educational system," referring especially to the situation of this subject as a result of the approval of the LOMLOE. In fact, due to this application of the LOMLOE, there are still to be developed "normative developments on the regulation of the Religion class" or those referring to the labor situation of Religion teachers in the new law.
The Commission has encouraged dioceses and educational institutions to work and disseminate these documents, which can be a "valuable instrument for the formation and updating of teachers in these theological and pedagogical issues" and has also invited them to feel responsible for monitoring the educational reform and to get involved in it to the extent of their possibilities".
The easing of Covid restrictions in the Holy Land allows Palestinians to pray in front of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem's Old City during the first Friday of the holy month of Ramadan.
On St. George's Day, the feast day of Pope Francis, the Vatican administers the second dose of the vaccine to 600 people living in poverty and vulnerability.
On Friday, April 23, the liturgical memorial of St. George the Martyr, the feast day of Pope Francis, the poor are once again the focus of the Holy Father's attention.
A group of 600 people, among the most fragile and marginalized, are receiving the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine in the Paul VI Hall of the Vatican. These women and men are among the approximately 1,400 beneficiaries of the vaccination campaign launched during Holy Week by the Apostolic Charities in collaboration with other associations.
In addition to receiving the vaccine, people participated in the celebration of the Holy Father's feast day with a surprise offered by the Pope.
In a communiqué issued directly by the Apostolic Limosneria, it expresses its gratitude for the generosity of the many people and organizations that have participated in the initiative.Vaccino sospesoThe company's "small gesture of closeness made it possible for countries that otherwise would not have access to the vaccine to have access to it.
On Thursday morning, April 22, the Holy Father met in private audience with the Prime Minister-designate of Lebanon, Saad Hariri. This was confirmed by the Holy See Press Office, through its director, Matteo Bruni.
During the talks, which lasted about thirty minutes, Pope Francis wished to reiterate his closeness to the Lebanese people, who are experiencing a time of great difficulty and uncertainty, and recalled the responsibility of all political forces to commit themselves urgently for the benefit of the nation.
Reaffirming his desire to visit the country of the cedars as soon as the conditions are right, Pope Francis expressed his wish that Lebanon, with the help of the international community, will once again embody "the strength of the cedars, the diversity that from weakness becomes strength in the great reconciled people", with its vocation to be a land of encounter, coexistence and pluralism.
"It's sad that we citizens have to defend ourselves against the state."
The bishop of the Canary Islands and president of the Episcopal Subcommittee for the Family and the Defense of Life of the Spanish Episcopal Conference held a meeting with journalists in which he discussed topics such as euthanasia, the elderly and the Year Amoris Laetitia.
During the meeting with journalists, held at the EEC headquarters, Bishop José Mazuelos dealt extensively with one of the key issues discussed in this briefing and which is being part of the business of the Plenary Assembly of the Spanish bishops: the recent approval of the euthanasia law in Spain.
A law that the President of the Episcopal Subcommission for the Family and the Defense of Life has described it as "inhuman", pointing out that "it is sad that, in a democratic state, citizens have to defend ourselves from the state itself and seek ways to defend ourselves".
One of these means of defense is the execution of a living will by persons who do not wish to be euthanized, as well as the right of conscientious objection by health professionals.
In relation to the living will, Bishop Mazuelos pointed out that his objective is that people "can freely refuse euthanasia before they lose consciousness or give the power to another person, in whom they trust, so that they are not eliminated when they become ill. This, together with a refusal of therapeutic incarceration. It is not a question of prolonging the agony but of promoting palliative sedation and palliative care.
"The euthanasia law is born of a wild neo-capitalist idea and will endanger the weakest."
Msgr. José Mazuelos. President of the Episcopal Subcommission for the Family and the Defense of Life.
Bishop Mazuelos stressed that the euthanasia law "will endanger so many people who are weak, lonely, demented...", it is a law that "will turn against the weak. We are seeing this in countries where it already exists", and he denounced the fact that politicians "talk about the law of dependency but the reality is that no money is allocated to it, the most vulnerable families find themselves alone and often unable to assume care". In this sense, he stressed the neo-capitalist base that underlies this law "the rich will be able to have palliative care, but what about the poor in our villages?
For the bishop of the Canary Islands, believers and all those opposed to this law "we have to open new channels to humanize medicine. To defend Hippocratic, humanistic medicine, a medicine of trust".
"You have to look at the elderly."
Along these lines, Mazuelos recalled the elderly: "The Pope has opened up the theme of the elderly in our society, with the celebration of the Day of Grandparents, for example. We need to look at the elderly. They have been locked up for a year, without seeing their families, their grandchildren. People who have not been out for months. Our society should pay tribute to grandparents, they are the great sufferers of the pandemic," he said.
Finally, Bishop Mazuelos referred to the need to move away from individualism in order to advance as a society: "The pandemic has shown that 'my life is my own' is a lie. If it is so, we take off our masks and let those who can save themselves be saved. We have a social dimension, we cannot live in what the Pope describes as the prison of materialistic individualism. We depend on others and we have to sacrifice part of our freedom for that".
"Christian marriage is the real revolution."
Bishop José Mazuelos also emphasized that the Spanish Church will work especially hard this year in the celebration of the Amoris Laetitia Yearproposed by Pope Francis.
Referring to this apostolic exhortation, Bishop Mazuelos emphasized that "Amoris Laetitia is a marvel. There are those who have wanted to distort it, with the theme of communion for divorced people... etc. But what Amoris Laetitia puts on the table is that the great revolution of our society is Christian marriage, as it was in the Roman Empire. Christian marriage is what we have to put in value".
Bishop José Mazuelos differentiated between traditional marriage and Christian marriage: "It is true that, many times, it has coincided, but the key to Christian marriage is that perfect fusion of eros and agape. There are traditional marriages that are not really Christian marriages".
"The Canary Islands cannot be a new Lampedusa".
The journalists also asked about other issues such as the approval of abortion for minors under 16 years of age without parental consent or the situation of migrants in the Canary Islands, a diocese he pastors. Regarding the first question, Bishop Mazuelos, as a physician, described the lowering of the age for abortion without parental consent as "madness, because minors depend on their parents and if something happens during the abortion, it is the parents who are in charge".
The situation of migrants in the Canary Islands was another of the questions to which Bishop Mazuelos responded. Pastoral Letter The bishops of the islands signed denouncing the situation of thousands of people arriving at the Canary coasts and who were in subhuman conditions. He also stressed that "this is a problem of the central government that has to assume and fix. The autonomous government of the Canary Islands is helping a lot; Caritas is overflowing: there are people sleeping in the street, the number of meals given per day has tripled. The Canary Islands cannot be a new Lampedusa. The Canary Islands is Spain, and whoever arrives in Spain is already free to transit throughout the state. It cannot be that they arrive to the islands, they are left there locked up and they 'forget' about the problem".
"In a healthy society no one would have to wonder if there are any leftovers."
The round table "On euthanasia: reclaiming a sense of dignity, care and autonomy." promoted by the Core Curriculum Institute of the University of Navarra addressed the issue of euthanasia in an interdisciplinary manner.
What can we do once the euthanasia law is passed? The Core Curriculum Institute of the University of Navarra held yesterday the roundtable discussion "On euthanasia: reclaiming a sense of dignity, care and autonomy." in which this issue has been approached from the fields of medicine, law, public opinion and philosophy.
Carlos Centeno, director of the Palliative Medicine Service of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra; Teresa Sádaba, professor of Communication; José María Torralba, professor of Ethics; and Pilar Zambrano, professor of Philosophy of Law were the speakers at this round table moderated by Mercedes Pérez Díez del Corral, dean of the School of Nursing.
Today's medicine erases the idea that "one must die in pain".
The first to speak was Dr. Carlos CentenoHe focused his presentation on the idea that with good medicine it is possible to die in peace and without suffering. To this end, he described advances and medical practices that are currently being carried out and that combat the idea that "one must die suffering" and did so by means of several real examples of patients with various ailments and stages of the disease. The doctor mainly wanted to highlight the difference between palliative care and euthanasia. While the former seek to alleviate the suffering derived from the disease, euthanasia actively pursues the end of life.
Centeno focused his presentation on three medical practices. The first: the use of the morphinewell administered as "good medicine that avoids intense suffering to the patient". A practice that is not only applied to people close to death but also to people who, because of their illness, suffer a high level of suffering. The palliative sedation has been the second of the practices that helps to eliminate suffering and not the patient, like euthanasia. On this point, Centeno recalled that palliative sedation aims to alleviate suffering and is applied with greater or lesser depth depending on the ailments. Finally, he referred to the adequacy of the therapeutic effortThe acceptance of the disease is "deciding whether a treatment is excessive for a person. That acceptance is to be aware that the disease has reached a limit is to accept, in a way, natural death".
"The new law recognizes the right to request a medical benefit consisting of killing."
The legal approach was provided by Professor Pilar ZambranoZambrano began by distinguishing the concepts of palliative care, adequacy of therapeutic effort and euthanasia. Zambrano stated that it is necessary "to be clear that euthanasia is an action aimed at causing death intentionally and directly".
Zambrano also differentiated between two conceptions of decriminalization. The first is that "the state should abstain from intervening in the face of an individual right. An omission of the State is requested and that there should be no penalization, for example, of a fine in the exercise of what I consider a right".
The second conception, however, "considers that this right must be converted into a service right, that is, that the State must provide the means to make it possible". This is the conception of the recently approved law on euthanasia, which transforms active euthanasia into a benefit right - that the government has to procure, encourage, and train in it. "We are in front of a norm that recognizes the right to request a medical benefit consisting in killing," Zambrano acknowledged.
The question that arises from this regulation is obvious: can a citizen actively oppose this law? A complicated issue, as admitted by the law professor, who recognized that this opposition would be different depending on the role of each person before the law: for example, medical professionals, legislators or politicians themselves.
Knowing the "interpretation frameworks
For her part, the director of ISEM and professor of communication, Teresa Sádaba He addressed the "current frameworks of interpretation in which public opinion approaches euthanasia" and which should be rethought, with the aim of creating a real and fruitful debate on euthanasia that would lead to reflection on the fundamental points at stake. The frameworks of interpretation pointed out by Sádaba are:
Compassion in the face of suffering, especially, showing limit situations. Compassion is considered above all others. Compassion not only with the patient but also with the caregiver or family.
The concept of dignity. In which, according to Sádaba, there is "a terminological confusion", since those who reject euthanasia appeal to an intrinsic dignity while the defenders consider dignity as an adaptation to certain circumstances.
The trivialization and normalization of these issues.
The presentation of the Church as a dogmatic or ancestral institution, devoid of intelligent reasons.
The consideration of Law as a conquest of individual rights, without limits.
The argument about the role of professionals: the expiration of the Hippocratic oath or statistics as an argument.
Experience from other countries, for or against
Animalism and the consideration or equalization of the rights of animals and human beings.
The business world that also exists in euthanasia.
Advances in science
In conclusion, Teresa Sádaba stressed the importance of creating a bank of trust when dealing with this type of issues from the right perspective.
"Let's build a society proud to take care of its own."
Lastly, the philosopher took the floor José María TorralbaDirector of the Core Curriculum Institute of the University of Navarra, who began by emphasizing that "we are facing a moment of change of worldview. Society has lost the meaning of concepts such as "care", "autonomy" or "suffering". Torralba appealed to the need to recover the meaning of these concepts through education and public debate.
The ethics professor made a call not to close the debate on euthanasia, even though the law has been approved, given that it is "a law that harms the common good and we must work to change the law. We are moved by the conviction that there are truths, such as the value of life, that society should not forget". In this line, he pointed out that "the Christian message must remind us that life is a gift that we receive, that the parameters of utility are not adequate to value a life".
He also stressed that "in situations of suffering, the capacity to love and be loved does not disappear, in fact it becomes more palpable".
Torralba referred to the two ways of understanding dignity to which Professor Zambrano had alluded: as an intrinsic value or as pure self-determination.
Torralba pointed out that "we should build a society in which no one has to wonder if there is too much, since laws create culture and vice versa". Culture, through media, education and the arts "should create a society proud to take care of its own," he concluded.
Bernardito Auza's extensive allusion to the 500 years of the Evangelization of the Philippines is a call to Spanish Catholics to renew their enthusiasm for evangelization with the same ardor today.
April 22nd, 2021-Reading time: 2minutes
A significant part of the intervention of the Apostolic Nuncio Bernardito Auza at the beginning of the Plenary Assembly of the Spanish Bishops was dedicated to remembering and expressing gratitude for the evangelizing work of Spain in the Philippines 500 years ago.
It was on March 31, 1521 that the first Mass was celebrated on Philippine soil; fourteen days later the first baptisms were administered there. Today the Philippines is the main Catholic country in Asia, and one of the most numerically significant and dynamic.
Was it a gesture of kind deference to the audience, or the specific sensitivity of a diplomat of Philippine nationality? Of course, it probably responds, in part, to both realities and also to the recognition of the historical merit of the Spaniards and the allusion to the gratitude expressed by St. John Paul II in Saragossa in 1984. However, the expressiveness and length of the mention -more than a third of the Nuncio's speech- indicate a different and properly ecclesial intention: that of encouraging Spanish Catholics to be eager to evangelize even today.
It is the commission received from Jesus Christ and the joyful impulse of a transformed life; an impulse that cannot be conceived except in freedom, both in the one who announces it and in the one who receives the news of it. As the Gospel of Matthew 10:8 says, "Freely you have received, freely give".
And the joy of evangelizing is stimulated by the joy of being evangelized. The Philippine bishops declare in their Pastoral Letter written on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the presence of the Gospel in their islands that "our hearts overflow with joy and gratitude" for the gift of faith, which they say is "marvelous".
Mass at St. Peter's (Vatican) on the 500th Anniversary of the Evangelization of the Philippines
Now it is we who are obliged to be thankful, since we have seen in these people the joy of believing. The naturally joyful character of the Filipinos is linked to the joy of faith. With it, gratitude for what we have received becomes a driving force.
Pope Francis translated this with an invitation on March 14, when he celebrated the anniversary with the Filipino community in St. Peter's: "Bring the faith, that proclamation that you received 500 years ago, and that you now bring"; and he underlined the joy that "is seen in your people, it can be seen in your eyes, in your faces, in your songs and in your prayers. The joy with which you bring your faith to other lands".
Indeed, in many countries where Filipinos work and live, they become a major element of the Christian community. "Because where they go to work, they work, but they also sow the faith. This is... a hereditary disease, but a blessed disease!".
Diego de Pantoja was born in April 1571 in Valdemoro (Madrid). This Jesuit, who died in Macao in 1618, is one of the great figures in the history of our nation, as well as one of the most unknown. On the 450th anniversary of his birth, the Diocese of Getafe, where his birthplace is located today, remembers this distinguished religious who became the first Westerner to converse with the powerful emperor of China.
His Jesuit vocation led him to request to leave for the missions that the Society had in Asia. First assigned to Japan, he ended up in the first Jesuit missions in China. Together with the well-known Matteo Ricci, SJ, he developed a whole system of cultural dialogue to bring the Christian faith closer to the millenary Chinese civilization.
This Jesuit is a model of a man of faith capable of dialoguing with all possible cultural forms.
Jesús Folgado. Episcopal Delegate for Culture of the Diocese of Getafe
He was the first Westerner to enter the Forbidden City in Beijing and talk with the Emperor. There he showed him Western scientific knowledge, especially in mathematics, astronomy and music. He got the Emperor himself to give him a plot of land to bury his master Ricci, which was considered a de facto recognition of his work and a permission to announce the Catholic faith.
Diego Pantoja in China
His worth became evident when last 2018 the government of the People's Republic of China welcomed the Cervantes Institute's proposal to celebrate the "Diego de Pantoja Year". The great Asian nation recognized all the scientific and cultural work that this man had done together with his Jesuit companions.
Pantoja's arrival at the imperial court of Beijing thus becomes a current reference of how faith should be a promoter of human development in its multiple variants. The figure of this Jesuit is a model of the man of faith who is capable of dialoguing with all possible cultural forms to show the truth of the resurrection, even if these forms are apparently very distant from our own.
In addition to preaching the faith, we owe it to Diego de Pantoja to be the first great ambassador of China throughout Europe with various writings in which he described the customs of the Asian country. In doing so, he highlighted the value of this nation, freeing it from the existing clichés. In addition to this, he wrote various scientific and religious works in the Chinese of the time, which he used to promote the scientific development of the Asian empire and for catechization. Therefore, we can affirm that he was undoubtedly the first great bridge between China and the West.
Celebrations in the Diocese of Getafe
The Diocese of Getafe, through its Delegation for Culture, wants to make this admirable Jesuit known through various initiatives throughout this academic year. We would like to recommend the book Jesuit Diego de Pantoja (1571-1618) in the Forbidden City of Beijingby Wenceslao Soto (Xerión, Aranjuez, 2021) -with a prologue by the Bishop of Getafe- as a pleasant and rigorous resource to get to know his figure and his link with Valdemoro.
Some of the initiatives to be developed by the Diocese are:
May 5, 20:00 h.: Virtual Academic Meeting "Diego de Pantoja, SJ, and the relations between China and Latin America".
It aims to be an area of scientific dialogue in which the figure of Pantoja and his social and cultural context will be shown. To this end, a historical retrospective will be made on the relations between the Asian nation and all the Ibero-American countries, with a special emphasis on Spain. The speakers are specialists from various Spanish and European academic centers. After their brief presentations, there will be ample time for dialogue and scientific debate. To participate, please write to the following e-mail address: [email protected]
May 29, 17.00 h. -Parroquia de la Asunción (Valdemoro)-.
Funeral in Chinese with the Chinese Catholic community present in Madrid. This was followed by a conference given in Chinese by Prof. Ignacio Ramos of the Pontifical University of Comillas.
May 31, 7:00 p.m. -Parroquia de la Asunción (Valdemoro)-.
Funeral in Spanish. It will be followed by an informative lecture by Br. Wenceslao Soto, SJ, of the Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu and biographer of Diego de Pantoja.
The authorJesús Folgado García
Episcopal Delegate for Culture of the Diocese of Getafe
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