Church Alive and Kicking Each Other

Oh, the exchanges in the internet world! I wonder which blogs and articles St. Jerome and St. Augustine would be responding, too. Today, must be like the time of Luther when pamphletering abound, and there were many voices. Should I laugh, be sad or must I be worried? Majority of Catholics do not read encyclicals, Pope's addresses, or homilies. They simply rely on quotes from priests and Catholic speakers. And they persevere in the faith, knowing deep down that it was the Church established by Christ Himself. The first encyclical I ever read was Pacem en Terris. I do like reading including spiritual books like Henri Nouwen and books about or by the saints but rarely would I be interested in papal documents. It was when I was convicted of the wisdom of the Church regarding artificial contraception [admitting to myself that I was wrong and the Church got it right] that I became more interested in what the Church has to say. But even then, it was just a few that I read: Cathechism, Humanae Vitae, Splendour of the Truth, and Familiaris Consortium. It was Benedict XVI who got me hooked on reading more including homilies and addresses. I read/listen to Benedict XVI because his words and messages are beautiful, educational, and inspiring. He is an outstanding writer. With the new papacy, others kept on reading everything Pope Francis says even when they can't seem to grasp the message. I guess they have to because they are Catholic writers. And then there are the writers who just can't accept any negative commentaries on the Pope... because they are Catholic apologists. Are all these making the Church crumble from within? I hope not. As always, there will be converts, reverts and there will be fallen away. Will the great apostasy happen or will the great mass conversion happen as we near the end times? I don't know, we all have our deaths to reckon with. Maybe what is happening is just a cultural gap. When Pope Francis was elected, I felt orphaned because he was just like our parish priest. Benedict XVI was a pope. However, Pope Francis is the pope and I accept. In the Third World, a priest must only have old, impractical cars which he can rant about. Car is a big deal. Bishops from rugged countryside were castigated for accepting/ soliciting SUVs from the PCSO. Our parish priest when he bought a motorcycle was readily petitioned for ousting. There is great divide between the "have" and "have not" in the Third World. The "have" has BMW, Benz, Porsche. The locally manufactured vehicle would be the Sarao jeepney for the "have not". The "have" use signature apparels- bags, clothes, shoes since they are all imported from the "first world". The "have" has helpers, drivers, and nannies. The "have not" does everything for themselves and if in a much worse situation, be the helpers, drivers, and nannies of the "have". Pope Francis is a politically and socially correct Third World priest. In the Third World, charity is associated with giving something to the poor. The sharing of truth in words (like Benedict's) would hardly pass as an act of charity. In the Third World, the Church is the watchdog of the government. So priests are very political and social justice is often the shout out. And hardly would a Third World Priest be concerned about the Liturgy. He just appears for the Liturgy. A Third World Priest is focused in giving hope amd reaching out. Street, Mall, TV Masses so as to accomodate the bustling Third World people who have to labor much and need rest or shopping. Even the homilies of Pope Francis are quite typical. Like Mother Mary lets in everyone to heaven while St. Peter was away. Then, there's the sermon about gossipers which is a burden to Third World priests. I am not sure if the pope had a sermon about corruption which is often a theme in homilies. A "Third World" priest attends processions, watches the Choir's concert and the Youth group's play. A priest must be game; Sing, dance, clap, and joke with the people. These make for a vibrant church with many religions around. All these are in no way indicative of a good priest or a bad priest. It is just the social setting they are placed. But how about the Pope of the Universal Church? Maybe in time, Pope Francis will be less of himself. Or perhaps, this is what Jesus wants for our time. No matter what, we have the Word of God, the Sacraments, and the Magisterium. We can pray. So we go on, allowing God to transform us that we may be conformed to Him.

Sharing Benedict

Vatican releases a free ebook of Pope Benedict XVI's World Communications Day Addresses. A beautiful mind and heart must be shared and disseminated. I never tire reading Benedict, such a wonderful gift from God to have him as pope for eight years.

Where is the Peace?

I received a message today that my sister-in-law's two sisters and their husbands were among the hostages of Nur Misuari and the Moro National Liberation Front in Zamboanga. The siege of a number of towns had brought terror. Many have taken refuge in the Churches, schools, gymnasium, and elsewhere.

Syria. Egypt, Holy Land, Central African Region are likewise suffering from civil wars. While the generation of my mother is still haunted by the wounds of World War II, the threat of another World war is always in the horizon.

Pope Francis had called for a day of prayer and fasting last September 7 and Pope Benedict XVI had pleaded for peace in so many occasions during his pontificate; Yet, world leaders are not keen on this. But how can they, when most governments have devalued human life from the moment of conception?

I don't like wars... even the thought of it; Yet, I am aware that this earthly pilgrimage is a battlefield of good and evil. Still, we try. And most of all, we try to keep the flame of hope burning that serenity may be had in our hearts.

In the many challenges of our daily lives, I again turn to Pope Benedict XVI's words. His messages are always Biblical and focused on Jesus. They are beautiful and clear. Always illuminating and speaking to the heart. It always lead to prayer and contemplation seeking to encounter Jesus again and again, closer and closer.

This is taken from Sandro Magister's article of July 26, 2006. The Pope's extemporaneous reflection on Ephesians 2:13-18, held at a little church on his visit to Rhenes Saint-Georges, July 2006.

How to be a force for peace in the world
by Benedict XVI

Just a quick word of meditation on the reading we have just listened to. What is striking, against the background of the dramatic situation in the Middle East, is the beauty of the vision illustrated by the apostle Paul: Christ is our peace. He has reconciled us with one another, Jews and gentiles, uniting them in his body. He overcame enmity in his body, upon the cross. With his death he has overcome enmity, and has united us all in his peace.

But what strikes us even more than the beauty of this vision is its contrast with the reality we experience and see. And we can do nothing, at first, but say to the Lord: “But Lord, what does your apostle say to us – ‘We are reconciled’?” We see in reality that we are not reconciled... There is still war among Christians, Muslims, and Jews; and there are others who foment war and are still full of enmity and violence. Where is the efficacy of your sacrifice? Where in history is this peace of which your apostle speaks?

We human beings cannot solve the mystery of history, the mystery of human freedom to say “no” to God’s peace. We cannot solve the entire mystery of the revelation of the God-man, of his activity and our response. We must accept the mystery. But there are elements of an answer that the Lord gives to us.

A first element – this reconciliation from the Lord, his sacrifice – has not remained without efficacy. There is the great reality of the communion of the universal Church, found among all the peoples, the fabric of Eucharistic communion that transcends the boundaries of culture, civilization, peoples, and times. There is this communion, there are these “islands of peace” in the Body of Christ. They exist. And they are forces of peace in the world. If we look at history, we can see the great saints of charity who have created “oases” of this divine peace in the world, who have always rekindled his light, and were always able to reconcile and create peace. There are the martyrs who have suffered with Christ, have given this witness of peace, of the love that places a limit on violence.

And seeing that the reality of peace is there – even if the other reality also remains – we can go more deeply into the message of this Letter of Paul to the Ephesians. The Lord has triumphed upon the cross. He did not triumph with a new empire, with a power greater than the others and capable of destroying them; he triumphed, not in a human way, as we would imagine, with an empire more powerful than the other. He triumphed with a love capable of reaching even to death. This is God’s new way of winning: he does not oppose violence with a stronger form of violence. He opposes violence with its exact opposite: love to the very end, his cross. This is God’s humble way of winning: with his love – and this is the only way it is possible – he puts a limit on violence. This is a way of winning that seems very slow to us, but it is the real way to overcome evil, to overcome violence, and we must entrust ourselves to this divine way of winning.

Entrusting ourselves means entering actively within this divine love, participating in this work of peacemaking, in order to conform with what the Lord says: “Blessed are the peacemakers, those who work for peace, because they are the children of God.” We must bring, as much as possible, our love to all those who suffer, knowing that the judge of the last judgment identifies himself with the suffering. So whatever we do to the suffering we do to the ultimate judge of our lives. This is important: that in this moment we can bring this victory of his to the world, participating actively in his charity.

Today, in a multicultural and multireligious world, many are tempted to say: “It is better for peace in the world among religions and cultures that one not speak too much about the specifics of Christianity, about Jesus, the Church, the sacraments. Let us be satisfied with the things that can be held more or less in common...” But it’s not true. At this very moment – at a moment of a great abuse in the name of God – we need the God who triumphed upon the cross, who wins not by violence, but by his love. At this very moment, we need the face of Christ, in in order to know the true face of God and thus to bring reconciliation and light to this world. And so together, with love, with the message of love, with all that we can do for the suffering in this world, we must also bring the witness of this God, of the victory of God precisely through the nonviolence of his cross.

So let’s go back to the starting point. What we can do is give the witness of love, the witness of faith; and above all, raise a cry to God: we can pray! We are certain that our Father hears the cry of his children. At the Mass, preparing for holy communion, to receive the Body of Christ who unites us, we pray with the Church: “Deliver us, O Lord, from all evil, and grant us peace in our day.” Let this be our prayer in this moment: “Deliver us from all evil, and give us peace.” Not tomorrow or the next day: give us peace, Lord, today! Amen.