God's Word and Daily Life

By Father Bernard Holzer, aa

 As tensions grow around the world, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, urges us to be builders of peace.

In an interview with the Italian geopolitical magazine "Limes", he recently calls us again that in matters of peace, the compass to follow is unique: the Gospel, "proclamation of peace, promise and gift of peace", "all its pages are filled with it. The angels invoke him at the time of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem. He himself wishes it to his family as soon as he is resurrected. The Church follows the example of her Lord: it believes in peace, works for peace, fights for peace, testifies to peace and seeks to build it. In this sense, she is a pacifist."

 With him, let us help the Holy Father to build peace in the midst of this "third world war in pieces" that Pope Francis has been talking about for years.

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;`

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”

(Prayer for Peace of St. Francis of Assisi)

By Fr. Bernard Holzer, aa

 The past teaches us that “colonization and genocide” start when believers "became worldly, and rather than fostering reconciliation, they imposed their own cultural models."  And Pope Francis went on to emphasize that "this attitude dies hard, also from the religious standpoint."

To be Jesus’ disciple is demanding:

 "It may seem easier to force God on people, rather than letting them draw near to God. This is contradictory and never works, because that is not how the Lord operates. He does not force us, he does not suppress or overwhelm; instead, he loves, he liberates, he leaves us free. He does not sustain with his Spirit those who dominate others, who confuse the Gospel of our reconciliation with proselytism. One cannot proclaim God in a way contrary to God Himself.”

"While God presents Himself simply and quietly, we always have the temptation to impose Him, and to impose ourselves in His name. It is the worldly temptation to make Him come down from the cross and show Himself with power. Yet Jesus reconciles us on the cross, not by coming down from the cross.

… Even today there is the temptation to manifest Jesus with the power and influence of the institution and its structures, with the appearance of projects that we think are working “without God, relying on human strength alone."

During this week, how can I meditate on these reflections of Pope Francis, and listen, dialogue and encounter my neighbor more?

On July 31, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus otherwise known as the Jesuits.

St. Ignatius’ inspiration to cast aside a life of privilege and to take up a life of generous service for “the greater glory of God” has guided Saint Louis University since the first Jesuits began as teachers and administrators of the St. Louis College in 1829. 

During his life, St. Ignatius and his Jesuit companions helped to lead the renewal of the Church, promoted the sharing of the Gospel with others near and far, established the foundation for what is today the largest system of private education in the world and exhorted Jesuits as well as nobles and common folk to care for and advocate for the poor and the marginalized. His Spiritual Exercises have given us a powerful method of prayer that leads a retreatant to prayerfully consider one’s relationship with God and one’s place in the beauty of God’s creation. The Spiritual Exercises reflected St. Ignatius profound experience of God and his great desire to discern what God desired of him. As Pope Francis observed in 2017, “Like Saint Ignatius of Loyola, let us be won over by the Lord Jesus and, led by Him, place ourselves at the service of others.” 

Let us all remember that whatever we do, even in the simplest of things- is for the greater glory of God!

By Anthony Morales

Pope Francis, in his message to mark this day, acknowledges the effect of the pandemic on all people, but most especially the elderly who have been hit harder than most others by death and loneliness. On a positive note, however, and in contrast to an attitude that prevails among many, Pope Francis states that grandparents and the elderly do indeed have a purpose in life, even if they feel they are running low on energy and that their solitude is burden enough. Their vocation is “to preserve our roots, to pass on the faith to the young and to care for the little ones.”

So often today, one sees grandparents acting as surrogate parents. Due to financial pressures, in many cases both parents are having to work and so call upon their own parents to care for their children. Of course, grandparents love spending time with their grandchildren, but acting in loco parentis often puts a significant strain on them physically, emotionally and financially. Such pressures were less of a concern in the past when grandparents connected with their grandchildren simply to revel in the pleasure of being present to them and enjoying their company.

As we celebrate World Grandparents’ Day and the Elderly on July 24, let us remember the love and care that we have received from our grandparents. We would not be the kind of person we are today without them. Let us offer a prayer for them today as well.

By Father Bernard, aa

 “We are called to LOVE. In responding to God’s love, we set ourselves anew for mission”, this is the motto of the Statement of the Catholics Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on the National Synodal Consultation, July 4 to 7, 2022 in Tagaytay City.

That means: “We open doors for us all to go out and set forth once again for mission – to seek out those who are far, different, excluded; to encounter, listen and dialogue with our brothers and sisters of different denominations and faith; to explore possibilities for positive engagement in the areas of ecumenism, interreligious dialogue, politics and social media.”

It’s a call for conversion, for change… for me.

Am I ready? What could be my contribution? Courage and determination… with the help and the grace of God!

By Fr. Bernard Holzer, aa

Last Sunday after praying the Angelus in Rome, Pope Francis, once more, asked to pray for peace:

“Let us continue to pray for peace in Ukraine and in the entire world. I appeal to the heads of nations and international organizations to react to the tendency to accentuate conflict and confrontation. The world needs peace. Not a peace based on the balance of weapons, on mutual fear…

With God’s help, this is always possible! But it is necessary to pass from the strategies of political, economic and military power to a plan for global peace: no to a world divided between conflicting powers; yes to a world united between peoples and civilizations that respect each other.”

As the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrives in the Philippines, let us pray for peace.

Each of us can be a peace builder! In our family, our neighborhood, let us pray:

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”

- Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

By Mel Jasmin

On June 29, the Church will celebrate the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. A hymn from the Orthros for June 30 says about the Apostles: “You preached throughout the entire world that the eternal all-holy Trinity is in nature God.”

The ministry of the Apostles, those who were sent forth by the Lord and strengthened by the Holy Spirit, took the Gospel to the corners of the then-known world. For example, Saint Paul, although not one of the original twelve, took the Gospel to the Gentile world of Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome. Saint Peter also traveled to Rome. Saint Thomas, tradition holds, traveled to India. Saint Andrew traveled to Greece and, as tradition holds, established the Church in the city of Byzantium, which would later be renamed Constantinople, the See of our Ecumenical Patriarchate. In those places and others, the Apostles preached the Gospel and taught and guided the Christians. 

The feast of Saints Peter and Paul and the Holy Apostles, should inspire us to reclaim our missionary zeal with the aim of bringing people to Christ and His Holy Orthodox Church, those outside the Church, and those who have drifted away. We should be concerned about the growing indifference that many people show toward their Faith and their Church. We should be concerned that after three months of comfortably watching services online that people may take their time to return to their parishes. This then becomes our challenge: to bear witness to the love of God, to show our care for all people in all dimensions of their lives, by being active in the world and sharing our many gifts with as many as we can.

 Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us!

By Mel Jasmin

On June 23, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist.

John challenges us Christians to the fundamental attitude of Christianity—total dependence on the Father, in Christ. Except for the Mother of God, no one had a higher function in the unfolding of salvation. Yet the least in the kingdom, Jesus said, is greater than he, for the pure gift that the Father gives. The attractiveness as well as the austerity of John, his fierce courage in denouncing evil—all stem from his fundamental and total placing of his life within the will of God.

The greatness of John, his pivotal place in the history of salvation, is seen in the great emphasis Luke gives to the announcement of his birth and the event itself—both made prominently parallel to the same occurrences in the life of Jesus. John attracted countless people to the banks of the Jordan, and it occurred to some people that he might be the Messiah. But he constantly deferred to Jesus, even to sending away some of his followers to become the first disciples of Jesus.

Perhaps John’s idea of the coming of the Kingdom of God was not being perfectly fulfilled in the public ministry of Jesus. For whatever reason, when he was in prison he sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the Messiah. Jesus’ answer showed that the Messiah was to be a figure like that of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah. John himself would share in the pattern of messianic suffering, losing his life to the revenge of Herodias. St. John, pray for us!

 By Father Bernard Holzer, aa

The Trinity remains a deep mystery! It brings us back to the mystery of life.  We think we dominate it, understand it. It remains a mystery. It is a gift.

Do I believe in the word of Jesus who reveals God his Father to us and promises us the gift of the Spirit?

This mystery is telling us that God is not a lonely and jealous being, but that he is relationship and love. In God no one speaks for himself, no one proposes or wants to convince the other of his position. In God no one wants to impose himself, everyone shares what he has received.

To experience this mystery, let's take the time to contemplate on the love of a couple who takes care of their child. It introduces us into the mystery of love and communion. Let us take the time to contemplate on the search for unity in a diversified society or community such as the Church. Is this not the profound meaning of the reflection on synodality?

With the Trinity, we are at the heart of the mystery of relationship. Why do two beings love each other and decide to give birth to a child? Why are we in solidarity with the poor? Why are we called to love those who do not love us?

We are children of the Trinity: none of us is an island, and God is not far from us. The mystery of the Trinity is an invitation to rethink about our conception of God and our way of living in society.