God's Word and Daily Life

By Father Bernard Holzer, aa

« This is not the time for despair but courage! »

We are in a difficult time. Thousands of people are suffering around us. Because of the pandemic which has affected the health, life, education, economy, future, hope and faith…

In a joint Pastoral Message, three Archbishops of Northern Luzon encourage us to stand up for God, to bear witness to truth and life! Let us be on their side to “overcome evil by the power of good. Our help is from the Lord!”

Click the link of the pastoral message here: https://cbcpnews.net/cbcpnews/joint-pastoral-message-on-the-culture-of-murder-and-plunder-from-the-metropolitan-archbishops-of-northern-luzon/

This message was released last Sunday, as Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski (1901-1981) was beatified in Warsaw, Poland, former Primate of the Catholic Church of Poland, friend of St. John Paul II. He experienced being in the communist prisons for having defended the rights of God and the Church. May he give us the courage to defend the values of the Gospel in our today society!

By Fr. Bernard Holzer, aa

Again, the confinement is extended until September 15! We will celebrate the longest lockdown in the world: 18 months! We are tired and isolated despite all our gadgets.

How do we find our inner peace? How do we still hope amid desperation?

Last Sunday, before the prayer of the Angelus, Pope Francis recalled the Gospel when Jesus restores the hearing and speech of a deaf man with a speech impediment.

He invites us to ask Jesus to touch and heal our own “interior deafness.”

For him, “the healing of the heart begins with listening”: “Starting a dialogue often happens not through words but silence”, he pointed out, and that requires patience to listen to others about their challenges and hopes. This confinement is a chance to listen!

During the days to come, let us take time to cherish silence, to listen to my husband or wife, to my children or parents, my neighbors and my friends… and to listen to the poor and to Jesus.

Let us read the news and the Bible to open our mind and our heart.

Let us reread some paragraphs of the encyclical “Fratelli Tutti” about communication and encounter (§ 47-50). This confinement is a chance to open ourselves!

By Mel Jasmin

The Christian tradition has taken one aspect of the Genesis account of creation and distorted it in such a fashion as to have contributed to a cosmology that supports the exploitation of the environment. By focusing on the twin themes of our being made in the image of God and having been given the responsibility of subduing the earth and all creatures, our tradition has sustained an image of humanity having an unlimited sovereignty and dominion over creation. Even what would appear to be a counter-balance, namely the concept of stewardship, contributes to the problem. This is because the purpose of stewarding God's creation in the end is to provide for the good of humanity. Is it any wonder then that it was the Christian West, which was the cradle of an industrial revolution, that uncritically began an assault on the environment?

In an address to a 1997 convention on the environment and health, Pope John Paul II noted humanity's "inconsiderate exploitation of creation that is a result of human insensitivity." He called for a review of lifestyles based on "firm points of reference and inspiration: a clear knowledge of creation as a work of God's provident wisdom and the awareness of human dignity and responsibility in the plan of creation." Nearly five years later, he spoke in a general address of an "ecological conversion which in the last few decades has made humanity more sensitive to the catastrophies we are moving toward." John Paul II added that such conversion must go beyond protecting the physical environment and aim at creating a "human ecology which makes the existence of every creature more dignified, protecting the radical good of life in all its manifestations and preparing for future generations an environment closer to that which God planned. . . . Men and women will once again walk in the garden of creation, working to ensure that the goods of the earth are available to all, and not just to a privileged few."

By Mel Jasmin

On August 28, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of one of its greatest saints. But I believe what makes this person great is not so much about his works as philosopher and theologian but on how he turned away from sin and the world and embraced God.

St. Augustine uses his focus on the fact that God may exists in the same extent which wisdom and truth exists, which is as concepts or ideas in the mind but not reality. He shows that there is evidence of God but not a powerful creator. To Augustine, God exists but requires him to exist for the basis of his argument. St. Augustine focuses on memory as an unconscious knowledge, which eventually leads him to his knowledge of God. Augustine is no longer telling events of the past, but only of present time.

Augustine starts his analysis of memory in a description of a house. The storehouse is a place where objects are retrieved, deposited, and re-stored; just like the memory where images are kept, and in need recovered. Augustine gives a characterization of memory as if it was materialistic; it is reliable, everything has its own place in it, and it can contain unlimited information.

His works challenge us to look into our memory and see the presence of God there. Augustine believes that God’s identity is intrinsically present in the mind. And so, he teaches us to reflect and to encounter God deep within our mind and soul. Saint Augustine, pray for us.

By Mel Jasmin

Pope Francis has given Mary Magdalene a canonical rank equivalent to that of the apostles.

The most important woman in human history was Mary, the Mother of God. No mere mortal has ever been so richly honored as she who bore God in her own flesh and truly named him her son.

Who was the second-most-important woman? It’s more debatable, but a strong case could be made for St. Mary Magdalene. This July 22, for the first time, Catholics will celebrate her feast.

By formally elevating her memorial to a feast, Pope Francis has given Mary Magdalene a canonical rank equivalent to that of the apostles. He has many times mentioned his wish that Catholics might reflect more deeply on the role of women in the Church. Now, with this change to the Roman calendar, he has taken a concrete step towards that goal.

For such an important person, it’s amazing how little we really know. She must have come from Magdala, a village in Galilee. That means she grew up along those same sandy shores where the apostles were called to be fishers of men.

From there, speculation begins. The Gospels are full of Mary’s, but we aren’t sure which was she. Was Mary Magdalene the woman caught in adultery, rescued by Jesus with his demand that a sinless person cast the first stone? Was she the sister of Martha, who sat by Christ’s feet to hear his teachings? Did she anoint him before his death, weeping and wiping his feet with her hair?

We do know this: St. Mary Magdalene came to Christ’s tomb on the third day, found it empty and ran to tell the apostles. Then, as she wept by the tomb, the Risen Christ came to her and addressed her by name (John 20). She was the first to see him alive. She was the first ever to share the Good News with the world.

It’s beautiful to reflect on the parallels: Both at his birth and at his rebirth, Jesus’ first intimate moments were shared with a woman named Mary.

By Father Bernard Holzer, aa

During this week, the Church celebrates several saints and she invites us to become like them.

We started the week with Saint Benedict (July 11), the founder of monasticism in Europe with his famous rule of life: “Work and pray”. This was followed by Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American Saint and Saints Louis and Zélie Martin, the parents of saint Therese of Child Jesus (July 12), Saint Henry emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (July 13), Saint Camille de Lellis, founder of the Camilians (July 14), Saint Bonaventure, Franciscan and doctor of the Church (July 15), and Saint Marceline, the sister of Saint Ambrose of Milan. The Church also celebrates several Blesseds, some killed for their faith or social commitment.

Saints are from every century, from different social classes – emperor, indigenous peoples, a nurse, from different continents… so different yet united in Christ, searching and serving Him in their own responsibilities. Nobody is excluded. They are not “supermen” who are born perfect. Rather they are ordinary people who followed God with all their heart.

“They are like us, '' says Pope Francis, they are like each of us, they are people who before reaching the glory of heaven lived a normal life, with joys and griefs, struggles and hopes… They spent their lives in the service of others, they endured suffering and adversity without hatred and responded to evil with good, spreading joy and peace.”

We are all called to be saints! Sanctity is a vocation for everyone.

“The saints are men and women who have joy in their hearts and spread it to others. Never hating, but serving the other, is the greatest need. To pray and to live in joy: this is the way of sanctity!” – Pope Francis

Let us ask the grace to follow their path!