Monday, February 2, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
The Neocatechumenal Way Celebrates 40 Years of Fruitful Evangelization
"Let us keep firm in the hope that we profess for the one who made the promise is faithful. Let us be concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works. Do not stay away from the meetings of the community, ...but encourage each other to go, the more so often as you see the Day drawing near."
--Heb 10:23-25, New Jerusalem Bible
VISnews 090112
| From: | |
| Sent: | Monday, January 12, 2009 2:48:36 PM |
NEO-CATECHUMENAL WAY: JOY, FAITH, SEARCH FOR UNITY
VATICAN CITY, 10 JAN 2009 (VIS) - In St. Peter's Basilica this afternoon, Benedict XVI commemorated the fortieth anniversary of the Neo-Catechumenal Way, a group founded by the Spaniards Kiko Arguello and Carmen Hernandez, and the Italian priest Mario Pezzi.
During the meeting, which was attended by 25,000 members of the Way, the Pope entrusted the "mission cross" to fourteen Neo-Catechumenal communities, each made up of some 30-40 members, soon to depart on mission to help pastors in the most difficult and secularised areas of the outskirts of Rome.
"Your presence", said the Holy Father in his address, "bears witness to the prodigies wrought by the Lord over the last four decades. It is also a sign of the commitment with which you intend to continue down the path you have begun, a path of faithful adherence to Christ and of courageous witness to His Gospel, ... a path of humble acceptance of the guidance of pastors and of communion with all other components of the People of God, ... well aware that helping the men and women of our time to meet Jesus Christ, Redeemer of man, is a mission for the Church and for all the baptised. The Neo-Catechumenal Way is part of this ecclesial mission, as one of the numerous 'ways' brought into being by the Holy Spirit at Vatican Council II for the new evangelisation".
"How much fresh apostolic energy has been created among priests and laity!" the Pope exclaimed. "How many families ... have been helped to rediscover the joy of faith and the enthusiasm of evangelical witness through the announcement of the 'kerygma' and the rediscovery of Baptism! The recent approval of the Statutes of the Neo-Catechumenal Way by the Pontifical Council for the Laity are a confirmation of the esteem and benevolence with which the Holy See follows the work the Lord began through your founders".
"Your apostolic activities, already highly praiseworthy in themselves, will be even more effective in the degree to which you constantly strive to cultivate that desire for unity which Jesus communicated to the Twelve at the Last Supper. ... It is this unity - gift of the Holy Spirit and incessantly sought by the faithful - that makes each community a living and well-integrated member of the mystical Body of Christ. The unity of the disciples of the Lord is part of the essence of the Church, and an indispensable condition if her evangelising activity is to prove fruitful and credible".
"Indeed, what is needed today is a vast missionary action involving the various aspects of the Church which, each conserving the originality of its own charism, must work harmoniously to achieve that 'integrated pastoral care' which has already enabled significant results to be reached. And you, placing yourselves - as your Statues say - with complete willingness at the service of bishops, can become an example for many local Churches which rightly look to Rome as a model to which to refer".
The Pope concluded his remarks by inviting the members of the Neo-Catechumenal Way "not to lose heart in the face of difficulties, and not to seek human success, nor to fear misunderstandings and even persecutions", but rather to "trust only in the power of Christ, to take up your own cross and follow the footsteps of our Redeemer".
AC/ANNIVERSARY/NEO-CATECHUMENAL WAY VIS 090112 (570)
Friday, January 9, 2009
"The family remains the principal institution of aid and solidarity".--Cardinal Antonelli, WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES IN MEXICO CITY
01.09.2009 - Nineteenth Year - Num. 05
SUMMARY:
VISnews 090109
From:
visnews_en-bounces@mlists.vatican.va on behalf of Vatican Information Service - English (visnews_en@mlists.vatican.va)
___________________________________________________________
WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES IN MEXICO CITY
VATICAN CITY, 9 JAN 2009 (VIS) - In the Holy See Press Office this morning Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, presented the Sixth World Meeting of Families, which is to due to take place in Mexico City, Mexico, from 14 to 18 January.
"The Holy Father will be 'especially present' at these events" with two video messages, said the president of the pontifical council: a recorded message on the evening of Saturday 17 January, and a live message, via satellite, on Sunday 18 January at the end of the final Mass.
The meeting, which has as its theme "The family, teacher of human and Christian values", will be attended by cardinals, bishops and delegations of families from all continents. Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. will also be present in the capacity of pontifical legate.
As is the tradition in these world meetings - the last was held in Valencia, Spain, in July 2006 - the main celebrations will be preceded by a theological-pastoral congress.
This year's theological congress, to be attended by 8,000 people and held from 14 to 16 January, will focus on three main points: family relations and family values; the family and sexuality, and the educational vocation of the family. Lectures and workshops are also scheduled to take place on such subjects as: family relations and family values according to the Bible; values to be discovered and rediscovered; the family and the value of human life; organisations that help the family in the formation of values; family and the communications media, and the challenge of policymaking in support of life and the family.
The celebrations scheduled for 17 and 18 January, at which more than a million people are expected to attend, will take place at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. On Saturday 17 January, the praying of the Rosary will take place and families from Africa, Asia, America, Europe and Oceania will present their testimonies. On Sunday 18 January, Cardinal Bertone will preside at a solemn Eucharistic celebration.
Cardinal Antonelli also mentioned the "Family Mosaic" which has been prepared for the meeting, formed of thousands of photographs of families from all over the world arranged to create the image of Benedict XVI. A national competition entitled "A letter to my child" has also been organised, open to single mothers resident in the Republic of Mexico who wish to write a letter to their son or daughter. "The best letters will be collected in a commemorative book which will be presented to Benedict XVI as evidence of the profound values and dignity of Mexican mothers", the cardinal explained.
On the subject of families in Mexico, Cardinal Antonelli pointed out how, "as in other parts of the world, they are currently experiencing a crisis. Nonetheless", he added, "the family remains the principal institution of aid and solidarity".
He went on: "Abortion, divorce, euthanasia, questions associated with bioethics, though far removed from popular culture and practices, are also penetrating the mentality of Mexicans. Families today have to face ... the challenge of an individualist and market culture, founded on production and consumption. Unfortunately we have a mistaken concept of freedom, which is understood as self-sufficient autonomy. ... With this misguided mentality, laws often are passed - without broad social consensus and under the influence of small but active pressure groups, highly ideological and with large economic resources - that enable and facilitate abortion, rapid divorce and euthanasia".
"The Church is making great efforts of evangelisation, supporting Christian families in their values and encouraging a wide-ranging strategy to promote and defend life from conception to natural death. ... Thanks to God", he concluded, "over the last few years numerous initiatives, both ecclesial and civil, have come into being in the service of the family ... which support this work".
OP/WORLD MEETING FAMILIES/MEXICO VIS 090109 (650)
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
::QuickPost 101:: imparting the wisdom of the ages in a jiffy
there are a hundred and one reasons laid out by pushers of the so-called "reproductive health bill" which aims to have a law enforced by the government propagating the use of drugs (such as contraceptive pills), devices (like condoms & IUD's), measures, methods, and the likes (whatever else they could think of) which would prevent the development of the embryo to a fetus who will be born as a baby and would inhabit in this world.
the church, especially the cbcp continuously take action against the passing of this bill. pro-life movers and concerned citizens also impart in the battlecries to protect and promote life.
i've heard a thousand arguments, taken part and been an audience to discussions about this issue.... and of all the many that i've listened to, there is this one outstanding point raised by Mamu (the auxiliary bishop of Legazpi, Msgr. Liloy Quiambao), especially in the use of contraceptive pills and condom which in the repro health bill the parents are supposed to give to their children (otherwise they are to be punished under the law), roughly i quote here:
cells are the smallest blocks of life. is it not that the ovum or egg and the sperm are cells?
the egg has life. so has the sperm. like a full human being, they must die a natural death. should anybody initiate the cessation of life, it is homicide. murder. contraceptive drugs attack this cells and kill them. condoms and IUD's interefere in the course of nature and brings about an instigated death to these cells. what is it? murder.
--------
if the government is afraid of overpopulation's bad effects, encourage people to love nature, love the countryside. only the metro's and the urban areas are jampacked with people....the beautiful countries are almost bare. teach the people a good attitude towards hard labor, encourage farming. our land is rich and fertile. let the people reflect, where are the precious values handed to us by our forefathers--faithfulness, love of family, the bayanihan....
for me, the repro health bill is a good draft for a bill that will subvert it:
punish those who would be found possessing contraceptives of whatever form--- they are the problem of our society>>adulterers, philanderers, murderers, sloths, people who refuse to take responsibility of their actions, people who do not accept God 's will (if they are like these, do you think they would even listen to the government? so i doubt.)<<
by: 1enthousiasmos, blogger on blogspot
the church, especially the cbcp continuously take action against the passing of this bill. pro-life movers and concerned citizens also impart in the battlecries to protect and promote life.
i've heard a thousand arguments, taken part and been an audience to discussions about this issue.... and of all the many that i've listened to, there is this one outstanding point raised by Mamu (the auxiliary bishop of Legazpi, Msgr. Liloy Quiambao), especially in the use of contraceptive pills and condom which in the repro health bill the parents are supposed to give to their children (otherwise they are to be punished under the law), roughly i quote here:
cells are the smallest blocks of life. is it not that the ovum or egg and the sperm are cells?
the egg has life. so has the sperm. like a full human being, they must die a natural death. should anybody initiate the cessation of life, it is homicide. murder. contraceptive drugs attack this cells and kill them. condoms and IUD's interefere in the course of nature and brings about an instigated death to these cells. what is it? murder.
--------
if the government is afraid of overpopulation's bad effects, encourage people to love nature, love the countryside. only the metro's and the urban areas are jampacked with people....the beautiful countries are almost bare. teach the people a good attitude towards hard labor, encourage farming. our land is rich and fertile. let the people reflect, where are the precious values handed to us by our forefathers--faithfulness, love of family, the bayanihan....
for me, the repro health bill is a good draft for a bill that will subvert it:
punish those who would be found possessing contraceptives of whatever form--- they are the problem of our society>>adulterers, philanderers, murderers, sloths, people who refuse to take responsibility of their actions, people who do not accept God 's will (if they are like these, do you think they would even listen to the government? so i doubt.)<<
by: 1enthousiasmos, blogger on blogspot
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
"qu0te and unqu0te"
“The difference between listening to a radio sermon and going to church...is almost like the difference between calling your girl on the phone and spending an evening with her.” -Dwight Moody"
yeah.
yeah.
Friday, December 7, 2007
REDISCOVER THE BEAUTY AND PROFUNDITY OF CHRISTIAN HOPE
REDISCOVER THE BEAUTY AND PROFUNDITY OF CHRISTIAN HOPE
VATICAN CITY, DEC 1, 2007 (VIS) - In the Vatican Basilica at 5 p.m. today, the Pope presided at the celebration of the first Vespers of the first Sunday of Advent.
At the start of his homily, the Holy Father recalled how "Advent is the time of hope par excellence" and how Christians, "as they prepare to celebrate the great feast of the birth of Christ the Savior, revitalize their expectation of His glorious return at the end of time."
"It was to the subject of hope," he said," that I dedicated my second Encyclical, which was published yesterday. And today I am happy to present it ideally to the entire Church on this first Sunday of Advent so that, while preparing for Christmas, the community and the individual faithful may read and meditate upon it, and so rediscover the beauty and profundity of Christian hope."
After underlining how "true and certain hope is founded on faith in God-Love, the merciful Father," Benedict XVI made it clear that Advent is a "propitious time for the rediscovery of hope, a hope that is not vague and illusory but sure and trustworthy because 'anchored' in Christ, God-made-man and rock of our salvation."
In his Letter to them, St. Paul reminds the Ephesians "that before embracing faith in Christ they had no hope and were 'without God in the world'," said the Pope. "This expression seems more valid than ever," he added, "because of the paganism of our own day. In particular we may refer it to contemporary nihilism which corrodes hope in man's heart, causing him to think that emptiness reigns within him and around him: emptiness before birth, emptiness after death. The truth is that without God, hope fades."
"What is at stake," he said, "is the relationship between existence in the here and now, and what we call the 'beyond:' this is not a place in which we will 'end up' after death, but rather the reality of God, the fullness of life to which each human being is, so to say, reaching out. To this expectation of mankind God responded in Christ with the gift of hope.
"Man," the Pope added, "is the only creature who is free to say yes or no to eternity, in other words to God. Human beings can extinguish hope in themselves, eliminating God from their lives. ... God knows man's heart. He knows that those who refuse Him have not known His true face, and for this reason He never ceases to knock at our door like a humble pilgrim seeking welcome. This is why the Lord grants new time to humanity: so that everyone may come to know Him! And this too is the significance of a new liturgical year that begins: it is a gift of God Who wishes once more to reveal Himself in the mystery of Christ, through the Word and the Sacraments."
Benedict XVI highlighted how "God loves us and for this reason expects us to return to Him, to open our hearts to His love, to put our hand in His and remember that we are His children. This expectation of God's always precedes our own hope, just as His love always reaches us first."
"All human beings are called to hope, thus responding to God's expectation in them," the Pope concluded. "Hope is indelibly written in man's heart because God our Father is life, and we were made for eternal and blessed life."
HML/VESPERS:ADVENT/... VIS 071203 (590)
BENEDICT XVI'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR DECEMBER
VATICAN CITY, DEC 1, 2007 (VIS) - Benedict XVI's general prayer intention for December is: "That human society may be solicitous in the care of all those stricken with AIDS, especially children and women, and that the Church may make them feel the Lord's love."
His mission intention is: "That the incarnation of the Son of God, which the Church celebrates solemnly at Christmas, may help the peoples of the Asiatic Continent to recognize God's Envoy, the only Savior of the world, in Jesus."
BXVI-PRAYER INTENTIONS/DECEMBER/... VIS 071203 (100)
VATICAN CITY, DEC 1, 2007 (VIS) - In the Vatican Basilica at 5 p.m. today, the Pope presided at the celebration of the first Vespers of the first Sunday of Advent.
At the start of his homily, the Holy Father recalled how "Advent is the time of hope par excellence" and how Christians, "as they prepare to celebrate the great feast of the birth of Christ the Savior, revitalize their expectation of His glorious return at the end of time."
"It was to the subject of hope," he said," that I dedicated my second Encyclical, which was published yesterday. And today I am happy to present it ideally to the entire Church on this first Sunday of Advent so that, while preparing for Christmas, the community and the individual faithful may read and meditate upon it, and so rediscover the beauty and profundity of Christian hope."
After underlining how "true and certain hope is founded on faith in God-Love, the merciful Father," Benedict XVI made it clear that Advent is a "propitious time for the rediscovery of hope, a hope that is not vague and illusory but sure and trustworthy because 'anchored' in Christ, God-made-man and rock of our salvation."
In his Letter to them, St. Paul reminds the Ephesians "that before embracing faith in Christ they had no hope and were 'without God in the world'," said the Pope. "This expression seems more valid than ever," he added, "because of the paganism of our own day. In particular we may refer it to contemporary nihilism which corrodes hope in man's heart, causing him to think that emptiness reigns within him and around him: emptiness before birth, emptiness after death. The truth is that without God, hope fades."
"What is at stake," he said, "is the relationship between existence in the here and now, and what we call the 'beyond:' this is not a place in which we will 'end up' after death, but rather the reality of God, the fullness of life to which each human being is, so to say, reaching out. To this expectation of mankind God responded in Christ with the gift of hope.
"Man," the Pope added, "is the only creature who is free to say yes or no to eternity, in other words to God. Human beings can extinguish hope in themselves, eliminating God from their lives. ... God knows man's heart. He knows that those who refuse Him have not known His true face, and for this reason He never ceases to knock at our door like a humble pilgrim seeking welcome. This is why the Lord grants new time to humanity: so that everyone may come to know Him! And this too is the significance of a new liturgical year that begins: it is a gift of God Who wishes once more to reveal Himself in the mystery of Christ, through the Word and the Sacraments."
Benedict XVI highlighted how "God loves us and for this reason expects us to return to Him, to open our hearts to His love, to put our hand in His and remember that we are His children. This expectation of God's always precedes our own hope, just as His love always reaches us first."
"All human beings are called to hope, thus responding to God's expectation in them," the Pope concluded. "Hope is indelibly written in man's heart because God our Father is life, and we were made for eternal and blessed life."
HML/VESPERS:ADVENT/... VIS 071203 (590)
BENEDICT XVI'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR DECEMBER
VATICAN CITY, DEC 1, 2007 (VIS) - Benedict XVI's general prayer intention for December is: "That human society may be solicitous in the care of all those stricken with AIDS, especially children and women, and that the Church may make them feel the Lord's love."
His mission intention is: "That the incarnation of the Son of God, which the Church celebrates solemnly at Christmas, may help the peoples of the Asiatic Continent to recognize God's Envoy, the only Savior of the world, in Jesus."
BXVI-PRAYER INTENTIONS/DECEMBER/... VIS 071203 (100)
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