tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33835214074177325262024-03-05T10:51:24.789-08:00With D. Bosco... & with the times.A Salesian Blog designed to help
in the On-going formation of
Salesians and Communities.
Produced by CONFORT - Civam Ongoing Formation TeamAFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-82366239008415579302014-08-16T00:08:00.000-07:002014-08-16T13:58:15.227-07:00EXPOSED TO LOVE <br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="color: #990000;"><i>A Bicentenary Reflection on Don Bosco's Mission amongst the young. </i></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="color: #990000;"><i> </i></span></b></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Planet Benson 2"; line-height: 115%;"> </span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Planet Benson 2"; line-height: 115%;">1 </span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Hurry Up"; line-height: 115%;">Exposure</span></b></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Don Bosco is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ordained a
priest; </span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He goes<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>to the city</span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He walks its street, </span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">he enters the slums, </span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">he visits the prisons.</span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWk92qX4j2kLt6Qlmu8KDXI2aJTJuXY7ZdjKMwrNN23YDPiH2rV1lBKRuxFxea1e6srBp7kDxvkyqURsWWsVb0bKrx9L7PkXIIvM5aRL5d-nvkX_NBWrL2urrW2hZdt5uiXzNyMdPCi7A/s1600/B030.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWk92qX4j2kLt6Qlmu8KDXI2aJTJuXY7ZdjKMwrNN23YDPiH2rV1lBKRuxFxea1e6srBp7kDxvkyqURsWWsVb0bKrx9L7PkXIIvM5aRL5d-nvkX_NBWrL2urrW2hZdt5uiXzNyMdPCi7A/s1600/B030.jpg" height="125" width="200" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I was horrified! I saw large numbers <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">of </span>youth, fine healthy youngsters,
alert <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">of </span>mind, - seeing them
idle there, infested with lice, lacking food for body and soul, really shocked
me.</span></i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Public
disgrace, family dishon<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">our, </span>and
personal shame were personified in those unfortunates. </span></i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What shocked
me most was to see that… they were abandoned to their own resources.” </span></i></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Don Bosco still walks the streets today</span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Still goes to the cities</span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Still meets the young.</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Planet Benson 2";">2</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> </span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Hurry Up";">Rejection</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">:</span></b></span></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">It was a dark night when I came upon the little boy.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Who are you? I asked.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">He replied.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I am abandoned.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I am alone.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I am an outsider, even in my own family.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I belong no where.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I belong to no one.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Living hurts me.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Each day I hear that I am nobody.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I am a throw away.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I am a mistake.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I am a burden.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I am a parasite.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">People are right to get rid of me.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">People are right to want me out of the way.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I am without a home.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I am without any true friends,</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Because I cannot
trust anyone enough</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>To let them be a
friend.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The people who hurt me most </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">are the people I once trusted.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I am never going to trust another person again. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I know that there are others like me but that’s no comfort.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">We live in quarantine</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>each an
inhabitant of his own universe.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Everyone else is a stranger, a user.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Each meeting with another person is just </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Another
opportunity for being rejected</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Another opportunity for being kicked</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Another opportunity for being thrown away</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">For being told I am nothing</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">That I am useless</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">That I am trash</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">That I should never have been born.</span></div>
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<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Planet Benson 2";">3
</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Hurry Up";">MINISTRY</span></b></span></span></h3>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">How can I minister to one who
is so alone, to one who is so lost and so hurt? How can I break the good news
upon him, upon her? How can I heal when everything says it is too late for
healing, the damage is gone too far, the hurts are too deep? How can I say
welcome to someone who does not know the meaning of home?</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Don
Bosco also was in anguish as to how he could reach out to them. He was disturbed
by their situation but left it “</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">to the Lord's grace what the
outcome would be. Without God's grace, all human effort is vain.”</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt;">Scene
: </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt;">A youth sneaks into a sacristy<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.</i></span></b></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> I
come to you who are wounded, and lost in your world of pain. What do I say to
you? Be healed? Not yet because you are not ready to hear it.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">First,
I show you my wounds because if I have no wounds I cannot heal you. I minister
from my wounds. I minister from my brokenness. Paul tells me to be proud of my
weakness. Paul tells me in my weakness is my strength. If I accept my wounds
and if I let you touch them, then together we can go to Jesus. By his wounds we
are healed.</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Don
Bosco too carried a deep wound – the loss of his father left a mark on him. His
whole life was a search for the missing father he never had. His meeting with
Garelli touched on this wound, and in reaching out from this wound he would become
the father of so many poor youth. His whole life took on a meaning by becoming
that which he himself never had.</span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Don Bosco had enough personal
experience to know that for a child or young person in need, <br />
the present moment is the only reality that he or she knows.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That is why,inspired by the
Gospel call to welcome a child, he offered to help the young immediately</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">“Do you want to start now?”</span></b></span></div>
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<h3>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">4 </b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Affirmation</b></span></span></span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioOPOwQ6fnnAQJRFCmbqQ7VGHJaVrG3yS-omrdvJtwEbkFmR65ZEe45cLSd7Cixdjo_ZVahiv4s6SQvwlXAeTTlbLb7RdBgleXsHNimG7GaT0rMw63bmmmgBYJaVlbLBq3XnuAr3sd7aQ/s1600/IMG_4796.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Dawn was beginning to break when I came on the little boy. “Who
am I?” he asked. I replied:</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">“You are accepted just the way you are.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">You are cherished.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">You will never be alone again. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">You are of enormous value.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">You have a dignity no one can take away from you.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">You have a place you can call your own. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">You have people around you</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Who care for you
and who love you</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Life now can become something we can celebrate together</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Each day we will grow to understand new depths of beauty</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>New heights of
life’s mystery, which is love. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">You can begin to trust again,</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For you are loved</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You are loveable</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">You have no need to be afraid</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">It is never too late for healing</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">It is never to late for love.</span></div>
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<h3>
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Planet Benson 2";">5 </span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Hurry Up";">Kairos</span></b></span></span></h3>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">One day I met a wise old man and I asked him, “What do I need if
I am to minister to the homeless, to the broken?” </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">He
answered. Remember. Remember all the home-coming stories you ever heard. The
bible is a story of home-coming. Only in God can we really be at home. Let the
homeless teach you. Through them you will learn the depth of yearning that is
in all our hearts.</span></i></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Kristen ITC";">His Name is Today</span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbMHiJl3iiSfHuyzx5823fQT2qyGbQDnBHiyCAIhUBUiCmG2XX0EepPZ7As01-Zu2qmziQhTjNFZu8j3Ae_GjuH_YFyVLxf-j3UD2WKg-D0A7x820O5DoFA0asAr3q6PruaPyNKBZNylE/s1600/IMG_4653.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbMHiJl3iiSfHuyzx5823fQT2qyGbQDnBHiyCAIhUBUiCmG2XX0EepPZ7As01-Zu2qmziQhTjNFZu8j3Ae_GjuH_YFyVLxf-j3UD2WKg-D0A7x820O5DoFA0asAr3q6PruaPyNKBZNylE/s1600/IMG_4653.JPG" height="133" width="200" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Kristen ITC"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We
are </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Kristen ITC";">guilty
of many errors, of many faults,</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Kristen ITC";">but our worst crime is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">abandoning</b> the children, </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Kristen ITC";">neglecting the fountain of
life. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Kristen ITC";">Many of the things we need can
wait. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Kristen ITC";">The child cannot. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Kristen ITC";">Right now is the time his bones
are being formed,</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Kristen ITC";">his blood is being made and his
senses are being developed. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Kristen ITC";">To him we cannot answer
Tomorrow.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Kristen ITC";">His name is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">"Today."</b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">. Gabriela Mistral<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Nobel
Prize-winning poet from Chile)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"><v:shapetype coordsize="21600,21600" filled="f" id="_x0000_t75" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" stroked="f">
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</v:imagedata></v:shape></span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Hurry Up"; line-height: 115%;">Magnifcat</span></b></span></span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXMP2ulvEE0S7RndSTPKl2ST88lnbyQV809icDQu_GUwNCSLf97EJ8dIES9vsD_3Q1ipdsvLIdQMCoWyOrmOE95JDa2CpuufFvGYKpOza1JbgjsozptCihgN0PewbQ5TsZ5CVZQZMAWdY/s1600/D022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXMP2ulvEE0S7RndSTPKl2ST88lnbyQV809icDQu_GUwNCSLf97EJ8dIES9vsD_3Q1ipdsvLIdQMCoWyOrmOE95JDa2CpuufFvGYKpOza1JbgjsozptCihgN0PewbQ5TsZ5CVZQZMAWdY/s1600/D022.jpg" height="260" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">A simple
Hail Mary was the start of his work. </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">Let us sing that beautiful prayer asking Mary to once again
intervene through us on behalf of the young and rejoice with her for the great
things God has done for his little ones.</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #00003e; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">This </span>Reflection on Don Bosco for the opening of the Bi-Centenary Celbrations can also be watched on <span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Youtube</span>.</i></b></span></span> </span></span></b></span></div>
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<br />Kairosquesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00410347419454892603noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-79089691783349451872013-01-13T12:25:00.000-08:002013-01-13T12:25:13.154-08:00Don Bosco Our Model<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMFA4B5fE9LzVjFFTPkfFcOW0E2KCT7q01eFJd-UU-uyZdUkQNLX9ug_K-Yf-Fekhnd4ppq93L-ZH-pItXraBOcSwkcPdhIPOAUOExT4hfzjy4WrPdc9PcRlubyIQ1SrsGfx6VZDN4d9M/s1600/_1_10_15_1_2_.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMFA4B5fE9LzVjFFTPkfFcOW0E2KCT7q01eFJd-UU-uyZdUkQNLX9ug_K-Yf-Fekhnd4ppq93L-ZH-pItXraBOcSwkcPdhIPOAUOExT4hfzjy4WrPdc9PcRlubyIQ1SrsGfx6VZDN4d9M/s320/_1_10_15_1_2_.bmp" width="240" /></a></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #512603; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Our
Salesian call </span></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #512603; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">When we think of our call to the Salesian
life, how many of us can say: “<i>I decided
to be a Salesian after going through a deep study of the Preventive System and
the Salesian Spirituality</i>”? How many
of us can rather say: “<i>If I am a Salesian
it is because of father or brother so and so … My vocational journey started
when I met him and I said to myself: “I would like to be like him!</i>”.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #512603; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">Since this second alternative has been my
experience I tend to think that the majority of the Salesians could say the
same.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #512603; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">Models play an important role in the life
of a person, especially at the early stages.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #512603; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;"> From the Constitutions<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #512603; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">“<i>The
Salesian spirit finds its <b>model</b> and
source in the very heart of Christ, apostle of the Father”.</i> (C11)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #512603; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">“We study and <b>imitate</b>
him (Don Bosco)”. (C21)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #512603; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">“Our living rule is Jesus Christ… whom we find present in Don
Bosco who devoted his life to the young”. (C196)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #512603; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">“The first Salesians found their sure guide in Don Bosco. Living
at the very heart of his community in action, <b>they learned to model their own lives on his</b>. We too find <b>in him our model”</b>. (C97)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #512603; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">1. Looking at the model </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #512603; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">“<i>The Lord has given us Don Bosco as <b>Father and Teacher</b>”</i>. Before being
Father and Teacher of the youth, Don Bosco is <u>OUR</u> Father and Teacher!<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #512603; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">As a father Don Bosco reflects in a
special way the “fatherhood’ of God. All his life he displayed a father’s
heart. He said to his Salesians: ”<i>No
matter in what remote part of the world you may be, never forget that here in
Italy you have a father who loves you in the Lord”.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #512603; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">As a teacher Don Bosco reproduces some features of the Divine
Master, Jesus Christ, who has been his guide from the first dream at the age of
nine. Of Jesus Don Bosco incarnated certain aspects: gratitude for the gift of
vocation, predilection for the little ones, zeal in preaching and saving, the
gentleness and self-giving attitude of the Good shepherd. (C11)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #512603; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">Before being a teacher,
Don Bosco is a good disciple! He reflects Jesus in his life and points to Jesus
as the perfect model: “<i>He will always be
our Master, our Guide , our Model</i>”. Don Bosco is there with all his “<i>splendid blending of nature and grace …
deeply human and deeply the man of God … with a closely-knit life project, the
service of the young</i>”.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><br />
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #512603; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">2. Modeling myself after him </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #512603; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">When I
hear people saying of somebody: “<i>I admire
him</i>!”, my spontaneous reaction is: “<i>And
do you imitate him?”.</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #512603; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">Don Bosco is there not to be admired
only, but to be imitated!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #512603; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">All Don Bosco’s rich gifts of nature and
grace placed him at the service of a unique mission: the salvation of the
youth! He is a man with a fixed idea always in mind, which accompanied him from
the age of nine to the end of his life: save the young, and especially the
poorest of them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #512603; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">The great imitator of Don Bosco is Don
Rua, <i>“the most faithful son of Don
Bosco”.</i> The closeness to the master for many years helped him “to enter
into Don Bosco’s ideas, to give up his own views, his own opinions, to be
conformed” to Don Bosco’s ways of seeing things. The expression “<i>At Mirabello I shall try to be Don Bosco”</i>
sums up all his effort to copy the model. And the result is immediately seen.
After few months it has been written that “<i>Don
Rua at Mirabello is behaving like Don Bosco in Turin. He is always surrounded
by boys attracted by his friendliness...”</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #512603; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">To Don Rua apply the very words he said
of Don Bosco: “<i>He took no step, he said
no word, he took up no task that was not directed to the saving of the young.
Truly the only concern of his heart was for souls”.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<td><![endif]>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-line-height-alt:1.1pt'>
<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Eras Light ITC","sans-serif";
color:#632423;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Lord, we thank you for Don Bosco.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-line-height-alt:1.1pt'>
<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Eras Light ITC","sans-serif";
color:#632423;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>You have given him to us as our
Father and Teacher.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-line-height-alt:1.1pt'>
<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Eras Light ITC","sans-serif";
color:#632423;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>In him we celebrate the wonders of
your love,<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-line-height-alt:1.1pt'>
<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Eras Light ITC","sans-serif";
color:#632423;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>A splendid blend of nature and
grace,<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-line-height-alt:1.1pt'>
<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Eras Light ITC","sans-serif";
color:#632423;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>And an original style of life and
action in the service of the young.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-line-height-alt:1.1pt'>
<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Eras Light ITC","sans-serif";
color:#632423;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-line-height-alt:1.1pt'>
<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Eras Light ITC","sans-serif";
color:#632423;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Grant, we pray you,<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-line-height-alt:1.1pt'>
<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Eras Light ITC","sans-serif";
color:#632423;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>That following his teaching and
example<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-line-height-alt:1.1pt'>
<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Eras Light ITC","sans-serif";
color:#632423;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>And modeling ourselves after him<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-line-height-alt:1.1pt'>
<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Eras Light ITC","sans-serif";
color:#632423;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>We may bring him to life today in
ourselves<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-line-height-alt:1.1pt'>
<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Eras Light ITC","sans-serif";
color:#632423;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>By dedicating ourselves to you and
to our fellow men<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-line-height-alt:1.1pt'>
<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Eras Light ITC","sans-serif";
color:#632423;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>In faithful service given to young
people.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-line-height-alt:1.1pt'>
<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Eras Light ITC","sans-serif";
color:#632423;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-line-height-alt:1.1pt'>
<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Eras Light ITC","sans-serif";
color:#632423;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:
.0001pt;text-align:center;line-height:normal'>
<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal'><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Eras Light ITC","sans-serif";
color:#632423'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
</div>
<![if !mso]></td>
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</table>
<![endif]></v:textbox>
<w:wrap type="square" anchorx="margin" anchory="margin"/>
</v:roundrect><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #512603; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Don Bosco remains still the guide who can enlighten our choices today,
the model against whom we can measure our fidelity. His example is an
invitation to us to be resolute in our commitment, to unify all our thoughts,
strength and all we are in one and the same direction, a stimulus to fidelity
until death.</span></div>
AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-71931954103932982142012-05-24T01:32:00.000-07:002012-05-24T01:32:55.555-07:00We Believe....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">“Blessed is she who
believed”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQd-9PWSNrgGR5-a_DSNx3Rstm5baB9wC7BHm2CKg7B5yJ0t_aR4xywlEMgyLMNGhxgw4cl2QoCPe305fW31Z-7VW1qeU2YhHv3ImOvRQK7V8g5Xrwfi9iTl0GvLobwvV393drpkVKsXg/s1600/IMG_0018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQd-9PWSNrgGR5-a_DSNx3Rstm5baB9wC7BHm2CKg7B5yJ0t_aR4xywlEMgyLMNGhxgw4cl2QoCPe305fW31Z-7VW1qeU2YhHv3ImOvRQK7V8g5Xrwfi9iTl0GvLobwvV393drpkVKsXg/s320/IMG_0018.JPG" width="161" /></a><span style="color: #002060; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">It is
interesting how sometimes discoveries or insights happen because of an accident
or mistake. This is what happened to me;
I once had such an insight which really came about more through a mistake on my
part. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #002060; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">A number of
years ago I formed part of our Community in Tunisia, where we Salesians
run a school for seven hundred children
all of whom are Muslims, including the teaching staff. Being in a Muslim
country, there was no possibility of even mentioning the name of Jesus.
Therefore a title like <i>Mary Help of
Christians</i> may seem out of place in such a context. Tunis is also a French
speaking country and the title Mary Help of Christians is translated as<b><i> </i></b><em><i>Marie</i></em><b><i> </i></b><i>Secours<b> </b><em><i>des
Chrétiens</i></em><b>.</b></i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #002060; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Now here is
where my ignorance in French came in. The word <em><i>Chrétiens</i></em>,
sounds very much like the word <i>Credenti</i>
in Italian which means <i>believers</i>. I
used to say to myself what a wonderful idea to express the title <i>Mary Help of Christians</i> as <i>Mary
Help of Believers</i>. For indeed we are all believers, Muslims and Christian
alike, in the one true God and Mary helps us to deepen our faith. The challenge in today’s world is not so much
as the clash of civilizations or struggle between different faiths, but rather
the struggle against the systematic onslaught
by atheistic secularism seeking to obliterate any reference to God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #002060; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">So Mary is
truly a Help to those who believe. So many of our young people, when they
encounter this secular and materialistic environment, are taken over. In the
gospels, we see Mary being greeted by Elizabeth: “<i>Blessed is she who believed that what the Lord has said will come
true.” </i></span><i><span style="color: #002060; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Lk1:45</span></i><span style="color: #002060; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> She is the first one to believe, to ponder these things in her
heart. It is because of his disbelief
that Zechariah was struck dumb. Our lack of faith also makes us unable to
express ourselves, strikes us dumb and we find ourselves limited in expressing
and communicating ourselves. We on our part very often have to struggle in our
faith, a struggle so well expressed in the Gospel “<i>Yes Lord I do believe; help my unbelief.</i>” </span><i><span style="color: #002060; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Mk9:24</span></i><span style="color: #002060; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkrz14D6BmcHzD0yZzxCVQJRGBdwp03zveNGlM6v0UosujHxZFUoevP6LMNiwiMnx1HxfItOwcAHXflx0DSYMN90ikxfmxZ76Icwqd3qwf4NnD8vMuUnFE126Hmqf1mkOvZrRSa1XSaJY/s1600/we%252520believe%252520LOGO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkrz14D6BmcHzD0yZzxCVQJRGBdwp03zveNGlM6v0UosujHxZFUoevP6LMNiwiMnx1HxfItOwcAHXflx0DSYMN90ikxfmxZ76Icwqd3qwf4NnD8vMuUnFE126Hmqf1mkOvZrRSa1XSaJY/s320/we%252520believe%252520LOGO.jpg" width="320" /></a><b><span style="color: #002060; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">But if we do have faith, we can with Mary let our souls sore
high and proclaim with her: <i>“My soul
magnifies the Lord”. </i></span></b><b><i><span style="color: #002060; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Lk1:46</span></i></b><b><i><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #17365d; font-family: "Harlow Solid Italic"; font-size: 26.0pt;">Company
Motto<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #002060; text-align: justify;">Many companies and businesses nowadays have a mission
statement, a short phrase that captures what the company is all about. The
phrase is usually short and catchy, easy to memorize. In its simplicity it
communicates to all, both consumers as well as workers, reminding them what
their purpose is all about.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p>
</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #002060;">I would like to suggest that Don Bosco has given us such
a mission statement and we may not realize it. It has been staring us in the
face. What is this statement? Some identify it as ‘Honest citizens good
Christians’. This is indeed very true but it talks of what we want to achieve
in our students, and does not touch on what we ourselves are called to be. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #002060;">No, our mission statement given to us by Don Bosco is a phrase that has been staring us in the
face. And this is <i>Help of Christians</i>.
Yes <i>Mary Help of Christians</i> is a
personification of our Salesian Charism, our Salesian vocation, of our Salesian
identity. In Mary we see what are called to be and do. We are called to be a
help to all the young people that we meet to grow in their faith. This would
involve sharing our faith journey, at times our own struggles and doubts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #002060;">General Chapter XXIII was dedicated to this theme – <i>Educating young people to the Faith</i>.
Mary is the Help; she cannot but not be actively involved. Her immediate and
spontaneous reaction has been to set out in haste to help Elizabeth in her
need. At Cana she cannot but observe that they lacked wine and she could not
but intervene. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6RVjRqUy-4zlIbIZP02NjoqpnP61xooLnUOn3scLFOhHBIfXqJk0LqZNSqSAedgHzh2I7Iap42zrC7USUQJ4Jqk37Pvj-4QCHeDJZEL_7CodYzW0ExfCgEWHIPBlpcDF0Ytt_ivO1Jz4/s1600/_42756681_prayer_body_203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6RVjRqUy-4zlIbIZP02NjoqpnP61xooLnUOn3scLFOhHBIfXqJk0LqZNSqSAedgHzh2I7Iap42zrC7USUQJ4Jqk37Pvj-4QCHeDJZEL_7CodYzW0ExfCgEWHIPBlpcDF0Ytt_ivO1Jz4/s400/_42756681_prayer_body_203.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #002060;"><br />We too are called to be a help, and in Mary we find a
model. Devotion to Mary help of Christians will help us to grow and be affirmed
in our vocation. As the Immaculate one she reminds of our consecration giving
ourselves totally to God. As Help of Christians she reminds of the zeal we have
to have for souls. Da Mihi Animas. </span></div>
<br />
</div>AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-77038938256662844172012-04-15T03:11:00.000-07:002012-04-29T13:10:17.335-07:00Easter People<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk-7pALomfYjHfrGw9yEoPAO-AvBc9gpQtsukUWvkM8WhORJksPlL4JP84g_ZewzPEX4DncQD0q3l4GETbEHe9IV8eFnkDvZ6SmVUH9WSHJtD8iTu0cVsrCBCXSV910CWPtXJy4qvxNZk/s1600/emmaus1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk-7pALomfYjHfrGw9yEoPAO-AvBc9gpQtsukUWvkM8WhORJksPlL4JP84g_ZewzPEX4DncQD0q3l4GETbEHe9IV8eFnkDvZ6SmVUH9WSHJtD8iTu0cVsrCBCXSV910CWPtXJy4qvxNZk/s200/emmaus1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<i><span style="color: #512603; letter-spacing: -0.2pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our spirituality is an Easter spirituality! It
is marked by joy and optimism permeated by the peace of the Risen Lord. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
<i><span style="color: #512603;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was Easter Sunday, 12<sup>th</sup> April of 1846 when Don
Bosco moved with his young people to the Pinardi shed. This was to be their
permanent home after five years of
wandering from one place to another.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<i><span style="color: #512603;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For Don Bosco this was a
truly Easter experience; only the week before he was desperate;<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0.1in; margin-right: 0.1in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<h3>
</h3>
<h4 style="line-height: 80%;">
<br />
<ul>
<li><i style="line-height: 80%;"><span style="color: #512603; font-weight: normal; line-height: 80%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">< I said nothing at
all, but everybody knew how troubled and worried I was… I withdrew to one side,
and as I walked alone I began to cry, perhaps for the first time. As I walked I
looked up to heaven and cried out, "My God, why don't you show me where
you want me to gather these children? Oh, let me know! Oh, show me what I must
do!" > </span></span></i></li>
</ul>
</h4>
<br />
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<i><span style="color: #512603;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When all seemed hopeless,
God provided, and by the following Sunday, which was Easter, they were settled
in their new place. It was fitting therefore for Don Bosco to be canonized on
Easter Sunday 1934. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<i><span style="color: #512603;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our reflections this
month help us to enter more fully into this Easter spirit of joy in action. Mary Magdalene highlights the feminine role in
proclaiming the Easter joy, a joy reflected in that of Mary Mazzarello in Mornese.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<i><span style="color: #512603; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">CONFORT</span><b style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </b></span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #512603; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #512603; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></i><br />
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<i><span style="color: #512603; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Resurrection stories of these Easter
days come from the early communities that are proclaiming the Good News with
joy and thanks. They have had this intimate transforming encounter with the Lord whose tomb is empty
as is every tomb who tries to claim us in death because love is stronger than
death. The tomb henceforth becomes the
womb of new and eternal life<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #512603; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">This awareness and understanding for them
as for us gradually unfolds. The cloud
of unknowing is slowly and patiently lifted and stranger is recognized as
friend.In this context he reveals
himself in word and gesture. Familiarity occurs as bread is broken, names are called in love, empty tombs are searched, burning hearts are
felt, nets are cast again, lakeside
breakfast served, peace breath is felt
and wounds are touched. All is the same yet everything is totally changed. His
appearances empowered and transformed them. As Easter people they understood
themselves and embraced their birthright and new identity as Children of the
Living God, free to be witnesses and proclaimers of Gods life-giving love for
all.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #512603; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">These Easter days are our</span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <i><span style="color: #512603;">Emmaus journey.
Just as we grapple with the reality of death we also struggle with the mystery
and reality of life after death.</span></i></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><i><o:p></o:p></i><br />
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<i><span style="color: #512603; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Dietrich Bonheoffer said <b>“There is meaning in every journey
that is unknown to the traveler”</b>
Some wonder if Resurrection ever happened,</span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <i><span style="color: #512603;">others experience and live it every day and invite us to
have eyes to see and ears to hear. May these days help us to let go of our
foolishness and slowness of heart and have eyes of Faith.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #512603; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Easter experience and journey</span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <i><span style="color: #512603;">changed the first
disciples radically. It affected and effected their discipleship.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #512603; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Let the risen lord be the source of</span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <i><span style="color: #512603;">our joy</span></i>
<i><span style="color: #512603;">and life the
place for joy. </span></i></span><i><span style="color: #512603; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">[Pope Benedict Theme for WYD27.] </span></i><i><span style="color: #512603; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Let us</span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <i><span style="color: #512603;">with all creation be joyful proclaimer's and witnesses to
the breaking of eternity into the ordinariness of our lives. <b>Alleluia</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; color: #913533; font-family: 'Lucida Handwriting'; font-size: 10pt;">Questions for Personal & Community Reflection <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #0b5394;">As disciples and companions on the
journey what are our conversations on the road? <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">+ What happens to us as the word and bread
is broken? <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">+ Do we cling and get stuck? <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: #d9ead3;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">+ Who are the angels that challenge us not to seek the</span></span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"> living among the dead?</span><span style="color: #512603;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Copperplate Gothic Bold', sans-serif; font-size: 22pt;"><br />The Secret of our Joy<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<b style="text-align: right; text-indent: -0.3in;"><i><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Lucida Handwriting';"><span style="color: #cc0000;"> The Feminine Dimension </span></span></i></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: #00b050; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Jesus dead and risen.</span></b><b><span style="color: #00b050; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Mary Magdalene</span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">-</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.3in;">I remember that morning. With the other
women, my sisters, I went to the tomb. Jesus was not there. We ran to the Upper
Room as the angel told us. But my heart was sad. We hadn't seen him. The desire
to see him burnt in our heart. Then, there in the garden, I heard his voice: </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.3in;">"Mary!"</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.3in;"> Called by name, I had
no further doubts: </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.3in;">"Master!"</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I had gone with oil to anoint the dead and instead I had met the
Living Lord. And so began a radically new experience, because the Lord takes
you out of your narrow sense of security and sends you forth, if you trust his
word.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">It was like getting to know him all over again: he went ahead of
us and sometimes we had difficulty in recognising him in the signs of His
presence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">So we learnt to seek him in the Eucharist, in the word, in the
poor, in the community and in the whole world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #00b050; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In him is the source of joy and of
peace</span></b><b><span style="color: #00b050; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Fear gripped us now and then. But his word guided us and his
promise resounded in our lives: <i>"I
will send you my Spirit ... and he will lead you to the truth." "I
will be with you always".</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Risen Lord alive through the power of the Spirit, was the
source of our life, our joy and our peace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Every day
the community lived in the certainty that his love had gone before them: our
experience of him enabled us to see his face when he met us in daily
situations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #00b050; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Jesus was our whole strength, the centre of our lives</span></b><b><span style="color: #00b050; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Mother Mazzarello</span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> - We were poor and
uneducated. But Jesus was our life. It was he who called us to dedicate
ourselves full time and with all our love to the girls of Mornese.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">We were laughed at, because we poor peasant
girls aspired to be spouses of Christ. We were really sure that Jesus loved us,
that he was our only purpose in life. He was the source of our joy. For this
reason burdens became light, difficulties were overcome with serenity, poverty
gave us the opportunity to say: <i>"Jesus,
I love you!"</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The fire of love was kept alive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.donboscowest.org/salesian_family/salfam_reader/groups/fma/gc20_fma/gcxx_jesus_walked.htm"><span style="color: #00b050; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br />This
was the secret of our contagious joy</span></a><span style="color: #00b050; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: #913533; font-family: 'Lucida Handwriting';"><span style="background-color: #d9ead3;">Questions for Personal & Community Reflection </span><span style="background-color: #b6dde8;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">What made our hearts burn?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394;">In our communities we are enlightening and nourishing our life
with the Word and the Eucharist, sure that the deepest level of our existence<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> lies beyond the many things that fill
our days.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><i>We all - religious communities and the young - have a great
thirst for authenticity, a great heartfelt wish to be unified in our lives. We
feel that our world is hungry for something more; that dissatisfaction and lack
of sense have given birth to a new desire for God</i><i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></i><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings;">v<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
</span></span><i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">What burnt in your
hearts as you walked beside the Risen Jesus?</span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings;">v<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
</span></span><i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">And where do we find
answers to the questions which multiply and disturb us?</span></i></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-64052220870718276642012-02-15T03:39:00.000-08:002012-04-29T03:46:37.259-07:00Holiness & Community<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #512603;">Our
constitutions affirms that: </span><i><span style="color: #274e13;">To live and
work together is for us Salesians a fundamental requirement and a sure way of
fulfilling our vocation… c49</span></i></span><i><span style="color: #512603; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #512603; font-size: 12pt;">Indeed
community life is one of our richest dimensions which Don Bosco cherished so
much and yet one of the most challenging aspects of our vocation to live out<i>.</i> Very often basic skills of interaction,
together with a nourishment from our rich<i>
</i>Christian and Salesian traditions
can be a source of transformation of our life together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #512603; font-size: 12pt;">Here
we offer some reflections and quotes on community life and prayer which hopefully
will be helpful to trigger off a process of dialogue and reflection.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“Dear Salesians, …be saints!<br />As you well know, holiness is your principal task.” JP II</span></h3>
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<b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">Holiness
is the demanding way that together we want to follow in our communities; </span></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">it is
“the most precious gift we can offer to the young” </span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: x-small;">(C 25)</span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">;</span></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;"><b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> it is the highest
goal that, with courage, we can set for all.</span></i></b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></i></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Pascual Chaves</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #783f04;">The
community expresses in a visible manner <br />
the mystery of the Church… </span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #783f04;">In praying,
the Salesian community responds to this call… </span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #783f04;">making its own Don Bosco’s prayer: </span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #783f04;">“Da mihi animas, cetera tolle”. C85</span><span style="color: #512603;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #073763;">Prayer as the Language of the Community<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Prayer
is the language of the Christian community. By prayer, community is created as
well as expressed. Prayer is first of all the realization of God's presence in
the midst of God's people and, therefore, the realization of the community
itself. Most clear and most noticeable are the words, the gestures, and the
silence through which the community is formed. When we listen to the word, we
not only receive insight into God's saving work, but we also experience a new
mutual bond. When we stand around the altar, eat bread and drink wine, kneel in
meditation, or walk in procession, we not only remember God's work in human
history, but we also become aware of God's creative presence here and now. When
we sit together in silent prayer, we create a space where we sense that the One
we are waiting for is already touching us, as that One touched Elijah standing
in front of the cave (1 Kings 19:13).</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Prayer as the language of the community
is like our original tongue. Just as children learn to speak from their
parents, brothers, sisters, and friends but still develop their own unique
ways of expressing themselves, so also our individual prayer life develops by
the care of the praying community. Sometimes it is hard to point to any
specific organizational structure which we can call "our community".
Our community is often a very intangible reality made up of people, living as
well as dead, present as well as absent, close as well as distant, old as well
as young. But without some form of community individual prayer cannot be born
or developed. Communal and individual prayer belong together as two folded
hands. Without community, individual prayer easily degenerates into egocentric
and eccentric behaviour, but without individual prayer, the prayer of the
community quickly becomes a meaningless routine. Individual and community
prayer cannot be separated without harm.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> Reaching Out</span>- <i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Henri Nouwen </span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #7f6000;"><b><i><span style="font-family: 'Kristen ITC'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Community Life shows
us that it is possible to live as brothers and Sisters, and to be united when
coming from different ethnic and racial backgrounds. It can and must enable
people to see and believe that today in Africa, those men and women who follow Christ
Jesus find in him the secret of living happily together: mutual love and
fraternal communion, strengthened daily by t the Eucharist and the liturgy of
the hours. </span></i></b><b><i><span style="font-family: 'Kristen ITC'; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">Africae Munus 117</span></i></b></span><b><i><span style="color: #401e02; font-family: 'Kristen ITC'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #073763;">Obedience as a Communal
Vocation<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
We must recognize that obedience, as an attentive listening to God, is very much a communal vocation. It is precisely by constant prayer and meditation that the community remains alert and open to the needs of the world. Left to ourselves, we might easily begin to idolize our particular form or style of ministry and so turn our service into a personal hobby. But when we come together regularly to listen to the word of God and to celebrate God's presence in our midst, we stay alert to God's guiding voice and move away from the comfortable places to unknown territories. When we perceive obedience as primarily a characteristic of the community itself relationships between different members of a community can become much more gentle. We also realize then that together we want to discern God's will for us and make our service a response to God's compassionate presence in our midst.<br />
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<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">The Model of the Christian
Community</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">Elizabeth and Mary came together [in Luke
1:39-56] and enabled each other to wait. Mary's visit made Elizabeth aware of
what she was waiting for…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">That is what prayer is all about. It is
coming together around the promise. That is what celebration is all about. It
is lifting up what is already there. That is what Eucharist is about. It is
saying Thanks" for the seed that has been planted. It is saying: "We
are waiting for the Lord, who has already come."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">The whole meaning of the Christian community
lies in offering a space in which we wait for what we have already seen,
Christian community is the place where we keep the flame alive among us and
take it seriously, so that it can grow and become in us.</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Handwriting';"><span style="background-color: #d9ead3;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Questions for Personal & Community Reflection </span></span><span style="background-color: #b6dde8; color: #913533; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The community is a reflection of the mystery of the
Trinity: there we find a response to the
deep aspirations of the heart, and we become for the young signs of love and
unity. C49<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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</span></span><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; color: #0b5394;">Do I feel that I am
called by God and by the young to become holy</span></span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">·<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #d9ead3; color: #0b5394;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Wingdings;">v<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Are we convinced that “the first educative
service that the young need from us is the witness of a fraternal life”?</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #d9ead3;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Wingdings;">v<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Individually,
and as a community, are we convinced that holiness “is the most valuable gift
we can offer to the young” (C 25)? </span></i></span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: #0b5394; color: windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-15094912882299038272012-01-15T04:01:00.000-08:002012-04-29T04:06:42.294-07:00Our Salesian Roots<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="color: #512603; font-size: 10pt;">January is a special month for us
Salesians for we celebrate the feasts of
our Founder St John Bosco as well as that of our Patron St Francis of Sales,
whom Don Bosco took as his model. These two great saints lived out that
Salesian spirituality which was forged in their daily life as pastors. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #512603; font-size: 10pt;">Both saints used writing as a means of
reaching all categories of people to guide them in their spiritual life and
help them live a more authentic Christian life. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #512603; font-size: 10pt;">These Animation </span></i><span style="color: #512603; font-size: 10pt;">Notes<i>
are an initiative of CONFORT, </i></span><i><span style="color: #512603; font-size: 9pt;">(CIVAM Ongoing Formation Team)</span></i><i><span style="color: #512603; font-size: 10pt;">
with the aim of helping in the on-going formation
process of confreres and Communities. We know how very often the demands of the
apostolate take up so much of our time. We hope that</span></i><i><span style="color: #632423; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></i><i><span style="color: #512603; font-size: 10pt;">these
Notes will help you remain in touch with the spiritual dimension of our active
involvement in the apostolate. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #512603; font-size: 10pt;">We have taken Philip Rinaldi’s simple
but profound insight into the spirituality of D Bosco – <b>Union with God amidst so much business </b>–as the mission statement of
this initiative. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #512603; font-size: 10pt;"><b>CONFORT </b><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #512603; font-size: 10pt;"><b><br /></b></span></i></div>
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<b><span style="color: #1e702c; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">John Bosco and Francis of Sales<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Vital ‘Salesian' affinities.
</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Don Bosco tells us that he
was attracted by two essential aspects of the moral and spiritual characteristics
of Francis de Sales: </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 9.5pt;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">his apostolic energy, his
zeal for the salvation of souls, his defence of the truth, his fidelity to the
Church; and <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 9.5pt;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">the Christ-like gentleness
that imbued his zeal: his charming manner, his patience, his extraordinary
sensitivity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhldw7cx-pCVX1F2ox5xH44OevefCMgetHzve7dsAHZZPz1CSwd1JZEketH3lv9EbJbr3WHpJzBQRofmgoO_UPo0G40xxrg-OgJlSYT1bKm4I0JygN7-993mgB9KC_zNPQUD7VzLcAL_7Q/s1600/St+Francis+de+Sales.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhldw7cx-pCVX1F2ox5xH44OevefCMgetHzve7dsAHZZPz1CSwd1JZEketH3lv9EbJbr3WHpJzBQRofmgoO_UPo0G40xxrg-OgJlSYT1bKm4I0JygN7-993mgB9KC_zNPQUD7VzLcAL_7Q/s200/St+Francis+de+Sales.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">The vital source of both
these qualities is a deep, solid and decisive conviction, namely, that love is
the totality of God and the totality of man. Thus it is possible to group the
affinities found in our two saints under the three following aspects. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Staunch pastoral character.
</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">The first characteristic
that both saints shared was their pastoral nature… Francis was an intellectual,
a writer, a theologian - but first and foremost he was a bishop…. He was a man
of many talents, and consecrated himself heart and soul to his duties and
responsibilities as bishop. He was utterly selfless and never failed to give
his all to his flock… As befitted a good shepherd he dedicated himself
tirelessly to celebrate, sanctify and govern always for the good of his people,
regardless of their social standing. All his writings were inspired by his episcopal
activities. It was as a bishop that he guided so many <i>Philotheas</i> and <i>Theotimuses</i>
along the path of devotion, and founded the Congregation of the Visitation. He
wore himself out in his total dedication to this active apostolate, in
accordance with his episcopal motto: <i>Chosen
by God, assigned to his people.</i></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;"><i> </i></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="height: 219px; left: 0px; margin-left: -250px; margin-top: 129px; position: absolute; width: 261px; z-index: 251654656;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">As for Don Bosco, his priesthood demanded an
heroic preparation. It permeated and defined his whole life. He never wished to
be anything other than a priest, everywhere and always - charismatically
oriented towards the young, especially those in need. His aim was not to be an
educator who happened to be a priest, but a priest who exercised his priesthood
in the educative mission. It was as a priest that he approached the young and
led them to Jesus and to eternal life; it was as a priest that he founded the
three Families of his co-workers and disciples and extended his apostolate to
the mission fields. Like Francis, he too lived and wore himself out in his
untiring zeal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">In the hearts of our two saints
there burned the same passion for souls, the same pastoral charity that
impelled them both towards the direct and creative apostolate…</span></div>
Both were
assiduous in spreading the Word in simple, imaginative and popular language;
both catechised with conviction, both were keen writers albeit in different
areas of teaching. Both spent long hours in the confessional and in spiritual
direction; both were noted for their friendliness and deep concern for
educative and Christian guidance - each according to his own special <o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">vocation. Both were religious founders and
taught others to walk the path of sanctity…</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Doctrinal conviction
founded on love. </span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">In 1939 Bishop Lavallée,
Rector of the Catholic Faculty at Lyons, thus expressed his understanding of
the affinity of the two saints: `<i>The
relationship between Francis de Sales and John Bosco is evidenced in their
common aim: they tackled the evils that afflict humanity with the miraculous
weapon of charity’ </i></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">In the 16th century
Francis, and in the 19th century John Bosco, both faced a period of cultural,
social and religious crisis. For Francis there was the <i>Renaissance</i> and the Council of Trent; for John Bosco there was the <i>Risorgimento</i> and the beginning of the
Industrial Revolution. Both had to cope with the distorted vision of mankind
proposed by Calvinistic pessimism (in the time of Francis), and Jansenism (in
the time of John Bosco). Their weapon was that they envisaged mankind and human
affairs as optimistic and open to the future. They were both divinely inspired
to centre their convictions on the most positive and decisive reality that
exists: <b>LOVE</b>, which is the totality
of God and must become the totality of man. <i>This
is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you... He who
loves remains in God and God remains in him... God is love, and he who abides
in love abides in God, and God abides in him.</i> Our two saints never ceased
to meditate and live these words… Francis, like St Augustine, was called the `<i>Doctor of love'</i>, and Don Bosco was
called by Pius XI a `<i>giant in charity'</i>…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'PGPPDL+LucidaSans', sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Salesian pastoral attitudes. </span></b><span style="font-family: 'PGPPCF+LucidaSans', sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Charity for our two saints was not only the beginning and the end.
It constituted the actual way they toiled and fulfilled their pastoral work,
the actual means and the actual form of their apostolate. The bishop, the
priest, the educator, must above all else love `<i>with deeds and in truth'</i><sup><span style="position: relative; top: -5pt;"> </span></sup>those to whom he is sent. Before
being translated into action, the apostolate must be a personal relationship of
love; indeed every activity not suggested by love is doomed to failure. This
conviction prompted Frances de Sales and John Bosco to exhibit a number of
attitudes that could be called typically `Salesian'…</span><span style="font-family: 'PGPPDL+LucidaSans', sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'PGPPCF+LucidaSans', sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">In every good shepherd who loves his sheep and
seeks to be loved by them so as to lead them the more easily to God, there is a
very special relationship, which Don Bosco summed up in his well known term `<i>kindliness'</i> - in other words, an
infinite respect for each person, including the poorest of the poor, and the
least likeable ones. The opening gambit must be a pleasant welcoming smile, a
kindness that tries in all humility to be affable, a sense of humour, infinite
patience and forbearance in the face of faults and ingratitude, and an
invitation to friendship. In this way Francis de Sales and John Bosco surrounded
themselves with an aura of extraordinary pleasantness and congeniality. <i>(Aubrey - Pamphlet on don Bosco and Francis
of Sales)</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: #913533; font-family: 'Lucida Handwriting';">Questions for Personal & Community Reflection <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'PGPPCF+LucidaSans', sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #0b5394;">Do we as a community reflect on present day realities and discern the signs of the times as to how God is calling us to respond in our pastoral ministry?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'PGPPCF+LucidaSans', sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #0b5394;">Have we imbibed by the same zeal and love as Don Bosco and Francis of Sales?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'PGPPCF+LucidaSans', sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #0b5394;">Do I live out my Salesian vocation with a sense of optimism, reflecting the joy and kindliness of our founder and of our patron?</span></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-2388966926964935302011-05-07T13:26:00.000-07:002011-05-07T13:26:42.027-07:00Vocation of the Pope<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Fr Roy often sent e-mails to Confreres with <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>links which he thought would of particular interest to them. One of the last links that he sent out was to the following article about the Pope’s own youthful days; Fr Roy saw the possibilities that the Pope’s own testimony had in vocation animation of our young people. Being so close to Vocation Sunday and also as we bid our last farewell to Fr Roy as a Province, let us reflect on it at a personal level and use it in our ministry. </span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 90%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: right;"><br />
</div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: right;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #632423; font-family: "Lucida Handwriting"; font-size: 12pt;">My dear <br />
brother Salesians,</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: right;"><span style="color: #632423; font-family: "Lucida Handwriting"; font-size: 12pt;">I am forwarding the latest article of Sandro Magister about Pope Benedict's 'confessions' about his early days, which were included in his message for World Youth Day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think they could be useful in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">youth ministry</b> and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">vocation promotion</b> …</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #632423; font-family: "Bradley Hand ITC"; font-size: 14pt;"></span></b></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 90%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: right;"><br />
</div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #632423; font-family: "Edwardian Script ITC"; font-size: 28pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Roy</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #632423; font-family: "Edwardian Script ITC"; font-size: 28pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><shapetype coordsize="21600,21600" filled="f" id="_x0000_t75" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" stroked="f"><stroke joinstyle="miter"></stroke><formulas><f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"></f><f eqn="sum @0 1 0"></f><f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"></f><f eqn="prod @2 1 2"></f><f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"></f><f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"></f><f eqn="sum @0 0 1"></f><f eqn="prod @6 1 2"></f><f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"></f><f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"></f><f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"></f><f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"></f></formulas><path gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect" o:extrusionok="f"></path><lock aspectratio="t" v:ext="edit"></lock></shapetype><shape id="_x0000_s1028" style="height: 93.6pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 101.2pt; position: absolute; width: 86.4pt; z-index: 251660288;" type="#_x0000_t75"><strong><imagedata o:title="joseph_ratzinger-as-a-kid" src="file:///C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.jpg"></imagedata><wrap type="square"></wrap></strong></shape><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ROME,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> September 6, 2010 –Benedict XVI released a message unusually rich in autobiographical details.<br />
<br />
It is the message for the World Youth Day that will be held in Madrid in August of 2011. It is a text plainly written by the pope himself, a concise summary of his vision. From the God lost to the God who makes himself near again in Jesus. A Jesus whom it is possible to "touch" in the sacraments of the Church.<br />
<br />
It is a text that demands to be read in its entirety. But to begin, here are the three passages in which pope Joseph Ratzinger talks about himself, about his childhood during Nazism and the war, about the blossoming of his vocation to the priesthood, about the birth of the idea of writing a book about Jesus: "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">almost to help to see, hear, touch the Lord.</i>"</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: right;"><strong>by Sandro Magister</strong></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 3pt; mso-outline-level: 2;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 3pt; mso-outline-level: 2;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><strong>The Confessions of the Young Ratzinger</strong></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMSQj9XjSydSP7OK_RiglOH0WNyiATGYKewa07Lc5zdt4IVRBe63MCWcsXjb1lIzzrnG4GJxf-oxPrTtglUXA1zuAuMcV9dXR7MAiRvc8oB5b8xy8rZKLXRegyj9dTCV_q537HXorP7lk/s1600/joseph_ratzinger-as-a-kid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMSQj9XjSydSP7OK_RiglOH0WNyiATGYKewa07Lc5zdt4IVRBe63MCWcsXjb1lIzzrnG4GJxf-oxPrTtglUXA1zuAuMcV9dXR7MAiRvc8oB5b8xy8rZKLXRegyj9dTCV_q537HXorP7lk/s200/joseph_ratzinger-as-a-kid.jpg" width="183" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 9.0pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZndeb5kicJrHhzjDFU_49U0ObWiKxLOauEtGd3ZKr-1_PbsC-dWG5XYtPf3oBY-t8k8Ie2LjuY3-tGVUaI14O7R6Jb-qulJfTHC7xpYYtrZRJBPFMyxQoW6MwqPNHl9d6mcH3acl4HWY/s1600/JRportrait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZndeb5kicJrHhzjDFU_49U0ObWiKxLOauEtGd3ZKr-1_PbsC-dWG5XYtPf3oBY-t8k8Ie2LjuY3-tGVUaI14O7R6Jb-qulJfTHC7xpYYtrZRJBPFMyxQoW6MwqPNHl9d6mcH3acl4HWY/s320/JRportrait.jpg" width="246" /></a></div><shape id="_x0000_s1027" style="height: 119.65pt; margin-left: -0.3pt; margin-top: 49.95pt; position: absolute; width: 79.2pt; z-index: 251657216;" type="#_x0000_t75"><strong><imagedata o:title="1113936860_8061" src="file:///C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image003.jpg"></imagedata><wrap type="square"></wrap></strong></shape>The three autobiographical passages included by Benedict XVI in the message for the World Youth Day <br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DURING NAZISM AND THE WAR</span></strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
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[...] In thinking of my own youth, I realize that stability and security are not the questions that most occupy the minds of young people. True enough, it is important to have a job and thus to have firm ground beneath our feet, yet the years of our youth are also a time when we are seeking to get the most out of life.<br />
<br />
When I think back on that time, I remember above all that we were not willing to settle for a conventional middle-class life. We wanted something great, something new. We wanted to discover life itself, in all its grandeur and beauty. Naturally, part of that was due to the times we lived in. During the Nazi dictatorship and the war, we were, so to speak, “hemmed in” by the dominant power structure. So we wanted to break out into the open, to experience the whole range of human possibilities.<br />
<br />
I think that, to some extent, this urge to break out of the ordinary is present in every generation. <strong>Part of being young is desiring something beyond everyday life</strong> and a secure job, a yearning for something really truly greater. Is this simply an empty dream that fades away as we become older? No! Men and women were created for something great, for infinity. Nothing else will ever be enough. Saint Augustine was right when he said “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you</i>”. [...]<br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">THE CALL TO THE PRIESTHOOD</span></strong><br />
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[...] There is a moment, when we are young, when each of us wonders: what meaning does my life have? What purpose and direction should I give to it? This is a very important moment, and it can worry us, perhaps for some time. We start wondering about the kind of work we should take up, the kind of relationships we should establish, the friendships we should cultivate...<br />
<br />
Here, once more, I think of my own youth. I was somehow aware quite early on that the Lord wanted me to be a priest. Then later, after the war, when I was in the seminary and at university on the way towards that goal, I had to recapture that certainty. <strong>I had to ask myself: is this really the path I was meant to take? Is this really God’s will for me? Will I be able to remain faithful to him and completely at his service?</strong> A decision like this demands a certain struggle. It cannot be otherwise. But then came the certainty: this is the right thing! Yes, the Lord wants me, and he will give me strength. If I listen to him and walk with him, I become truly myself. What counts is not the fulfilment of my desires, but of his will. In this way life becomes authentic. [...]<br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">WHY THE BOOK ABOUT JESUS</span></strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
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[...] In the Gospel we find a description of the Apostle Thomas’s experience of faith when he accepted the mystery of the Cross and resurrection of Christ. Thomas was one of the twelve Apostles. He followed Jesus and was an eyewitness of his healings and miracles. He listened to his words, and he experienced dismay at Jesus’ death. That Easter evening when the Lord appeared to the disciples, Thomas was not present. When he was told that Jesus was alive and had shown himself, Thomas stated: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe” (Jn 20:25).<br />
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<strong>We too want to be able to see Jesus</strong>, to speak with him and to feel his presence even more powerfully. For many people today, it has become difficult to approach Jesus. There are so many images of Jesus in circulation which, while claiming to be scientific, detract from his greatness and the uniqueness of his person. That is why, after many years of study and reflection, I thought of sharing something of my own personal encounter with Jesus by writing a book. It was a way to help others see, hear and touch the Lord in whom God came to us in order to make himself known. <br />
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Jesus himself, when he appeared again to his disciples a week later, said to Thomas: “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe” (Jn 20:27). We too can have tangible contact with Jesus and put our hand, so to speak, upon the signs of his Passion, the signs of his love. It is in the sacraments that he draws particularly near to us and gives himself to us. Dear young people, <strong>learn to “see” and to “meet” Jesus in the Eucharist</strong>, where he is present and close to us, and even becomes food for our journey. In the sacrament of Penance the Lord reveals his mercy and always grants us his forgiveness. <strong>Recognize and serve Jesus in the poor,</strong> the sick, and in our brothers and sisters who are in difficulty and in need of help. [...]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br />
</div>AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-82278125457337847612011-03-18T16:12:00.000-07:002011-03-18T16:12:55.061-07:00St Joseph song - How could it be?<div style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyYl74KmWNKGrZ5ujJsF0ohuXFResDiG5UXta6-SRjy6dCLWOBJeJoBJPpJhcYzTXGxzMuAwucTU6Oc3iU8tJbn8BY8UQ0ZQFFjm3HUgTAObYOpTReFOX0Ww7wt449dUfIatW8lqCdPpg/s1600/imagesCAO2V8HY.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyYl74KmWNKGrZ5ujJsF0ohuXFResDiG5UXta6-SRjy6dCLWOBJeJoBJPpJhcYzTXGxzMuAwucTU6Oc3iU8tJbn8BY8UQ0ZQFFjm3HUgTAObYOpTReFOX0Ww7wt449dUfIatW8lqCdPpg/s320/imagesCAO2V8HY.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial;">To you, O blessed <b>Joseph</b>,<br />
do we come in our tribulation,<br />
and having implored the help of your most holy spouse,<br />
we confidently invoke your patronage also.</span><br />
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial;">Through that charity which bound you to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God and through the paternal love with which you embraced the Child Jesus,<br />
we humbly beg you graciously to regard the inheritance which Jesus Christ has purchased by his Blood,<br />
and with your power and strength to aid us in our necessities.</span><br />
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial;">O most watchful Guardian of the Holy Family, defend the chosen children of Jesus Christ;<br />
O most loving father,<br />
ward off from us every contagion of error and corrupting influence;<br />
O our most mighty protector,<br />
be propitious to us and from heaven assist us in our struggle with the power of darkness;<br />
and, as once you rescued the Child Jesus from deadly peril, so now protect God?s Holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity;<br />
shield, too, each one of us by your constant protection,<br />
so that, supported by your example and your aid, we may be able to live piously, to die holily, and to obtain eternal happiness in heaven. Amen.</span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://3.gvt0.com/vi/qvxo_hvlwZs/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qvxo_hvlwZs&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qvxo_hvlwZs&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><br />
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<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #984806; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 128;">How could it be this baby in my arms <br />
Sleeping now, so peacefully <br />
<a href="http://www.christmas-songs.org/songs/of_the_fathers_love_begotten.html" title="Of The Father's Love Begotten"><span style="color: #984806; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 128; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">The Son of God</span></a>, <a href="http://www.christmas-songs.org/songs/the_angel_gabriel.html" title="The Angel Gabriel"><span style="color: #984806; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 128; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">the angel said</span></a> <br />
How could it be? </span></b></div><div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #984806; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 128;">Lord, I know He's not my own <br />
Not of my flesh, not of my bone <br />
Still Father let this baby be <br />
The son of my love.</span></b></div><div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #984806; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 128;">Father, show me where I fit into this plan of yours <br />
How can a man be father to the Son of God? <br />
Lord, for all my life I've been a simple carpenter <br />
How can I raise a king? <br />
How can I raise a king? </span></b></div><div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #984806; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 128;">He looks so small<br />
His face and hands so fair <br />
And when He cries, the sun just seems to disappear <br />
But when He laughs, it shines again <br />
How could it be?</span></b></div><div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #984806; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 128;">Father, show me where I fit into this plan of yours <br />
How can a man be father to the Son of God? <br />
Lord, for all my life I've been a simple carpenter <br />
How can I raise a king? <br />
How can I raise a king? </span></b></div><div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #984806; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 128;">How could it be this baby in my arms <br />
<a href="http://www.christmas-songs.org/songs/little_jesus_sweetly_sleep.html" title="Little Jesus, Sweetly Sleep"><span style="color: #984806; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 128; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Sleeping now, so peacefully</span></a> <br />
The Son of God, the angel said <br />
How could it be? <br />
How could it be?</span></b></div><div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjocoR9AGhB7coNJdPBn49aqtHRMmF0Vo0dmpTG977cNBvFFu0vio4okIuP2vp34UjE40uHBFatO1xu5NQg84MNIgn9GO05b_XZ5143GYjqNn6gcpyIIKxiGAKJw4GaDomyN5z-yPbrVIA/s1600/Joseph-%2526-Jesus-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjocoR9AGhB7coNJdPBn49aqtHRMmF0Vo0dmpTG977cNBvFFu0vio4okIuP2vp34UjE40uHBFatO1xu5NQg84MNIgn9GO05b_XZ5143GYjqNn6gcpyIIKxiGAKJw4GaDomyN5z-yPbrVIA/s400/Joseph-%2526-Jesus-1.jpg" width="365" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #984806; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 128;">Michael Card</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #984806; font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 128;"></span></b></div>AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-17389686182751666432011-02-09T16:18:00.000-08:002011-02-09T16:18:00.503-08:00St Paul's Shipwreck - something to celebrate.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><em><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The 10th of February is a special day on the island of Malta, for on that day people celebrate the feast of the shipwreck of St Paul. this occured in the year 60 AD and is recoreded in the last chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Last year was the 1950th annivesary of this event and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRZ3P1L_ktw">Pope Benedict XVI visited the island</a> to mark the occasion. Here we bring some extracts from his homily; these were delivered when the Pope himself was experiencing a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOSUBdLuUbw">his own storm</a> in the media.</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiDVl0RsQVg-7NI-GLX3RXdzJAbwOod-tuhPRwTvkaH6yViL_V9qGmEzfXzv0XsSY31BXgB-xxFEsX9aVQ9UtirGTMu-R52xBV7_MaSYDmk-WAL6JTZog4n_A67uIQSOQxKHZAOlj94YA/s1600/12292_120148587996135_100000029831282_285424_4670625_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiDVl0RsQVg-7NI-GLX3RXdzJAbwOod-tuhPRwTvkaH6yViL_V9qGmEzfXzv0XsSY31BXgB-xxFEsX9aVQ9UtirGTMu-R52xBV7_MaSYDmk-WAL6JTZog4n_A67uIQSOQxKHZAOlj94YA/s400/12292_120148587996135_100000029831282_285424_4670625_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Holy Father praying at the Grotto of St Paul in Rabat during his visit to Malta.</td></tr>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #606060; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0c343d;">“Saint Paul’s arrival in Malta was not planned. As we know, he was travelling to Rome when a violent storm arose and his ship ran aground on this island. Sailors can map a journey, but God, in his wisdom and providence, charts a course of his own. Paul, who dramatically encountered the Risen Lord while on the road to Damascus, knew this well. The course of his life was suddenly changed; henceforth, for him, to live was Christ (cf. Phil 1:21); his every thought and action was directed to proclaiming the mystery of the Cross and its message of God’s reconciling love.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #606060; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0c343d;">“That same word, the word of the Gospel, still has the power to break into our lives and to change their course. Today the same Gospel which Paul preached continues to summon the people of these islands to conversion, new life and a future of hope. Standing in your midst as the Successor of the Apostle Peter, I invite you to hear God’s word afresh, as your ancestors did, and to let it challenge your ways of thinking and the way you live your lives.” [St Paul’s Grotto, 17<sup>th</sup> April 2011, Rabat]</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #606060; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0c343d;">“[In] the account of Paul’s shipwreck on the coast of Malta, and his warm reception by the people of these islands [we] notice how the crew of the ship, in order to survive, were forced to throw overboard the cargo, the ship’s tackle, even the wheat which was their only sustenance. Paul urged them to place their trust in God alone, while the ship was tossed to and fro upon the waves. We too must place our trust in him alone. It is tempting to think that today’s advanced technology can answer all our needs and save us from all the perils and dangers that beset us. But it is not so. At every moment of our lives we depend entirely on God, in whom we live and move and have our being. Only he can protect us from harm, only he can guide us through the storms of life, only he can bring us to a safe haven, as he did for Paul and his companions adrift off the coast of Malta. They did as Paul urged them to do, and so it was “that they all escaped safely to the land” (Acts 27:44).</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #606060; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0c343d;">“More than any of the cargo we might carry with us – in terms of our human accomplishments, our possessions, our technology – it is our relationship with the Lord that provides the key to our happiness and our human fulfilment. And he calls us to a relationship of love…” [18<sup>th</sup> April 2011 – Floriana]</span></span></span></div>AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-91381101376160051582011-02-07T15:39:00.000-08:002011-02-07T15:39:59.373-08:00St. Josephine Bakhita of Sudan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx2jdUshp7NBA2Wu3DTlS3fPu7pslSroDZgvUFu8-pCZyNgGrJa069hHbocCIZkgn-wQz62Db9nATuOVjdljg30K2Vj6lGZZpmHS9a9AqkxDR6Ix5O5hQX4Hq8QXFiCLmOCpKa4VinuEc/s1600/Bakhita2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx2jdUshp7NBA2Wu3DTlS3fPu7pslSroDZgvUFu8-pCZyNgGrJa069hHbocCIZkgn-wQz62Db9nATuOVjdljg30K2Vj6lGZZpmHS9a9AqkxDR6Ix5O5hQX4Hq8QXFiCLmOCpKa4VinuEc/s400/Bakhita2.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em> Today,February 8, is the feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita. </em><em>She was born in what is today the troubled region of Darfur, Sudan around 1870. St. Bakhita was canonized by Pope John Paul II in the Jubilee Year 2000, and is cited by Pope Benedict XVI in his encyclical, Spe Salvi as an inspiring example of Christian hope. </em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">... at this point a question arises: in what does this hope consist which, as hope, is “redemption”? The essence of the answer is given in the phrase from the <i>Letter to the Ephesians</i> quoted above: the Ephesians, before their encounter with Christ, were without hope because they were “without God in the world”. To come to know God—the true God—means to receive hope. We who have always lived with the Christian concept of God, and have grown accustomed to it, have almost ceased to notice that we possess the hope that ensues from a real encounter with this God. The example of a saint of our time can to some degree help us understand what it means to have a real encounter with this God for the first time. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I am thinking of the African Josephine Bakhita, canonized by Pope John Paul II. She was born around 1869—she herself did not know the precise date—in Darfur in Sudan. At the age of nine, she was kidnapped by slave-traders, beaten till she bled, and sold five times in the slave-markets of Sudan. Eventually she found herself working as a slave for the mother and the wife of a general, and there she was flogged every day till she bled; as a result of this she bore 144 scars throughout her life.</div><a name='more'></a><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> Finally, in 1882, she was bought by an Italian merchant for the Italian consul Callisto Legnani, who returned to Italy as the Mahdists advanced. Here, after the terrifying “masters” who had owned her up to that point, Bakhita came to know a totally different kind of “master”—in Venetian dialect, which she was now learning, she used the name “<i>paron</i>” for the living God, the God of Jesus Christ. Up to that time she had known only masters who despised and maltreated her, or at best considered her a useful slave. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Now, however, she heard that there is a “<i>paron</i>” above all masters, the Lord of all lords, and that this Lord is good, goodness in person. She came to know that this Lord even knew her, that he had created her—that he actually loved her. She too was loved, and by none other than the supreme “<i>Paron</i>”, before whom all other masters are themselves no more than lowly servants. She was known and loved and she was awaited. What is more, this master had himself accepted the destiny of being flogged and now he was waiting for her “at the Father's right hand”. Now she had “hope” —no longer simply the modest hope of finding masters who would be less cruel, but the great hope: “I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me—I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is good.” Through the knowledge of this hope she was “redeemed”, no longer a slave, but a free child of God. She understood what Paul meant when he reminded the Ephesians that previously they were without hope and without God in the world—without hope<i> because </i>without God. Hence, when she was about to be taken back to Sudan, Bakhita refused; she did not wish to be separated again from her “<i>Paron</i>”. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRfaS0IvZIHyI3LgHds2Ai-ywXv_SPa2HOgPxrEAyFlE14PZAUHtsmbLvrIK54L-JLEOsu-6wiER-vR_Wog6V6UdxiQBeGuFI9TFPC2RKYER7DRrMbepl4iVHQ9GhyMhoA4cdzpDU-nF4/s1600/Bakhita.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRfaS0IvZIHyI3LgHds2Ai-ywXv_SPa2HOgPxrEAyFlE14PZAUHtsmbLvrIK54L-JLEOsu-6wiER-vR_Wog6V6UdxiQBeGuFI9TFPC2RKYER7DRrMbepl4iVHQ9GhyMhoA4cdzpDU-nF4/s320/Bakhita.jpg" width="264" /></a>On 9 January 1890, she was baptized and confirmed and received her first Holy Communion from the hands of the Patriarch of Venice. On 8 December 1896, in Verona, she took her vows in the Congregation of the Canossian Sisters and from that time onwards, besides her work in the sacristy and in the porter's lodge at the convent, she made several journeys round Italy in order to promote the missions: the liberation that she had received through her encounter with the God of Jesus Christ, she felt she had to extend, it had to be handed on to others, to the greatest possible number of people. The hope born in her which had “redeemed” her she could not keep to herself; this hope had to reach many, to reach everybody. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong>Pope Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter <em>Spe Salvi,</em> no. 3</strong></div>AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-39500227552546918862011-01-31T07:31:00.000-08:002011-02-10T04:30:37.871-08:00Returning to Don Bosco’s initial exposure to the youth reality…<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaSnQgkAmRGEpMI6UUH8ncb7IYBHt9KrSm8LRJzwyXWZyoHeL5VE493LtiAzt-nOVdFkAit5tAA62cXGZkafA81ucoG5SvzMMiNbjyIE50X6c4v478yGXkaStyXZGFNcbJ6Rbn_PRjhPA/s1600/IMG_0046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaSnQgkAmRGEpMI6UUH8ncb7IYBHt9KrSm8LRJzwyXWZyoHeL5VE493LtiAzt-nOVdFkAit5tAA62cXGZkafA81ucoG5SvzMMiNbjyIE50X6c4v478yGXkaStyXZGFNcbJ6Rbn_PRjhPA/s400/IMG_0046.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 6pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.2pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Don Bosco had an intuitive understanding of the positive impact that active participation in the apostolate had on his young clerics. This is the way he chose to form his first collaborators – Rua, Cagliero and others. In the midst of their many studies they were involved in the life of the Oratory and in daily assistance and also entrusted with different responsibilities. We know how this was a bone of contention with Bishop Gastaldi who was horrified to see clerics mingling in such an undignified way with the young.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 6pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-alt: 1.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.65pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">In writing his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Memoirs of the Oratory</i> Don Bosco talks of his own apostolic engagement as a boy and teenager with his companions as the key moments of his own vocational discernment and growth. But also, he himself experienced the formative dimension that active ministry can have on a young priest <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>if one is accompanied and helped to reflect on the experience. There is no doubt that the three years that Don Bosco spent at the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Convitto</i> were crucial. As Don Ceria testifies in his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Don Bosco con Dio,</i> the years ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">contributed powerfully to mould his spirit in a definitive manner</i>’. After six years of speculative theology isolated from reality in a seminary, insertion into the active apostolate was not easy. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-alt: 1.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.65pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Fr Joseph Cafasso <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=3383521407417732526#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a>, exposed the young priests under his care to the challenging pastoral realities of a city fast becoming industrialized. Don Bosco was no exception, and in reading the Memoirs one can see the impact that Don Bosco’s visit to the prisons left on him: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“</b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It was Fr Cafasso who<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>first took me into the prisons, where I soon learned how great was the malice and misery <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">of </span>mankind.”<span style="color: #993300;"> </span></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-alt: 1.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.65pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">This exposure often led the young priests to a crisis point as they were confronted by the harsh realities in which the masses had to live in. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We know of Don Bosco’s own horror when he visited the prisons: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“…</b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">seeing them [the youth] idle there, infested with lice, lacking food for body and soul, horrified me.”<span style="color: #993300;"> </span></span></i></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Yet in this situation something else was even more shocking for him: </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“What shocked me most was to see that many of them were released full of good resolutions to go straight, and yet in a short time they landed back in prison, within a few days of their release.” </span></i></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This was unacceptable!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-alt: 1.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.65pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">The exposure led the pastoral ministers to a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">crisis</i> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #993300; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“…because they were abandoned to their own resources.”</span></i></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><a name='more'></a><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-alt: 1.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.65pt;">which in turn triggered in them a reflective process: How could this be? What could be done? In his own searching Don Bosco came to an important insight as to the cause of this situation:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-alt: 1.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.65pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Don Bosco then comes to a very important discernment that would change the course of his life: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Who knows?’ I thought to myself, ‘if these youngsters had a friend outside who would take care of them, help them, teach them religion on feast days. Who knows but they could be steered away from ruin?’</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-alt: 1.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.65pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Fr Cafasso was there beside the young priests throughout the process; he accompanied them in their struggle to make meaning out of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chaos</i> that they had encountered; he helped them in their theological reflection on their particular experience in a way that this becomes for them the crucial element in their discernment. Don Bosco himself affirms: “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">With Fr Cafasso’s encouragement and inspiration I began to work out in my mind how to put the idea into practice…” </i></b>This was the seed that germinated into the Oratory and eventually into the Congregation and Salesian Family. </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #993300; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-alt: 1.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.65pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chaos</i> of the reality of the young people in an industrialized city led to a vocational<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">crisis</i> which in turn, through prayer and pastoral reflection, was transformed into a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kairos</i> moment. His engagement in the harsh reality of the youth of an industrialized city, reflected upon in the light Gospel under the guidance of Don Cafasso, made him ready to seize the opportune moment when providence presented him with it when he met Bartholomew Garelli: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Shall we start now”.</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-indent: 12.7pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Don Bosco was able to do this because he had an awareness that ultimately it is the Lord alone who is ever creative in his providence and that our ministry can never be a personal project: </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“…leaving to the Lord's grace what the outcome would be. Without God's grace, all human effort is vain.”</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-alt: 1.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.65pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3mRsvpLbB3TpJjegkE6saAlaaCjYn_GfdnD058WpQUGweDF5TjV7CqwG3vm6oKCSebwbIZDe5K80J0kGsXsb9WuRLcHmR9HYaKTgcc0zJ3bdEKeCMSWCaBHu_etIz0zXiG1U4xSlv1Cs/s1600/02-Cappella_Pinardi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3mRsvpLbB3TpJjegkE6saAlaaCjYn_GfdnD058WpQUGweDF5TjV7CqwG3vm6oKCSebwbIZDe5K80J0kGsXsb9WuRLcHmR9HYaKTgcc0zJ3bdEKeCMSWCaBHu_etIz0zXiG1U4xSlv1Cs/s320/02-Cappella_Pinardi.jpg" width="320" /></a>I have dwelt on Don Bosco’s particular experience at some length to illustrate how our very tradition is rooted in this process of engagement and reflection in the light of the scriptures and tradition. Indeed one could say that the whole of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Memoirs of the Oratory</i> is a reflection on the part of Don Bosco and written at the Pope’s request. Throughout the book he is trying to answer a very simple question which the Pope had posed to him: is there anything in the life and story of the Oratory that shows that it was divinely inspired. At face value the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Memoirs</i> appear to be a series of stories and anecdotes. Yet there is a thread that goes through all of the stories and unifies them all into a whole; namely how God’s providence was guiding things right from the very beginning. </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; mso-element: footnote-list;"><br clear="all" /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div id="ftn1" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 5pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.15pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=3383521407417732526#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></b></span></span></span></i></span></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt;"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">2010 was<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the 150<sup>th</sup> anniversary of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>St Joseph’s Cafasso’s death; he died at just 49 years of age on 23 June 1860. That means he passed away just six months after the foundation of the Salesian Congregation. It was an undertaking which<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don Bosco must surely have discussed at length with him, not only on the practicalities of the project, but more importantly on discerning God’s will in the foundation of a new Congregation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was Joseph Cafasso who was initially instrumental in directing Don Bosco in working with youth in difficulty, who continued to direct him in his weekly confession, who advised him to take up lodgings with Don Borel at the Refuge, who worked closely with him in the foundation of the Oratory, giving him financial support and convincing others to fund his charitable foundation and, when necessary, to defend him from critics even from the clergy. </span></i></div><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div></div></div>AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-21949292635170990582010-12-14T05:34:00.000-08:002011-02-02T02:20:35.803-08:00Towards a humble Church<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYmaqrQw20hIen44bvUiy17Ss0qPKU25zRSzr6-xsSrEzXi7NMHPV5O0fmkN18YzUdrzlmgiA1M6NqNltzITDasPKG6fpy6ON8eFJo5sv6NfNE9mwrWUKPU6L7MuI7E_iJsBj7z4yQiQc/s1600/kn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYmaqrQw20hIen44bvUiy17Ss0qPKU25zRSzr6-xsSrEzXi7NMHPV5O0fmkN18YzUdrzlmgiA1M6NqNltzITDasPKG6fpy6ON8eFJo5sv6NfNE9mwrWUKPU6L7MuI7E_iJsBj7z4yQiQc/s320/kn.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">Reflection</span></b><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 5pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #341312; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">Timothy Radcliffe, OP (1945, London–) is a Dominican friar of the English Province, and former Master of the Order of Preachers from 1992-2001. He is now highly sought after speaker, teaching and preaching in many countries.</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 5pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">Friendship with Jesus – intimacy –means learning to be gentle and lowly of heart. Then we shall find rest for our souls. But if one thinks of the Catholic Church, the first word that springs to mind might not be “humble”.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 5pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">I have given retreats for dioceses in 15 countries since I finished my term as Master of the Dominican Order in 2001. The vast majority of priests and bishops whom I have met are simple and unpretentious people who just wish to serve the people of God. But this personal humility has to be sustained in the teeth of a clerical culture, common to all Christian denominations, which stresses rank and power.</span><br />
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</div><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">This terrible crisis of sexual abuse is deeply linked to the way that power can corrupt human relationships, which is why it touches all the Churches, even if the Catholic Church happens to have been more in the spotlight recently. Celibacy is not, I believe, the source of the crisis, otherwise it would be the case that Catholic priests have a higher rate of offence, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">which, it seems, we do not. We shall only really address this crisis if we learn from Jesus who is “gentle and lowly of heart”, and find ways of embodying authority which honour the equal dignity of all the baptised, and cherish the weak and vulnerable. Careful vetting of candidates for the priesthood and child-safety procedures are necessary, but they will not get to the root of the problem. </span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">Every institution always seeks to preserve and augment its power, but the philosopher Charles Taylor, in A Secular Age, has traced the genesis of “a culture of control” from the seventeenth century onwards. Society is seen as a mechanism rather than an organism, which needs to be adjusted and manipulated.</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 5pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">Monarchs claimed absolute power even over the Church. Imperial powers took possession of the world; millions of people were enslaved and treated as commodities. Once society has ceased to believe in God’s gentle providential government of the world, then the state must take his place and impose its will. This culture of power is perhaps one reason for the widespread abuse of children in our society. The Church, alas, has often been infected by this same </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">culture of control. This happened partly because the Church has for centuries struggled to defend itself against the powers of this world who want to take it over. From the Roman Empire at the time of its birth until the Communist empires of the twentieth century, the Church has fought to keep hold of its own life, and often ended up by mirroring what it opposed.</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #341312; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 90%;"></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 5pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">We will not have a Church which is safe for the young until we learn from Christ and become again a humble Church in which we are all equal children of the one Father and authority is never oppressive.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 5pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">At the end of the Middle Ages, the priesthood was in crisis. It was unable to respond to the challenges of a new world of widespread literacy. The parish clergy were poorly educated, sometimes barely able to celebrate the Mass, often living with concubines. The response to this crisis led to an extraordinary renewal of the priesthood, with a new spirituality, new seminaries, a more profound theological formation, a new strict discipline. Without this, the Church would have found it hard to survive the rise of Protestantism.</span></div><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">But this Tridentine understanding of priesthood is in its turn showing signs of crisis, of which the sexual abuse scandal is just a symptom. Its stiff clericalism and authoritarianism, unsurprising perhaps in the context of our past battles, do not help the Church now to thrive and be a sign of God’s friendship for humanity.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">And so we </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=3383521407417732526&postID=2194929263517099058" name="OLE_LINK29"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">need a new culture of authority, from the Vatican to the parish council, which lifts people up into the mystery of loving equality, which is the life of the Trinity.</span></a><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;"> </span> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK29;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt; line-height: 110%;">Crises are not to be feared. It is through repeated crises that God drew closer to his people. Israel’s worst crisis was the destruction of the Temple and the monarchy, and exile to Babylon … Israel lost everything that gave her identity: her worship, her nationhood. Then she discovered God closer to her than ever before. God was present in the law, in their mouths and hearts, wherever they were, however far from Jerusalem. They lost God only to receive him more closely than they could have imagined. Then that difficult cross-grained man, Jesus, turned up, breaking the beloved law, eating on the Sabbath, touching the unclean, hanging out with prostitutes. He seemed to smash all that they loved, the very way that God waspresent in their lives. But that was only because God wished to be present even more intimately, as one of us, with a human face. And at every Eucharist, we remember how we had to lose him on the Cross, but again only to receive him more closely, not as a man among us but as our very life.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK29;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">In the Office of Readings for the first week of Advent, we heard: “For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up and high; against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up; and against all the oaks of Bashan; against all the high mountains, and against all the lofty hills, against every high tower, and against every fortified wall” (Isaiah 2:12-15). But this was so that God could dwell again in the midst of his humbled people: “Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over its places of assembly a cloud by day and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night. Indeed, over all the glory there will be a canopy. It will serve as a pavilion, a shade by day from the heat, and a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain” (Isaiah 4:5-6).</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 5pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLjp8cXY6Y3afMo8A5_0gTJWF6F-5EIwV0ImnT8AGOQo1HVaRshxYOm1M2g3uGH1yhcsbx796M9hYTMGekKShPk0IDFmnp3bVEG05J7RzWG-Oh0cx5yfu1XvdycfhU-lGwG3GPoSFHvWE/s1600/Repas.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLjp8cXY6Y3afMo8A5_0gTJWF6F-5EIwV0ImnT8AGOQo1HVaRshxYOm1M2g3uGH1yhcsbx796M9hYTMGekKShPk0IDFmnp3bVEG05J7RzWG-Oh0cx5yfu1XvdycfhU-lGwG3GPoSFHvWE/s320/Repas.bmp" width="320" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK29;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">Painfully, the Lord is demolishing our high towers and our clerical pretensions to glory and grandeur so that the Church may be a place in which we may encounter God and each other more intimately. Jesus promises rest for our souls. Often we priests are consumed by a destructive activism in our service of the people. Indeed, this crisis of sexual abuse may aggravate the temptation to show that we at least are wonderful priests incessantly devoted to our work, always available on our mobile phones. That is salvation by works and not by grace.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 5pt; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 5pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">Thomas Merton believed that this hyperactivism was a collusion with the violence of our society: “The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence. More than that, it is cooperation in violence.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 5pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">If we let this implicit violence infect our lives, then it will come out somehow. It may overflow into violent words. We may do violence to ourselves through drink. We may fall into sexual violence, and be caught in the horror of abuse of the vulnerable.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 5pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">So if we face this terrible crisis of sexual abuse with courage and faith, then it may precipitate a profound renewal of the Church. We can discover Jesus’ commandments not as a heavy burden which crushes people but as the invitation to his friendship. We can be liberated from harmful ways of using power in the Church, which are ultimately rooted in secularism, and become more like the Christ who was lowly and humble of heart, and we shall find rest for our souls.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #341312; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Timothy Radcliffe, OP</span></i></b></div><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;"> </span>AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-90520876611068071022010-09-24T04:09:00.000-07:002011-02-03T06:25:14.980-08:00The Stole and the Apron<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3OwEaNodu8P9Og1S0bjwCHRPmx4-hZbZA75xOgiHbKGsQyPinZuoBYKi6PWcKOJwQp8KuHecIX0mtCcPElneKmS5bwq6hlXgHrcxYc-wTEks6Ydq-L6CGu2dlroPNtwaeF1aq1WvheDA/s1600/Repas.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3OwEaNodu8P9Og1S0bjwCHRPmx4-hZbZA75xOgiHbKGsQyPinZuoBYKi6PWcKOJwQp8KuHecIX0mtCcPElneKmS5bwq6hlXgHrcxYc-wTEks6Ydq-L6CGu2dlroPNtwaeF1aq1WvheDA/s320/Repas.bmp" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Stole and apron:to put the two of them on together may sound disrespectful, almost an act of desecration.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">The stole is made for the sacristy, kept neatly with the finely decorated chasubles and all the other sacred linens, amidst the perfume of incense and the mystical language of biblical symbols. There is no newly ordained deacon or priest who has not received a beautiful and precious stole as a gift from a convent of Sisters.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">The apron belongs to the kitchen among the frying pans, the bags of flour and jars of oil, the vegetables and other ingredients, and the plates to be washed... or in the store with the domestic cleaning materials. No one would think of giving an apron as a gift, for a wedding or a birthday, much less for an ordination.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">And yet the apron is the only liturgical dress mentioned in the Gospel... yes, the Gospel, and the most theological of the four - the holy gospel according to John!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">For Christ’s first solemn Mass, the first Mass in the history of the universe, celebrated the night before he died, there is no mention of alb, stole or chasuble, but only of a rough piece of cloth, the apron that Jesus put on, the perfect priestly garment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Maybe it would be good for us to complete the equipment of our sacristies by including an apron among the golden decorated chasubles, dalmatics and stoles and the finely embroidered albs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><br />
<a name='more'></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #e25b00; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">An apron tailored from the stole</span></i></b></div><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">What matters most, anyway, is not the inclusion of the apron in the wardrobe of the sacristy, but to understand clearly that </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">the stole and the apron are like front and back of the same priestly garment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or even better: they are the length and the breadth of the same robe of service, service of God and neighbour. The stole without the apron is nothing more than liturgical fashion. The apron without the stole does not bear fruits of charity.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In John’s Gospel there are three verbs, which are essential, simple and yet pregnant in meaning. Together they contain the full weight of the theology of service. These three verbs express the perfect complementarity of apron and stole. Here they are: “he<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> got up</i> from the table”, “he <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">took off</i> his garment”, and “he<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> put on</i> an apron”.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #e25b00; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">He got up from the table</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">This means two things. First of all it means that the Eucharist is not about sitting down. It does not have time for a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">siesta</i>. It doesn’t allow for indulgence in food. It forces us at a certain point to abandon the table. It prompts action. It urges us to leave the comfort of armchair and sofa and to embrace the dynamism of missionary journeys, driven by the fire burning inside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">This is the problem: too often our Eucharist loses energy in mere choreography.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are content to rest in the upper room, with preachers or singers too concerned with themselves and the impression they make, while the congregation are bored and fall asleep. There is no sense of commitment.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">If we don’t get up from the table, the Eucharist becomes an empty sacrament. The drive to action is so strongly rooted in the very nature of the Eucharist, that it forces the one who receives it to leave the table -even when it is received by a sacrilegious soul, like Judas who “took the morsel and went out at once. It was dark”.</span></div><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">But “he got up from the table” has another meaning, which is really important: it means that the other two verbs “he took off his garment” and “he put on an apron” bring salvation only if they stem from the Eucharist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we have not first been “at table” even the most generous service rendered to our brothers runs the risk of becoming mere philanthropy which has little or nothing to do with the love of </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Christ.</span> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #e25b00; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></i></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">For priests, every social commitment, every fight for justice, every effort on behalf of the poor, every struggle for liberation, every concern for the triumph of truth must start from “the table”, from time spent with Christ, from familiarity with him. We must drink his chalice with all its implications of martyrdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a word, priestly action must begin with intense prayer.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Only then will our self-emptying be fruitful and our sacrifices be crowned with victory. Only then will the water we pour on our brothers’ feet free them to walk all the way on the road to freedom.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #e25b00; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">He took off his garment</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Maybe I am forcing the text but it seems to me that this expression of the Gospel offers the model of priestly behaviour if it is to be rooted in the Eucharist. Whoever sits at the table of the Eucharist must “take off his garment”. He must take off the garments of one who counts the cost and calculates his own interests. He must be ready to share in all his nakedness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He must take off the garments of wealth and luxury, of waste, of a middle-class lifestyle, and become transparent in modesty and simplicity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He must take off the garments of power, arrogance and control and clothe himself instead in a veil of weakness and poverty, knowing full well that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">poor </i>is not so much the opposite of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rich</i> but the opposite of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">powerful</i>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">We must abandon the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">signs of power </i>in order to preserve the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">power of the signs.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">We cannot afford to fall in love with power. Nor can we engage in any underhand dealing that is contrary to justice, even with the pretext of helping the poor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We should be terrified of the danger of manipulating pubic money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We should feel uneasy when we hear people say that a recommendation from us carries weight, that our word can sway a decision, that our requests are privileged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The allurement of money, even when it is for the Church and not for our own pockets, should never lead us into complicity in dishonest dealings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Otherwise we are developing in our lives a series of “anti-paschs” which block the flow of salvation from Christ’s Pasch.</span></div><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Taking off the garment</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> means becoming a “poor clergy”, a clergy of the least, of the poor and disinherited, of the suffering, the </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">illiterate, and of all those who are left behind or trampled upon by others.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #e25b00; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">He put on an apron</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Now we come to what I like to call “the Church of the apron”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe it seems too bold an image, almost provocative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a picture of the Church that reveals too much, one of those photographs that we do not display in public for fear people might grumble or gossip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We keep it in the family album and show it to a few special people. We smile then at our lack of decorum, as if this were a photo that was taken without our knowing it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">The Church of the apron does not gain wide acceptance. In the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hit parade,</i> the preferred image of Church is of a priest in chasuble with the lectionary in hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that other image that looks like a domestic servant, with a rag over his arm, a basin in his right hand and a jug in the left, seems to reduce the Church to the realm of fantasy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">We need to rediscover the way of service. This means bending down and sharing, and getting involved in the lives of the poor.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">It is a hard road. There is the temptation to delegate, to pay others to wash feet whilst we avoid the inconvenience of humble service.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">But it is the only road that leads us to the source of our kingship. The only way that allows us to regain lost credibility is the way of service.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Only when we have served will we be able to speak and expect to be believed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only then will we be able to wear the precious garment of our priestly dignity, and nobody will have anything to say about it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">John’s Gospel continues: “When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments again he went back to the table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said ...”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What did he say? We know very well what he said! It was then he spoke that marvellous discourse that marks the official passage from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the word of the servant </i>to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">servants of the word.</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"></span></i></div>AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-42901651468443797262010-09-19T03:02:00.000-07:002011-02-10T04:24:21.198-08:00BEATIFICATION OF VENERABLE CARDINAL JOHN HENRY NEWMAN<div style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #663300; font-size: 11pt;">HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI</span></i></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2PO-ddsZCD-c75eyjteGb6RF-3wx29WXeqzfrBSMUbNel8BHuJ9efbl_OZsyDMP6tFN76_BHAeEQ7KjxN1fybff1GYX0Wv20zDTBkQJr_uDAE5jKBnJ7M4XMfxsdtR1Ffy8VU-lXdWNY/s1600/newman-590x393-custom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2PO-ddsZCD-c75eyjteGb6RF-3wx29WXeqzfrBSMUbNel8BHuJ9efbl_OZsyDMP6tFN76_BHAeEQ7KjxN1fybff1GYX0Wv20zDTBkQJr_uDAE5jKBnJ7M4XMfxsdtR1Ffy8VU-lXdWNY/s320/newman-590x393-custom.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div align="left" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Pope Benedict XVI presided at the beatification of Blessed John Henry Newman on September 19 2010, in the culminating act of a 4-day visit to the United Kingdom. </span></div><div align="left" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">In an outdoor liturgy attended by 70,000 people at Crofton Park in Birmingham, the Holy Father pronounced the beatification of the 19th-century British scholar and convert. </span></div><div align="left" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">The Pope focused on the figure of Cardinal Newman, whose many writings helped to illuminate “the vital place of revealed religion in civilized society, and into the need for a broadly-based and wide-ranging approach to education.” In his remarks the Pope said that Cardinal Newman’s “fine Christian realism” was a reliable guide for today as well. He pointed out that Newman “would describe his life's work as a struggle against the growing tendency to view religion as a purely private and subjective matter, a question of personal opinion.” That same struggle continues today, the Pope said, “when an intellectual and moral relativism threatens to sap the very foundations of our society.” </span></div><div align="left" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Cardinal Newman’s life "also teaches us that passion for the truth, intellectual honesty and genuine conversion are costly,” the Pope said. Truth must be proclaimed, even sometimes at personal cost. Finally, the Pope observed, Cardinal Newman insisted that “there can be no separation between what we believe and the way we live our lives.” </span><br />
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</div><div align="left" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;"><b>Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,</b></span></i></div><div align="left"><div style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">This day that has brought us together here in Birmingham is a most auspicious one. In the first place, it is the Lord’s day, Sunday, the day when our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead and changed the course of human history for ever, offering new life and hope to all who live in darkness and in the shadow of death. That is why Christians all over the world come together on this day to give praise and thanks to God for the great marvels he has worked for us. …</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet there is another, more joyful reason why this is an auspicious day for Great Britain, for the Midlands, for Birmingham. It is the day that sees Cardinal John Henry Newman formally raised to the altars and declared Blessed.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">…England has a long tradition of martyr saints, whose courageous witness has sustained and inspired the Catholic community here for centuries. Yet it is right and fitting that we should recognize today the holiness of a confessor, a son of this nation who, while not called to shed his blood for the Lord, nevertheless bore eloquent witness to him in the course of a long life devoted to the priestly ministry, and especially to preaching, teaching, and writing. He is worthy to take his place in a long line of saints and scholars from these islands, Saint Bede, Saint Hilda, Saint Aelred, Blessed Duns Scotus, to name but a few. In Blessed John Henry, that tradition of gentle scholarship, deep human wisdom and profound love for the Lord has borne rich fruit, as a sign of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit deep within the heart of God’s people, bringing forth abundant gifts of holiness.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">Cardinal Newman’s motto, <i>Cor ad cor loquitur</i>, or “Heart speaks unto heart”, gives us an insight into his understanding of the Christian life as a call to holiness, experienced as the profound desire of the human heart to enter into intimate communion with the Heart of God. He reminds us that faithfulness to prayer gradually transforms us into the divine likeness. As he wrote in one of his many fine sermons, “a habit of prayer, the practice of turning to God and the unseen world in every season, in every place, in every emergency – prayer, I say, has what may be called a natural effect in spiritualizing and elevating the soul. A man is no longer what he was before; gradually … he has imbibed a new set of ideas, and become imbued with fresh principles” (<i>Parochial and Plain Sermons</i>, iv, 230-231). Today’s Gospel tells us that no one can be the servant of two masters (cf. <i>Lk </i>16:13), and Blessed John Henry’s teaching on prayer explains how the faithful Christian is definitively taken into the service of the one true Master, who alone has a claim to our unconditional devotion (cf. <i>Mt</i> 23:10). Newman helps us to understand what this means for our daily lives: he tells us that our divine Master has assigned a specific task to each one of us, a “definite service”, committed uniquely to every single person: “I have my mission”, he wrote, “I am a link in a chain, a bond of connexion between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do his work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place … if I do but keep his commandments and serve him in my calling” (<i>Meditations and Devotions</i>, 301-2).</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">The definite service to which Blessed John Henry was called involved applying his keen intellect and his prolific pen to many of the most pressing “subjects of the day”. His insights into the relationship between faith and reason, into the vital place of revealed religion in civilized society, and into the need for a broadly-based and wide-ranging approach to education were not only of profound importance for Victorian England, but continue today to inspire and enlighten many all over the world. I would like to pay particular tribute to his vision for education, which has done so much to shape the ethos that is the driving force behind Catholic schools and colleges today. Firmly opposed to any reductive or utilitarian approach, he sought to achieve an educational environment in which intellectual training, moral discipline and religious commitment would come together. The project to found a Catholic University in Ireland provided him with an opportunity to develop his ideas on the subject, and the collection of discourses that he published as <i>The Idea of a University</i> holds up an ideal from which all those engaged in academic formation can continue to learn. And indeed, what better goal could teachers of religion set themselves than Blessed John Henry’s famous appeal for an intelligent, well-instructed laity: “I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it” (<i>The Present Position of Catholics in England</i>, ix, 390). On this day when the author of those words is raised to the altars, I pray that, through his intercession and example, all who are engaged in the task of teaching and catechesis will be inspired to greater effort by the vision he so clearly sets before us.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ0c-nK8DIWUGMnCxGHtlff4_ORCNLz6782tabdbcM2g7DrG0rvhv01OtWXz3jWX5EZMhqsVxic50vesOv4kkclCkgdW0pdcEH7erV8ZGgoDDIlu7FY2WxGXy92ktnb6YKC-U7yjfL_7I/s1600/cardinal+newman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">While it is John Henry Newman’s intellectual legacy that has understandably received most attention in the vast literature devoted to his life and work, I prefer on this occasion to conclude with a brief reflection on his life as a priest, a pastor of souls. The warmth and humanity underlying his appreciation of the pastoral ministry is beautifully expressed in another of his famous sermons: “Had Angels been your priests, my brethren, they could not have condoled with you, sympathized with you, have had compassion on you, felt tenderly for you, and made allowances for you, as we can; they could not have been your patterns and guides, and have led you on from your old selves into a new life, as they can who come from the midst of you” (“Men, not Angels: the Priests of the Gospel”, <i>Discourses to Mixed Congregations</i>, 3). He lived out that profoundly human vision of priestly ministry in his devoted care for the people of Birmingham during the years that he spent at the Oratory he founded, visiting the sick and the poor, comforting the bereaved, caring for those in prison. No wonder that on his death so many thousands of people lined the local streets as his body was taken to its place of burial not half a mile from here. One hundred and twenty years later, great crowds have assembled once again to rejoice in the Church’s solemn recognition of the outstanding holiness of this much-loved father of souls. What better way to express the joy of this moment than by turning to our heavenly Father in heartfelt thanksgiving, praying in the words that Blessed John Henry Newman placed on the lips of the choirs of angels in heaven:</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">Praise to the Holiest in the height<br />
And in the depth be praise;<br />
In all his words most wonderful,<br />
Most sure in all his ways! <br />
(<i>The Dream of Gerontius).</i></span></div><div align="center"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1VNY7mFm_pi6CmR3wul3IkrQQAEI0IgBR5TJmNahHPgIIUUzxPhJ-fbJPYHj2lW9_4YXopMAOLzFCa5OSluVB6x1jQ1BWoLxX_ehbA6XCAEzJyudzBBeQwiD6meVvAHojG3a4-3SV-wQ/s1600/cardinal+newman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1VNY7mFm_pi6CmR3wul3IkrQQAEI0IgBR5TJmNahHPgIIUUzxPhJ-fbJPYHj2lW9_4YXopMAOLzFCa5OSluVB6x1jQ1BWoLxX_ehbA6XCAEzJyudzBBeQwiD6meVvAHojG3a4-3SV-wQ/s320/cardinal+newman.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div align="justify" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2; mso-pagination: none;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; text-transform: uppercase;"><span style="font-size: small;">The beatification of Cardinal John Newman is of particular significance for the Church. The following is the LETTER OF THE HOLY FATHER JOHN PAUL II ON THE OCCASION OF THE 2nd CENTENARY OF HIS BIRTH WHICH WAS ADDRESSED To The Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, WHO WAS Archbishop of Birmingham AT THE TIME.</span></span></i></div><div align="justify" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2; mso-pagination: none;"><br />
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</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2; mso-pagination: none;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 9pt; text-transform: uppercase;"><br />
</span></i></div><div align="justify" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Pope Benedict’s apostolic journey to the United Kingdom culminates on September 19 with the beatification of Venerable Cardinal John Henry Newman, described by Venerable John Paul II as “one of the most distinguished and versatile champions of English spirituality” and as a thinker who came to “a remarkable synthesis of faith and reason.”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Hailed by James Joyce as “the greatest of English prose writers,” Newman was at once a seminal theologian (An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent), a poet (“The Pillar of the Cloud,” “Dream of Gerontius”), the leading defender of liberal education in his day (Idea of a University), the author of a classic spiritual autobiography (Apologia Pro Vita Sua), and a preacher with an eloquence perhaps unsurpassed in the English language, from his Anglican Parochial and Plain Sermons to his Catholic Sermons Preached on Various Occasions. </span></div><div align="justify" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2; mso-pagination: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Born in 1801, Newman became an Anglican cleric in 1825; seven years later, he helped launch the Oxford Movement, which sought to emphasize and restore the Catholic aspects of the Church of England while conceiving of Anglicanism as a via media between Rome and Protestantism. In 1845, he was received into the Church by Blessed Dominic Barberi. Ordained to the priesthood in Rome in 1847, Newman brought the Congregation of the Oratory to England the following year. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2; mso-pagination: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Pope Leo XIII created Newman a cardinal in 1879. Upon his death in 1890, the Guardian hailed him as “one of the very greatest masters of English style,” “a man of singular purity and beauty of character,” and “an eminent example of personal sanctity.” Pope John Paul II declared Newman venerable in 1991, and the Congregation for the Causes of Saints issued a decree last July that cleared the way for his beatification. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2; mso-pagination: none;"><br />
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</div><div align="left"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="OLE_LINK10"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK11;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">On the occasion of the second centenary of the birth of the Venerable Servant of God John Henry Newman, I gladly join you, your Brother Bishops of England and Wales, the priests of the Birmingham Oratory and a host of voices throughout the world in praising God for the gift of the great English Cardinal and for his enduring witness. </span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK10;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK11;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">As Newman pondered the mysterious divine plan unfolding in his own life, he came to a deep and abiding sense that "God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have my mission" (<i>Meditations and Devotions</i>). How true that thought now appears as we consider his long life and the influence which he has had beyond death. He was born at a particular time – 21 February 1801; in a particular place – London; and to a particular family – the firstborn of John Newman and Jemima Fourdrinier. But the particular mission entrusted to him by God ensures that <i>John Henry Newman belongs to every time and place and people</i>.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-pagination: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK10;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK11;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Newman was born in troubled times which knew not only political and military upheaval but also turbulence of soul. Old certitudes were shaken, and believers were faced with the threat of rationalism on the one hand and fideism on the other. Rationalism brought with it a rejection of both authority and transcendence, while fideism turned from the challenges of history and the tasks of this world to a </span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK12;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">distorted dependence upon authority and the supernatural. In such a world, Newman came eventually to <i>a remarkable synthesis of faith and reason </i>which were for him "like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of the truth" (<i>Fides et Ratio,</i> Introduction; cf. <i>ibid., </i>74). It was the passionate contemplation of truth which also led him to a liberating acceptance of the authority which has its roots in Christ, and to the sense of the supernatural which opens the human mind and heart to the full range of possibilities revealed in Christ. "Lead kindly light amid the encircling gloom, lead Thou me on", Newman wrote in <i>The Pillar of the Cloud</i>; and for him Christ was the light at the heart of every kind of darkness. For his tomb he chose the inscription:<i> Ex umbris et imaginibus in veritatem</i>; and it was clear at the end of his life’s journey that Christ was the truth he had found. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK12;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">But Newman’s search was shot through with pain. Once he had come to that unshakeable sense of the mission entrusted to him by God, he declared: "Therefore, I will trust Him... If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him, in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him... He does nothing in vain... He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me. Still, He knows what He is about" (<i>Meditations and Devotions</i>)<i>. </i>All these trials he knew in his life; but rather than diminish or destroy him they paradoxically strengthened his faith in the God who had called him, and confirmed him in the conviction that God "does nothing in vain". In the end, therefore, what shines forth in Newman is<i> the mystery of the Lord’s Cross</i>: this was the heart of his mission, the absolute truth which he contemplated, the "kindly light" which led him on. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK12;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">As we thank God for the gift of the Venerable John Henry Newman on the two hundredth anniversary of his birth, we pray that this sure and eloquent guide in our perplexity will also become for us in all our needs a powerful intercessor before the throne of grace. Let us pray that the time will soon come when the Church can officially and publicly proclaim the exemplary holiness of Cardinal John Henry Newman, one of the most distinguished and versatile champions of English spirituality. With my Apostolic Blessing. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK12;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">From the Vatican, 22 January 2001. </span></i></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK12;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">IOANNES PAULUS II</span></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhTJodDe-wnyrltHX1qzh3vkWzwzRGl-hM5D08TO0q-JFYiZ5yhfehW9DQrKRk1DzcjECxJZD-vvfNj3oLqnTDfMlDNBVIq5vcg34aMc25pXURAHYKT3sZK7C_5IA__edBwBnM4BtixAo/s1600/cardinal_john_newman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhTJodDe-wnyrltHX1qzh3vkWzwzRGl-hM5D08TO0q-JFYiZ5yhfehW9DQrKRk1DzcjECxJZD-vvfNj3oLqnTDfMlDNBVIq5vcg34aMc25pXURAHYKT3sZK7C_5IA__edBwBnM4BtixAo/s200/cardinal_john_newman.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prayer of Cardinal Newman</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333366; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with Your Spirit and Life. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that my life may only be a radiance of Yours. Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel Your presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me but only Jesus! Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as You shine, so to shine as to be a light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from You; none of it will be mine. It will be You, shining on others through me. Let me thus praise You in the way which You love best, by shining on those around me. Let me preach You without preaching, not by my words but by my example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears for You. Amen.</span></b></div><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333366; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Good Website resource <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on Cardinal John Newman:</span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333366; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #002060; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">www.newmanreader.org</span></u></b><br />
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</div>AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-76435450427387468712010-08-16T16:33:00.000-07:002011-02-10T04:30:37.871-08:00St Joseph Cafasso<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4LbefioDvnRn2ujGyFX5iKgiTpdf-kc2EuYiGm50GD2Aje5X9wciBD5m7pluhvAFwl0xeEegPXuXdLsrsdbnyRJ3mjGjx91a1llIq33AGda5gA4cv4Evg6Juo-5Wcs7cKr8EjUgU2I2U/s1600/san_giuseppe_cafasso-08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4LbefioDvnRn2ujGyFX5iKgiTpdf-kc2EuYiGm50GD2Aje5X9wciBD5m7pluhvAFwl0xeEegPXuXdLsrsdbnyRJ3mjGjx91a1llIq33AGda5gA4cv4Evg6Juo-5Wcs7cKr8EjUgU2I2U/s200/san_giuseppe_cafasso-08.jpg" width="186" /></a></div><span style="color: #990000;">This year the feast day of St Joseph Cafasso happens to be the 150th anniversary of his death. That means he died just six months after the foundation of the Salesian Congregation. It was an undertaking which Don Bosco must surely have discussed at length with him, not only on the practicalities of the project, but more importantly on discerning God’s will in the foundation of a new Congregation. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">It was Joseph Cafasso who was initially instrumental in directing Don Bosco in working with youth in difficulty, who continued to direct him in his weekly confession, who advised him to take up lodgings with Don Borel at the Refuge, who worked closely with him in the foundation of the Oratory, giving him financial support and convincing others to fund his charitable foundation and, when necessary, to defend him from critics even from the clergy. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeCt3uQIqqyaD2qpUsTTVcuPpa47-OZz0gY7AjUUuOQlD8mnSZyQ3jBl2E5bsJBqtrDH3DoZGZlrJxieLMLyCNnccIuOJ2OYPrpiyq85d3eWO2lX4ma0Bfqte_BphupI4EWqPVwAs_rwg/s1600/san_giuseppe_cafasso-07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeCt3uQIqqyaD2qpUsTTVcuPpa47-OZz0gY7AjUUuOQlD8mnSZyQ3jBl2E5bsJBqtrDH3DoZGZlrJxieLMLyCNnccIuOJ2OYPrpiyq85d3eWO2lX4ma0Bfqte_BphupI4EWqPVwAs_rwg/s320/san_giuseppe_cafasso-07.jpg" /></a></div><span style="color: #990000;"><br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">There is no doubt that the three years that Don Bosco spent at the Convitto were crucial. As Don Ceria testifies, they ‘contributed powerfully to mould his spirit in a definitive manner’. After six years of speculative theology isolated from reality in a seminary, insertion into the active apostolate was not easy. Cafasso exposed the young priests to the pastoral realities of a city fast becoming industrialized, and then helped them in their theological reflection on their experience in a way that this becomes for them the crucial element in their discernment. In reading the Memoirs one can see the impact that Don Bosco’s visit to the prisons left on him and the very important conclusion this led him to: "Who knows?" I thought to myself, "if these youngsters had a friend outside who would take care of them, help them, teach them religion on feast days. Who knows but they could be steered away from ruin?" With Fr Cafasso’s encour¬agement and inspiration I began to work out in my mind how to put the idea into practice… This was the seed that germinated into the Oratory and eventually into the Congregation and Salesian Family. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">Knowing the positive impact that the Convitto has had on don Bosco, it does make one reflect on whether we offer a similar opportunity to our young Salesians. Perhaps this is the missing link in our formation process: a year specifically designed for our Deacons and Young Priests in which they have a practical pastoral experience on which they are helped to reflect in the light of Pastoral Theology and the insights gained from human sciences.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">It would be worthwhile to invest in such an initiative!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><em><strong>At the School of Cafasso</strong></em></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><em>This extract from the book of Don Ceria Don Bosco Con Dio, [Chapters 4&7] shows the crucial role that Don Cafasso played in the discernment of Don Bosco’s vocation and in recognizing the true spiritual dimension of his initiatives.</em></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><em>Don Bosco could not have had a better preparation for his mission as a zealous apostle of the young. The three years that he spent there contributed powerfully to mould his spirit in a definitive manner. Providence placed him in the hands of that saintly teacher of priestly souls, and the graces he received there bore much fruit.</em></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><em>At the school of Cafasso he eagerly imbibed that spirit of prayer which he had already acquired intuitively in spite of the prevailing fashion of the times he lived in, prayer based on “unlimited trust in the goodness and loving-kindness of God towards us”. From Cafasso’s conferences on theology and his spiritual direction, he learnt how to hear confessions “with prayerfulness, knowledge and prudence”. In the lessons on sacred eloquence he heard emphasized that a priest does not go into the pulpit to show off, but “to preach on observance of the divine commandments, prayer, devotion to Our Lady, frequent reception of the sacraments, avoidance of idleness, fleeing from bad companions and occasions of sin, charity towards one’s neighbour, patience in affliction, and he learned never to end a sermon without reference to the eternal truths.”</em></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><em>He accompanied Cafasso in offering religious assistance to prisoners and took part with him in retreats, growing in fervour as he prepared for his apostolic work. Even in their daily conversations, he heard and took on board wise recommendations on “how to live in society, to deal with the world without becoming a slave of the world, to become true priests armed with the necessary virtues, ministers capable of giving to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”</em></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><em>…We have a statement made by Don Cafasso in 1853 to clarify things for some learned clerics who were a bit hesitant in regard to Don Bosco, but its value goes far beyond the petty scope for which it was first given. In it Don Cafasso said: </em></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130;"><em>“ How well do you know Don Bosco? For me, the more I study him, the less I understand him. I see him as both simple and extraordinary, humble and great, poor and yet undertaking huge projects that seem impossible. I have seen obstacles in his way and his situation impossible, and yet he succeeds splendidly in whatever he undertakes. For me, Don Bosco is a mystery! I am certain, however, that he is working for the glory of God, that God alone is his guide, that God alone is the motive for all his actions.”</em></span>AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-50253636131465922302010-08-14T10:18:00.001-07:002011-02-10T04:24:21.200-08:00Remembering Don Rua<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_q5o0kRdr2rbujGqAAXwQJl46a9HaaE6qiLdTIxQVHGdH752Gb8KSXXkuXWwFnXFVRgrznxMsH7qzwXkxxgXjwhf6rpC-m3UVXYDgl4yAM7d8QIBauWJzjf5m2WmkKsHh0Y5w0aUHodk/s1600/DRua.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_q5o0kRdr2rbujGqAAXwQJl46a9HaaE6qiLdTIxQVHGdH752Gb8KSXXkuXWwFnXFVRgrznxMsH7qzwXkxxgXjwhf6rpC-m3UVXYDgl4yAM7d8QIBauWJzjf5m2WmkKsHh0Y5w0aUHodk/s200/DRua.jpg" width="146" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Fr Pascual Chavez has written a wonderful letter to all the Salesians of Don Bosco who joyfully celebrate this centenary. The figure of Don Rua is a permanent reminder of the spirit of Don Bosco. The austerity of his life has set out for the Congregation a paradigm to follow in order to be faithful followers of Don Bosco.</em></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Centenary of the Death of Bl Michael Rua </strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rome, 24 June 2009</span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Birth of Saint John the Baptist</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My dear Confreres,</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">…</span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The reason for this letter of mine is to make the official announcement to you that we shall be dedicating the year 2010 to a special commemoration of Blessed Michael Rua. It is in fact the centenary year of his death, which occurred on 6 April 1910. The year 2010, centred on the figure of the first Successor of Don Bosco … will help us to bring to fuller maturity our consecrated Salesian vocation. It seems to me important that we are conscious of the historical situation, that from the death of Don Bosco until our own days, the Congregation has had a great and significant development, taking steps forward, having second thoughts, making fresh starts, reflecting deeply. The identity of the Congregation can be understood better, in fact, through its history, knowing the forms and expressions it has assumed at different times and in different places.</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiriWYtsdrdyYTjgbh3HV33F-5Mmz_WQH0Hv9Hg5QrbW05_JsM7fT_L3TDDj59fGDMBMUurXrrimh766b3OHNFONk0UVbpDpSQxx3FsIbb-8KLk_npdUpSlawkGZI_qeApmAoRkSwfRoQo/s1600/conRinaldi-2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiriWYtsdrdyYTjgbh3HV33F-5Mmz_WQH0Hv9Hg5QrbW05_JsM7fT_L3TDDj59fGDMBMUurXrrimh766b3OHNFONk0UVbpDpSQxx3FsIbb-8KLk_npdUpSlawkGZI_qeApmAoRkSwfRoQo/s320/conRinaldi-2.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bl. Michael Rua with Bl Philip Rinaldi</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Remembering Don Rua”, we shall spend this year 2010 on a spiritual and pastoral journey. It will begin on 31 January, the solemnity of Don Bosco, the day on which each year we recall the death of the Saint: it was on that 31 January in 1888 that Don Rua took the tiller, to continue the journey on which the Founder had embarked. The year of commemoration will conclude on 31 January 2011. …</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I mention now some focal points, …</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First of all, following the example of Don Rua, the faithful disciple of Jesus in the footsteps of Don Bosco, each confrere is being called to re-discover the ways in which to preserve fidelity to the vocation of consecration. Our vocation is a precious gift; however, it is “like a treasure in earthenware vessels.” </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a name='more'></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The greatness of the gift received is often put at risk by the fragility of our response. I believe that placing ourselves in the presence of the life of this great witness to fidelity we need to ask ourselves: «Am I happy with God?»; and even more importantly: «Is God happy with me?». In fact, embracing Salesian consecrated life we set ourselves to follow the Lord Jesus and we become genuine disciples of His and zealous apostles; all this demands from us a convinced fidelity to our vocation. Let us therefore draw deeply from the wells of the life of the disciple and of the apostle, from the fountains of fidelity to our vocation: Sacred Scripture, through “lectio divina” and the Eucharist.</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We can also underline one particular feature of our Salesian consecrated life. It is present in its two forms: ministerial and lay; in this year of the priesthood we can re-discover in particular the gift of the priesthood in the community and in the educative pastoral community.</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When Don Rua was sent to Mirabello to found a new house, he summed up the advice received from Don Bosco in a single phrase: “In Mirabello I shall try to be Don Bosco”. How important it is that each one of us adopt the same attitude! In fact, this is also the project of life which we find expressed in our Constitutions: to be Don Bosco today, wherever we find ourselves living and working. Becoming Don Bosco, day after day, is precisely what the Constitutions set before us in practical terms. We know that after the approval of the Constitutions on 3 April 1874, on account of his exemplary way of life, Don Rua was called “the living rule”; he used to say: “Nothing can be considered small once it is in the Rule.”</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here then, dear Confreres, a second point to give attention to. Moved by the special witness given by the first successor of Don Bosco, I invite you, during this year, especially on the occasion of the Retreat, to re-discover the importance and the spirit of our Salesian Constitutions and to look again at your personal Plan of Life. Encouraged by the example of Don Rua and following the guidelines of the GC26, we want to commit ourselves to the study and the practice of our Constitutions, with particular reference to Chapter four: that which deals with our mission and is entitled “sent to the young.” </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the third place, we recall how Don Rua, moved by the passion of the Da mihi animas, gave a great impetus to the Salesian mission. It was the vitality of the mission that led him to initiate new forms of the apostolate, to raise up and to cultivate vocations to Salesian consecrated life, to launch out into other parts of the world. The mission called him to respond to the needs of the young and to find pastoral ways suited to reaching them with the proclamation of the gospel. Don Rua’s apostolic zeal, therefore, demands that we too during this year express in practical terms the commitment to evangelising the young. The second key issue in the GC26 requires it from us; the 2010 Strenna sets is before us as it invites us to let ourselves be caught up in the commitment to evangelisation as the Salesian Family of which Don Rua was a convinced promoter. The GC26 invites us to bring the gospel to the young, to be engaged, as evangelised and evangelising communities, in giving the central place to presenting Jesus Christ, in developing in a effective manner the link between evangelisation and education, bearing in mind the different contexts, and involving the families. Let us be inspired by this theme of the Chapter to begin to rethink our pastoral work.</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">May the Spirit of Christ inspire us on our journey of pastoral renewal and may Mary Help of Christians sustain us in our apostolic commitment. May Don Bosco, as ever, be our model and our guide.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yours in the Lord,</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fr Pascual Chavez Villanueva</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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</div><span style="color: #660000;"></span></div><span style="color: #660000;"></span></div><span style="color: #660000;"></span></div>AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-74293026172325833922010-08-13T15:34:00.000-07:002011-02-10T04:32:39.066-08:00Returning to Don Bosco’s initial exposure to the youth reality…<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7hStReU8YjYgTa1hpa_INoiSFuTH2i0MmIi2wOp6QNMVp6E6brGeqz92XEWL0VRzwaYzD3N6J4nIDiagzupIaEcFroMiEtLBML1eWdtMVaJeXB5tcennkH5lIqIMkmomsimbj5RxG07E/s1600/DSC03226.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7hStReU8YjYgTa1hpa_INoiSFuTH2i0MmIi2wOp6QNMVp6E6brGeqz92XEWL0VRzwaYzD3N6J4nIDiagzupIaEcFroMiEtLBML1eWdtMVaJeXB5tcennkH5lIqIMkmomsimbj5RxG07E/s320/DSC03226.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="left"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: xx-small;"><em>AFW Salesian Brothers on Pilgrimage </em></span></div><div align="left"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: xx-small;"><em>to the tomb of St Joseph Cafasso.</em></span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><em><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This year 2010 is the 150th anniversary of St Joseph’s Cafasso’s death; he died at just 49 years of age on 23 June 1860. That means he passed away just six months after the foundation of the Salesian Congregation. It was an undertaking which Don Bosco must surely have discussed at length with him, not only on the practicalities of the project, but more importantly on discerning God’s will in the foundation of a new Congregation. It was Joseph Cafasso who was initially instrumental in directing Don Bosco in working with youth in difficulty, who continued to direct him in his weekly confession, who advised him to take up lodgings with Don Borel at the Refuge, who worked closely with him in the foundation of the Oratory, giving him financial support and convincing others to fund his charitable foundation and, when necessary, to defend him from critics even from the clergy. Here we see what a wise spiritual director Fr Cafasso was, and how his guidnace in the first few years of Don Bosco as a priest proved to be crucial.</span></em><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #660000;">Fr Joseph Cafasso exposed the young priests who came to the <em>Convitto</em> under his care to the challenging pastoral realities of a city fast becoming industrialized. Don Bosco was no exception, and in reading the Memoirs one can see the impact that Don Bosco’s visit to the prisons left on him: <em>“It was Fr Cafasso who first took me into the prisons, where I soon learned how great was the malice and misery of mankind.” </em></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This exposure often led the young priests to a <em>crisis</em> point as they were confronted by the harsh realities in which the masses had to live in. We know of Don Bosco’s own horror when he visited the prisons: <em>“…seeing them [the youth] idle there, infested with lice, lacking food for body and soul, horrified me</em>.” Yet in this situation something else was even more shocking for him: “What shocked me most was to see that many of them were released full of good resolutions to go straight, and yet in a short time they landed back in prison, within a few days of their release.” This was unacceptable!</span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #660000;">The exposure led the pastoral ministers to a crisis which in turn triggered in them a reflective process: How could this be? What could be done? In his own searching Don Bosco came to an important insight as to the cause of this situation: <em>“…because they were aban-doned to their own resources.”</em></span></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Don Bosco then comes to a very important discernment that would change the course of his life: <em>“‘Who knows?’ I thought to myself, ‘if these youngsters had a friend outside who would take care of them, help them, teach them religion on feast days. Who knows but they could be steered away from ruin?</em>’"</span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Fr Cafasso was there beside the young priests throughout the process; he accompanied them in their struggle to make meaning out of the chaos that they had encountered; he helped them in their theological reflection on their particular experience in a way that this becomes for them the crucial element in their discernment. Don Bosco himself affirms: <em>“With Fr Cafasso’s encour¬agement and inspiration I began to work out in my mind how to put the idea into practice…”</em> This was the seed that germinated into the Oratory and eventually into the Congregation and Salesian Family. </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The <em>chaos</em> of the reality of the young people in an industrialized city led to a vocational crisis which in turn, through prayer and pastoral reflection, was transformed into a <em>Kairos</em> moment. His engagement in the harsh reality of the youth of an industrialized city, reflected upon in the light Gospel under the guidance of Don Cafasso, made him ready to seize the opportune moment when providence presented him with it when he met Bartholomew Garelli: “<em>Shall we start now</em>”.</span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #660000;">Don Bosco was able to do this because he had an awareness that ultimately it is the Lord alone who is ever creative in his providence and that our ministry can never be a personal project: <em>“…leaving to the Lord's grace what the outcome would be. Without God's grace, all human effort is vain.”</em></span></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
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</div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-53168358980417840192010-06-20T01:52:00.000-07:002011-02-10T04:25:21.309-08:00United to Christ<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.thecompassnews.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1227:at-fatima-pope-asks-mary-to-help-keep-priests-holy&catid=38:Nation%20and%20World&Itemid=68"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;"><b>Benedict</b></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> XVI to Priests on Holy Thursday</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM2JzLaVYgOn5fbBwdfloFC5HF2qlzWXk7Dr3IDXo8aS3IMksDVj84imGVrjcu5Z6PbzuFUYLKwz1P0cjkBFV1rrswohAOJSGAiDgcugfpJVMPIrcmuLfMpn5umiHJ1guOCp1CAtZJR7E/s1600/cafasso+urn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM2JzLaVYgOn5fbBwdfloFC5HF2qlzWXk7Dr3IDXo8aS3IMksDVj84imGVrjcu5Z6PbzuFUYLKwz1P0cjkBFV1rrswohAOJSGAiDgcugfpJVMPIrcmuLfMpn5umiHJ1guOCp1CAtZJR7E/s320/cafasso+urn.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #632423; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; letter-spacing: -0.2pt;">This week <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is the feast of St Joseph Cafasso, Spiritual Director of Don Bosco. He died 150 years ago on the 23rd of June 1860 at the age of only 49. He was indeed a wise spiritual director able to discern God's action in Don Bosco's life. Let us mark his day in humble gratitude for the role he played in Don Bosco's vocation and in the founding of the Salesian Society, as we pray that we too may like Don Bosco seek to be in spiritual direction so as to discern God’s will in our lives.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #632423; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; letter-spacing: -0.2pt;">As an aid to reflect on the priesthood, in this edition we are bringing a synthesis of the Pope’s homily on Holy Thursday at the Chrism Mass. Indeed it is a beautiful reflection on the priesthood.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #632423; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; letter-spacing: -0.2pt;">One way of marking the feast of St Joseph Cafasso is to have a penitential service in community and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>facilitating the possibility of confession and/or spiritual direction as we bring the Year of the Priest to a close in community.</span></i><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><b>VATICAN CITY, APRIL 9, 2009</b> (Zenit.org).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Benedict XVI is urging priests to be holy by living the essence of their vocation, as reflected in the prayer of Christ, that his followers be consecrated in truth. The Pope said this in the homily of the Chrism Mass, which he concelebrated Thursday 9th April with the cardinals, bishops and priests of Rome. He told the ordained ministers, who renewed their priestly vows during the Mass, <b>"The Lord asks for our sanctification, sanctification in truth." </b>The Pontiff recalled the words of Jesus in his prayer for the Apostles and all priests:<b> "For their sake I consecrate myself."</b><br />
<b>"To consecrate something or someone,"</b> he explained means "<b>to give that thing or person to God as his property, to take it out of the context of what is ours and to insert it in his milieu, so that it no longer belongs to our affairs, but is totally of God."</b> He continued: "The thing or person no longer belongs to us, or even to itself, but is immersed in God. Such a giving up of something in order to give it over to God, we also call a sacrifice: this thing will no longer be my property, but his property." In this way, the Holy Father said, the priest is "charged to represent others," and, "removed from worldly bonds and given over to God, […] he is available for others, for everyone.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this sense, he added, the "consecration" of the priest also becomes his "sacrifice," mirroring "the priestly act by which Jesus -- the Man Jesus, who is one with the Son of God -- gives himself over to the Father for us." Benedict XVI affirmed that the disciples are sanctified, "drawn deep within God," by "being immersed in the word of God." He urged his listeners to also be "pervaded by the word of God," noting that for the Apostles this word is "the bath which purifies them, the creative power which transforms them into God’s own being." </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Humility and obedience: </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">The Pope noted the existence of a "destructive pride and a presumption that tear every community apart and result in violence," and thus he urged his listeners to "learn from Christ the correct humility which corresponds to the truth of our being, and the obedience which submits to truth, to the will of God." </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">He exhorted the ordained ministers to shape their criteria by Gospel values rather than popular opinion, and to "become ever anew disciples of that truth which is revealed in the word of God."</span></div><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">"Our being priests," affirmed the Pontiff, "is simply a new way of being united to Christ." He continued: "Being united to Christ calls for renunciation. It means not wanting to impose our own way and our own will, not desiring to become someone else, but abandoning ourselves to him, however and wherever he wants to use us." </span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje0MTrSITAkMrv6UxyvXQAxQU68QaqBQOc8Al3Ha6_SLeaw9-Mh5nj9I2plkD3cACOtsfR42qivWPpewFeT8M5AZU9NfjdnxzX82pQRKGVqTZoBa92Tr5rrvFvnMF230v1SFgX3aKrWMM/s1600/papa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje0MTrSITAkMrv6UxyvXQAxQU68QaqBQOc8Al3Ha6_SLeaw9-Mh5nj9I2plkD3cACOtsfR42qivWPpewFeT8M5AZU9NfjdnxzX82pQRKGVqTZoBa92Tr5rrvFvnMF230v1SFgX3aKrWMM/s200/papa.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">At </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">our priestly ordination, the Holy Father said, "we made this fundamental renunciation of our desire to be independent, 'self-made.'" </span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">He added: "But day by day this great 'yes' has to be lived out in the many little 'yeses' and small sacrifices. This 'yes' made up of tiny steps which together make up the great 'yes,' can be lived out without bitterness and self-pity only if Christ is truly the center of our lives." "Then indeed we experience," he noted, "amid sacrifices which can at first be painful, the growing joy of friendship with him, and all the small and sometimes great signs of his love, which he is constantly showing us."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Prayer</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
Benedict XVI noted that this friendship with Christ is cultivated in prayer, which is "a journey in personal communion with Christ, setting before him our daily life, our successes and failures, our struggles and our joys -- in a word, it is to stand in front of him."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He continued: "But if this is not to become a form of self-contemplation, it is important that we constantly learn to pray by praying with the Church. Celebrating the Eucharist means praying. "We celebrate the Eucharist rightly if with our thoughts and our being we enter into the words which the Church sets before us. There we find the prayer of all generations, which accompany us along the way towards the Lord. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">"As priests, in the Eucharistic celebration we are those who by their prayer blaze a trail for the prayer of today's Christians. If we are inwardly united to the words of prayer, if we let ourselves! be guided and transformed by them, then the faithful will also enter into those words." And then all of us will become truly “one body, one spirit” in Christ.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Pope noted that being immersed in God's truth and holiness means "to acknowledge that the truth makes demands, to stand up, in matters great and small, to the lie which in so many different ways is present in the world; accepting the struggles associated with the truth, because its inmost joy is present within us." He affirmed that it also means "being immersed in his goodness, in true love." He added: "True love does not come cheap, it can also prove quite costly. It resists evil in order to bring men true good." The Pontiff affirmed that Christ prays for all priests, for the "true sanctification which transforms their being," and that it be "translated day by day in our lives." </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">He explained that priestly ordination means being immersed in Christ, in the Truth. He concluded, "Dear friends, in this hour of the renewal of promises, we want to pray to the Lord to make us men of truth, men of love, men of God."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">ROME (Zenit.org) - Addressing some 10,000 priests who were in the Rome to take part in the closing of the Year for Priests, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, archbishop of Cologne, affirmed that just as the "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Church must always be reformed</i>" (</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt;">Ecclesia semper reformanda</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">), so bishops and priests "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">must always be reformed</i>" (</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt;">semper reformandus</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">In the meditation the cardinal said that priests, like Paul on the way to Damascus, "must fall off their horse again, to fall into the arms of the merciful God."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">"<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It is not enough in our pastoral work to correct only the structures of our Church so that it is more attractive. It isn't enough! What is lacking is a change of heart, of my heart,"</i> he stressed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">"<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Only a converted Paul was able to change the world, not an engineer of ecclesiastical structures,"</i> the cardinal clarified at the start of the international meeting of priests, convoked by Benedict XVI.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">The closing celebrations on the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, culminated with a Papal Mass in St. Peter's Square with the participation of 15,000 priests.</span></div><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span> <span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #632423; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; letter-spacing: -0.2pt;"> </span></i><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #632423; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; letter-spacing: -0.2pt;"> </span></i><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #632423; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; letter-spacing: -0.2pt;"> </span></i><br />
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</div><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></b></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.thecompassnews.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1227:at-fatima-pope-asks-mary-to-help-keep-priests-holy&catid=38:Nation%20and%20World&Itemid=68"><span style="color: #c00000; text-decoration: none;"></span></a></span></b>AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-18418615199448038122010-05-16T03:29:00.000-07:002011-02-10T04:28:10.508-08:00Word made . . . digital<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">World Day of Social Communication</span></i></b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9SvYRDqHEzu60suqlYrSb07vAjun5aN-y-sIhdJhCgAJpJzjykKYzsBcbsteXRzQ40y5w7rBFrP8RonLYU8AaQnzAUeFL7QXmSuXJaJ6CJfxkvrYqlYuY30robwl_KsobkBoXE3P803M/s1600/popefacebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9SvYRDqHEzu60suqlYrSb07vAjun5aN-y-sIhdJhCgAJpJzjykKYzsBcbsteXRzQ40y5w7rBFrP8RonLYU8AaQnzAUeFL7QXmSuXJaJ6CJfxkvrYqlYuY30robwl_KsobkBoXE3P803M/s320/popefacebook.jpg" width="320" /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></a></div><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">In his </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/communications/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20100124_44th-world-communications-day_en.html"><span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">message</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"> for the Catholic Church's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">2010 World Day for Social Communications</i>, Pope Benedict XVI called on the ministry to use the latest technologies, such as Web sites and blogs, to preach the gospel and encourage a dialogue with their practitioners.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">Scheduled for May 16, the theme of the World Day will be "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the Word."</i> In his message for the world day of social communications, Pope Benedict told people that church communities have traditionally relied on modern media to open the lines of communication. And as the culture changes, the church needs to use the latest technologies, especially if it wants to reach younger people.</span><br />
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</div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">The Church itself has taken initiative to bring its message to the web; checkout these sites</span></i></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">:</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/vatican"><span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">www.youtube.com/vatican</span></a></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.pope2you.net/"><span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">www.pope2you.net</span></a></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.catholicscomehome.com/"><span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">www.catholicscomehome.com</span></a></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.rcdow.org.uk/evangelisation"><span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">www.rcdow.org.uk/evangelisation</span></a></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3pt;"><br />
<a name='more'></a><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #000066; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Animation - Letter from Fr Filiberto Gonzales</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Dear confreres and friends, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 105%; margin-bottom: 3pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 105%;">We are known as specialists in education, evangelisation and catechesis of the young and popular classes of society. With this in mind I must say that I cannot forget the inspired thought of Pope John Paul II in 1979 when he invited everyone in the Church to prepare themselves for a "New evangelisation, new in its zeal, its expression, its method". Although the message was welcomed by many as a timely inspiration to enter into dialogue with an ever more secularised world others, who felt sure of the omnipresence and moral authority of the Church showed little surprise. Undoubtedly the principle of Incarnation and rapid sociocultural changes gave the Pope every reason.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 105%; margin-bottom: 3pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 105%; margin-bottom: 3pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 105%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 105%; margin-bottom: 3pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 105%;">Within a short time Pope Benedict XVI's message: "</span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/communications/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20100124_44th-world-communications-day_en.html"><span style="color: #e31532; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 105%;">The Priest and pastoral ministry in the digital world: new media at the service of the Word</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 105%;">" will find its moment (16 May). I see an appropriate continuity between this and John Paul II's invitation. The Pope now, saying that "the principal task of the priest is to proclaim Christ, the Word of God made flesh, and the communication of his saving grace in the Sacraments", invites us to "be present in the world of digital communications as faithful witnesses to the Gospel, exercising their proper role as leaders of communities which increasingly express themselves with the different "voices" provided by the digital marketplace. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 105%; margin-bottom: 9.6pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .8gd; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 105%;">Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis".<br />
We can translate this into Salesian life by taking one of the principles of our RATIO, that formation is ongoing, and if it is not then it does not exist at all, and by accepting the GC26 guidelines for living this way.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 105%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 105%; margin-bottom: 9.6pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .8gd; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 105%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 105%; margin-bottom: 9.6pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .8gd; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 105%;">Thus I consider that all Salesians, especially perpetually professed Salesians, need to nurture, deepen and renew their pastoral zeal by returning to Don Bosco as a secure guide for continuing to follow Christ with burning passion for God and for the young, especially the poorest of them; we have to feel from the core of our being the urgent need to evangelise and the need for a vocation ministry to the new youth of a culture, playground and era different from our own; we have to enter new frontiers decisively, frontiers where multitudes of young people wait and hope to meet us. We do this by learning their languages and using their technologies. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 105%; margin-bottom: 9.6pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .8gd; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 105%;">How can we offer the Gospel to young people in the digital continent if we don't change in our zeal, expression, methods of evangelisation?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC7M8o07-jMeaRkepbIeEt-BbPW-prolDP3bhDzb3AExGjM-kgkKxtTWRxKxLWWMa72gyyInsGRbXwUy8Y6JgCmtFcZhazkgoom2EYFuezAB5OZFPh9CFwjN0WJLnWDy86J0cOQFTw5aI/s1600/fili.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC7M8o07-jMeaRkepbIeEt-BbPW-prolDP3bhDzb3AExGjM-kgkKxtTWRxKxLWWMa72gyyInsGRbXwUy8Y6JgCmtFcZhazkgoom2EYFuezAB5OZFPh9CFwjN0WJLnWDy86J0cOQFTw5aI/s200/fili.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 9.6pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .8gd; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">My prayer and best wishes,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 9.6pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .8gd;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif";">Fr Filiberto González Plasencia sdb</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;"><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">General Councillor <br />
for Social Communication</span></i></div><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #000066; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Copperplate Gothic Bold", "sans-serif"; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Copperplate Gothic Bold", "sans-serif"; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Copperplate Gothic Bold", "sans-serif"; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvXMV5jWT6V1QhRNmEj0gkFI0AGS23N2OaVyQ5VCI12uuFfU-1dfvppQgowB2NbxH921YuPbm59UsuL2I0Sl9-K2TEwzRVRGf-3lGspsBIw07Cm3L26tkr1RIc4LOH9S1LfO65IWsC7Zk/s1600/popeyoutube.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvXMV5jWT6V1QhRNmEj0gkFI0AGS23N2OaVyQ5VCI12uuFfU-1dfvppQgowB2NbxH921YuPbm59UsuL2I0Sl9-K2TEwzRVRGf-3lGspsBIw07Cm3L26tkr1RIc4LOH9S1LfO65IWsC7Zk/s320/popeyoutube.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 21.6pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Pope Benedict’s </span></i><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/communications/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20100124_44th-world-communications-day_en.html" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;">message for World Communications Day</span></i></a></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> 2010, encourages priests around the world to take their pastoral ministry online through Web sites, blogs and videos.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4pt; text-indent: 21.6pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The message says the church cannot afford to ignore the possibilities offered by the digital revolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is a review of the main themes of the Pope’s text:</span></i></div></div><div align="left"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 21.6pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Responding adequately to this challenge amid today’s cultural shifts, to which young people are especially sensitive, necessarily involves using new communications technologies. The world of digital communication, with its almost limitless expressive capacity, makes us appreciate all the more Saint Paul’s exclamation: “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel</i>” (<i>1 Cor</i> 9:16)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 21.6pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In this Year for Priests, the pope focused on how the church’s ordained ministers can turn the Internet and new media into powerful instruments of evangelization.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 21.6pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis. Using new communication technologies, priests can introduce people to the life of the Church and help our contemporaries to discover the face of Christ.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 21.6pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Lest the church be seen as encouraging a new media “star system” among its clergy, the pope adds a word of caution.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 21.6pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Priests present in the world of digital communications should be less notable for their media savvy than for their priestly heart, their closeness to Christ. This will not only enliven their pastoral outreach, but also will give a “soul” to the fabric of communications that makes up the “Web”.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 21.6pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The pope recognized that digital media will inevitably take priests beyond the church’s own boundaries, requiring a sensitive approach.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 21.6pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">A pastoral presence in the world of digital communications, precisely because it brings us into contact with the followers of other religions, non-believers and people of every culture, requires sensitivity to those who do not believe, the disheartened and those who have a deep, unarticulated desire for enduring truth and the absolute.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY4WhVjagXJnnEuxguJWxeK_u9A_GShJSNiYvMy0jdQg6M1K2A7mhwTucRFM3rg0QRBzzTiHoOrLjbYbkVMDi-cJKG740aXfjMyvEtE0stKdYt01kuyKs2Yb1xcBEadj_g1p4yqjagrrg/s1600/facebook-pope.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY4WhVjagXJnnEuxguJWxeK_u9A_GShJSNiYvMy0jdQg6M1K2A7mhwTucRFM3rg0QRBzzTiHoOrLjbYbkVMDi-cJKG740aXfjMyvEtE0stKdYt01kuyKs2Yb1xcBEadj_g1p4yqjagrrg/s200/facebook-pope.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 21.6pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The main goal of the church’s digital presence should be to remind modern men and women that God is near, he said.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 21.6pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Thanks to the new communications media, the Lord can walk the streets of our cities and, stopping before the threshold of our homes and our hearts, say once more: “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me</i>” (<i>Rev</i> 3:20).</span></div><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Copperplate Gothic Bold", "sans-serif"; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i></b></div>AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-49601680976394128192010-05-12T10:27:00.000-07:002010-08-19T11:16:07.673-07:00Benedict entrusts world's priests to Mary<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOzJ-Rd9rlBf77ttxi5iPn2LjVwFZqrLmDK5Ne8XT1D3W1LjuCDiQFLvapNY8BOsvmDbBmvUUi-UsTYL-pL7kJaMDclycR_nLWZpiCA_elZo05gF4bKLtv20MHNeib0-zF3cWR8ou5MoI/s1600/Pope+Fatima.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOzJ-Rd9rlBf77ttxi5iPn2LjVwFZqrLmDK5Ne8XT1D3W1LjuCDiQFLvapNY8BOsvmDbBmvUUi-UsTYL-pL7kJaMDclycR_nLWZpiCA_elZo05gF4bKLtv20MHNeib0-zF3cWR8ou5MoI/s400/Pope+Fatima.jpg" width="222" /></a></div><em><strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"May the Church be renewed by holy priests, transfigured by the grace of He who makes all things new."</span></strong></em><br />
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<span style="color: #0c343d;">FATIMA, Portugal — Pope Benedict XVI prayed at the site of Mary's apparitions at Fatima and as part of the “<em>Year for Priests</em>,” entrusted the world's priests to her, saying the church needs "<em>holy priests, transfigured by grace</em>."</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0c343d;">The pope prayed that Mary keep priests from the temptations of evil and "<em>restore calm after the tempest."</em></span><br />
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<span style="color: #0c343d;">While he did not explicitly refer to the priestly sex abuse crisis, the pope's remarks in some ways echoed what he said on his flight to Portugal the previous day, when he called the scandal a "<em>terrifying</em>" example of sins committed by the church's own ministers and urged a process of penance and purification in the church. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #0c343d;">The German pope arrived at Fatima to the cheers of more than 40,000 faithful, many of them sick or disabled, who had waited for hours at the sanctuary. Some watched from stretchers as the pope waved from a pavilion overlooking a vast plaza in front of the shrine, as cold rain showers alternated with sunshine. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #0c343d;">The pope then knelt in the Chapel of the Apparitions, built on the site where three shepherd children witnessed a series of apparitions beginning May 13, 1917. In a prayer recited before a statue of Mary, he recalled that Pope John Paul II had placed in its crown a fragment of a gunman's bullet that seriously wounded him May 13, 1981.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0c343d;">He noted that the Polish pope was convinced Mary had saved his life that day.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0c343d;">"<em>It is a profound consolation to know that you are crowned not only with the silver and gold of our joys and hopes, but also with the 'bullet' of our anxieties and sufferings</em>," Pope Benedict said. He left a gold rose at the statue's feet.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0c343d;">After celebrating evening prayer with priests, religious and seminarians, the pope pronounced the "<em>act of entrustment and consecration of priests to the immaculate heart of Mary.</em>" In the Year for Priests, he said, it was important to remind priests that Christ is their model of holiness.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0c343d;">"<em>Help us, through your powerful intercession, never to fall short of this sublime vocation, nor to give way to our selfishness, to the allurements of the world and to the wiles of the Evil One</em>," he said.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="color: #0c343d;">"<em>Let your presence cause new blooms to burst forth in the desert of our loneliness, let it cause the sun to shine on our darkness, let it restore calm after the tempest,"</em> he said<em>. "Come to our aid and deliver us from every danger that threatens us."</em></span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="color: #0c343d;">The entrustment of the world's priests to Mary was a late addition to the papal program in Fatima. It came as the pope and other church officials have responded to disclosures of hundreds of past cases of sexual abuse of minors by priests in several European countries.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="color: #0c343d;">In his comments to reporters aboard his plane May 11, the pope described the scandal as a grave spiritual failing that highlights the need for penance and spiritual conversion inside the church. In a letter to Irish Catholics in March, the pope said abusive priests had betrayed the trust of innocent young people and would answer to God for their sins.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="color: #0c343d;">At the evening prayer service in Fatima's immense and modern Church of the Most Holy Trinity, the pope spoke about the importance of the Year for Priests and his hope that the church's ordained ministers would strengthen their commitment to their vocations, above all through prayer.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0c343d;">He told priests that their own spiritual lives were crucial to their effectiveness in proclaiming the radical challenge of the Gospel.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="color: #0c343d;">"<em>How much we need this witness today! Many of our brothers and sisters live as if there were nothing beyond this life and without concern for their eternal salvation</em>," he said.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0c343d;">The pope encouraged priests to look out for one another's spiritual health and intervene when necessary: "<em>Be especially attentive to those situations where there is a certain weakening of priestly ideals or dedication to activities not fully consonant with what is proper for a minister of Jesus Christ. Then is the time to take a firm stand, with an attitude of warm fraternal love, as brother assisting his brother to remain on his feet,</em>" he said.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0c343d;">The pope also urged priests to help the church discern new vocations. </span>AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-35335830216706666102010-04-10T07:20:00.000-07:002011-02-03T06:13:33.197-08:00Priesthood<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyjZF5hbYpgykKg-UQHa8-hPtI7zfKMfQfXWQiUJ1LWrngFjYkrXrg8_-dQiYC2r_y4uC0UU_pbMrSTVYaTfet98TViC6FmruJtd4_DQRo92EA9Nf4ZEPkKHEOwz8d14s8Ni3hLqAQAtM/s1600/mainimage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyjZF5hbYpgykKg-UQHa8-hPtI7zfKMfQfXWQiUJ1LWrngFjYkrXrg8_-dQiYC2r_y4uC0UU_pbMrSTVYaTfet98TViC6FmruJtd4_DQRo92EA9Nf4ZEPkKHEOwz8d14s8Ni3hLqAQAtM/s320/mainimage.jpg" width="320" /> </a> </div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 3pt;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 3pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0033ff; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">Prayers for Priests</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 3pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #330033; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">You came from among us<br />
to be, for us, one who serves.<br />
We thank you for ministering Christ to us<br />
and helping us minister Christ to each other. </span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 3pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #330033; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">We are grateful for the many gifts you bring to our community:<br />
for drawing us together in worship,<br />
for visiting us in our homes,<br />
for comforting us in sickness,<br />
for showing us compassion,<br />
for blessing our marriage,<br />
for baptising our children,<br />
for confirming us in our calling,<br />
for supporting us in bereavement, <br />
for helping us to grow in faith,<br />
for encouraging us to take the initiative,<br />
for helping the whole community realise God's presence among us.</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 3pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #330033; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">For our part, we pray that we may always be attentive to your needs <br />
and never take you for granted.<br />
You, like us, need friendship and love,<br />
welcome and a sense of belonging,<br />
kind words and acts of thoughtfulness.</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 3pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #330033; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">We pray, also, for the priests who have wounded priesthood.<br />
May we be willing to forgive <br />
and may they be open to healing. <br />
Let us support one another during times of crisis.</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 3pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #330033; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">God our Father, we ask you to bless our priests <br />
and confirm them in their calling.<br />
Give them the gifts they need<br />
to respond with generosity and a joyful heart.</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 3pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #330033; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">We offer this prayer for our priest, <br />
Who is our brother and friend,</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #330033; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 110%;">Amen</span></div><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 105%;">VATICAN CITY, APRIL 9, 2009 (Zenit.org).</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Benedict XVI is urging priests to be holy by living the essence of their vocation, as reflected in the prayer of Christ, that his followers be consecrated in truth. The Pope said this in the homily of the Chrism Mass, which he concelebrated Thursday 9th April with the cardinals, bishops and priests of Rome. He told the ordained ministers, who renewed their priestly vows during the Mass, <b>"<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Lord asks for our sanctification, sanctification in truth</i>." </b>The Pontiff recalled the words of Jesus in his prayer for the Apostles and all priests:<b> "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">For their sake I consecrate myself.</i>"</b><br />
<b>"<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To consecrate something or someone</i>,"</b> he explained, means "<b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">to give that thing or person to God as his property, to take it out of the context of what is ours and to insert it in his milieu, so that it no longer belongs to our affairs, but is totally of God.</i>"</b> He continued: "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The thing or person no longer belongs to us, or even to itself, but is immersed in God. Such a giving up of something in order to give it over to God, we also call a sacrifice: this thing will no longer be my property, but his property</i>." In this way, the Holy Father said, the priest is "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">charged to represent others</i>," and, "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">removed from worldly bonds and given over to God, […] he is available for others, for everyone</i>."<br />
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In this sense, he added, the "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">consecration</i>" of the priest also becomes his "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sacrifice</i>," mirroring "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the priestly act by which Jesus -- the Man Jesus, who is one with the Son of God -- gives himself over to the Father for us</i>." Benedict XVI affirmed that the disciples are sanctified, "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">drawn deep within God</i>," by "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">being immersed in the word of God</i>." He urged his listeners to also be "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pervaded by the word of God</i>," noting that for the Apostles this word is "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the bath which purifies them, the creative power which transforms them into God’s own being."</i></span><br />
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<b>Humility and obedience</b><br />
The Pope noted the existence of a "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">destructive pride and a presumption that tear every community apart and </i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">result in violence</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">," and thus he urged his listeners to "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">learn from Christ the correct humility which corresponds to the truth of our being, and the obedience which submits to truth, to the will of God."</i><br />
He exhorted the ordained ministers to shape their criteria by Gospel values rather than popular opinion, and to "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">become ever anew disciples of that truth which is revealed in the word of God."</i><br />
"<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Our being priests</i>," affirmed the Pontiff, "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is simply a new way of being united to Christ</i>." He continued: "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Being united to Christ calls for renunciation. It means not wanting to impose our own way and our own will, not desiring to become someone else, but abandoning ourselves to him, however and wherever he wants to use us</i>." At our priestly ordination, the Holy Father said, "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">we made this fundamental renunciation of our desire to be independent, 'self-made.</i>'"<br />
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He added: "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But day by day this great </i>'yes'<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> has to be lived out in the many little </i>'yeses'<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> and small sacrifices. This 'yes' made up of tiny steps which together make up the great 'yes,' can be lived out without bitterness and self-pity only if Christ is truly the center of our lives." "Then indeed we experience,"</i> he noted, "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">amid sacrifices which can at first be painful, the growing joy of friendship with him, and all the small and sometimes great signs of his love, which he is constantly showing us."</i><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI2hwQP8M_BEqt1A3SgNDQYMcygLVpqOd7fZ4kUVa1OtItvZr04it-nBtbZKoy4tuaytMgmhPGKrjEuL3BqHMuwXbXcSJrmK8Im7f9AraFJDP_5YAppxBX1Cy7xcrQr6Z7OZiQX5QxIwA/s1600/cupbread0.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnKLNuHs2Y20sxp8sJ9ZDemEh9D7w-mL-aLVs16oYOdcPQQzm8_GCmLL8QJCzrBFntBQqoXyMR6kRHnkyPxY3K5Gw-hZsHWrhZXZed3M_bql99F7QLUT1VYJap6hcNyvamuiXqI1_kAsw/s1600/cupbread0.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnKLNuHs2Y20sxp8sJ9ZDemEh9D7w-mL-aLVs16oYOdcPQQzm8_GCmLL8QJCzrBFntBQqoXyMR6kRHnkyPxY3K5Gw-hZsHWrhZXZed3M_bql99F7QLUT1VYJap6hcNyvamuiXqI1_kAsw/s320/cupbread0.bmp" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 105%; margin: 0cm -18pt 0cm 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 105%;"><br />
<b>Prayer</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 105%; margin: 0cm -18pt 0cm 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 105%;"><b> </b><br />
Benedict XVI noted that this friendship with Christ is cultivated in prayer, which is "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">a journey in personal communion with Christ, setting before him our daily life, our successes and failures, our struggles and our joys -- in a word, it is to stand in front of him.</i>"<br />
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He continued: "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But if this is not to become a form of self-contemplation, it is important that we constantly learn to pray by praying with the Church. Celebrating the Eucharist means praying. We celebrate the Eucharist rightly if with our thoughts and our being we enter into the words which the Church sets before us. There we find the prayer of all generations, which accompany us along the way towards the Lord.”</i><br />
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"<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">As priests, in the Eucharistic celebration we are those who by their prayer blaze a trail for the prayer of today's Christians. If we are inwardly united to the words of prayer, if we let ourselve! s be guided and transformed by them, then the faithful will also enter into those words</i>." And then all of us will become truly “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">one body, one spirit</i>” in Christ.<br />
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The Pope noted that being immersed in God's truth and holiness means "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">to acknowledge that the truth makes demands, to stand up, in matters great and small, to the lie which in so many different ways is present in the world; accepting the struggles associated with the truth, because its inmost joy is present within us.</i>" He affirmed that it also means "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">being immersed in his goodness, in true love</i>." He added: "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">True love does not come cheap, it can also prove quite costly. It resists evil in order to bring men true good.</i>" The Pontiff affirmed that Christ prays for all priests, for the "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">true sanctification which transforms their being</i>," and that it be "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">translated day by day in our lives</i>."<br />
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He explained that priestly ordination means being immersed in Christ, in the Truth. He concluded, "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dear friends, in this hour of the renewal of promises, we want to pray to the Lord to make us men of truth, men of love, men of God</i>."</span></div><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span>AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-87059549283646407882009-12-18T09:32:00.000-08:002011-02-10T04:20:35.614-08:00Young and Alive<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Arial Black", "sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Arial Black", "sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;">21. DON BOSCO OUR MODEL</span></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiarfjeFZdZ9lAaFxnrONjVfiuiNMhisjKui5o00pJzIP0zjvQLd6gtEnDLVgQneJsYKcpgdoopBDn2tG8yfJ31cne0WCeDGYRxaxnPDkEj3vk9IJi9mGgdDI8-21GnAYKWlwi1EW6v1o/s1600/db.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiarfjeFZdZ9lAaFxnrONjVfiuiNMhisjKui5o00pJzIP0zjvQLd6gtEnDLVgQneJsYKcpgdoopBDn2tG8yfJ31cne0WCeDGYRxaxnPDkEj3vk9IJi9mGgdDI8-21GnAYKWlwi1EW6v1o/s320/db.jpg" width="177" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Salesian spirit finds The Lord has given us Don Bosco as father and teacher.</span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.15pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: small;">We study and imitate him, admiring in him a splendid blending of nature and grace.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">He was deeply human, rich in the qualities of his people, open to the realities of this earth; and he was just as deeply the man of God, filled with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and living "as seeing him who is invisible".</span></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.15pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: small;">These two aspects combined to create a closely-knit life project, the service of the young. </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">He realized his aim with firmness, constancy and the sensitivity of a generous heart, in the midst of difficulties and fatigue.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">"He took no step, he said no word, he took up no task that was not directed to the saving of the young... Truly the only concern of his heart was for souls."</span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkoYuB7hXDf5kKHLP1avfARw-F5fZErG1SrtoybLSG8d30JAspQg8aDD1QjV08DXdqkAx74KhOKFpWDEK4L17OdUdjsJEm2cqzDHNDlo_nhqNrwnF72n8YAn3JHUCg6b_sB8yr3LDMroc/s1600/profession+cross.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkoYuB7hXDf5kKHLP1avfARw-F5fZErG1SrtoybLSG8d30JAspQg8aDD1QjV08DXdqkAx74KhOKFpWDEK4L17OdUdjsJEm2cqzDHNDlo_nhqNrwnF72n8YAn3JHUCg6b_sB8yr3LDMroc/s200/profession+cross.jpg" width="117" /></a></div><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Arial Black", "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;">10. Pastoral charity the centre of our spirit</span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;">Under the inspiration of God, Don Bosco lived and handed on to us an original style of life and action: the Salesian spirit.</span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;">It is summed up and centred in pastoral charity, characterized by that youthful dynamism which was revealed so strongly in our Founder and at the beginnings of our Society.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">It is an apostolic impetus that makes us seek souls and serve God alone.</span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">*<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> Our Salesian call </b>When we think of our call to the Salesian life, how many of us can say: “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I decided to be a Salesian after going through a deep study of the Preventive System and the Salesian Spirituality</i>”?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How many of us can rather say: “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">If I am a Salesian it is because of father or brother so and so … My vocational journey</i></span></div><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></span> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Since this second alternative has been my experience I tend to think that the majority of the Salesians could say the same.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Models play an important role in the life of a person, especially at the early stages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixaiyTnrTO4CTKIwLUsgaIQNzwZ4YbtaGDoGd8bBs9NpC4S-J5p7yDVDM8NHm6QSoXlt-cMlMjE3okm1Df9VFUc1KAf6PiTG_9GAiYJGdSDe7eTKKETmi5cy9lMe-RNC6SgKQOZbkfkDY/s1600/jvv.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixaiyTnrTO4CTKIwLUsgaIQNzwZ4YbtaGDoGd8bBs9NpC4S-J5p7yDVDM8NHm6QSoXlt-cMlMjE3okm1Df9VFUc1KAf6PiTG_9GAiYJGdSDe7eTKKETmi5cy9lMe-RNC6SgKQOZbkfkDY/s1600/jvv.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixaiyTnrTO4CTKIwLUsgaIQNzwZ4YbtaGDoGd8bBs9NpC4S-J5p7yDVDM8NHm6QSoXlt-cMlMjE3okm1Df9VFUc1KAf6PiTG_9GAiYJGdSDe7eTKKETmi5cy9lMe-RNC6SgKQOZbkfkDY/s200/jvv.png" width="150" /></a></div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">* From the Constitutions</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Salesian spirit finds its <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">model</b> and source in the very heart of Christ, apostle of the Father”.</i> (C11)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">“We study and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">imitate</b> him (Don Bosco)”. (C21)</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">“Our living rule is Jesus Christ… whom we find present in Don Bosco who devoted his life to the young”. (C196)</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">“The first Salesians found their sure guide in Don Bosco. Living at the very heart of his community in action, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">they learned to model their own lives on his</b>. We too find <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">in him our model”</b>. (C97)</span></i><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">* A reflection in 3 points</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">1. Looking at the model </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Lord has given us Don Bosco as <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Father and Teacher</b>”</i>. Before being Father and Teacher of the youth, Don Bosco is <u>OUR</u> Father and Teacher!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">As a father Don Bosco reflects in a special way the “fatherhood’ of God. All his life he displayed a father’s heart. He said to his Salesians: ”<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">No matter in what remote part of the world you may be, never forget that here in Italy you have a father who loves you in the Lord”.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">As a teacher Don Bosco reproduces some features of the Divine Master, Jesus Christ, who has been his guide from the first dream at the age of nine. Of Jesus Don Bosco incarnated certain aspects: gratitude for the gift of vocation, predilection for the little ones, zeal in preaching and saving, the gentleness and self-giving attitude of the Good shepherd. (C11)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Before being a teacher, Don Bosco is a good disciple! He reflects Jesus in his life and points to Jesus as the perfect model: “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He will always be our Master, our Guide , our Model</i>”. Don Bosco is there with all his “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">splendid blending of nature and grace … deeply human and deeply the man of God … with a closely-knit life project, the service of the young</i>”.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Is this model constantly present in my life? Is Don Bosco only on my T-shirt or in my heart and mind? Am I concerned to know him more so as to love him more?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When looking for orientation in my life do I turn to him?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">2. Modeling myself after him </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">When I hear people saying of somebody: “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I admire him</i>!”, my spontaneous reaction is: “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">And do you imitate him?”.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Don Bosco is there not to be admired only, but to be imitated!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt; text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">All Don Bosco’s rich gifts of nature and grace placed him at the service of a unique mission: the salvation of the youth! He is a man with a fixed idea always in mind, which accompanied him from the age of nine to the end of his life: save the young, and especially the poorest of them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">The great imitator of Don Bosco is Don Rua, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“the most faithful son of Don Bosco”.</i> The closeness to the master for many years helped him “to enter into Don Bosco’s ideas, to give up his own views, his own opinions, to be conformed” to Don Bosco’s ways of seeing things. The expression “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">At Mirabello I shall try to be Don Bosco”</i> sums up all his effort to copy the model. And the result is immediately seen. After few months it has been written that “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Don Rua at Mirabello is behaving like Don Bosco in Turin. He is always surrounded by boys attracted by his friendliness...”</i> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">To Don Rua apply the very words he said of Don Bosco: “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He took no step, he said no word, he took up no task that was not directed to the saving of the young. Truly the only concern of his heart was for souls”.</i></span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Don Bosco remains still the guide who can enlighten our choices today, the model against whom we can measure our fidelity. His example is an invitation to us to be resolute in our commitment, to unify all our thoughts, strength and all we are in one and the same direction, a stimulus to fidelity until death.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">3. Becoming a model <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- 18 December 2009</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">: renewal of profession by all of us Salesians.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Today is the culmination of the spiritual and pastoral journey of this 150<sup>th</sup> Anniversary of the founding of our Congregation.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Today we are given the opportunity to “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">start afresh from Don Bosco</i>”, Founder of our Congregation, of the Salesian Family and of the vast Salesian Movement. It is a question of taking to heart our <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">identity</b> as consecrated persons, dedicated by vow to the primacy of God and the following of Christ obedient, poor and chaste, totally at the disposal of the Spirit, and precisely on account of this totally dedicated to the young. It is an identity to be lived with joy and to be visibly demonstrated in evangelising zeal, in love for the salvation of souls, in pastoral enthusiasm, that draw their inspiration from Don Bosco’s plan of life “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">da mihi animas, cetera tolle</b>”. Our identity therefore ought to be clearly seen in the fire of apostolic passion and in our <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pastoral charity</i> with its <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">youthful dynamism</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
During the course of this year we have gone over and re-discovered the goals of holiness traced out in our Rule of Life, now the renewal of profession on 18 December is the fruit of a process of conversion and the starting point for a renewed offering of our lives to God for the young.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">It is a way to become models to the young who are looking for direction in life, a way to be Don Bosco today wherever we are, in AFW Vice-Province.</span></div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Fr Riccardo - <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Provincial</i></span></b><br />
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #632423; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Lord, we thank you for Don Bosco.</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #632423; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt;">You have given him to us as our Father and Teacher.</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #632423; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt;">In him we celebrate the wonders of your love,</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #632423; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt;">A splendid blend of nature and grace,</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #632423; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt;">And an original style of life and action in the service of the young.</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #632423; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Grant, we pray you,</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #632423; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt;">That following his teaching and example</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #632423; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt;">And modeling ourselves after him</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #632423; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt;">We may bring him to life today in ourselves</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #632423; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt;">By dedicating ourselves to you and to our fellow men</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #632423; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt;">In faithful service given to young people.</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 1.1pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #632423; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Amen.</span></b></div>AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-67211919774411038792009-12-18T08:43:00.000-08:002011-02-10T04:20:35.614-08:00A Spontaneous Expression<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #984806; font-family: "Arial Black", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">C 20: The Preventive System and Salesian spirit</span></u></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.95pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">Under the guidance of Mary his teacher, Don Bosco lived with the boys of the first Oratory a spiritual and educational experience which he called the "Preventive System".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For him this was a spontaneous expression of love inspired by the love of a God who provides in advance for all his creatures, is ever present at their side, and freely gives his life to save them.</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">Don Bosco passes this on to us as a way of living and of handing on the gospel message, and of working with and through the young for their salvation. it permeates our approach to God, our personal relationships and our manner of living in community through the exercise of a charity that knows how to make itself loved.</span></i></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio_KXq-Jf0IBUZ0rCyTV6KHPDK0t2N1u98wuhDLlVf7iKVHTqEajmPIMcGVH6fjed-VMO7fDEFzefsgalHMCoUf647CJeBT_jBc3yA-ZPKnPbZMheDb0w8xOJKhKMEa6iQZ-kReAlHliQ/s1600/prodson.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio_KXq-Jf0IBUZ0rCyTV6KHPDK0t2N1u98wuhDLlVf7iKVHTqEajmPIMcGVH6fjed-VMO7fDEFzefsgalHMCoUf647CJeBT_jBc3yA-ZPKnPbZMheDb0w8xOJKhKMEa6iQZ-kReAlHliQ/s400/prodson.bmp" width="167" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Many of us are familiar with the famous paint of Rembrandt reproducing the encounter of the Prodigal Son with his merciful father. Many of us did read the comment made by Henry Nouwen<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in his best seller some years ago. In the introduction to the text he described how he discovered in that picture so many meaningful details just “contemplating” it day after day.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The same happened during these days. Several times I have read, studied and reflected on our Constitutions in personal meditation or in community meetings. Nevertheless in these days, while “contemplating” some articles, I found out a kind of newness, freshness and richness that filled my heart with gratitude and joy. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">We are rich, we are very rich. We are children of a great rich spiritual family. And like children of rich families, we run the risk of not appreciating enough our richness, the precious heritage that was laid down for us. We do not explore it any more, we are satisfied for what we have learnt, and we think we have reached the saturation proverbial for a conceited lecturer.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The title of Art 20 “The Preventive System and Salesian Spirit” matches together two fundamental topics that usually are developed in separated books. Here they become two parts of a same book interweaving each other.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I can trace back the time in which the Preventive System was presented to us - young Salesians - as a “method of education”. Following the short outlines laid down by Don Bosco - “The Preventive System in the education of the young” - we learned about the difference between repressive and preventive system, “in what the preventive system consists”, its application and advantages. It was an approach that helped us to revisit the previous periods of our education in Salesian environments and find out many good examples of its application in the style of life of our educators. By expanding a little into psychological and pedagogical areas of studies we presumed to be fully equipped for the task of our practical training in the communities. Wonderful juvenile enthusiasm!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Along the years the Congregation elaborated a new inside of the Preventive System to become gradually not only a “method of education” but “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">a</b> spirituality”, “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">the</b>” Salesian spirituality. Therefore the GC 25 (N 57) invited the communities to give greater emphasis to the “understanding and appreciation of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">preventive system as the way to Salesian holiness”</i>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">In the art. 20, the first Oratory of Don Bosco is seen as a “<u>spiritual</u> and educational experience”. The preventive system is referred to as “a spontaneous expression of love inspired by the love of God”. And so “it permeates our approach to God, our personal relationships and our manner of living in community”.</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">There was a time – after the Vatican Council - in which the Salesians were seriously discussing about their identity: is it because of our “Mission” to the youth that we are “Salesians”? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">It seemed so, since in the Church and in the world the name Salesian called for people committed to the education of the youth. It was the CG 20<sup>th</sup> time.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS3NRBLhzLJk1YuqEZD_ppWz6G1gy46-sgdiZ5sobITDd9uZmQvx4-VTHiT3nDd3NzsRNBdYIg-mpwRCkr-GIjouwYaU0gXpuhQlOtAVZAk4f3B_7VndfLsmvEAr4dGbGJev_bAOopwqk/s1600/logo150_en.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS3NRBLhzLJk1YuqEZD_ppWz6G1gy46-sgdiZ5sobITDd9uZmQvx4-VTHiT3nDd3NzsRNBdYIg-mpwRCkr-GIjouwYaU0gXpuhQlOtAVZAk4f3B_7VndfLsmvEAr4dGbGJev_bAOopwqk/s200/logo150_en.jpg" width="100" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">After great enthusiasm for this line of theological vision which carries lots of pastoral consequences, the pendulum of our reflection was turned on the opposite side. It is basically our “Consecration” that deeply marks our identity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Eventually we realized that “Mission and Consecration” are not one prior to the other, but stand like the double face of the same medal: the “grace of unity”.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">In the same line Art. 20 calls us to consider Preventive System and Salesian Spirit as two faces of the same coin. We identify ourselves as Salesians in as much as we live and practice the Preventive system that becomes not only our system of education, but the daily way of our journeying to holiness. It is by practicing the virtues that are required by the Preventive system (charity, love, patience, kindness, forgiveness, humility, committed self-sacrificing presence among the youngsters, acceptance of the difficulties and tediousness of staying with them, etc. etc.) that we find our daily way to perfection, sanctification and holiness. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">What a wonderful blending!</span></div>AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383521407417732526.post-72362897410622913702009-12-17T06:51:00.000-08:002011-02-10T04:20:35.615-08:00As Circumstances Demand!<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; tab-stops: 36.0pt 93.6pt 331.2pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">19.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Initiative and flexibility</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; tab-stops: 0cm 2.95pt 331.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Salesian is called to be a realist and to be attentive to the signs of the times, convinced that the lord manifests his will also through the demands of time and place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hence his spirit of initiative and apostolic creativity:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"in those things which are for the benefit of young people in danger or which serve to win souls for God, I push ahead even to the extent of recklessness".</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: maroon; font-size: 12pt;">Timely response to these needs requires him to keep abreast of new trends and meet them with the well-balanced creativity of the Founder; periodically he evaluates his work.</span><br />
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<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; tab-stops: 35.4pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif";">There is a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>story of Don Bosco which I always find<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>quite powerful and challenging, just as I did<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>when I first heard it. Even though it belongs to that apocryphal collection of stories which inevitably tend to accumulate in the life of saints, yet I find that it really captures his spirit and drive. </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; tab-stops: 35.4pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif";">It concerns<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a Salesian confrere who went to lament to don Bosco when he was on a visit to one of the houses. “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ah, these young people today, they are not what they used to be</i>”, he moaned, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">they are fickle and easily get distracted with these modern day innovations</i>.” He proceeded to tell him how the numbers of those attending the oratory had dwindled drastically. </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; tab-stops: 35.4pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif";">When don Bosco asked him as to the reason why this might be so, the confrere explained: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“It’s these latest inventions that are leading them astray. This thing called Bicycle – they are all getting a bike and they prefer going off to different places rather than come to the Oratory.” </i></span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; tab-stops: 35.4pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif";">“Well then,”</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif";"> Don Bosco promptly replied, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“learn how to ride the bicycle and go run after them.”</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXo6L2oDt0GuF1uo-i3bJAdRL88KfdNSMGG5Oz8_bKjS5ldwmAkLGPjpkQrp5F-yBQ1hcesSCPHUJbe8KFEOqJCrY8C67EvmXGlIaYqw9AI6TaSJMbYYsEwjiesq2AyE7r2gAn405N5Gs/s1600/SAL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXo6L2oDt0GuF1uo-i3bJAdRL88KfdNSMGG5Oz8_bKjS5ldwmAkLGPjpkQrp5F-yBQ1hcesSCPHUJbe8KFEOqJCrY8C67EvmXGlIaYqw9AI6TaSJMbYYsEwjiesq2AyE7r2gAn405N5Gs/s200/SAL.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; tab-stops: 35.4pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif";">I think it is a lovely example<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of how Don Bosco got his priorities right: his heart was for the young and they were the main objective of his concern and endeavours. Everything else was a means to this end, the welfare of youth. Therefore in a situation where society and young people are always changing and developing, one has to be able not only to read the signs of the times but also to have the ability to adapt. This inevitably requires one to be flexible as well as to have a creativity in one’s pastoral outreach.</span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; tab-stops: 35.4pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; tab-stops: 35.4pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif";">“I push ahead to the extent of recklessness” where no mere idle words and he often took many risks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The amount of work he did was phenomenal and the different initiatives he undertook were incredible, very often breaking new ground. “ When it comes to progress”, he once said to a young visiting priest who eventually became Pope Pius XI, “I want to be in the vanguard.”</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: maroon; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif";">In an industrial exhibition held in Turin in his time, one of the main attractions which drew large crowds was a Printing Press that was one of the most advanced at the time. What drew the crowds was not so much the technology, but rather the fact that it was operated by a group of young apprentices who up to a few years before had been good-for-nothing urchins roaming the streets. Needless to say the one who put up this exhibit was Don Bosco himself!</span><br />
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<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; tab-stops: 35.4pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif";">It is important to be able<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>read and interpret the signs of the time, and the reason is because it is in these that we can discover what the Lord is saying to Us. “T<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">he lord manifests his will also through the demands of time and place”.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It in the light of prayer and reflection that we can respond positively to the demands and needs of the time. “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I always went ahead as the Lord inspired and circumstances demanded”,</i> Don Bosco often used to say<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.</i> </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; tab-stops: 35.4pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif";">Otherwise the danger is that we become stagnant in our works and fail to continue touch the lives of the young.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If this happens then we become irrelevant. Being attached or nostalgic to past ways will not solve anything. Don Rinaldi used to say; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Not with the times of Don Bosco, but rather with Don Bosco and with the time.”</i> In a way this is what we are being asked to do by the Rector Major, that in returning to Don Bosco, we capture the essence of his spirit and holiness, so as to be able to transmit them in new situations, cultures and era. </span></div><div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; tab-stops: 35.4pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: maroon; font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif";">It is not an easy challenge and something which cannot be achieved if we are too busy. One needs to have that space where one can stand back to assess the situation and reflect. The time of a Provincial Chapter is one such a privileged moment, where we are being asked as a Province on how to respond positviley to the signs of the times. Let us not miss the opportunity that is being presented to us.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMPnx6K8cX0HSqDu2kbcazPP6m95IrLp0k6UTLhUdMFChwKV4q37vnC67Ybu3YDjsKhoj03YNjj1VaUq9kme1DCykvbljhsbxH38-BoI7kzvEgbnozv3rutZ0bKf1lFpjCF4IWV269yMQ/s1600/MIGRANTS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="93" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMPnx6K8cX0HSqDu2kbcazPP6m95IrLp0k6UTLhUdMFChwKV4q37vnC67Ybu3YDjsKhoj03YNjj1VaUq9kme1DCykvbljhsbxH38-BoI7kzvEgbnozv3rutZ0bKf1lFpjCF4IWV269yMQ/s320/MIGRANTS.jpg" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: maroon; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: maroon; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">A group of migrants being rescued at sea before their boat sinks. </span></i></div><div align="center"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"> Is this one of the signs of the times?</span></i></div><div align="center"><br />
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #632423; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">Bestow on us Lord,<br />
As you did on our founder and Father ‘a heart great as the shores of the sea’,<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>able to read the signs of your presence <br />
and the designs of your will.</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #632423; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">Help us to be courageous in initiatives, <br />
ready to respond to the needs of the people and places,<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>forgetful of ourselves and our own tastes and interests, <br />
and prompted only by the desire for your glory<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and the salvation of our fellow man.</span></b></div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #632423; font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i><br />
</span></b></div>AFW Provinceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08167344875253115351noreply@blogger.com0