Blessings!

As Christ’s disciples we are invited to always count our blessings and that is what I try to do everyday even if at times, everything seems murky and I couldn’t find meaning in what I am doing.
Yesterday, I had the blessing of discovering a website which talks about a symbol of life – the labyrinth. It is actually a medieval symbol of life’s journey that I was inspired to embrace since my last birthday because it strongly depicts my state of soul. I never realized it has been “revived” and it is now being used as a means of meditation in Cape Town, South Africa. The other element of blessing is that I came to know about it through a significant person who “serendipitously” discovered it as he explored the place during his latest mission there! Really, nothing happens by chance!
Today, I have the blessing of reading a “good news” from Zenit about a film on vocations that was named the winner of Gabriel Award in California given by the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals. It is an 18-minute DVD entitled "Fishers of Men," part of a vocational recruitment project launched last year by the U.S. episcopal conference. I find it extremely moving and I think it is worth showing to the world. The trailer of the video can be seen at http://ccc.usccb.org/video/fishers_of_men1.wmv.

A third blessing I am waiting for is the celebration of the Divine Master Sunday tomorrow. It is a Solemnity which we in the Pauline Family, together with our friends and collaborators, celebrate to honor Jesus Christ as Divine Master, Way, Truth and Life. For the celebration here in Rome, you can see the program in this webpage. This year, the day is also made special by the fact that with it begins my annual retreat – 7 days of silence, prayer and rest in the Lord. And in silence, prayer, rest, I am sure that other blessings flow…

Women Who Hear Voices

I was unable to resist the temptation to pass by the bookshop of the Gregorian University after meeting a friend who’s now teaching in this renowned University. By this “happy fault,” I chanced on a very interesting book – Women who Hear Voices by Sidney Callahan. The author is a committed Catholic and trained psychologist who explores the relationship of the human mind and religious experience, especially women’s religious experience.
Midway in this interesting read, the Author says of God, and to this I agree: “Once the incarnation is accepted as God’s entrance into embodied history, a new unified approach is necessary. With more sophistication about the way ancient philosophies influenced early Christianity, theologians can see that much of the tradition was constricted by ancient Greek understandings that perfection required immutability and unchanging self-sufficiency. But for us, God’s perfection and creativity is manifest in creative change and the ever new. “Behold I make all things new.” God as a fountain of creativity is bringing a new creation into being through time and history into the future.”
I myself have been toying with the image of God as both eternal movement and still point. I mean, that is how I experience God – evolving, yet foundational. I hope I am not proclaiming a heresy here. Here is how Ms. Callahan affirms my insight. She says, “Creation can now be understood as open and evolving in freedom. Just as truth is not a lumpen deposit, neither is the dynamic universe, which is in process of becoming. God works in cocreative ways with human beings and within nature. Chance and necessity have both been created by God and operate in creation as God’s ways to bring about novelty and freedom. Freedom and chance are necessary for creatures to have the autonomy to make choices, to create and to voluntarily seek to become friends and adorers of God.”
Now, what has all this to do with “women who hear voices?”

I need to get on with my reading...

Blessed Timothy Giaccardo

Blessed Timothy Giaccardo, born “Giuseppe Giaccardo” to a devout family in North Italy (Narzole) on 13 June 1896 was the first member of the Pauline Family to be raised to the altars. He returned to the Father’s house on January 24, 1948, at only 52 years old. He was proclaimed "blessed" by Pope John Paul II on October 22, 1990.

Blessed James Alberione, while still a diocesan priest, picked him out and sent him to the seminary. After 10 years in the diocesan seminary, Giuseppe Giaccardo asked permission from his bishop to join the new foundation of Fr. Alberione, the Society of St. Paul which started in 1914. Giuseppe took his vows and chose the name "Timothy" after the best loved disciple of St. Paul. Father Timothy became the first priest in Father Alberione's new congregation. His work as a Pauline priest was to be a media apostle. He wrote, edited, printed and distributed the Word of God. Eventually Timothy Giaccardo became Alberione's right hand man and a primary figure in the interpretation of the Pauline charism. He was in fact, the Vicar General of the Society of St. Paul at the time of his death. He became Father Alberione's closest helper and friend. In fact, Father Alberione called Blessed Timothy "most faithful of the faithful."

For us, Disciples of the Divine Master (PDDM), he was some kind of “foundational figure” together with our Founder, Blessed James Alberione, and our first mother, the Servant of God, Sr. M. Scholastica Rivata. He was in a special way instrumental in the life of our congregation especially in the formation of the first groups of disciples and in the process of canonical constitution of our Institute. It was such a mystical mission that was entrusted to him by the Lord, through James Alberione, and which he took at heart.
I’d like to share here an excerpt from Blessed Timothy Giaccardo’s own writings regarding the Devotion to the Divine Master.
“What do we mean by devotion? It is not only a practice; it is offering, donation, entrusting; (…) we make our profession in order to dedicate, consecrate and give ourselves to the Divine Master. Hence, the devotion to the Divine Master is the reason, principle, beginning, method, process, support, crown, perfection, consummation of our spiritual Pauline life, and this because of our calling, vocation, mission and religious vows.
Hence, let our will be in his in order to follow him: sequere me; our minds be open to his words, to the contemplation of his mysteries: in me credite; our hearts happy to make him happy: Praebe cor tuum mihi; Let us spend ourselves for him; pray to him with much trust. (…)”

St. Luke Evangelist

Today is the Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist, a special friend of St. Paul. In fact, the First Reading outlines this (see 2 Tim 4:1-11). Luke was a missionary with St. Paul in the first Christian century (hence the Gospel choice of Lk 10:1-9). This missionary activity must be the main experience which informed him extensively about the life of our Lord and formed him thoroughly on the Christian values. The Gospel of Luke in fact is known to be the Gospel of the poor, the oppressed, the women. Luke’s Gospel is also of justice and of God’s tenderness. Thus, Jesus’ proclamation of his program in Lk 4:18-19 - "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord."

A Catholic website expands this special Gospel predilection of Luke for these group of people. He is the one who tells the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man who ignored him. Luke is the one who uses "Blessed are the poor" instead of "Blessed are the poor in spirit" in the beatitudes. Only in Luke's gospel do we hear Mary 's Magnificat where she proclaims that God "has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty" (Luke 1:52-53). Luke also has a special connection with the women in Jesus' life, especially Mary. It is only in Luke's gospel that we hear the story of the Annunciation, Mary's visit to Elizabeth including the Magnificat, the Presentation, and the story of Jesus' disappearance in Jerusalem. It is Luke that we have to thank for the Scriptural parts of the Hail Mary: "Hail Mary full of grace" spoken at the Annunciation and "Blessed are you and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus" spoken by her cousin Elizabeth. Forgiveness and God's mercy to sinners is also of first importance to Luke. Only in Luke do we hear the story of the Prodigal Son welcomed back by the overjoyed father. Only in Luke do we hear the story of the forgiven woman disrupting the feast by washing Jesus' feet with her tears. Throughout Luke's gospel, Jesus takes the side of the sinner who wants to return to God's mercy. Reading Luke's gospel gives a good idea of his character as one who loved the poor, who wanted the door to God's kingdom opened to all, who respected women, and who saw hope in God's mercy for everyone.
Luke is known as the patron of physicians and surgeons. According to the early Church historian Eusebius Luke was born at Antioch in Syria. Some scholars have also argued that he might have been born a slave and it was not uncommon for families to educate slaves in medicine so that they would have a resident family physician. Not only do we have Paul's word ( see Colossians 4:14), but Eusebius, Saint Jerome, Saint Irenaeus and Caius, a second-century writer, all refer to Luke as a physician.
For our prayers today, then I suggest we remember all the categories of persons mentioned here and ask the special prayers of St. Luke for them. We also need to storm heaven and join together in prayer for the two Syro-Catholic priests kidnapped in Iraq last Saturday, that the Lord may protect and restore them to their Christian communities.

St. Ignatius of Antioch

Some people cling to life on this earth at all costs. That’s why insurance companies thrive greatly. Our saint today, St. Ignatius of Antioch, pleaded with his Christian friends not to stand in the way of his death, actually his martyrdom, which for him meant, “birth to real life.”
Ignatius was the second bishop of Antioch, the place where the followers of Jesus were called Christians for the first time (Acts 11:26). Antioch was one of the centers of apostolic Christianity and was the first missionary center of outreach to the non-Jews (Acts 11:20). It was, in fact, the headquarters from where Paul and Barnabas were sent out on their missionary journeys (Acts 13:2-3; 15: 35-41; 18:22-23). Ignatius remains an important figure for us in understanding the life of the early Christian communities.

Here’s an excerpt from his writings which I consider a beautiful commentary on St. Paul’s words “to die is gain” (Phil 1:21).
(…) The time for my birth is close at hand. Forgive me, my brothers. Do not stand in the way of my birth to real life; do not wish me stillborn. My desire is to belong to God. Do not, then, hand me back to the world. Do not try to tempt me with material things. Let me attain pure light. Only on my arrival there can I be fully a human being. Give me the privilege of imitating the passion of my God. If you have him in your heart, you will understand what I wish. You will sympathise with me because you will know what urges me on.
The prince of this world is determined to lay hold of me and to undermine my will which is intent on God. Let none of you here help him; instead show yourselves on my side, which is also God’s side. Do not talk about Jesus Christ as long as you love this world. Do not harbour envious thoughts. And supposing I should see you, if then I should beg you to intervene on my behalf, do not believe what I say. Believe instead what I am now writing to you. For though I am alive as I write to you, still my real desire is to die. My love of this life has been crucified, and there is no yearning in me for any earthly thing. Rather within me is the living water which says deep inside me: “Come to the Father”. I no longer take pleasure in perishable food or in the delights of this world. I want only God’s bread, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, formed of the seed of David, and for drink I crave his blood, which is love that cannot perish.I am no longer willing to live a merely human life, and you can bring about my wish if you will. Please, then, do me this favour, so that you in turn may meet with equal kindness. Put briefly, this is my request: believe what I am saying to you. Jesus Christ himself will make it clear to you that I am saying the truth. Only truth can come from that mouth by which the Father has truly spoken. Pray for me that I may obtain my desire. I have not written to you as a mere man would, but as one who knows the mind of God. If I am condemned to suffer, I will take it that you wish me well. If my case is postponed, I can only think that you wish me harm."

For the complete text, click here.

St. Mary Margaret Alacoque

Today’s saint is one of my favorites: St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), a French Visitation nun given the vision and mission to promote the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She was prepared for this mission even in and through her personal history. A website on saints writes: “Her early years were marked by sickness and a painful home situation. She confesses, 'the heaviest of my crosses was that I could do nothing to lighten the cross my mother was suffering.' ”
Her special mission began on December 21, 1674. Three years a nun, she received the first of her revelations. The request of Christ was that his love for humankind be made evident through her. During the next 13 months he appeared to her at intervals. His human heart was to be the symbol of his divine-human love. By her own love she was to make up for the coldness and ingratitude of the world—by frequent and loving Holy Communion, especially on the first Friday of each month, and by an hour's vigil of prayer every Thursday night in memory of his agony and isolation in Gethsemane. He also asked that a feast of reparation be instituted. She was helped in realizing this mission by his Jesuit confessor, a saintly man himself, Blessed Claude de la Colombiere.
In my faith journey, I could say that the devotion to the Sacred Heart has been one of the most influential in my life, perhaps because of the wide diffusion of this devotion in the Philippines. It has become deeply rooted in me that I remember one time in my college days when I felt so uneasy and I literally “dragged myself” to attend the evening Mass in the University chapel. I was amazed at the great crowd present and it was only then that I realized it was the First Friday of the month!
Going beyond the ritual requirements of the devotion, I believe that its global appeal rests on its deeper meaning - the reality that we all want to be in the “heart of God” that is, we all want to experience the love of Christ and learn his same way of loving. And perhaps, to be able to go deep into the meaning of Christ’s love, we can consider some excerpts of Kahlil Gibran's poem on love:
Then said Almitra, 'Speak to us of Love.'
And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them.
And with a great voice he said: When love beckons to you follow him, though his ways are hard and steep. (...)
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you.
Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
so shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart,
and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.
(...)
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.
When you love you should not say, 'God is in my heart,' but rather, I am in the heart of God.'
And think not you can direct the course of love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.