Rediscover Confession, Urges Benedict XVI

Rediscover Confession, Urges Benedict XVI
Calls It Sacrament of Forgiveness

(News condensed from CBCP Monitor, Vol.13 No.4, February 16 – March1, 2009; Zenit)
by Armando A. Suñe

VATICAN CITY, February 15, 2009 – Sin is what puts distance between the believer and God, and it’s the sacrament of confession that brings the two back together, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope said this today in a Gospel reflection on Mark’s account of the healed leper (Mark 2: 1-12), which he delivered before praying the midday Angelus with those gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

“It is not…physical malady that distances us from God, as the ancient norms supposed, but sin, the spiritual and moral evil.”

Benedict XVI reflected: “The sins we commit distance us from God, and, if they are not humbly confessed, trusting in the divine mercy, they will finally bring about the death of the soul. This miracle ( of the healed leper) thus has powerful symbolic value.

“In the Sacrament of Penance Christ crucified and risen, through his ministers, purified us with his infinite mercy, restores us to communion with the heavenly Father and our brothers, and makes a gift of his love, joy, and peace to us.”

“Dear brothers and sisters,” he concluded, “let us invoke the Virgin Mary, whom God preserved from every stain of sin, that she help us to avoid sin and to have frequent recourse to the sacrament of confession, the sacrament of forgiveness, whose value and importance for our Christian life needs to be rediscovered today.”

Our reflection on Pope Benedict XVI’s message makes us conclude that, beyond the physical healing that may take place because of confession, confession itself heals our relationship with God and makes us children of God again. Sin separates us from God and takes us away from the “State of Grace” necessary to enter into friendship with HIM. Confession restores that “State of Grace” in us and makes us friends with God again. Going to confession requires HUMILITY, which means one has to die from the refusal of admitting to God his sins, all because of his stubbornness and pride.

Why do a lot of Catholics these days refuse to go to confession? It is because of this pride and stubbornness, the same Sin that Adam and Eve committed. Worst, a lot of Catholics these days have adopted the wrong attitude of non-Catholics who were wrongly taught to believe they should confess only directly to God. As Catholics, we need to remember what Jesus Christ said to Peter and the Apostles during the resurrection, “Those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven. Those whose sins you retain, they are retained.” Priests ordained in the Roman Catholic Church are the present-day successors of Peter and the Apostles. Christ forgives us of our sins during confession through these ordained Roman Catholic priests. Let us not be afraid then to go to our priests for Confession, especially this Lenten season.

Confession does give us the bonus of a liberating feeling of well-being, of light-heartedness, of an unexplainable feeling of goodness and freedom of spirit in God’s name, and of knowing that we are back in God’s care and protection. This results in a general feeling of good health and a possible return to physical healing of our infirmities itself. Only those who have gone to a good Confession with a priest receive this blessing – this feeling of relief, goodness and well-being. No drug-abuse habit can come up to this unexplainable “HIGH” that only comes from God. Just ask your friend who has gone to a good Confession, dear reader. Now, I am asking you: Wanna try going to Confession? I dare you, dear reader. Try it. You won’t regret it.

Isolated Good Acts - The Power of Christianity

Isolated Good Acts
The Power of Christianity
by Joseph Sylvester Pampliega

Last February 15, 2009, Fr. John Flynn, LC reported on recent cases of religious discrimination in his article “Believers and Pro-Lifers targeted by Political Correctness.” Here, he said that “censorship is back; not against pornography or unpopular opinions, but against Christianity and pro-life opinions.” He narrated a number of recent cases that highlight the trend to silence unpopular convictions: Caroline Petrie, a Baptist nurse, was suspended from her job at the North Somerset Primary Care Trust for offering to pray for a patient; a four-volume Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization was burned by Wiley-Blackwell, a British publisher, for being “too Christian” after a group of scholars protested about the “excessive” Christian content and even objecting to the chronological terms such as BC and AD; Rev. G. P. Taylor, an Anglican priest and author of “Shadowmancer” which top the book sales for 15 weeks in 2003, was no longer welcome to appear on the BBC for promoting Christianity in his books; a Pro-Life club of the University of Calgary was revoked for censorship, stripping the club of facilities and funding; and greatly, in the United States, government funding of charitable activities run by the Catholic Church is under threat.

from:http://www.zenit.org/article-25097?I=english

Reflecting on this news from Rome, I am positive how Christianity is doing in such a very secular world. I would even venture to say that “the profane,” in contradiction to the triumph of “the sacred,” is anxious and desperate to take power, but to no avail since the very beginning of time. Come to think of it, the cases narrated by Fr. Flynn, LC are isolated cases but are reflective of the fortitude of Christianity until now, more so, even in times of darkness.

Our faith has reached even to new (even newer) frontiers, not only in material space and time (i.e. from one country to another, from one century to the next), but even in the recesses of consciousness, in philosophies and value- and belief-systems that offer alternatives that are pro-life, pro-environment, pro-peace, etc., (in the end, in all its faces and names, Pro-God!) By this spread of our faith system into the consciousness of human beings (who may not even profess the same faith), the “profane” world doubles its vigilance to such an extent that they become paranoid, scrutinizing to the detail the isolated good acts of good Christians who become silent warriors of the faith in our generation; and the minions of the “profane” world is simply anxious of their fleeting powers, which after a long endless futile struggle, will soon be extinguished.

Pope Benedict XVI said that “a society that is secular in a healthy way does not ignore the spiritual dimension and its values.” Furthermore, he added, “Religion is not an obstacle but rather a solid foundation for the building of a more just and free society.” This being, according to Fr. Flynn, LC, “a statement that raises the question about what sort of society we will have if Christianity is censored and excluded.”

Maybe we don’t need to write another book of our salvation history; may be, all we need is a compilation of vignettes (of small stories or pictures) of these isolated good acts of good persons all over the world, carrying the face and suffering the cross of Christ, and triumphant like Christ in every trail and tribulation surpassed. This gives us something to think about. We don’t need to do great things to effect evangelization; we don’t even need to be conscious of our little efforts of goodness. As persons, by our nature, we share with God’s goodness; and it is by this unconscious/natural participation that these cases narrated by Fr. Flynn is possible; and to make it a manifestation of the triumph of our faith, is put to the test, and is overcome (gloriously!) — This is our power; this is the power of Christianity!

I believe this is not a report of distress or defeat in our part as Christians, but as a testimony that we are still heading towards that “heaven here on earth;” and more so, we are willing to face the challenges and beat them one by one, even if it takes the constancy of our lifetime.

Spanish Bishop: Lack of Radical Dedication Amongst Religious Explains Vocations Crisis

The Church in the World
Spanish Bishop: Lack of Radical Dedication Amongst Religious Explains Vocations Crisis
(Taken from the CBCP Monitor, February 2-15, 2009, Vol. 13, No.3; CNA)

MADRID, Spain, February 2, 2009 - In a pastoral letter published to mark the World Day of Consecrated Life on February 2, Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, Bishop Demetrio Fernandez of Tarazona, Spain, said the lack of radical commitment in consecrated life is one of the main causes of the vocation crisis.

“Christians are already consecrated through baptism, but the consecrated life is a new life of consecration that brings baptism to its fullness,” the bishop said. “Consecrated life is a prophetic cry in today’s world (and always), which reminds us what the definitive values of the Kingdom are, those that Christ lived out in the beatitudes and those that He invites others to live out when He calls someone to follow Him more closely.”

“We live in times of crisis in the consecrated life as well,” Bishop Fernandez underscored. “Secularization, that is, living as if God did not exist, adapting oneself to the opinions and ways of the world, has also filtered into the consecrated lifestyle.”

“A consecrated life in which one is not willing to live a radical commitment to Jesus Christ, with a fanatical love like that of St. Paul, is a life that is not very attractive or exciting to the young people of today. This is one of the reasons for the lack of vocations,” the bishop stressed.
Bishop Fernandez acknowledged that, “… the institutes that live coherently ‘having lost everything for Jesus Christ’ are getting vocations… On the other hand the institutes that have adapted to this world do not have vocations and are slowly dying out.”

“The World Day of Consecrated Life is an occasion to pray to the Lord for those who have consecrated their lives totally to the Lord that they may be faithful to the first love that led them to leave everything for Jesus Christ, “Bishop Fernandez stated.

Lay faithful are urgently requested to pray for our clergy and professed religious . Our priests and religious are our links between us and our Almighty God, and between us and our Church. The lay faithful should include the following in their daily prayers: to pray for more vocations to the priesthood and the religious life; to pray for more holy, humble, and dedicated clergy and religious; to pray that our clergy and professed religious become strong against the temptations of a secularized” religious life; to pray that our priests and religious become shining reflections of the Face of Jesus Christ; and to pray for our priests and religious that they may re-discover and truly live the virtues of St. Paul, St. John Mary Vianney, St. John of the Cross, St. John Bosco, St. Dominic Savio, St. Aloysius Gonzaga, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Therese of Lisieux, and of the other saints of our Church, and of Pope John Paul II.”

with commentary by Armando A. Suñe

Digital Continent (The world we make)

The world we make = the “Digital Continent”
(news taken wrom www.zenit.org)

Archbishop Claudio Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications conducted a conference on the theme “The Role of Mass Communications in Evangelization” He stressed that the “church is committed to engaging with the new media,” saying that “communication is not just another activity of the Church but is at the very essence of its life” With this commitment, proposing a new way of looking at communication, he said that we should not only be “technically prepared” but most of all, we should be “culturally attentive” which has two dimensions: that we should “know the general culture of the people (intended audience) --- to know their cares and concerns, their fears and hope” and that we “must be familiar with the specific culture changes presented by the new media environment where significant changes in patterns of media consumption have been brought about by the changes in technologies.” He also added that to be “culturally attentive,” “there is also a need to attend to the specific media culture that is coming into being in the context of the ongoing revolution in the technologies of communication” that “it would be a mistake to see these changes as merely technological” because “they have also changed the way people communicate, they ways they associate and form communities, the ways by which they learn about the world, the ways in which they engage with political and commercial organizations.”

With this new media forged in “digital revolution,” the Church is challenged to consider how it will seek to communicate the Good News in the context of a new emerging culture of communications with “modern and effective versions of the pulpit”(Evangelii Nuntiandi) in a “digital continent,” this continent being “a virtual one, with no physical dimensions but where almost one-third of all humans --- especially the young and children, but also among citizens, scientists, academics and businesspeople --- come together to seek information, to express their views and to grow in understanding” Pope Benedict XVI particularly challenged the young Catholics to commit themselves because of their “almost spontaneous affinity” to digital communication.

To this, Archbishop Celli said that Church is present in the “digital continent” only that “we are just at the beginning of a journey” and because of this “we need to develop a more strategic and integrated presence” in order “to ensure a more efficient, articulated and cohesive presentation of the Good News.”

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Reflecting on this article, I can’t help smile at the possibility when seminarians would be commissioned to sit and wait on calls like call center agents answering common everyday questions about our faith, how to do this and that, what to do or who to call at a given situation, information about our archdiocese and the likes; when we hear mass through teleconferencing; and much more, when spiritual directions or confessions can be done “on-line.” But I know this is something yet far-fetch that only our imaginations can fancy.

Decades ago, the Church has closely looked at the development of information-communication technology; and has focused greatly on its disadvantages in terms of commercialism and its propensity for worldly values, especially of sex and violence. Recently, it has leaned towards the right, with its propensity for knowledge diffusion, when knowledge was made available to all beyond geographical location and physical space, in all its expanded quantity and quality. No wonder that as we look forward in the next decades to come, our Church has come to terms with it, beating it as a tool to propagate the faith. This is a strong message to respond to the call of the time --- not to be succumbed to it but the other way round, to claim it and control it to our benefit.

I have always believed from the standpoint of sociology and philosophy, that the world depicted in the trilogy movie “The Matrix” is not impossible; in fact, it already existed along with the “real world.” For Pope Benedict XVI, the Matrix is the “digital continent” and mostly, those who are “inside” the Matrix are the youth, including those who were named in the article above. To claim it and control the Matrix, Pope Benedict XVI is clear, that it is the youth who has the power to do so. The way I see it, for the youth, there is no “red pill” or “blue pill” to choose from now --- We are in the Matrix, we are in the “digital continent.”

Come to think of it, when all things go bad in this “real world,” I think we still have hope in the “heaven here on earth” that we make as People of God, when we claim it as our own again and take control, not of anyone or anything else, but ourselves first, together. That would be in the world we make --- may it be in the “digital continent.”

Joseph Sylvester E. Pampliega

Pope says Christians need to promote life, traditional families

FAMILIES-POPE Jan-20-2009
Pope says Christians need to promote life, traditional families
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – “Today more than ever, Christian families need to pay witness to and promote the irreplaceable value of life and the family based on marriage between a man and a woman. The best service that we Christians can offer today's society is being "people who are free and rich with human and Gospel values and who are on a journey toward holiness." Pope Benedict XVI said.

The traditional family is "an indispensable foundation of society and peoples as well as an irreplaceable good for children who deserve to come into the world as a fruit of love and the total and generous giving of the parents," he said at the end of the Sixth World Meeting of Families which took place Jan. 14-18 in Mexico City. He made these comments via satellite from the Vatican Jan. 18 after a closing Mass at the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Mass was celebrated by the pope's envoy, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

“Christians also need to show that they are open to life at all its stages. Every Christian must help promote "legislative and administrative measures" that support the traditional family and their "inalienable rights." The family, founded on indissoluble marriage between a man and a woman, is the expression of this relational, filial and communal aspect of life. It is the setting where men and women are enabled to be born with dignity, and to grow and develop in an integral manner," he said.

But families' efforts to be a true school of humanity and perennial values are being hindered by "a deceptive concept of freedom that glorifies whims and individual impulses to the point of leaving everyone locked up in the prison of his or her own 'I'. True human freedom comes from having been created in the image and likeness of God and, therefore, should be exercised with responsibility, always opting for the true good so that it becomes love, the gift of self. Real love and closeness among family members are needed more than ideals or theories,” he added.

It is through one's concrete experience in the home "that one learns to truly live and value life and health, freedom and peace, justice and truth, work, harmony and respect," he said.

Pope Benedict also said his prayers were with families who are facing the trials of poverty, illness, isolation and separation because of migration, as well as those families being persecuted for their Christian faith. He encouraged large families who are oftentimes criticized or not understood by others yet are giving "an example of generosity and faith in God." He urged families to pray together, especially the rosary, and to build their faith on listening to the word of God and working to incorporate Gospel values concretely in their lives.

He concluded with the announcement of the next World Meeting of Families will held in Milan, Italy, in 2012 on the theme "The Family: Work and Play”
The family is the basic unit of society. As such, it is the source of its strengths and weaknesses. A strong foundation naturally gives a strong outcome, while a weak one results in a society that is unstable. Therefore, if we want stable and strong societies, we must start at the very core of it – the family.
It is in the family where the creation of God – man and woman – and no other share in His gift of procreation. That is why we have the institution of Holy Matrimony that gives the couple the sanctifying grace to bring up their family in the way of God. Respect for the uniqueness of one another and giving him/her the free exercise and expression of his/ her will. Our free will is God’s gift to us.
It is also in the family where we learn our ‘firsts’ starting from our growth and development in all aspects of our personality. It is the place where we learn and see values lived out in the lives of our parents. That is why we are a product of our parents and our environment. It is where and it is with our family we first learn the lessons of life.

We must respect life in all its forms and stages – from being small to big, from conception to senility. Life is God’s gift to us; therefore, He alone has the right to take it.
Any effort from the outside to shaken family values must be arrested in its very early stage. The move of our legislators with the Reproductive Health Bill is an outstanding example. The hidden agenda of these people are masked in this bill while the burden of guilt is laid on us, the people, when we are made to do what is against our conscience. We must not allow them to trade us with their personal whims and fancies.

Let us nurture and protect our families if we want to see our children live in dignity and respect for one another in a just, work-loving, peaceful, caring, healthy, life-promoting society.

With Commentary by Ma. Rosario R. Tejada