May 1 Wed - Mary, the mother and model of the Church

 

May 1 Wed
The Marian principle of the Church is centered around Jesus, the Son, who came into the world to manifest the Father and offer humanity the gift of salvation. However, for this gift to take effect, there must be at least one creature who represents humanity and accepts it with faith and availability.

Mary, through her "yes" to the incarnation and death of her Son, fulfills this role. In her acceptance, Mary becomes the beginning of the Church, serving as both its origin and her model. As a woman, Mary fulfills the prophecy of Genesis because only a woman can receive, bear, and give birth to a child. Thus, Mary is the New Eve, collaborating with and supporting the New Adam (Christ), and serving as the Mother of all human beings, particularly those who are born again through water and the Spirit.

Moreover, Mary, as the first believer, becomes the prototype of the believer. By observing her experience of faith, we can recognize the fundamental characteristics of a Christian believer.

During the Second Vatican Council, when the Church was deepening her understanding of her own mystery, the Marian principle was proposed as a counterbalance to the Petrine principle. The Petrine principle tended to identify the Church solely with her hierarchy, which is only a part of the Church. The Marian principle and the Petrine principle are interdependent, as one cannot exist without the other. However, the Marian principle holds a certain preeminence because without Mary's "yes," Peter would not have been able to pronounce his own

In the tumultuous post-conciliar years, when the feminist movement began advocating for women's access to the ministerial priesthood, this ecclesiological principle seemed to offer a fitting solution. On one hand, it recognizes the exceptional spiritual primacy of women due to Mary's divine motherhood. On the other hand, it protects the institutional male primacy through the analogy and symbolism of the sexes. If Christ is the Bridegroom, his institutional representative can only be male.

In his 1988 encyclical letter Mulieris Dignitatem, John Paul II clearly based his reflection on this symbolic ecclesiology. It allowed him to fully appreciate the feminine genius and promote the incorporation and participation of women at all levels of the Church and society. This was done without compromising the maternal prerogative unique to women and the male exclusivity regarding the ordained ministry.

Mary's experience of faith can be described by three key characteristics:

- Following Jesus, just as one follows a path to reach a destination.

- Discerning the message: she held everything in her heart and meditated on them.

- Accompanying: she was fully dedicated to accompanying Jesus so that he could fulfill what the angel had foretold (Lk 1:30-33), without coming between him and his Father.

Torreciudad: The Annunciation. Our Lady accepting her vocation. Fruit of the 1st Joyous Mystery: Humility

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Apr 30 Tue - The poor are the Lord's favorites

 

Apr 30 Tue
The poor are regarded as the Lord's favorites. Love for God and love for riches are incompatible. Therefore, we must detach ourselves from earthly possessions. Additionally, we must strive to alleviate poverty in the world. However, it is important to note that the entire mission of the Church, which was received from her Founder Jesus Christ, should not be reduced solely to this urgent effort.

We must not downplay the reality of grave sexual sin. The Catholic Church's attention to all sins, including sexual sins, does not divert its attention from mainly social evils.

The esteemed Italian philosopher Augusto Del Noce predicted that this type of Catholicism would eventually succumb to society's "erotic offensive" by rejecting the Church's sacred doctrines on asceticism and mortification.

True to Del Noce's prediction, some have vehemently argued that "private" virtues such as chastity and purity have been excessively emphasized, particularly since the Counter-Reformation. They claim that this "sexophobic" morality is outdated and repressive.

To support their claims, they turn to the pillars of modern civilization, science and social sciences, which advocate for a more libertine sexual ethic. "Scientism" and "sociologism" - which lack a strong foundation - displace the supreme order of nature and morality.

Del Noce anticipated this division of virtues and its connection to the gradual erosion of ascetic Christianity. In its place arises a "secularized Christianity" that aligns more closely with our liberal, post-modern culture.

In this new form of Christianity, the social and political virtues (such as charity), intended to advance the human condition, overshadow the passive and private virtues like chastity and purity.

As a result, preachers rarely, if ever, discuss chastity and purity. Protecting marriage and the traditional family or addressing rampant promiscuity is perceived as far less urgent than helping the poor and persecuted.

However, peculiar things occur when the Church loses her coherence and focuses solely on public or social virtues. When the poor and persecuted adhere to traditional sexual morality (such as Africans), they are labeled as homophobic. Consequently, they are met with suspicion and condescension by some. Thus, the division of virtues becomes divisive in paradoxical ways and ultimately undermines the Church's mission of social justice.

This development is an absolute tragedy because ascetic Christianity, which upholds and promotes all virtues, is the true embodiment of Christianity.

Ascetic Christianity is deeply rooted in the Apostolic tradition, attested by numerous saints and martyrs, and affirmed by Jesus Himself, who condemned even the "lustful look" as a form of "adultery in the heart" (Matthew 5:27).

While these individuals may argue that they are more enlightened on these matters, their enlightenment casts far too many shadows.

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Apr 29 Mon - Being useful to Christ

 

Apr 29 Mon
Being useful to Christ. The example of Jesus Christ inspires us to live our lives filled with constant little sacrifices.

When Andrew and Philip, excited by the glory their Teacher had gained, went to tell him that even the Gentiles wanted to see him, Jesus Christ immediately corrected their purely human optimism. He exclaimed, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified," referring to the establishment of his kingdom on earth. However, it would not be as they had imagined. As St. Augustine said, "Christ was not the King of Israel to collect taxes, raise armies, and visibly fight against his enemies. He was the King of Israel to guide souls, offer advice about eternal life, and lead those full of faith, hope, and love towards the Kingdom of Heaven."

Therefore, although the Lord could have chosen many other means, he chose to die on the Cross. "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." St. Josemaría asks each one of us, "Don't you want to be a grain of wheat, to die through sacrifice, and yield a plentiful harvest?"

"Apostles are Christians who know that they are grafted onto Christ, identified with Christ, through Baptism; enabled to fight for Christ, through Confirmation; called to serve God with their activity in the world, through their participation in the royal, prophetic and priestly functions of Christ, which enable them to guide others towards God, teach them the truth of the Gospel, and contribute to their redemption through prayer and expiation."

"Christians who are ready to serve become guides, teachers, and priests for others. They are for those people, other Christs, or rather, as I usually tell you, Christ himself. However, let me emphasize that it's not about pursuing our personal ambitions. Instead, it's about being useful to Christ, so that he can act. It's also about being useful to others because Christ came not to be served, but to serve."

"Consider a nail, for example. If you encounter no resistance when hammering it into a wall, what can you expect to hang on it? Similarly, if we don't allow God to strengthen us through sacrifice, we will never become instruments of our Lord. On the other hand, if we choose to embrace difficulties willingly and use them for the love of God, then in the face of what is difficult and unpleasant, when things are tough and uncomfortable, we will be able to exclaim with the Apostles James and John: Possumus! Yes, we can!"

Let us ask our Mother, the universal Co-redemptrix, in union with Jesus Christ, to help us let go of all resistance to personal sacrifice so that our apostolate may bear abundant fruit.

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Apr 28 Sun - The vine and the branches

Apr 28 Sun
To meditate on the words of Jesus about the vine and the branches is to meditate on his legacy in a more profound way. It’s still more profound than in the previous Sunday with the Shepherd and the sheep.

The branch is an extension, a prolongation, of the same plant, the vine; it was born from the vine. From it, the branch acquires the fluid that feeds it, the humidity of the ground, and everything else that makes it possible to be transformed and eventually, to produce grapes. By itself it can produce nothing, nothing serious, not a branch of grapes, nothing.

It is the same truth that St Paul teaches us with the simile of the body and its members. Christ is the head of the body, which is the Church. Any Christian is a member of her. Any member separated from the rest of the body can do nothing.

How does how does it apply to us? By instinct, it goes against our sense of autonomy and freedom. We always feel being a complete unit and not a part.

Likewise in baptism, we, who were wild olives bearing no useful fruit, became grafted into Christ. We became branches of the true vine, branches of a good olive tree. All this because of the force of the Holy Spirit (grace) which has been given to us. Communicating both, the vine and the branch, there is the Holy Spirit.

What is then our duty as branches? Saint John has a favorite word to express it: “to remain,” understood as united to the true vine, which is Christ. Remain in me and I in you…, if you do not remain in me…, whoever remains in me... To remain attached to the vine, and remain in Christ Jesus, means, above all, not to abandon the commitments assumed in baptism, not to escape to a distant country like the prodigal son.

I am doing well, you may say. But can I assume to be attached to Christ on one instance, and soon after live a bad life, as if I were a visitor of Christianity? Like some, may I continue not living my Christian vocation seriously, going day after day from infidelity to infidelity, permissiveness after permissiveness, leaving out commitment after commitment, leaving behind first, going to communion, then even going to Mass, then praying, and finally abandoning everything? …and still think that everything is ok?

To remain in Christ Jesus also signifies something positive: to remain in his love. That is, in the love he has for us, rather than the love that we have for him. It means to allow him to love us, to pass on to us the feeding fluid, which is his Spirit. Avoiding placing, between him and us, the insurmountable barrier of self-sufficiency, of indifference, and of sin.

Then Jesus shows us the consequences of separating from him: the branch becomes dry; even is externally looks good, it becomes a useless branch incapable of giving fruit.

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Apr 27 Sat - Do not settle for defeat.

 

Apr 27 Sat
Do not settle for defeat. We must humbly ask for God's help, and make a sincere effort to use all the means available.

“Don't be anxious about your past mistakes, or the possibility of future faults. Let's abandon ourselves into God's merciful hands. Let's show him the desires of holiness and apostolate which are alive beneath the ashes of our apparent coldness. He is listening to us. You only have to talk."

Jesus went up to Jerusalem. There was a paralytic by the pool.

The Lord, who is the doctor of souls and of bodies and who has come to heal all those who believed in him, fixed his gaze on one alone among all the sick people there, in order to cure him. It was a sign of special love, like the love Jesus showed us by calling us to Christian life from among so many people.

When Jesus saw the sick man, and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" Likewise, the Lord saw us helpless in our weakness, and reading the desires latent in our heart, he uttered that sweet demands which, with his grace, we accepted.

St John Chrysostom comments: The paralytic man was not annoyed by the question, nor did he say: "Have you come to insult me, asking me if I want to be cured?" On the contrary, he replied meekly: "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going, another steps down before me." He did not know who was questioning him; much less that he would cure him. He may have thought that Christ would help him into the water. Instead, Christ showed that his word alone could do everything. Our Lord is always ready to listen to us, but he wants our personal response, shown in the effort we make to get out of any situation which prevents us from following him closely.

St. Josemaría taught us that in the interior life “there is but one fatal illness, one deadly mistake you can make: to settle for defeat, not to know how to fight with the spirit of a child of God. If this personal effort is lacking, the soul is paralyzed and languishes alone, and is incapable of bearing fruit."

“Such cowardice on man's part puts pressure on our Lord to utter those words addressed to him by the paralytic at the pool of Bethsaida, –I have no man to help me!"

“What a pity if Jesus does not find in you the man or the woman he expects."

Once more, God shows us that his goodness is beyond human calculation. Let us tell him now, simply and plainly: "Yes, Lord, I want to be healed, I want to be freed from this impediment that separates me from you, and prevents me from living to the full the divine life to which you have called me."

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Apr 26 Fri - The mission of a Christian apostle demands personal sacrifice.

 

Apr 26 Fri
The mission of a Christian apostle demands personal sacrifice.
In the early Church, a persecution arose in Jerusalem through the Jews' envy. After putting the Apostles into prison, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying: ‘"We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us." But Peter and the apostles answered: "We must obey God rather than men."... When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them’.

Today, as always, the Christian faith finds obstacles along its way. For while she is on earth, ‘the Church, "like a pilgrim in a foreign land, presses forward amid the persecutions of the world and the consolations of God," announcing the Cross and Death of the Lord until he comes. By the power of the risen Lord, she is given strength to overcome patiently and lovingly the afflictions and hardships which assail her from within and without, and to show forth in the world the mystery of the Lord in a faithful though shadowed way, until, at last, it will be revealed in total splendor.’

Jesus had announced that in the world his followers would have tribulation. Thus, the Apostles, whom he chose, were sent into the world not to enjoy but to suffer, St Paul tells us plainly: “I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which in Christ Jesus goes with eternal glory. And he adds with joy: Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh, I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church."

Without personal sacrifice there will be no fruit. “The Cross is present in everything and it comes when one least expects it. But don't forget that normally, the Cross comes when you start to be effective."

We have to ask God our Lord to increase our hunger to serve. For “the laborers are few, and the harvest plentiful. Our apostolate is a sea without shores, and there are so few souls in the world who want to serve God! Imagine what would happen if those of us who are willing to serve were to be half-hearted about it."

Once and for all, we need to get rid of whatever separates us from, or even slightly hinders, our way as apostles. We can never forget that only when apostles are ready to sacrifice their own lives, through continuous self-denial in the service of others for God, will they be truly united to Jesus' work of redemption. Only then can their apostolate be fruitful.

“To imitate Christ, take his advice: If any man has a mind to come my way, let him renounce self, and take up his cross, and follow me."

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Apr 25 Thu - How does Christ’s resurrection impact on our lives?

 

Apr 25 Thu
How does Christ’s resurrection impact on our lives?
During this season, we are invited to reflect on the impact on our lives produced by the power of the Resurrection.

It may happen to us as it did to the first disciples, who upon meeting Jesus after the Resurrection, they asked themselves: "Is it true? Or was it just an illusion of our minds?

This is a legitimate question, and its answer is decisive; it should engage our lives in a certain direction.
If it is true, everything changes in our life.
And if it is not true, our life remains the same, and loses consistency.
If we never open ourselves to this doubt, it is because perhaps we are not willing to change anything, so –we choose– it is better not to doubt at all.

If Christ had not risen, his Passion and death, no matter how spectacular, would remain an expression of good will, but without any consequences for us.

On the other hand, if it is a real and historical event, even if it overwhelms our mind, it becomes a very powerful light and energy, in such a way that it changes the future horizon of our life, of our death, and of the afterlife. It gives meaning and direction to all of them.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ confirms that he is God, but the disciples did not recognize him at first, because he was changed, now glorious; but when he reveals who he is, the disciples identified him unmistakably.

This identification, however, did not allow them to retain Him, because he could not be “taken”, or “grabbed”, since the Lord is already "in another dimension".

Thus, the passage from his dimension (heavenly) to ours (earthly) can take place only when he comes closer to us, and enters into contact with us. The most intense moment of this closeness is the Eucharist.

For this reason, the Eucharistic adoration is a personal face-to-face communication with Jesus, although he remains in his dimension, and for this reason we cannot see him as he is. Thus, Faith in the resurrection leads us to love for the Eucharist, and the Eucharist itself nourishes in us faith in the resurrection".

It is worthwhile to pause this Easter to consider the powerful force of Christ's resurrection in each one of us and in the whole of humanity. We must allow that energy to transform us. We must not throw to waste this energy because of our incapacity to love, the obstruction of our heart, or just laziness.

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Apr 24 Wed - Quotes from Robert Cardinal Sarah

 

Apr 24 Wed
Quotes from Robert Cardinal Sarah
Dear young Christians, if it is permissible for an old man, like Saint John was, to speak to you directly, then I too exhort you, and I tell you: you have overcome the Evil One! Fight any law against nature that they try to impose on you, oppose any law against life, against the family. Be one of those who take the opposite direction! For us Christians, the opposite direction is not a place; it is a Person, it is Jesus Christ, our Friend and our Redeemer.

We must burn in love for our faith. We must not tarnish it or dilute it in worldly compromises … It is up to us to defend and to proclaim this faith!

And Jesus will say to each Christian, as once to Francis of Assisi: “Go and repair my Church!” Go, repair by your faith, by your hope, and your charity. Go and repair by your prayer and your fidelity. Thanks to you, my Church will again become my house.

For the Church’s mission is a mission of love, and love does not dominate. Love is there to serve and to die, so that man might have life, and have it abundantly. St. John Paul II was right when he used to say that we are only just starting to evangelize.

[To parish priests] So too kneeling at the consecration (unless you are sick) is essential. In the West this is an act of bodily adoration that humbles us before our Lord and God. It is itself an act of prayer. Where kneeling and genuflecting have disappeared from the liturgy, it would be desirable to restore them, in particular for our reception of our Blessed Lord in Holy Communion. Dear Fathers, where possible, and with the pastoral prudence of which I spoke earlier, form your people in this beautiful act of worship and love. Let us kneel in adoration and love before the Eucharistic Lord once again!

We must ensure that adoration is at the heart of our liturgical celebrations. Too often we do not advance from mere celebration to adoration, but if we do not do that, I worry that we may not have always participated in the liturgy fully, internally…If I am never silent, if the liturgy gives me no space for silent prayer and contemplation, how can I adore Christ, how can I connect with him in my heart and soul? Silence is very important, and not only before and after the liturgy.

Before I conclude, please permit me to mention some other small ways which can also contribute to a more faithful implementation of Sacrosanctum Concilium. One is that we must sing the liturgy, we must sing the liturgical texts, respecting the liturgical traditions of the Church, and rejoicing in the treasury of sacred music that is ours, most especially that music proper to the Roman rite, Gregorian chant. We must sing sacred liturgical music not merely religious music, or worse, profane songs.

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Apr 23 Tue - Listening and then, acting.

 Apr 23 Tue
Listening and then, acting.
Hello, good morning, today Joane, a cloistered nun, will take us to the Lord, with her simple “adventure.” Have a happy day.  
After breakfast, I picked up what was left over (milk, coffee...). We went to the choir to pray, and I realized that not all of us had eaten breakfast, one Sister was missing.
I began to think that maybe she couldn't find what she needed, since she doesn't do the cooking. I should have left things within her reach. This thought lingered in my mind until I finally decided to go out to fix it.

When I got to the kitchen, she was already there. She told me about her odyssey with the milk: she didn't realize it was still hot, she put it in the microwave, and it came out all over, having to remove the tray and wash it.
 
I returned to the chapel and thought: "If only I had arrived earlier...". But I felt that the Lord was telling me: "If you had listened to me before..." It was a small detail, without any apparent relevance, but it was not by chance that the Lord put this Sister's breakfast in my heart.

How does the Lord speak? He speaks to us through small, seemingly irrelevant and simple details. With them, he generates more sensitivity in our love for the others, and widens the heart. A small gesture, made with love, can make a difference.

Christ invites you to live your life in fullness, from the perspective of Love. Try to leave His seal on everything you do, by taking one more step ahead for the others. This step will fill your soul with joy, and arises from what He puts in your heart: giving up your seat, helping with something, fixing this, smiling.... They are small details that take you out of yourself, and, if you welcome them, will make you experience a deep Joy.

Today, the challenge of love is that you experience the joy of listening to Him, and responding to Him. Ask the Lord to be attentive to what he puts in your heart, and respond to every detail. Enter into the dimension of Love and, by being attentive, you will discover that, throughout the day, in many instances, He speaks strongly to your heart in small, ordinary things, on a daily basis.

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Apr 22 Mon - Interior difficulties should not discourage us.

 

Apr 22 Mon
Interior difficulties should not discourage us.
“I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." St Paul's words can help us today to be filled with optimism and daring in our struggle for holiness and apostolate. St Thomas Aquinas says: ‘If we consider these sufferings in themselves, they are a far cry from the great glory which awaits us.’”

This should be our attitude in the face of adversity: Our everyday difficulties, the little pinpricks which our Lord allows, become a pledge of glory, steps along the way to Life, when they are offered up for love of God.

“Don't complain if you suffer. It is God polishing you like a prized and valued stone.
Does it hurt? Allow yourself to be cut, gratefully, because God has taken you in his hands as if you were a diamond. An ordinary pebble is not worked on like that."

No ideal becomes a reality without sacrifice. Even in purely human affairs, nothing worthwhile is ever accomplished without effort. The root of effectiveness is accepting a conscious, silent sacrifice. We see this every day in those around us. People who set themselves high goals often have to suffer to achieve them, even though they would rather avoid such suffering. But for a Christian whose goal is the love of Christ, suffering should act as a stimulus.

“From every point of view, mortification has an extraordinary importance.
Considering it humanly, anyone who does not know how to control himself will never be able to have a positive influence on others. He will be a man without energy, incapable of any great effort when required.
Consider this before God; don’t you think that we should show, with these small acts, how much we love, obey and respect the One who gave everything for us?"

Sacrifice brings joy, since it unites us to Christ on the Cross and leads us to achieve our end.
Be resolute, tenacious and persevering, and never take no for an answer.
If we keep this marvelous supernatural perspective of the love of Christ, no suffering in this life will discourage us. On the contrary, it will fill us with optimism, because it guarantees that we are fulfilling a divine mission, united to Christ on the Cross.

To find the Cross is to find Christ. And with him there is always joy, even when we are faced with injustice, misunderstanding, or physical suffering. Hence St. Josemaría’s insistence: “Optimism? Yes, always! Even when things seem to turn out badly: perhaps that is the time to break into a song of joy, because you have sought refuge in him, and nothing but good can come to you from Him."

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Apr 21 Sun - Christ is our Good Shepherd

 

Apr 21 Sun
Christ is our Good Shepherd. One of the earliest paintings of Christ in the Roman catacombs represents him as carrying an injured sheep on his shoulders, and a pot to prepare the medicine to cure its wounds. This is a manifestation of love which touches our innermost feelings. There is something guileless about a sheep, and at the same time a lot of foolishness. Does not this describe the vast majority of men, even many of those who openly oppose Christ? Is there not something very sheeplike about the man who, because God gave him a limited intellect, thinks he knows all things and needs no further help from God? The sheep who thinks it knows as much, and even more than the shepherd, and sets out to fend for itself, is no more foolish than the man who thinks he can do without God's revelation and God's Church.

Indeed, we all act like sheep on many occasions, when it comes to the things that concern our spiritual welfare. We often ramble off from the flock to nibble at little bits of forbidden pasture. However, we have a Shepherd who understands us, one whose patience and love are infinite. He is always ready to go after us when we stray too far.

There are many who are not so fortunate as we, who do not hear his voice and do not know or follow him. This is an opportunity he gives us to show how we appreciate all he has done for us. He died on the cross for all men. He wills all men –our friends– to profit by his death, and his statement "them also I must bring" is a direct appeal to us to cooperate with him in this work.

Every Christian is a missionary. The very fact of living the Christian life in its entirety, in the midst of our fellowmen, is of itself a powerful example to outsiders. It influences for good the lax Christian and the non-Christian. It makes them stop and think and look into their consciences. This is generally the first step on the road back to God.

After good example, prayer will be his most potent weapon. Day in, day out the devout Christian must pray for the conversion of his fellowmen who are wandering aimlessly in the barren desert of this life far from God. He must also learn all he can about the truths of his faith in order to be able to help honest enquirers.

Do not shut your ears to this call of Christ today. Give him a helping hand by helping your fellowman to see the light of the true faith.
Jesus wants only to do the will of the Father, and the will of the Father is precisely that He should care for each one of us, and give us eternal life.

All that Jesus is, is precisely for me. His care of me never slackens.

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Apr 20 Sat - What is a "sin against the Holy Spirit"?

 

Apr 20 Sat
What is a "sin against the Holy Spirit"?
This expression is taken from the Gospel, as we read in Mt 12, 32:
“All sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven. And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever shall speak a word against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him in this world, neither in the world to come."

Christ pronounced these words after the Pharisees tried to discredit his miracles, saying that he worked them by the power of Beelzebul, Prince of demons (Mt 12:2-4).

These sins imply the refusal to accept the salvation that God offers to man through the Holy Spirit, or the radical refusal to accept God’s forgiveness. It is the sin that is committed by the person who claims to have a “right” to persist in evil. They include:

1. Desperation, which makes us distrust God's mercy or encourages us to sin more. It generates the presumption of being saved without merits or effort; and it excludes the fear of divine justice.

2. What makes us enemies of the divine gifts that lead us to conversion: the rejection or opposition to Catholic truths known as such (which leads us to contradict the truth in order to sin with peace of mind), and envy or hatred of grace (envy of grace given to others, or sadness for the action of grace in others, and for the growth of God's grace in the world).

3. And finally, what prevents us from leaving sin: final impenitence (the refusal to repent and leave our sins), and obstinacy in sin (the insistence on the resolve to continue sinning).

Evidently this sin is not reached suddenly, but after having been living in sin for long. The malice of this sin implies many other sins that keep on destroying man until he rejects conversion.  Thus, Our Lord says that this sin will not be forgiven either in this world or in the next (Mt 12:32). This does not mean that this sin "cannot" be forgiven by God, but that it does not in itself give any opening for forgiveness (it cuts off all avenues for repentance and return to God). However, nothing can close the divine omnipotence and mercy, which can cause the conversion of the most hardened heart just as it can miraculously cure a deadly disease.

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Apr 19 Fri - Baptism is a symbol of Christ's Passion.

 

Apr 19 Fri
Baptism is a symbol of Christ's Passion.
To be baptized, you were led down to the font of holy baptism just as Christ was taken down from the cross, and placed in the tomb. Each of you was asked, “Do you believe in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit?” You made the profession of faith that brings salvation, you were plunged into the water to be baptized, and three times you rose again. This symbolized the three days Christ spent in the tomb.

As our Savior spent three days and three nights in the depths of the earth, so your first rising from the water of the baptismal font represented the first day, and your first immersion represented the first night. At night a man cannot see, but in the day, he walks in the light. So, when you were immersed in the water it was like night for you, and you could not see, but when you rose again, it was like coming into broad daylight. At the same time, you died, and, immediately, you were born again to new life; the saving water was both your tomb and soon after, your mother.

A phrase from the Psalms is very appropriate here. It speaks of a time to give birth, and a time to die. For you, however, it was the reverse: you had a time to die, and then, a time to be born, although in fact both events took place one after the other, and your birth immediately followed your death.

This is something amazing and unheard of! But it was not we who actually died, were buried, and rose again. Rather, we only did these things symbolically, but we have been saved in actual fact. It is Christ who was crucified, who was buried and who rose again, and all this has been credited to us. While we share in his sufferings only symbolically, we gain salvation in reality. What boundless love for men! Christ’s undefiled hands were pierced by the nails; he suffered the pain. I experience no pain, no anguish, yet he freely grants me salvation by the sharing in his sufferings.

Let no one imagine that baptism consists only in the forgiveness of sins, and in the grace of adoption as God’s children. Our baptism is not like the baptism of John, which conferred only the forgiveness of sins. We know perfectly well that baptism, besides washing away our sins, and bringing us the gift of the Holy Spirit, is a symbol of the sufferings of Christ. This is why Paul exclaims: Do you not know that when we were baptized into Christ Jesus we were, by the same action, sharing in his death? By baptism we went with him into the tomb.
Excerpts from the Jerusalem Catecheses.

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Apr 18 Thu - Jesus remains with us

 

Apr 18 Thu
Jesus remains with us.
All the formularies of the Creed or symbols of faith confess that Jesus Christ our Lord was born of the Virgin Mary in a specific historical time. After his resurrection, he went to heaven, but he remains in the Church in a mysterious, hidden manner that is visible only with the eyes of faith.

As Pope Paul VI points out in his encyclical Mysterium Fidei, Christ is present in the Church in several ways:

• Christ is present in his Church when she prays, since he is the one who “prays for us and prays in us and to whom we pray: He prays for us as our priest, he prays in us as our head, he is prayed to by us as our God;” and he is the one who has promised, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them” (Mt 18:20).

• He is present in the Church as she performs her works of mercy, not just because whatever good we do to one of his least brethren we do to Christ himself, but also because Christ is the one who performs these works through the Church and who continually helps men with his divine love.

• He is present in the Church as she moves along on her pilgrimage with a longing to reach the portals of eternal life, for he is the one who dwells in our hearts through faith, and who instills charity in them through the Holy Spirit whom he gives to us.

• In still another genuine way, he is present in the Church as she preaches, since the Gospel which she proclaims is the word of God, and it is only in the name of Christ, the Incarnate Word of God, and by his authority and with his help that it is preached.

• He is present in the Church as she rules and governs the people of God, since her sacred power comes from Christ and since Christ, the “Shepherd of Shepherds,” is present in the bishops who exercise that power, in keeping with the promise he made to the apostles.

• He is present in the Church as she administers the sacraments.

• Moreover, Christ is present in his Church in a still more sublime manner as she offers the sacrifice of the Mass in his name.

The divine Founder of the Church is present in the Mass both in the person of his minister and above all under the Eucharistic species.

“With Christ in our soul, we end the Holy Mass. The blessing of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit accompanies us all day long, as we go about our simple, normal task of making holy all honest human activity.

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Apr 17 Wed - The discouragement of the disciples on the way to Emmaus

 

Apr 17 Wed
The discouragement of the disciples on the way to Emmaus.
That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. Perhaps these two disciples had been among the seventy-two whom Jesus Christ had sent out to preach and who had later returned to him filled with joy.

They had become disheartened after what had happened on the afternoon of Good Friday. The years spent with our Lord had been so wonderful. They had trusted in his word and left their homes and their families in order to embark upon an adventure. Now the Master was dead and buried, and his closest disciples were fear-stricken and helpless. That great adventure had turned to dust; their dreams lay in tatters. Why go on in such a pitiful and hopeless situation? The best thing would be for them to return to their town and families. They have almost lost all hope. They were beginning to feel that life has no meaning for them.

We have to be on guard against the temptation of discouragement. St. Josemaría warns us: “God may give us the necessary light to help us know how we are faring at certain moments; but at other times, we may be convinced that we are doing badly, or even getting worse. Often, this is not so.

Moreover, he asks: “How many saints are there on this earth? Not one! We are all capable of committing the worst atrocities imaginable. You've heard me say again and again that holiness consists of struggling, realizing we have defects and trying to overcome them. We'll be like that till we die: on our way to holiness. Otherwise, who could possibly put up with us? We would not be saints at all; we would be totally unbearable. Holiness consists of having defects and fighting against them, but we will still have them when we die."

Our Lord went out personally to look for them and prevent them from being lost. St Luke tells us: “While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them." However, they did not recognize him; they thought he was just another traveler.

“Jesus joins them as they go along their way. Lord, how great you are, in everything! But you move me even more when you come down to our level to follow us, and seek us in the hustle and bustle of each day. Lord, grant us a childlike spirit, pure eyes, and a clear head, so that we may recognize you when you come without any outward sign of your glory."

“And Jesus stays. Our eyes are opened, as were those of Cleophas and his companion, when Christ breaks the bread; and though he vanishes once more from sight, we too will find strength to start out once more - though night is falling - to tell the others about him, because so much joy cannot be kept in one heart alone."

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Apr 16 Tue - Apostolate comes as a consequence of charity.

 Apr 16 Tue
Apostolate comes as a consequence of charity.
The whole of Jesus Christ's life speaks to us eloquently of the value that souls have in God's eyes and of his great love for them. God continues to show that love through the miracle of the Resurrection, and even after Christ's Ascension into heaven. “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place ... And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."

The Holy Spirit, the Love of God, is the driving force of the apostolate. How would it be possible to love God without at the same time loving those who are his children? “If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” Fraternal charity knows no limits. It should constantly move us to be concerned about the others, and to love them in an active and effective way, which is both supernatural and apostolic.

“Our Christian vocation, this calling which our Lord makes to each of us personally, leads us to become identified with him. But we should not forget that he came on earth to redeem everyone, because he wishes all men to be saved. There is not a single soul in whom Christ is not interested. Each soul has cost him the price of his Blood."

We must feel strongly urged to bring everyone before our Lord, and place them at his feet: those who are close to us, and the millions of others whom we do not yet know. “Yours is only a small love if you are not zealous for the salvation of all souls. Yours is only a poor love if you are not eager to inflame other apostles with your madness."

The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few: realize the urgency and greatness of this task. Many people remain indifferent, unaware of God's care for them. This was the misfortune of the multitude that witnessed Christ's Passion; and it is the case whenever huge crowds turn their back on God's love.

“Lord! Where are your friends? Your subjects, where are they? They have left you. This running away has been going on for twenty centuries... We, all of us, flee from the Cross, from your Holy Cross. Blood, anguish, loneliness and an insatiable hunger for souls... these are the courtiers remaining around your royal throne."

“Apostolic zeal is a divine madness I want you to have, and it has these symptoms: hunger to know the Master; constant concern for souls; perseverance that nothing can shake." If we want to ensure that this apostolic zeal is not just a passing sentiment, but remains a constant need, we have to be closely united to our Lord.
Illustration: Icon Madonna Eleusa of Tenderness

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Apr 15 Mon - Truly, this Man Was the Son Of God

 

Apr 15 Mon
Truly, this Man Was the Son Of God
One of the strangest lines in the Gospels is uttered by the centurion at the foot of the Cross. In Mark, we are told that when he saw that Jesus had “breathed his last,” he said: “Truly this man was the Son of God.”

One would have thought this was the last thing a person would say after seeing a man die.  Everyone knows that the one thing gods don’t do is die.  Thus, it would have made more sense if, the moment the centurion saw Jesus die, he had said: “Well, clearly that guy wasn’t a god.”

Had Jesus shot fifty feet up in the air and shot laser beams out of his eyes, then we might imagine the centurion saying, “Uh oh, that was the son of God.” After which, he might have run for cover, reasoning that the man, now so revealed, would not be entirely pleased with those who treated him so badly — what with the whole spitting, taunting, scourging, crowning with thorns, and nailing him to the Cross business.  

But Christ didn’t shoot fifty feet in the air and shoot laser beams out of his eyes.  That’s comic book stuff.  No, He died: something “gods” are never supposed to do.  And yet it was at that moment the centurion said: “Truly, this man was the Son of God.”  

We have to imagine that Mark included this odd story in his Gospel, well, first, because it happened. It would be a strange thing to include it, if it hadn’t, since most readers would be inclined to conclude, as I did, that it made little sense for a down-to-earth Roman soldier to conclude from a man’s death that He was “the son of God.”  

But second, Mark likely included the story because it represented something important about the faith of the early Church. The apostles were not proclaiming the divinity of Christ in spite of His death on the Cross, but because of it.

This is so strange; it really should give us pause. A God who dies?  What kind of God is that?  Either a powerless one, or a really, really devoted one.  But if He is that devoted, and if He can undergo death – not avoid it, not pretend it, but really undergo it – and still beat it, then He has fundamentally altered our entire idea of what it means to be “powerful.”  A power so great that it transcends even death, but then submits itself to death?  A God who reveals Himself as a servant?  We don’t sacrifice to Him; He sacrifices Himself for us?  It bursts all our categories.  

If someone loved you so much that he had been willing, freely, to sacrifice his life for you, would it change the way you live?  That much love and devotion – for me?  It’s almost too much to believe.  But if that’s the universe God has made, and if He wanted to share His love with us that much, why say no?
Excerpts by Randall Smith

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Apr 14 Sun - My Lord and my God!

 

Apr 14 Sun
My Lord and my God! The apparitions of the Risen Christ contrast with those before his death on the Cross. The certainty of being before an exceptional person, yes, but of flesh and blood, who eats, sleeps, gets tired, rejoices and cries, suffers and dies, contrasts with these sudden appearances and disappearances of the glorious Christ, triumphant over death. Thus, the doubts of those who have seen him, thinking that he is a ghost or an illusion.

"Why are you alarmed, why do doubts arise within you? Look at my hands and my feet: it is me in person. Touch me and realize that a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have." "It is Jesus himself who, after the resurrection, contacts the disciples in order to give them a sense of reality and dispel the opinion (or fear) that it is a ghost and therefore that they were victims of an illusion. Indeed, he establishes direct relations with them, precisely through touch.... Feel me and see.

He invites them to see that the resurrected body, with which he appears before them, is the same one that was martyred and crucified. This body possesses, however, at the same time new properties: it has become spiritual and glorified and therefore is no longer subject to the usual limitations of material beings.... Jesus enters the Cenacle even though the doors were closed, he appears and disappears, etc. But at the same time this body is authentic and real. In its material identity is the demonstration of Christ's resurrection" (John Paul II)

The certainty that Christ had risen was not a product of delusion of the disciples, but of evidence and the repeated apparitions with which the Lord was helping them to accept such a supernatural fact. Hence, when they had to proclaim this truth which, on the other hand, accused of killing God those who led Jesus to death, even if intimidated with torture and threats of death if they did not keep silent. Peter and John answered: "Can God approve that we obey you instead of him? You be the judge. We cannot but tell what we have seen and heard."

"Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he added, 'Thus it was written: The Messiah will suffer, he will rise from the dead on the third day...'" With this absolutely new light, even the event of the Cross shined in their eyes, and they were in a position to announce these things to all peoples.

Dealing with Jesus Christ in the attentive and frequent reading of his Word and in the Eucharist will help us to dispel any doubts about the foundation of our faith: everything does not end with death, Christ has conquered it, and has given us the possibility to overcome it. Let us take time each day to meditate on Sacred Scripture, and receive the Eucharist.

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Opus Dei at the service of the transformation of Dioceses, from merely administrative structures, into “Particular Churches”

 

The Pope solves an important ecclesial paradox

Opus Dei at the service of the transformation of Dioceses, from merely administrative structures, into “Particular Churches”

The Vatican council II declared –an ecclesiological innovation- that the Dioceses are “particular Churches”. This innovation contains an ecclesial renewal of large scope, and the Pope’s decisions regarding the personal Prelature of Opus Dei are at the service of this renewal: with them, the Pope solves an important ecclesial paradox.

The starting point is the autobiographical account by Saint Paul of his conversion and baptism in Acts 22, 12-16:

“A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him. “Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.”

The vocational meaning of the Baptism is noticeable here: the reception of the sacrament seals Saint Paul’s answer to God’s call, confirms the charism, and communicates him the grace to reach eternal life. The vocational sense of Christian life is characteristic of the communities in the apostolic Church. In them, the belonging to the Church by the bond of Baptism is experienced as a vocational bond or answer to a divine call that informs one’s whole existence.

The task of the administration of the Sacraments became more and more weighty with the growth of the Church, and led to the increasing of a corresponding administrative structure. It is the structure that eventually crystalized in the Codex of Canon Law (CIC). Since the structure is at the service of the administration of the Sacraments after all, it is obvious that it is a manifestation of the Incarnation of the Word, and the same can be said of the CIC itself. Moreover, function and structure are expression of the divine mercy, God’s interest that all can receive the Sacraments and reach eternal life.

Nonetheless, and without seeking it, a “functional and administrative mentality” developed and became dominant in the Church during centuries till the Council Vatican II. The Church was seen as sort of a “multinational corporation”, and the Dioceses as its “regional headquarters”. This eminently administrative meaning crystalizes by the III century, as Diocletian organized the Roman Empire according to administrative territorial units (diœcésis), and the Church adopts a similar organization; this meaning prevails still today in the common understanding.

In a certain sense we can speak of an “ecclesial paradox”: on the one hand, the sacramental aspect of the Church requires guaranteeing the administration of Baptism and the other Sacraments to all people, seriously and effectively, and this demands an enrollment into an administrative circumscription (diocese) through a non-vocational bond (domicile, rite or similar); on the other hand, Baptism contains in germ a divine call, to follow Jesus Christ with the radicalism of the first Christians; it is a latent vocation that, like the oil in a lamp, waits to be lit.

The paradox is evident in the practice of infant Baptism: although as such it contains a vocational call, its administration does not generate a vocational bond since it lacks the conscious and free acceptance of the call.

This “paradoxical” development in fact led to the loss of the vocational sense characteristic of the communities of the apostolic Church. The prejudice eventually took hold that ordinary life –at work and in the family– should develop on the margins of a call from God to holiness.

The key to resolving this paradox is found in the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council. The key piece of the “conciliar ecclesiology” is the concept of the Particular Church, according to the following statement of the decree Christus Dominus, 11 §1:

“A diocese is a portion of the people of God which is entrusted to a bishop to be shepherded by him with the cooperation of the presbytery. Thus, by adhering to its pastor and gathered together by him through the Gospel and the Eucharist in the Holy Spirit, it constitutes a particular church in which the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Christ is truly present and operative."

Referring to the “Particular Churches” the Council affirms that “formed in the image of the universal Church, in them and from them the one and only Catholic Church is constituted.” (Lumen Gentium, no. 23§1). And it adds that the universal Church, as “Mystical Body” “is also the body of the Churches” (Lumen Gentium, no. 23§2), in continuity with the ecclesial theology of Pius XII in Mystici Corporis (cf. Communionis Notio, note 44). Without minimizing the importance of the Dioceses as administrative and functional units, the Second Vatican Council emphasizes that they must also be what they constitutively are, “Particular Churches”, and thus proposes a reconstruction of the pastoral structure of the Church in apostolic times (Lumen Gentium, no. 26§1).

The desire that “dioceses” be more than simply administrative units animates the whole of the Council’s ecclesiology and is in harmony with another fundamental teaching of Vatican II: the universal vocation to holiness (Lumen Gentium, ch. V). The Council rediscovers the importance of the vocational bond contained in Baptism (Lumen Gentium, n. 40§1), which is latent in the Sacrament, even when it is received without a conscious and deliberate act, as in the case of infant Baptism. By defining the “Particular Church” as a “portion of the People of God”, it is recognized that belonging to the Particular Church has in reality the character of a vocational bond. The defining emphasis thus shifts from the administrative-functional and territorial aspect to the vocational one.

In the words of Pope Francis, it can be said that this conciliar ecclesial renewal seeks:

    - to promote that all the faithful may be “next door saints” (Gaudete et Exultate, 6-9);
    - to overcome “functionalism”: At times we forget about baptism, and the priest then becomes a functionary, and the danger of functionalism sets in. We should never forget that each particular vocation, including that of Holy Orders, is a completion of baptism.” (Address to the Symposium “For a Fundamental Theology of the Priesthood”).

This renewal project makes evident the importance of promoting among the lay faithful the search for holiness in the ordinary circumstances of life, through the sanctification of work and family and social commitments: the vocation of the lay faithful who live marriage is not less divine a vocation than that of the ordained ministers who live celibacy. This requires an intense program of spiritual coaching and formation (theological, apostolic, familial) of the lay faithful, and instruments capable of assuming this task with professionalism and continuity. And (surely not without inspiration of the Holy Spirit) the Council has foreseen such instruments, among them the personal prelatures.

Certainly, both the conciliar decree defining the Personal prelature (Presbyterorum Ordinis, no. 10) and the Motu proprio for its implementation (Ecclesiae Sanctae, I, no. 4) leave ample room for interpretation with regard to the bond that defines membership in this ecclesial reality. On the other hand, the founder of Opus Dei, St. Josemaría, his successor, Blessed Álvaro del Portillo, and Pope St. John Paul II sensed the potential of this juridical figure to embrace secular institutions with a vocational bond, and “saw clearly that it was perfectly suited to Opus Dei.” (Ut sit). Now, Pope Francis has ratified this intuition: confirming Opus Dei in the “authentically charismatic sphere of the Church […] in harmony with the witness of the Founder, St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, and with the teachings of conciliar ecclesiology on personal prelatures” (Ad Charisma Tuendum), the Pope confirms in fact that there can be personal prelatures with a vocational bond. He thus completes the ecclesiology of Vatican II for the benefit of the conciliar project of reconciling function and vocation in the Dioceses in order to make them particular Churches, according to the ideal of the ecclesial realities of the apostolic time. The Successor of Peter thus resolves the important ecclesial paradox mentioned above, and shows that the Church always succeeds in finding room for all the great awakenings that the Holy Spirit stirs up in her midst (cf. Joseph Card. Ratzinger, Rome, 27-29 May 1998).

The Lord expects a free and generous response to his call to holiness (cf. Mark 10:17-30), and his method is to form some who will act as leaven. Such is the mission of the personal prelatures with vocational bond: their action is “complementary and non-competitive with that of the dioceses and parishes, while their lay members remaining fully faithful to their dioceses and parishes.” (Fernando Ocáriz, interview Aug.11, 2023); particular Churches and personal Prelatures need each other, they are called to enrich and strengthen each other.

In this context are quite significant the following words of Saint Josemaría:

“For this reason, we can say, my children, that there weighs upon us the concern and the responsibility for the entire Holy Church – sollicitudo totius Sanctae Ecclesiae Dei – and not just for this or that particular portion of it. Backing up the official responsibility of the Roman Pontiff and of the Right Reverend Ordinaries (a juridical responsibility, and theirs de iure divino), we serve the whole Church, with a responsibility which is not juridical, but rather spiritual, ascetical, born of love. We offer a service of a professional nature, as citizens who bring a Christian witness of example and doctrine to the furthermost reaches of civil society." (Letter about the work of Saint Gabriel, n. 15)

With the centenary of Opus Dei in sight, I think that this teaching of the Founder is amply corroborated by the development of this personal Prelature. I limit myself here to pointing out some realities:

1) The work to motivate and enable the lay faithful to live daily a demanding plan of Christian life, and to carry out an effective personal work of evangelization and spiritual accompaniment in their professional and family environment.

2) The process of incorporation into the Prelature, which emphasizes the vocational character of belonging to it as a free response to the call of Jesus Christ to follow him.

3) The institutionalization of different modalities of living the same bond, which guarantee the means for any of the faithful to sanctify ordinary life, without having to change canonical status, e.g.: Associates lay faithful who live in apostolic celibacy and, for various personal or family needs, do not change their place; Supernumerary lay faithful who live marriage and family life with a vocational sense, and also help to form young people and newlyweds for family life (very much in line with Iuvenescit Ecclesia 22a); parish priests incardinated in the local Churches and members of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, whom the vocation to Opus Dei impels to live their priestly vocation without falling into functionalism, to strengthen unity with their Ordinary, and to kindle in their parishioners the vocational fire of Baptism.

All these realities confirm that Opus Dei’s intense work of formation aims to reinforce the vocational dimension of belonging to the particular Church as “a completion of Baptism”. A work in the image of that which St. Paul “carried out with ‘pastoral structures’ like the one described in Romans 16,” i.e.:, an ecclesial reality composed of priests and laity, men and women, married and celibate, united by the same vocational bond and by a personal jurisdiction (cf. Charism and Hierarchy in St. Paul).

In conclusion: “the relationship of the Prelature with the particular Churches is necessarily a relationship of service: all the activity of Opus Dei is oriented to collaborate in the intensification of the Christian life of the faithful of the particular Churches (whether they belong to Opus Dei or not).” (Fernando Ocáriz, Palabra (310, II-1991 (92)).

Continuing with the image of the Church as a body, it could be said that the “personal prelatures with a vocational bond” are called to be like the blood in the circulatory stream of that body: their mission will consist in reviving the different members of the body, enkindling in them the call to holiness latent in Baptism, in unity with the head and impelled by the beating of the heart. In this way, the personal Prelature of Opus Dei will continue to be “a valid and effective instrument of the saving mission that the Church fulfills for the life of the world” (Ad Charisma Tuendum), since the circulatory stream of the Church (the Body of Christ) is ultimately the circulatory stream of humanity (cf. Lumen Gentium 1; CCE 760).

By Antoine Suarez, Swiss physicist and philosopher, has developed significant experiments in the field of quantum physics. Since 1966 he contributes as a lay faithful to the apostolic work of the Prelature of Opus Dei in Switzerland. He lives in Zurich.

Apr 13 Sat - The Cross, lessons for the Leader

 

Apr 13 Sat
The Cross, lessons for the Leader

Often, leadership is not accompanied by success. “But we preach Christ crucified: a scandal to the Jews, foolishness to the Gentiles” (1 Cor 1:23).

Through their professional activity, Christian businessmen are also called to preach a crucified Christ who, even today, continues to be scandal and foolish. Scandal because the cross does not seem to have a place in a world full of hedonistic messages. It seems foolishness because, especially in the world of economics and business, failure is usually understood either as the result of an error, of making wrong decisions, or as that step that sometimes one must step on to reach success.  We are inundated with messages, born from the post-truth culture, that do not help us look at Christ crucified, they do not invite us to discover the face of the cross.

On the cross, Jesus experienced betrayal, mockery, loneliness, misunderstanding, abandonment, failure… Without a doubt, these experiences are familiar to people with managerial responsibilities.

The experience of the cross in life are three calls for Christian businessmen and managers:

– A call to look at the face of the crucified Christ: His face is reflected in that of every person who is humiliated and offended, sick or suffering, alone, abandoned and despised. Looking at the face of the Crucified moves us to transcend our suffering to that of others.

– A call to identify ourselves with Christ crucified: «The Christian has the face of Jesus engraved indelibly on his heart. He is not only “alter Christus", but “ipse Christus" (not another Christ, but Christ himself). Therefore, the ultimate goal of every man consists essentially in a full and total identification with Christ.

– A call to hope in Christ crucified: “And Jesus, crying out with a powerful voice, said: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” And, having said this, he expired." The last words from the cross were uttered looking at Father God. Because pain and death are not the last word. Christians do not worship a God of the dead, but of the living. Our projects, our companies, must also be illuminated by hope, a hope founded on the conviction of the possibility of a resurrected life.

The cross is a call to fight for, and with, the crucified. As entrepreneurs and managers, we have the opportunity to put our projects at the service of this task. But have confidence: He promised to accompany us “to the end of the world.” His Mother, our mother, is also there. Do not hesitate to invoke the Holy Spirit to guide your choices. The Church needs your testimony.

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Apr 12 Fri - We too may experience Christ's loneliness on the Cross

 Apr 12 Fri
We too may experience Christ's loneliness on the Cross.
“As time goes by, people sometimes experience loneliness in their professional, social and even interior lives - the loneliness of Christ on the Cross. But if they realize that they are carriers of Christ, they are able to overcome that loneliness by seeking help from this Lord of ours, who has conquered death and now reigns victorious over all things. And with his help they too are victorious, and go on to live our Christian vocation even more effectively. So, don't let your mistakes get you down, as long as you try to pick yourself up and start again."

Christ's Resurrection is a victory for us. But we must renew our inner dispositions.
This is the great day which the Lord has made, this is the day of his victory. Where are the soldiers whom the authorities had commanded to guard the tomb? Where is the seal that they had placed on the stone closing the entrance to the sepulcher? Where are the men who crucified Jesus? Today it is Christ's enemies who are fleeing, for he never loses battles."

“Earthly things are only as important as we make them. If we are immersed in God nothing will disturb our interior peace. When, out of weakness, we make a big deal out of these insignificant events, and let them get us down, it's because we want to. If we stay close to our Lord, however, we feel secure. If we unite ourselves to Christ's Cross and his glorious Resurrection, there is no obstacle we cannot overcome."

Of course, sometimes sufferings can last somewhat longer and our body can give out on us and fall sick, so that we have to drag it around like a tired donkey. Nevertheless, you and I have the perfect remedy for this. We have the sacraments, and the other means of spiritual advise.

“Now is the time to make a change. Holiness means being reborn every day, starting anew every single day. Don't let your mistakes get you down, as long as you have good will and begin again each time."

“Be faithful to our Lord at every moment of your life, and when you feel that you aren't being faithful, give an extra push in your struggle, with a cheerful, sporting spirit, and you will be victorious. Take all your failings, all those obstacles on the road, and place them at Christ's feet, so that he will be raised on high and triumph -and you will triumph along with him. Don't let anything bother you; rectify your intention; try and try again; and in the end, if you yourself can't manage, our Lord will come and help you to leap the hurdle, the hurdle of holiness. This is the way to be renewed, to conquer ourselves: getting up again every day in the certainty that we will make it to the end of the road, where love awaits us."

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