Category: columns2016

columns2016

The ‘Joy of Love’ challenges us

Post author By Web administrator
Post date April 23, 2016

by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI

“When a family is welcoming and reaches out to others, especially the poor and the neglected, it is ‘a symbol, witness and participant in the Church’s motherhood’. Social love, as a reflection of the Trinity, is what truly unifies the spiritual meaning of the family and its mission to others, for it makes present the kerygma in all its communal imperatives. The family lives its spirituality precisely by being at one and the same time a domestic church and a vital cell for transforming the world. [1, 324]” (Pope Francis, The Joy of Love)

CCSJ welcomes Pope Francis’ second Apostolic Exhortation: Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love), published on April 8. It is the result, inter alia, of two synods on marriage and the family (2014 and 2015).
Key social justice principles are embedded throughout this important 325 paragraph document. The Church is aware that although “The life of every family is marked by all kinds of crises…these are also part of its dramatic beauty” (232). The Church continues to “promote marriage and the family and to defend them against those who attack them.”

Tags document, family, Pope

columns2016

Are we hearing the Shepherd’s voice?

Post author By Web administrator
Post date April 16, 2016

Today, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, the Church celebrates ‘Good Shepherd Sunday’ and the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.

Let us pray for the priests in our Archdiocese, who, as Bishop John Sherrington, Diocese of Westminster, says, “are servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God (1 Cor 4:1)…Humble witness and generous service will ensure that the person of the priest shows an authenticity of life to others so that they may believe. We thank God for priests and their priestly ministry.”
CCSJ urges you to support Generation S, our archdiocesan vocations ministry whose aim is “to encourage service to God through religious vocation.”

Tags Generation S, vocations

columns2016

Tribute to Mother Angelica

Post author By Web administrator
Post date April 10, 2016

“God wants you to be in the world, but so different from the world that you will change it. Get cracking.” (Mother Angelica).

Mother Angelica died on Easter Sunday, March 27 (1923-2016) at age 92. Journalist John L Allen Jr rightly said that: “Rita Antoinette Rizzo, Mother Angelica’s given name, was many things: A lightning rod, a force of nature, an impresario, an entertainer, a deft commentator…and, beneath it all, a faithful and pious nun… she was far from being everyone’s cup of tea.

Tags death

columns2016

Exercise mercy in action, word and prayer

Post author By Web administrator
Post date April 3, 2016

“Mercy is the garment of light which the Lord has given to us in Baptism. We must not allow this light to be extinguished; on the contrary, it must grow within us every day and thus bring to the world God’s glad tidings…God’s mercy accompanies us daily. To be able to perceive his mercy it suffices to have a heart that is alert” (Pope Benedict XVI, 2007).

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, established by Pope St John Paul II in 2000.
As he said at the Canonisation of Sr Mary Faustina Kowalska (2000): “Christ has taught us that man not only receives and experiences the mercy of God, but is also called to practise mercy towards others: ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy’ (Mt 5: 7)… Humanity must let itself be touched and pervaded by the Spirit given to it by the risen Christ. It is the Spirit who heals the wounds of the heart, pulls down the barriers that separate us from God and divide us from one another, and at the same time, restores the joy of the Father’s love and of fraternal unity.”

Tags Divine Mercy Sunday, mercy

columns2016

Down from the cross and into our lives

Post author By Web administrator
Post date March 27, 2016

“Jesus, who was crucified, is risen!…The message which Christians bring to the world is this: Jesus, Love incarnate, died on the cross for our sins, but God the Father raised him and made him the Lord of life and death. In Jesus, love has triumphed over hatred, mercy over sinfulness, goodness over evil, truth over falsehood, life over death.” – Pope Francis, April 20, 2014.

The quotation above is taken from Pope Francis’ Ubi et Orbi Easter Message in 2014, entitled: ‘Come and See’.
Inter alia, he said: “In every human situation, marked by frailty, sin and death, the Good News is no mere matter of words, but a testimony to unconditional and faithful love: it is about leaving ourselves behind and encountering others, being close to those crushed by life’s troubles, sharing with the needy, standing at the side of the sick, elderly and the outcast… ‘Come and see!’… Love is more powerful, love gives life, love makes hope blossom in the wilderness.”

Tags Easter