Words of Wisdom: ABC Poem

Although things are not perfect

Because of trial or pain

Continue in thanksgiving

Do not begin to blame

Even when the times are hard

Fierce winds are bound to blow

God is forever able

Hold on to what you know

Imagine life without His love

Joy would cease to be

Keep thanking Him for all the things

Love imparts to thee

Move out of "Camp Complaining"

No weapon that is known

On earth can yield the power

Praise can do alone

Quit looking at the future

Redeem the time at hand

Start every day with worship

To "thank" is a command

Until we see Him coming

Victorious in the sky

We'll run the race with gratitude

Xalting God most high

Yes, there'll be good times and yes some will be bad, but

Zion waits in glory... where none are ever sad!
----[Author unknown]

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading: 1 Kings 17: 10-16. A poor widow is ready to give all she has to feed a stranger.

Second Reading: Hebrews 9: 24-28. Jesus Christ offered himself to take away our sins and he will return to reward those who wait for him.

Gospel: Mark 12: 38-44. Jesus praises the poor woman who gives generously in spite  of her poverty.

Points for Reflection-- From Fr Carlo Tei

1. Today’s First Reading and Gospel present two widows as examples of faith and generosity.

• The widow of the First Reading is not afraid of jeopardizing her last chances of surviving, in order to meet the needs of Elijah; therefore, a handful of meal and a little oil are the sign of an unlimited generosity.

• In the Gospel episode the two small coins that the widow puts into the treasury are regarded by Jesus as having much more value than the great deal of money offered by the rich.

2. Jesus values our generosity not by the amount of our offerings, but by our commitment. Jesus’ words, attributing the value of a gift to the disposition of the giver, are expressive of that common sense which is witnessed by wise persons of all religions and times. For Jesus, however, it is not a simple affirmation of a principle; his way of judging is witnessed by all the happenings of his life. He is the One who offered himself for us in his life and in his death.

3. And by so doing, Jesus not only became our Saviour, but also revealed to us who God is. God is not One who gives us something out of the abundance of his richness, but He is One whose nature is to give Himself. Jesus reveals God to us as the Self-giver. “God so loved the world as to give his only Son.” To save us, that is, to lead us back to God, Jesus had only one path to walk: the giving of himself, the total commitment of himself to God and to us.

4. This is the way, which is also indicated to us by today’s Gospel. We cannot be reconciled with God; we cannot share in Christ’s salvation unless we, too, like Jesus and like the two widows of today’s Scripture Readings, make the giving of ourselves to God and to our brothers and sisters the programme of our daily lives. Our salvation does not depend on the good deeds we perform or the amount of material help we give to others, as much as on our conviction that everything we are and have does not belong to us, but to God and to others, and, out of this conviction, we share our lives (our time, our energy, our happiness, our wealth) with others. May the Spirit of the Lord guide us and the Eucharistic Body of Jesus give us the strength we need to give ourselves to others.

November 1 Sunday Reflection

---From Fr Carlo Tei

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of all Saints.

• And we celebrate it to commemorate not only those saints whose names are written in the Church’s calendar, but also all those humble men and women who followed Christ faithfully during their life time and whose names are written in heaven.

• Moreover, while other feast days celebrate only others, today in the celebration we include also ourselves. St Paul used to call Christians like us “the saints”, so we are not presumptuous in saying that we, too, are saints, meaning that we are in the process of sanctity.

Today’s feast, therefore, invites us to realize that we have been called to be saints, that is a call to live in holiness, and that it is fitting to celebrate our communion with all the saints.

First of all, we should never forget that we are all called to be saints. There is no exception. Once we grant that God became man to redeem us, it is unthinkable that he would do the job halfway. Jesus himself said: “You must become perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect”. One little catechism asked the question: “Can we be like God”? It answered: “Yes”, and quoted the very Scripture passage we have in today’s Second Reading: “We shall be like him for we shall see his as he is”. In view of these clear statements in God’s word, it is not surprising that Vatican II taught that every single one of us is called to holiness.

What is holiness?

It is what God is. Only God is holy. We can become holy only by sharing God’s holiness.

Through baptism and confirmation we were made a new creation, given a share in the divine nature, made children and friends of God, given the Holy Spirit and made members of the Church of Christ. In this way, we were given the call and the power to be saints.

What is a saint?

• In the First Reading John describes the saints as those who survived the great time of trial and washed their robes white with the Lamb’s blood.

• In the Second Reading, he describes the saints as the little children of God who grew up and have now become full-fledged sons and daughters of God.

• In the Gospel, Jesus describes the saints by the way they live. In the beatitudes Jesus spells out the way to holiness.

How many beatitudes did we identify with? There is nothing in them we cannot do or be. If we imitate Jesus, we will be able to practise them all, for he is the beatitudes in the flesh. Is there anyone of us who doesn’t want to be like Jesus? That’s what the Father wants of any of us.

What best defines our call to holiness is that it is a call to be great lovers. Pope Paul VI said that what most identifies the uniqueness of a human being is his “capacity to love, to love to the end, to give himself with that love that it is stronger than death and extends to eternity”. He pointed out to the martyrs as the sublime expressions of this quality. Theirs was the noblest of all loves, not only in the way they gave, but in Him to whom they gave it, the God who died for them.

Our way to holiness shares more with the martyrs than we realize. The word martyr means witness. To live a life of holiness is to give that witness to God in a kind of living martyrdom. In some ways it is even harder. We feel al times that to be faithful to God we have to shed the very blood of our souls, and that it would be easier to lie down and die. Only our deep love for Christ sustains us on this journey to holiness.

We, the family of God the Father, are in three stages of progress. We are the Church militant on earth, the Church suffering in purgatory and the Church triumphant in heaven. We are all for one, and one for all.

• The saints in heaven strengthen our faith by their lives; intercede for us obtaining for us the divine graces we need to live holy lives.

• The saints in purgatory need our prayers and good works to hasten the day of their final purification and entrance into heaven. We will remember them especially tomorrow on All Souls Day. They in return will be interceding for us.

• We on earth are still fighting the battles of love and faithfulness. We should never lose sight of the nobility of our struggle. We are fighting for something, for which God created us and Jesus, his Son, gave his life.

In this Eucharistic Celebration let us renew our determination to follow Christ, enlightened by His Spirit, strengthened by the Sacrament of His Body and Blood and through the intercessions of His Mother and all the saints.

Meditation- The Solemnity of All Saints

---from John Paul II "Prayers and Devotions"

Let us all rejoice in the Lord on this Solemnity of All the Saints! Ours is a sheer, limpid joy, a strengthening one, like that found in a big family, when it is teh kind having its roots there, drawing the new blood of its own life and its own spiritual identity form there.

With our spirit today we are immersed in this numberless host of saints, of the saved. They offer us courage and sing together a chorus of glory to Him whom the psalmists call teh God of my gladness and job (Ps 43:4). At the center of this communication is God himself. He not only calls us to holiness but he gives it to us in Christ's blood as well and so overcomes our sins. We should always sing a hymn of thanksgiving to the Lord. as Mary did, so to give joyous proclamation to he bounty of the Father "for having made you worthy to share the lot of the saints in light" (Col 1:12). So the Feast of All Saints call upon us never to fall back only on ourselves, but to look to the Lord so as to be radiant (cf. Ps 34:6). Not to presume oon our own strength but to trust as sons in him who has loved us, never to grow weary of doing good.

All the Saints have ever been, and are, poor in spirit, meek, afflicted, hungry and thirsty for justice, merciful, pure of heart, peacmakers, percecuted because of the Gospel. They have been these things in varying degrees. We have to be like them. "God's will" is our sanctification (1 Thes 4:3).

The Lord will not abandon his people--Psalm 94

God has never rejected his people.

God, you are so mysterious to me. I do so want to have a sense of how you are present to me, how you call me, and what you really promise me.

Today I read Paul on how you love the Jewish people completely, never revoking your choice, but still extending your love through Jesus to me. I feel that I can only really find you through Jesus: ‘Whoever sees me, sees the Father.’

And Jesus constantly tells his disciples that they will find you through humility. Perhaps I try too hard to find your face, operating out of what I think I know for sure, instead of letting you find me in my humility. That’s what this parable of the wedding feast seems to be about.

Lord, only you can heal me in my yearnings. Teach me to hope more strongly in you.

Monday, October 26, 2009

If you love me, follow me. "I do love you," you protest, "but how do I follow you?" If the Lord your God said to you: "I am the truth and the life, I laid down certain conditions for obtaining my promises. Have you fulfilled them?" If you say: "What did you command, Lord our God?" he will tell you: "I commanded you to follow me.". In your desire for truth, in your love for life, you would certainly ask him to show you the way to reach them. You would say to yourself: "Truth is a great reality, life is a great reality; if only it were possible for my soul to find them!"

-- St. Augustine

30th Sunday of the Year B

First Reading: Jeremiah 31: 7-9. God will lead his people home from exile.

Second Reading: Hebrews 5: 1-6 Jesus can sympathize with all our limitations and weaknesses.

Gospel: Mark 10: 46-52. Jesus frees a man from his blindness.

Sunday Reflections from Fr Carlo Tei

Many Christians nowadays do not seem to take their faith seriously enough. Nothing, therefore, is more important for all of us than to re-discover the meaning of our Christian faith and all its implications. Today’s Gospel episode can help us find out the steps one has to go through in order to live by faith in Christ. Such steps are exactly the same as those which the blind man took before he could “follow Jesus on the road”.

1. A blind beggar is sitting at the side of the road. He cannot see Jesus who passes by. Others can only tell him about his coming. But, as soon as he knows that it is Jesus, he expresses his faith in him, by trusting in his healing power. Those who scold him do not scare him. He keeps on asking Jesus to have pity on him. Then some people help him to get ready for the call by Jesus. He throws off the cloak, jumps up and goes to Jesus and tells him that he wants to see. His sight is returned and, along with it, a total faith in Jesus is granted to him, so much so that he chooses to follow him.

2. The process of faith matches the above description.

• It starts with a manifestation of Christ in a man or a woman’s life: it is necessary that Christ should pass by first. And, indeed, Christ “passes by” every man and every woman of the world. This passage, however, is never visible. In order to recognize Jesus, who passes us by invisibly in the daily happenings of life, we need someone to tell us that it is Jesus.

- Someone told us about Jesus. And since then we were able to believe in him.

- So many of our brothers and sisters still have not had the opportunity to hear that Jesus is close to them. Is it not our duty to tell them? Is it not our mission as Christians to bring to others the “good news”, to manifest Jesus to others, to unveil his invisible presence?

• As soon as someone comes to know Jesus, he has to trust him completely, otherwise his encounter with Him will not bring healing and salvation. Anyone who knows Jesus and wants to be saved by him has to make an act of faith in Him, which means a complete trust in and surrender to him. He needs to stand firm, fearless of all difficulties and obstacles or of all worldly temptations which he may find on his way to Christ.

• If he stands firm, others around him (i.e. the Church) will help him get ready for the call by Jesus, they will help him to know Jesus better and better, and make the final decision, which is called “conversion”. One is “converted”, when he gets rid of his old self, symbolized by the cloak, when he gets rid of his old sinful life, centred on selfishness and self-sufficiency, and he is ready to get up: to start a new life, centred upon faith in Christ and love for God and his children. This life gives us a new sight: a new way of seeing things. We see things from Jesus’ point of view, and, as a result of this, we follow Jesus. We live, taking Jesus as our only model; we walk, in the world, very close to those who walk with us. We care for them, take their difficulties at heart, and share their sorrows and aspirations. We let the Spirit of Christ and his Gospel guide us and turn us into the witnesses of His Kingdom of justice and love. And we strongly hope and pray that all men and women of the world will soon recognize God as their Father.

Is this what we are doing in our daily lives? May Jesus help us to cure our blindness, so that we may follow him steadfastly and courageously along the road of life and thus contribute to the spreading of His Kingdom of justice, peace and love.

‘Sir, leave it one more year.’ Luke 13:1-9.

‘Sir, leave it one more year.’ 

The image of the barren fig tree evokes feelings of loss, but also feelings of hope. The fig tree represents all those who are yet to repent so that they may bear fruit, and the gardener personified as hope in his willingness and patience to help the tree reproduce fruit is comforting. He calms, restores and leads each one of us, in a similar way that the divine shepherd peacefully leads and lovingly cares for us, and all the time giving us life.

Paul too speaks of life as the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. This same Spirit gave life to the fig tree and strength to those in care of the shepherd who were led beyond fear. The Holy Spirit is the giver of life, and, as Pope Benedict XVI articulated, ‘flows deep within us, like an underground river which nourishes our soul and draws us ever nearer to the source of our true life, which is Christ.’

--From Internet

普世教会统计资料

梵蒂冈（信仰通讯社）http://www.fides.org/aree/news/newsdet.php?idnews=4571&lan=chi

值此普世教会庆祝世界传教节之际，本刊在此发表普世教会数据统计，从而以数字的形式全面展示了世界教会的基本情况。以下资料摘自《教会统计数据年鉴》（二OO七年十二月三十一日修订本），旨在为广大读者提供一个全面的视野，综合归纳并补充了教会成员；牧灵机构；以及教会在医疗、社会援助和教育领域的福传活动情况及发展变化。在括号中标出了与上年同期相比的数字变化、增加（+）及减少（-），使读者对普世教会的蓬勃发展拥有一个完整的认识。

世界总人口

二OO七年十二月三十一日，世界总人口为6,617,097,000，与上年同期相比增加了74,273,000。包括欧洲在内，全球五大洲各地增长情况分别为：非洲 + 16,865,000、美洲 + 11,327,000、亚洲 + 43,3048,000、大洋洲 + 531,000、欧洲 + 2,246,000。

世界天主教徒人数

同一时期的世界天主教徒人数为1,146,656,000,与去年同期相比增加了15,906,000。 全球五大洲各地增长情况分别为：非洲+ 6,612,000、美洲+ 5,535,000、亚洲+ 2,428,000、欧洲+ 1,132,000、大洋洲+ 199,000。

总的来看，天主教徒的百分比增加了0.05%，占世界人口总数的17.33%。全球五大洲各地增减情况分别为：非洲+ 0.4%、亚洲+ 0.02%、欧洲 + 0.03%、大洋洲+ 0.17%；而美洲减少 - 0.17%。

每名司铎平均负责管理的居民

全世界各地每名司铎平均负责管理的居民数量增加了140人，上升到12,879人。全球五大洲除亚洲和非洲外，全部呈现增加趋势，各地变化情况分别为：非洲-456、美洲+ 71、欧洲+ 53、大洋洲+ 207；亚洲大陆- 794。

每名司铎平均负责管理的天主教徒

普世教会中每名司铎平均负责管理的天主教徒人数增加了34人，达2,810人。全球五大洲除亚洲外，全部呈现增加趋势，各地变化情况分别为：非洲+ 30、美洲+ 31、欧洲+ 22、大洋洲+ 65、亚洲- 22。

牧灵区

与去年同期相比，牧灵区增加了13个。目前，总数达2,936个。非洲（+ 2）、亚洲（+ 6）、欧洲（+ 5）。拥有固定神职人员的传教站总计1,016（与上年同期相比减少了1,531个）。没有固定神职人员的传教站共计增加了5,159个，目前总数达124,642。五大洲均呈增加趋势，非洲 + 3,764、美洲 + 1,310、亚洲 + 75、欧洲 + 6、大洋洲 + 4。

主教

普世教会主教人数增加了48位，目前总计4,946位。各地均有不同程度增加。除美洲（- 2）外，增加数量最多的非洲 + 19位、亚洲+ 2、欧洲+ 13、大洋洲 + 6 。总之，教区司铎和修会会士被任命为主教人数均有增加。目前，教区主教共计3,729位（与上年同期相比增加了40位）、修会会士主教共计1,217位（增加了8）。五大洲各地教区主教人数增减情况如下，非洲 + 12、欧洲 + 15、亚洲 + 10、大洋洲+ 3；美洲与上年保持相同水平。全球各地修会会士主教呈增长的为非洲 + 7、亚洲 + 2、大洋洲 + 3；而欧洲（- 2）和美洲（ - 2）。

司铎及终身执事

普世教会司铎人数增加了762人，总计达408,024人。欧洲减少 – 2,260、大洋洲 - 55；呈涨势的亚洲+ 1,521、非洲+ 1,180、美洲 + 376。普世教会教区司铎人数增加864；大洋洲略减 – 9、欧洲再减 - 1,392。修会会士司铎人数减少了578人，目前总数为135,593人。与上年相同，亚洲（+ 657）和非洲（+ 156）呈增长趋势；美洲（- 477）、欧洲（- 868）和大洋洲（- 46）明显减少。

终身执事

普世教会各教区终身执事人数增加了1,422人，总计达35,942人。其中欧洲（+ 472）和美洲（+ 898）增加明显、非洲（+ 28）、美洲（+ 829）、亚洲（+ 23）、欧洲（419）、大洋洲（+ 10）。全球教区终身执事人数增至35,297人，全球共增加了1,309人，均呈增长趋势。修会中终身执事人数为645人，与上年同期相比增加了133人。其中，美洲+ 69、欧洲+ 53；非洲 – 4、亚洲- 3人；大洋洲 - 2。

修士和修女

全球修士数量增加了151人，总计达54,956人。各地增加情况如下：非洲+ 75、美洲 + 111、亚洲+ 36、大洋洲 + 19。明显减少的为欧洲- 392。

全球修女人数呈减少趋势（- 5,586），目前总计746,814人。各地分布情况如下：亚洲（+ 2,838）和非洲（+ 1,178）；欧洲（- 5,843）、美洲（- 4,650）和大洋洲（- 109）。

在俗团体

全球在俗团体中，男性成员共665名，与上年同期相比全球性减少了26人。其中，只有欧洲增加了15；其余均为减少，非洲- 17、亚洲 – 18、美洲 - 6；大洋洲保持不变。

女性成员减少了572人，总计26,778人。本年度，美洲 – 238、欧洲 – 415、大洋洲- 2；其它大陆均呈增长非洲+ 18、亚洲+ 65。

平信徒传教士

全球平信徒传教士人数共计250,464人，全球共增加33,696。其他大陆增加情况分别为亚洲+ 2,552、美洲+ 31,417、欧洲+ 493。呈减少的非洲（- 711）和大洋洲（- 55）。

全球传教员人数增加了6,665，增至2,993,354。本年度，全球各地以非洲（+ 5,896）、亚洲（+ 14,383）、欧洲（+ 7,403）增长最为明显。呈减少的为美洲（- 20,071）、大洋洲（+ 946）。

教区和修会大修生

尽管与上年同期相比增长幅度有所减少，但全球教区和修会大修生人数仍保持增加势头。全球修生人数增加了439人，目前总计115,919。其中，非洲+ 695、亚洲+ 595、大洋洲 + 5。同时，美洲 - 381、欧洲- 475。

教区大修生共计71,225人（与上年同期相比- 653）、修会大修生人数为44,694人（+ 1,092）。此外，教区修生人数增加的只有非洲（+ 136）和大洋洲（+ 5）；减少的为美洲（-239）、亚洲（- 74）和欧洲（- 481）。修会修生人数增加的为非洲（+ 559）、亚洲（+ 669）、欧洲（+ 6）；大洋洲保持稳定；美洲人数减少（- 142）。

教区和修会小修生

全球教区和修会小修生人数减少了671人，目前总计101,978。其中，非洲+ 782、欧洲 + 13、大洋洲 + 49。其它各地均呈减少美洲- 782、亚洲 - 831。教区小修生共计77,145人（- 1,158）、修会小修生人数为24,833人（+ 487）。此外，除大洋洲（+ 63）外，其它大陆的教区及修会修生均呈减少：美洲（ – 136）、亚洲（- 241）、大洋洲（- 14）；非洲（+ 815）和欧洲（+ 63）增加。

教育领域

在全球教育领域中，教会在全球共开办了67,264所幼儿园（与上年同期相比增加了131所），招收6,386,497名学生；91,694所小学校共招收29,800,338名学生；41,210所初中共招收16,778,633名学生。此外，还有1,894,148名高中生和2,837,370名大学生在教会开办的高中和大学中就读。

社会公益及慈善机构

天主教会在全球开办的社会公益及慈善机构共5,378所医院。其中，美洲（1,669）、欧洲（1,363）。18,088个诊所，其中绝大部分在美洲（+ 5,663）、非洲（+5,373）和亚洲（+ 3,532）。521所麻风病院主要集中在亚洲（293）和非洲（186）。15,448所老人院和残疾人中心主要集中在欧洲（8,271）、美洲（3,839）。9,376所孤儿院大约三分之一集中在亚洲（3,367）。11,555所儿童乐园、13,599所婚姻咨询中心主要在欧洲（+ 5,919）和美洲（+ 4,827）。33,146所教育和社会再教育中心以及10,356个其它性质的公益机构。

（SL）（Agenzia Fides 2009/10/19 – 字数：2,683；行数：137）

All Christians called to missionary apostolate, Pope says

October 19, 2009 from Website of Catholic Culture

At his midday public audience on World Mission Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI called upon all Christians to "commit call themselves to announcing and bearing witness to the Gospel to everyone, especially to people who do not yet know it."

"The Church exists to announce the message of hope to all mankind," the Holy Father told the crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square on October 18. Each Christian is responsible for his own part in this mission, he said, and should feel "the urgent need to work so the sovereignty of Christ may be fully achieved." He made a special appeal for the faithful to provide "material and spiritual support to help the young churches in the poorest countries." Pope Benedict made a special mention of "the missionaries-- priests, religious, and lay volunteers" who sacrifice their comfort and sometimes their lives for the sake of the Gospel. He mentioned Father Ruggero Ruvoletto, the Italian priest who was killed recently in Brazil, and Father Michael Sinnott, the Irish missionary seized last week by kidnappers in the Philippines.

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

World Mission Day: Solidarity with Young Churches (VIS)

http://212.77.1.245/news_services/press/vis/dinamiche/c2_en.htm