Apostles for Today - June 2016

Apostles for Today

June 2016

Mercy and respect for life

 Dear sisters and brothers in the UAC

After Pope Francis proclaimed the Holy Year of Mercy, I was asked by the General Secretariat whether I would contribute to Apostles for Today by writing a reflection on “Mercy and respect for life (in the broadest sense)”. I agreed, because the topic interests me. Meanwhile a few months have passed and, frankly, I do not quite know what to write. On the one hand the word mercy does not play a great role in our current everyday language; on the other hand, it has now reached a level almost of overuse in the Church. And now I am asked to add my own opinion about it! At the same time, I realise that it is more my nature to ask questions than to give binding answers. But maybe I was “chosen” for this topic because I have a special relationship to “life” through my job as a doctor, and thus my experience comes more from real life than from theological speculation. And so I want to share with you my thoughts, questions and efforts to explain.

When I approach a topic, I like to begin with a glance at the etymological dictionary. This explains the German word “erbarmen” – “to be merciful” as “to free from poverty, misfortune, misery, deprivation or, in the most general sense, from loneliness”. Therefore, in German, the term has a very charitable character. In Hebrew, on the other hand, the word for mercy, “hesed”, is related to that for “womb”, and therefore to birth, creation, and so is directly linked to life. In our own existence and in looking at the history of the world, we experience the fact that life in itself is afflicted with misery, with suffering and death. Why this is so, why the all-powerful and benevolent God created such a frail world, is a question about which many theologians have racked their brains; ultimately I have found no solution that really satisfies me.

God created the world out of love, and out of mercy he redeemed it. We know and have internalised this article of faith. But I find it difficult to see myself as friends with a God who in the enthusiasm of his first love creates a world which he then realises has turned out pretty miserable, so that he needs to intervene again to bring the whole thing to a successful conclusion. (Maybe that sounds a bit too casual and not sufficiently reverent, but this happens to be one of the major objections of people who take a critical view towards our Christian faith - and I would like to take these brothers and sisters seriously.)

We believe that human beings are created by God, are creatures, and therefore so very different from God; not omnipotent, not infinite, not eternal. But we also believe that we are created in God's image, which is reflected in the fact that God grants us freedom, cognition, creativity and dominion over the world. We are not God, but at the same time each one of us is made uniquely in the image of God. This is our glory that can turn into our misery whenever we abandon that image and decide, through words and deeds and attitudes, that we are greater than God, that we want to live all or part of our lives without reference to the call of his infinite love which is inscribed in our very being.  Here lies the root of our sinfulness, from human origins right up to the present. We human beings are conscious of this dilemma of our glory and our misery at the very heart of our existence, of our lived experience.

I escape from this dilemma only when I consider creation as not yet concluded, not completed. What for us creatures is happening in time, is for God, who is outside created time, a state of being “from eternity to eternity”. This is the only way I can explain to myself that the biblical creation account stands at the beginning of “our” time and God calls everything, good and indeed very good, and that then Paul writes to the Church in Rome that “the whole of creation to the present day sighs and groans in travail” and is still on the path to becoming good, even very good, in the fullest sense.. The love of the Father, the Creator, is eternal, and in this eternity he creates out of love the world, life, human beings in his image. In the Son, creation is already anticipated, as it says in John's prologue. He is, now speaking in a human scale, the beginning and the end of creation, its origin and destination. Through his incarnation he guides and accompanies human beings through the time of imperfection. The nature of this support is mercy, the incarnated love of God, flowing into the creation. The fruit of love is creation, the fruit of mercy is re-creation, the new creation or, more understandable for me, the completion of creation, as the prophet Isaiah describes it (Isaiah 11: 6-9). Certainly my thoughts are no “high theology”, but they help me overcome my questions and doubts.

If God is infinite love and mercy, then love and compassion are the most noble characteristics of we human beings as images of God, albeit to a limited and finite extent. If God accompanies us in compassion on our way to completion, it is our calling to accompany the creation over which we reign, the life that has been entrusted to us, the people who are on the way with us in mercy and compassion. If God “shows consideration” towards our temporal imperfection, has “respect” for us, then we also should show consideration to the wretched, the desolate. This means not only looking ahead, so we don’t stray from the right path, but also to look around, to see whether those around us need our help.

And they definitely do need it. This calls for the well-known and often-quoted works of mercy: the so-called corporal works (based on Matthew 25,35 -40) relating to the basic human needs, focus on the plight of people. The spiritual works, formulated by Aurelius Augustinus, relate more to interpersonal relationships, with a focus on needs in relationship to fellow human beings.

One of the foundations of Pallottine spirituality is the likeness of all people to God. This is not a privilege that entitles us to all sorts of things, and certainly not to the destruction of life and the ruthless exploitation of the earth, but is our calling to follow God in his respect for creation, in His love and mercy. It is the calling of each one of us. Basically, charity is institutionalized in our modern welfare state, and therefore there are not a few who understand it as a res publica (a matter for the State) and not as a call for personal action. But precisely my profession of doctor shows me that relationship, based on compassion, mercy and on loving attention has to be a res privata (a matter for private individuals or groups), if it is to bear fruit and thus to succeed.

Respect for life. What does that mean for me? And what does that mean for us in the Pallottine family? I think it means looking lovingly at all creatures, of whom Vincent Pallotti said that he desired so much to be united with them in the Cenacle, even at all created things: to be prudent, cautious and considerate.

Such an attitude could certainly make the world a better place.

                                                   Alois Wittmann UAC

                                                   Germany.

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Segretariato Generale, Unione dell’Apostolato Cattolico

Piazza San Vincenzo Pallotti 204, 00187 Roma, Italia uac@uniopal.org

Apostles for Today - May 2016

Apostles for Today

Prayer and Reflection - May 2016

Mary, Mother of Mercy

The human and experience and that of family, the relationship between mother and child, allows us to understand the authenticity of mercy.

Maternal mercy is a natural and special characteristic of a mother’s heart which generates life. For the mother, the child is greatly loved because he or she is part of her life, and the more the latter suffers, the more he or she will be loved.

In the Bull of Induction of the Extraordinary Year of Mercy, Pope Francis says to us: “No one has penetrated the profound mystery of the incarnation like Mary. Her entire life was patterned after the presence of mercy made flesh” (Misericordia Vultus 24). Mary, Mother of Mercy, beyond the merely human, has cultivated the breadth of maternity through faith and obedience.

If the heart of a mother is a constant offering of love to her children, the heart of Mary is the most evident expression of the maternal heart of God to humanity. Chosen to be the Mother of the Son of God, we see that her path as Mother was completely shaped in mercy for all humankind. Mary, woman of attentive listening to God and to the events of her time. This is not a simple “listening”, a cursory listen, but a “listening with attention, acceptance and availability”.

At the Annunciation, she listens to the Angel Gabriel and with her Let it be done (fiat), accepts to be the mother of the Saviour. It is the ‘yes’ of a faith committed to God. Mary woman of decision. On hearing that Elizabeth, her elderly cousin, was pregnant, she left in a hurry to serve her. In the meeting with Elizabeth, the Magnificat proclaimed by Mary anticipated in a certain way the outpouring of the Spirit in the community of Jerusalem.

The prophecy and the mercy, the life and the works of Mary proclaimed in this canticle reveal that she actively practices the merciful dimension of its feminine aspect when she proclaims the mercy of Almighty God and at the same time proclaims a social dimension, calling for justice for the children of God who are disadvantaged and victims of injustice.

Mary, mystical soul, but also prophetic woman with a commitment of justice towards all peoples.
Mary, woman of action. While taking part in the wedding at Cana in Galilee, she notices the embarrassment that the young married couples would have experienced because of the lack of wine. No one needed to ask her: she acted with mercy. Here too we see the realism, humanity and consistency of Mary, attentive to the events of life.

Mary at the foot of the Cross, is a witness of the unbounded forgiveness of the Son of God, who supports in his flesh the dramatic encounter between the sin of the world and the mercy of God.
Pope Francis tells us that Mary attests that the mercy of the Son of God knows no bounds and extends to everyone, without exception.

The Mother of mercy forgives all of the atrocities suffered by her Son. Saint Vincent Pallotti was a man intoxicated by the mercy of God.

On reading his writings, we find that he lives always as both an object and a subject of love. He sees his whole life and his whole being as a wonderful work of God's Infinite Mercy, which has as the object itself of His love the purpose of making him (Vincent) the perpetual miracle of His mercy in the way that he made of Mary the miracle of His grace. St. Vincent Pallotti recognizes, as do we all, that Mary is full of grace, mother of mercy, Co-redemptrix of humankind, and invokes her in his prayers and supplications, over and over: to my beloved mother, “my dear mother of mercy”, hail mother of mercy.

Our founder, reflecting on the texts from the Acts of the Apostles which speak of the coming of the Holy Spirit, wanted to create a painting portraying the Pentecost scene. He saw Mary as Queen of the Apostles, giving them strength and courage. For this reason he placed his work under her protection.
Let us pray with Saint Vincent Pallotti, “Hail Mother of the Mercy of God, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the heavenly court, mercifully embrace me, the Perpetual Miracle of Mercy, as you made Mary the miracle of grace” (cf. OOCC X, 356).

For reflection:
a) Mary gave her yes for all of her life. How do you live out your yes: in the priesthood, in consecrated life, as an individual, as a couple, in your family, your community and in the apostolate?

b) In the Magnificat, we see Mary as a contemplative and with a Christian consciousness of the socio-political situation of her time. To what point do we content ourselves with charitable action of almsgiving and “social work” and flee from the true and proper transforming demanded of a critical Christian conscience?

c) What is the experience of the love and mercy of God that I strive to live day by day in my live?

d) We are called by our spirituality to reveal through our life and apostolate the Face of the infinite love and mercy of God. How does this happen in my personal and apostolic life?

Dayse da Conceição Barros da Conceição.

Lay member of the Union of Catholic Apostolate.

Manaus, Amazonia, Brazil.

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Segretariato Generale, Unione dell’Apostolato Cattolico

Piazza San Vincenzo Pallotti 204, 00187 Roma, Italia uac@uniopal.org

Apostles for Today - April 2016

Apostles for Today

Prayer and Reflection

for 

April 2016

Living God’s Mercy with all of creation

The theme of this reflection is very much close to my heart and linked to my cultural roots. I grew up in direct contact with nature and we fed ourselves with the fruits of the earth. I have always admired its diversity and beauty. I remember that when I saw the Atlantic for the first time, I could not hold my emotions back, saying: God made you! I had a similar experience when I found myself, as a missionary, within the planet’s largest “Biodiversity Sanctuary”, the Amazon.

Today I live in the beautiful city of Rome, full of life, history, beauty, culture, tourists and pilgrims, but at the same time, chaotic and polluted, receiving thousands of brother and sister immigrants and refugees. Having fled from wars often provoked by economic interests and human exploitation. We are also afraid of the threat of terrorism in its increasingly extreme manifestations throughout the world.

Within this panorama we are called, as Pallottine Family in the Church, to live God's mercy and take care of all creation. A theme which is at the centre of Pope Francis’ reflections, and is also a cause of concern for the UN, for non-governmental organizations, for scientists, theologians, churches, families and individuals. It is proper concern for our common home.

The biblical message regarding creation is fundamentally positive. Creation is the first act of God’s love. Everything flows from this source of life and being which is God himself, as from the womb of a mother. Seven times we are told that what God had done is good and beautiful, the last time concluding with "God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good" (Gn 1:31) and the first song to the Lord’s merciful love was born from contemplating the work of Creation: "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy it is everlasting" (Ps 117).

God created man and woman and has woven a dialogue of friendship with them. He put all of creation in their hands to be protected and cultivated, and one of the most beautiful, joyful and liberating things given to us is to contemplate the work of creation, and ourselves within it. To feel ourselves to be “creatures”, objects of the Creator’s loving and provident concern, situates us in our right place before God, in true, joyful humility, full of gratitude and able to assume the responsibilities that He entrusts to us with the gift of life.

The human vocation will, therefore, be understood in terms of the cultivation and safekeeping of a precious reality which is beloved by God. On the other hand, ‘“keeping” means caring, protecting, overseeing and preserving’ In this sense, every community “can take from the bounty of the earth whatever it needs for subsistence, but it also has the duty to protect the earth and to ensure its fruitfulness for coming generations” (Laudato Sì (LS) n. 67).

This, therefore, is a privileged field for the exercise of a merciful dominion over creation on our part and that of all humankind; for good administration expressed in caring practices; to make concrete that good news which is at the heart of the Gospel for the earth and for humanity itself.

As image and likeness of God, we are called to be the manifestation of God’s glory in the world and dialogue partners of God on earth before all creation. Only we can assume a conscious attitude of respect for nature. Only in us can an integral and merciful ecological conscience emerge.

For the first time, we are facing an ecological crisis of planetary proportions caused primarily by human activity. In addition, we are convinced that essential natural resources for life and human dignity are under a “universal social mortgage” (cf. John Paul II, Sollicitudo rei socialis n. 42): since the earth is ultimately a common heritage, its fruits are for the benefit of all. The land contains resources that, while limited, are still sufficient for all humanity.

Protecting the environment is a challenge for all of us and we are called to listen to the cry of the earth and of the poor who are desperate. Technical and scientific advances can contribute greatly to humanising the world, but can also be instruments of destruction and death. If technical progress is not matched by corresponding progress in human ethical formation and integral growth, it ceases to be progress, and becomes a threat for humanity and for the world. Integral ecology requires a "reconnection" of scientific and technical progress with ethics. When we human beings approach the environmental issue, we must assert the primacy of ethics over technology, from which comes the need to always safeguard human dignity.

Consumerism and the wasting of resources, which leave much of the human population in misery, are opposed to any sound ecologically integral ethical option. The elimination of poverty is one of the first steps that human beings can take to solve ecological problems. An “ecological conversion” of individuals and peoples is required this to happen, especially of those who have an abundance of wealth.

The destruction of the environment and ecological problems are rooted to a great extent in a blurring of people’s ethical awareness. In this way some elements of this ecological crisis reveal their moral character.

Thus, the ecological crisis gives us the opportunity for a radical critique of how we are organising the production of goods and human coexistence. It also indicates a new paradigm in the relationship between nature and humans. It is necessary to point to a new way of living and thinking, not merely to conceive of nature only as a resource to be exploited. In this respect an ecological conversion is needed, whereby human beings cease to see themselves simply as isolated individuals, but rather as part of a whole, capable of natural and social interrelations. This self-understanding leads to an ethical and spiritual conversion which generates behaviour and attitudes of respect, of self-restraint, of just measure, and of solidarity with nature and with other human beings.

From here comes the awareness that solutions must be generated and developed within ourselves, since the best way to respect nature is to promote an “integral human ecology” open to transcendence. Respect for human beings and for nature has a complementary reciprocity. The primary ecology is to defend “human ecology”. If “human ecology” goes well, all creation will benefit. In fact, the ecological crisis arises almost always from our spiritual and social deserts.

A full and merciful ecology requires an effective change of mentality which propels us to adopt new lifestyles. These lifestyles should be marked by personal and social sobriety, temperance and self-discipline. It is necessary to escape from the logic of mere consumption and promote forms of production which respect the order of creation and which satisfy the needs of all. Such an attitude encourages a renewed awareness of the interdependence which binds all of the inhabitants of the earth together. This invites us to be agents of change of the structural causes which generate such behaviour. In this regard, the formation of conscience and of an integral spirituality have a fundamental role.

We are called to relinquish an aggressive way of life and instead prize kindness, caring relationships and the value of the dignity of others. Integral human ecology not only reveals the relationship between the human person and the environment, but also the relationship of each person with him- or her-self and with the Creator. Duties towards the environment flow from those towards the person, considered in him- or her-self and in relation to others.

All of this also requires a response at the level of spirituality, inspired by the belief that creation is a gift that God has placed in the responsible hands of human beings for their use, recognition, gratitude and loving care. Nature presents itself to our eyes as the imprint of God, as a place in which his creative, providential and redemptive power is revealed. For this to be possible, we need to help one another to rediscover our connection with God and the mission given to us to be “shepherd and guardian” of ourselves, of others and of all creation. The new creation in Christ and the continuous creation reveal that nothing of what exists in this world is indifferent to the creating and redeeming plan of God.

Certainly, as a family inspired by St. Vincent Pallotti, who makes our being created in the image and likeness of God the foundation of our common vocation, we can help to put in place a new style of life and new missionary perspectives and sing the mercy God with all creatures.

From our Founder, St. Vincent Pallotti:

“Ah my God, faith reminds me that You are infinite Goodness and, as such, are infinitely diffusive, and with infinite love from all Eternity you have mercifully decreed the ineffable Work of the Creation of the entire Universe to spread in your creatures all of Yourself, eternal, infinite, immense, incomprehensible. [...] Ah my God, faith reminds me that you have carried out the loving Decree of Creation, and that before creating human beings, you created Heaven and Earth, and in Heaven the Angels, and on earth everything visible [...] in service of human beings, so that everything needed for the necessities of the present life be provided to be used as much as is needed to attain our final single Blessed End” (OOCC XIII, pp. 30-31).

“Human beings are created, as Holy Faith teaches us, in the image and likeness of God, God who is charity in essence, and therefore human beings are living images of divine charity according to the essence of their creation: and since God, being charity in essence in his external operations is always attentive towards human beings and was so to the point of sending his Only Begotten Son to redeem the human race by his death on a Cross, so human beings must imitate God according to their possibilities through the effectiveness of their works by loving their neighbour, which includes everyone of every condition, country, nation etc. capable of knowing God and, therefore, human beings according to the essence of their creation cannot exempt themselves from the precept of charity” (OOCC IV, pp. 172-3).

For personal and community reflection:

“The natural environment is a collective good, the patrimony of all humanity and the responsibility of everyone. If we make something our own, it is only to administer it for the good of all. If we do not, we burden our consciences with the weight of having denied the existence of others. That is why the New Zealand bishops asked what the commandment “Thou shall not kill” means when “twenty percent of the world’s population consumes resources at a rate that robs the poor nations and future generations of what they need to survive” (LS n. 95).

• Do we really consider the good things which we have as a gift from God which we are called to share and use for the good of all?
• In what ways and to what extent do we live out the consequences of this in our daily lives as individuals, as families, as communities?
• What practical steps are we willing to take as individuals, as families, as communities, as NCCs and LCCs, to protect the environment and to respond to the cry of the poor?

P. Gilberto Orsolin SAC,

Rome

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Segretariato Generale, Unione dell’Apostolato Cattolico

Piazza San Vincenzo Pallotti 204, 00187 Roma, Italia uac@uniopal.org

Apostles For Today - March 2016

Apostles For Today 

March 2016

Easter 2016 - The mercy of God in the mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ

      During the opening of the extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy, Pope Francis reminded us that this year is “ a gift of grace” . He invites us “ to rediscover the infinite mercy of the Father who welcomes everyone and goes out personally to encounter each of them”  (Homily of 12/8/2015). This invitation resonates strongly in our hearts. As members and collaborators of the Union of Catholic Apostolate, we are called to make that invitation our own, like our Founder Saint Vincent Pallotti who recognized himself to be a prodigy of mercy and wanted the infinite love and Mercy of God to be the hallmarks of the members and collaborators of the Union.

The mercy of God was fully revealed to us in the person of Christ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in human form. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death— even death on a cross! (Ph 2:6-8).

This is this mystery of the merciful love of God that we proclaim with conviction in our Creed: “I believe […] in Jesus Christ, his only Son [...who] was crucified, died, […] rose again from the dead, […] ascended into heaven [to give us life]” ; it is the foundation of our faith. God, who with one word could save thousands of worlds, as Saint Faustina said, wanted our redemption to be through the cross of His Son Jesus Christ and he, Jesus Christ, in his infinite love and mercy agreed to assume the entire fate of the human condition; a fate marked by suffering and death, in order to save us from evil, sin and death. By accepting suffering and death on the cross, Christ revealed the unfathomable love of God for every person, his passion being the culmination of his work of salvation. The passion of Christ is a sign of the unlimited and merciful love of God, the most striking gesture of his love and mercy.

In his passion, the Lord Jesus has given us an unparalleled love that surpasses all human understanding. All forms of physical trial were for Jesus the source of unspeakable pain reaching the limits of human endurance. From the agony up to the total gift of his life, Christ demonstrated a merciful heart, every gesture revealing that mercy; he takes upon himself human misery and suffering. Jesus takes upon himself all that separates us from God. He joined himself to all our loneliness, our situations of anguish, our betrayals.

When the day to extend his arms came, he did not want to leave us on our own, without a remembrance; in his mercy, he instituted the Holy Eucharist as a sign of his presence among us so full of love and mercy. St. Faustina said to this effect: “On leaving the earth, O Lord, You wanted to stay with us, and so You left us Yourself in the Sacrament of the Altar, and You opened wide Your mercy to us. [...] In the Blessed Sacrament, You left us Your mercy; your love deigned to arrange it so, that, going through life, suffering and toil, I might never doubt of Your goodness and mercy”  (Diary 1747-8).

St. Vincent Pallotti him says in God infinite Love: “ Enlightened by faith I recall that Our Lord Jesus Christ showed us his infinite love and mercy, during his holy life, by speaking and working for our eternal salvation. But, before He went to Calvary to die for us on the Cross, He deigned to institute the Holy Eucharist [...] as an unbloody Sacrifice and as a sacrament for the nourishment of our souls [... for] the perpetual renewal  of the Sacrifice of the Cross on our altars”  (GIL, p. 119; OOCC XIII, pp. 166-7).

It was during this meal that Christ gave us the sublime example that our love and mercy should be shown in our service towards our brothers and sisters (Jn 13:14). Pope Francis, in his Bull of Indiction for the Jubilee Year, says that: “While he was instituting the Eucharist as an everlasting memorial of himself and his paschal sacrifice, he symbolically placed this supreme act of revelation in the light of his mercy. Within the very same context of mercy, Jesus entered upon his passion and death, conscious of the great mystery of love that he would consummate on the Cross” (MV 7).

At the time of the agony he experienced a sadness so terrible as to declare: “ My soul is sorrowful even unto death”  (Mt 26:38). Although his sadness was caused by human sin, still he approached his suffering with the salvation of all humankind at heart.

On the cross, he continued to show his mercy, forgiving the sins of the wrongdoer who repented (Lk 23:42-43), putting his life in the hands of the Father for the salvation of human beings (Lk 23:46) and accepting to die in the terrible agony of the Passion, suspended on the wood of the cross. And all this for love of me! Pope John Paul II, in Dives in Misericordiae said, “In this way the cross of Christ, on which the Son, consubstantial with the Father, renders full justice to God, is also a radical revelation of mercy, or rather of the love that goes against what constitutes the very root of evil in the history of man: against sin and death”.

After his death, he opened the inexhaustible source of mercy for us; He gave us what was most dear to him: the blood and water from his side, the source of all mercy. St. Faustina wrote in the Diary “In Your inconceivable love, You allowed Your most holy side to be opened, and streams of Blood and Water gushed forth from Your Heart. Here is the living fountain of Your mercy” (Diary 1748).

In this way, Christ completely fulfilled the will of God, having the redemption and salvation of humankind at heart. Through his obedience, Christ was received the mercy of the Father, a love more powerful than death, when God the Father raised him from the dead. As we read in the Acts of the Apostles: “God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you, you crucified” (Acts 2:36). In his resurrection Christ shows us the fullness of the always compassionate love of God which addresses all human misery; it is undoubtedly a sign and instrument of divine mercy, the crowning of this mercy and of the entire saving mission. In Jesus, evil is defeated by good, hatred by love, death by the resurrection.

Indeed, Christ, whom “the Father did not spare” for the sake of human beings, and who, in his passion and death on the cross, was not the object of human mercy, revealed in his resurrection the fullness of the love the Father nurtures towards him and, through him, to all people. “He is not God of the dead but of the living”  (Mk 12:27). In his resurrection Christ has revealed the God of merciful love, precisely because he has accepted the cross as the way to the resurrection. And that is why, when we remember the cross of Christ, his passion and death, our faith and hope are based on the Risen One.

So mercy is the way that unites God and humans, so that we may open our hearts to the hope of being loved forever despite the limitations of our sin; everything in Him speaks of mercy. The merciful love of every Christian, and especially of every member and collaborator of the Union of Catholic Apostolate must be on the same wavelength. As the Father loves, so the children love. As he is merciful, so are we called to be merciful towards each other.

To be capable of mercy, we must first apply ourselves to listening to the Word of God. This means that we must rediscover the value of silence in order to meditate on the Word addressed to us. It is in this way that it becomes possible to contemplate the mercy of God and make it our lifestyle.

In the words of Pope Francis in the Urbi et Orbi Message of Easter 2013, “let us accept the grace of Christ’s Resurrection! Let us be renewed by God’s mercy, let us be loved by Jesus, let us enable the power of his love to transform our lives too; and let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can water the earth, protect all creation and make justice and peace flourish”.

For our reflection:

•      During the Jubilee, Pope Francis wants all Christian people to reflect on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, as our response to the merciful love of the Father. It will, he said, “be a way to reawaken our conscience, too often grown dull in the face of poverty. And let us enter more deeply into the heart of the Gospel where the poor have a special experience of God’s mercy” (MV 15).

  1.       Let us recall these corporal works of mercy: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, visiting the sick, visiting prisoners, burying the dead. And the spiritual works of mercy: counselling the doubtful, instructing the ignorant, admonishing sinners, comforting the afflicted, forgiving offenses, bearing wrongs patiently, praying for the living and the dead.

  2.       What exactly are we proposing to our communities, our families, our LCCs or NCCs during this year of mercy?

Let us pray with our Founder, St. Vincent Pallotti:

“My God, [..] you who are infinite love, infinite mercy, forgive me if I dare, as a mode of expression,  to say that you are Crazy with Love and Mercy towards me since, at every moment, and from all eternity, you think of me and pour out on me infinite floods of graces, favours, gifts and mercies, of all of your infinite divine attributes which are all infinitely merciful, and always Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you feed me with me with all of your being, your essence, your properties, your divine actions and all of your infinite attributes”. Amen (OOCC X, pp. 235-6).

                                                                            Sr. Angeline Kambugu SAC,

                                                                            Rwanda

____________________________________________________

Segretariato Generale, Unione dell’Apostolato Cattolico

Piazza San Vincenzo Pallotti 204, 00187 Roma, Italia uac@uniopal.org

Letter about Common Project

UNIONE DELL’APOSTOLATO CATTOLICO

Piazza San Vincenzo Pallotti, 204 – 00186 Roma, Italia

Tel. (+39 06.6819469 – Fax:: (+39) 06.6876827 – E-mail: uac@uniopal.org

_________________________

Rome,

January 22nd, 2016.

THE HOLY YEAR OF MERCY

Mercy has no seasons

A Common Project for the entire Union of Catholic Apostolate

“May the Grace, the peace, the Love and the Mercy of O.L.J.C., and the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Mother of God, Mary Most Holy be always with you in order to profit from all of God’s gifts, for all of the goals which please God, and as He wishes. May the infinite divine Mercy always be praised and exalted” (OOCC XII, 427-428).

Dear sisters and brothers in the Union, Mons. Rino Fisichella, coordinator of the Holy Year of Mercy shared the following experience about the genesis of this event: “During one of my private audiences with the Pope, in which we talked about different things regarding the new evangelisation, the Pope said to me: How much I would like a Jubilee of Mercy! From here came all that we know about today. It was August 29th, 2014.”

   A Holy Year which began on December 8th, 2015, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, and which will finish on November 20th, 2016, the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, marked by various celebrations and different events.

   The Jubilee Year is accompanied by a logo and a motto. The logo (see above), the work of Fr. Marko Rupnik SJ, is presented as a small summa theologica of mercy. The image was very dear to the early Church as it presents the Son who carries one who is lost on his shoulders. It is designed to bring out that the Good Shepherd touches our human flesh in its depths with a love which changes our lives. The Motto, “Merciful like the Father”, is taken from the Gospel of Luke. The call is to live mercy after the example of the Father who asks us not to judge and not to condemn, but to forgive and to give love and forgiveness without measure.

   Dear sisters and brothers, with hearts full of gratitude, we bless God and thank him for the gift of the Jubilee of Mercy. Saint Vincent Pallotti wrote: “if God is in some way visible in creatures, it is in the works of mercy” (OOCC IV, 319). Why? Because the works of mercy humanise and divinise us. This is why in describing his foundation experience on January 9th, 1835, St. Vincent confesses: “My God, my mercy, you in your infinite mercy grant me in a special way the gift to promote, establish, perfect and perpetuate [,] an institution of universal Charity for the practice of all the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, so that, as far as possible, you may be recognised in human beings as infinite Love (OOCC X, 198-199).

   It is interesting to highlight here that Pope Francis too, in the Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee of Mercy, wishes to promote the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. “It is my burning desire - writes Francis -that, during this Jubilee, the Christian people may reflect on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. It will be a way to reawaken our conscience, too often grown dull in the face of poverty. And let us enter more deeply into the heart of the Gospel where the poor have a special experience of God’s mercy” (Misericordiae Vultus, nr 15).

   The works of mercy could be regarded as a Lenten theme, but it could be said that the Jubilee wishes to widen this horizon, to say precisely that mercy is not limited to particular seasons. The works of mercy are not, in fact, a “tax” to be paid: they are a liberation, from ourselves, from our fears, and they allow us to encounter our neighbour.

   It is also interesting to point out that when St. Vincent invites us to exercise all of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, it is the consciousness and the experience of the Father of Mercies that he is wishes to promote through these works. In fact, Pallotti writes: “..., so that, as far as possible, you may be recognised in human beings as infinite Love”. It can be said that performing the works of mercy has not only a charitable, but also an evangelising, dimension.

   Eager to deepen this invitation of Pope Francis and of St. Vincent Pallotti to promote the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, the General Coordination Council reflected on our common mission and decided to continue the Common Project on the works of mercy, inviting all NCCs, groups, individual members and collaborators of the Union to choose one spiritual and one corporal work of mercy, in each case what is most necessary and timely for your social and ecclesial context, and to promote them during the course of the Holy Year of Mercy, in the ambit of the Family and the context of the New Evangelisation.

   The spiritual work of mercy chosen for last year, that of “promoting reconciliation”, remains an urgent priority for each one of us, both within and beyond the confines of our own families and communities and those of the Pallottine Family as a whole. The image of the Good Shepherd who goes in search of and carries home the lost sheep is complemented by that of the Prodigal Father who waits with infinite love for the return of his lost son, rushing to greet and embrace him while he is still a long way off.

   Reconciliation calls for movement, for someone to risk taking the first step, to risk encounter, and to continue taking that risk. There is an expression in English, “to chance your arm”, said to derive from a bold gesture of reconciliation during a violent feud in 1492 between two prominent Irish families, the Ormonds and the Kildares. At one point, the Ormonds took refuge in the chapter house of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. The Earl of Kildare came to realise the senselessness of the feud, and tried to make peace, but the Ormonds were afraid to leave their sanctuary for fear of treachery. To prove his genuineness, the Earl of Kildare, took an axe, cut a hole in the heavy door, and extended his unprotected arm through it, putting himself at the mercy of those inside. Seeing the risk he was willing to take, the Ormonds were moved to accept the hand extended to them in reconciliation. Applying this to our own lives and to the life of the Union:

- How do we deal with hurt and division within and between families and communities in our Pallottine Family? How can we promote forgiveness and reconciliation?
- Are we willing to forgive? Do we place preconditions on others?
- Where there is division and mistrust, are we willing to be the ones to chance our arm, to extend our unprotected hand in the pursuit of reconciliation and communion, in order to heal and deepen the bonds between us as one large Family?
− How can we make an effective contribution in promoting reconciliation as a core value for
constructing more healthy families and communities, and a more healthy Pallottine Family,
Church and society?

Whichever spiritual and corporal works of mercy are chosen in particular contexts of the Union, this
proposed Common Project for the entire Union for the remainder of the Jubilee of Mercy proposal does not simply have the objective of contributing with a Pallottine flavour to the mission of the Church during this special time of grace and favour, but also to nurture and develop the “common memory” of the Union which “sustains [our] communion [...] The adoption and implementation of this initiative as a truly common project for the entire Union depend on the goodwill and commitment of each one of us and of our communities. They depend in a particular way on those who are in positions of leadership in the structures of the Union and in the Core Communities, which, as an integral part of the Union, are called to be a particular animating force within it in a collaboration of equals with the other members of the Pallottine family (cf. letter regarding last year’s Common Project, 19/08/14).

“... I have felt o my God, my Father, my infinite mercy, that you [...] have deigned to destroy in me
everything of myself, and to form and create in me a new miracle of mercy, and that you will make me into a new Miracle of Mercy in your Church [...] in such a way what is of the present moment is not that of the past moment, and that of the following moment ins not that of the present moment. I intend to believe everything in accordance with the Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church” (OOCC X, 211-212).
 
  Yes, the infinite divine Mercy - with our collaboration - always desires to create something new at the heart of the Church! Let us therefore seek to commit ourselves at every level of the Union in exercising all of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy so that, according to our possibilities, God, infinite mercy, may be more known and loved in the depths of every human heart.

Signed:

Donatella Acerbi UAC                     Frank Donio SAC

President                                        Vice-President

Rory Hanly SAC

General Secretary

Apostles for Today - February

Apostles for TodayFebruary 2016

LENT 2016 - MERCY,
THE LIFEBLOOD OF FORGIVENESS

When Pope Francis announced the Extraordinary Jubilee Year dedicated to the Mercy of God, different voices could be heard: there is nothing extraordinary in this, nothing new, the Church has been proclaiming this truth for two thousand years and, more recently, thanks to two saints - Sr. Faustina and John Paul II - it has become one of the dominant themes of Church teaching. In theory this might be true. In practice, we still have great problems with mercy. On the one hand, we fear that by placing the emphasis on mercy, we might run the risk of exaggerating absolution from the evil committed. On the other hand, for we who might prefer that the law court and justice prevail over grace and forgiveness, it is difficult to accept that, before God, the order is exactly the opposite.

God does not have a court that issues sentences, but rather a mother’s womb from which we are reborn, from which we can set off again with a new heart. Asking for forgiveness, therefore, is not a pleading of your own cause before a judge; it is much more: it is a receiving of life.

The experience of evil, of suffering which people inflict on each other, seems to mark the human adventure right from the beginning. Yet God is revealed as a God of mercy and compassion (Ex 34:5); mercy is the face of God that Jesus revealed to us.

Life with God in an increasingly uncertain world is not possible without forgiveness. The weakness of human nature leads to conflict, suffering and injuries which require proper medicine. Forgiveness is just such a balm on wounds. Human relationships are based on forgiveness. When forgiveness begins to fail, community loses its reason for existing. We are not angels, and will never be able to create an ideal community (spouses, family, religious, friends ...). In every community, sooner or later, conflicts, tensions or differences arise. They are natural, and could even be said to be necessary, because they help to stimulate and develop both the community and its individual members. However, the capacity to forgive and be reconciled is also essential.

The word “forgiveness” means “drawing a line under”, remitting or cancelling a debt. When we do an injustice to someone, we seek their forgiveness in order to restore the relationship. Forgiveness is not granted because a person deserves it. No one deserves to be forgiven. Forgiveness is an act of love, mercy and grace. It is the decision to no longer remain angry with a person, despite what they did to you.

It is necessary to recognize that the wounds inflicted by hatred and enmity can only be remedied by mercy and mutual forgiveness. But it is difficult to practise. Mercy often seems like a utopia, far from our daily reality. There is something in us that constantly tries to convince us that this is how things are, and that only dreamers can think that forgiveness and mercy are possible in our real world, in our communities. This happens because each of us harbours "antibodies ... that prevent us from experiencing 'mercy in the very depths of our being’" [literally ‘visceral mercy’] (Msgr. Nunzio Galantino, the participants of the XXIII Ecumenical Conference Bose). These antibodies try to convince us that forgiveness and mercy are a sterile exercise.

Instead, in forgiving we imitate God who is rich in mercy. God is a patient, good, compassionate Father, rich in mercy, in forgiveness and patiently waiting for those who have gone astray: “The Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy. He does not treat us according to our sins nor repay us according to our faults (Psalm 103); “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness“ (Ex 34: 6).

Each one of us is touched by the mercy of God, which knows no boundaries and does not differentiate between people. Jesus said to Sister Faustina: “The greater [one’s] misery ... the greater [the] right to my mercy (Diary, 1182). We should also imitate our Creator and learn from the mercy of God: “Be merciful, as your Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36). Patience, compassion, mercy, willingness to forgive are signs of likeness to Jesus the Good Samaritan (cf. Lk 10:37), and to God the Father.

John Paul II repeatedly wrote and talked about the fact that from the depths of human suffering in all continents rises a cry for mercy: “Where hatred and the thirst for revenge dominate, where war brings suffering and death to the innocent, there the grace of mercy is needed in order to settle human minds and hearts and to bring about peace. Wherever respect for life and human dignity are lacking, there is need of God’s merciful love, in whose light we see the inexpressible value of every human being. Mercy is needed in order to ensure that every injustice in the world will come to an end in the splendour of truth” (Łagiewniki, 17 August 2002).

Showing mercy, and asking it of others, is to satisfy Christ’s wishes and is a form of participation in his salvific work. The apostle of Mercy seeks to convince sorrowing humankind that only Merciful Jesus can heal it, to convince contemporary people, tormented by sin and injustice, not to place their trust in human means and in the settling of scores, but to entrust themselves to the merciful Saviour. Those struck by their own misery and by sin, those who doubt the possibility of a decent life, those who suffer because of injustice and violence, who have lost the hope of living in peace and in humane conditions, only succeed in finding a sense of security and acceptance in God, discovering once more their own human dignity.

The message of Divine Mercy is also an obligation to live mercy according to our limits as human beings. Divine Mercy educates and sensitizes us, draws goodness out of us. Mercy is not tenderness or sentimentality, but is regaining our dignity in the splendour of God's love and bearing witness to this in everyday life. In our times we have gone back to forgetting the truth of God's love. Every person desires it, everyone wants to love and be loved, incomparably more than to be rich, healthy and famous. Only love makes people better. Shouting and threats do not serve to open the human heart. Only the certainty of God's love and forgiveness can restore hope and give the courage needed for conversion.

The Year of Mercy is therefore a call to conversion: to recognise one’s own sin, to do penance and repent, then confessing before the Church and having a firm purpose of amendment. Therefore, sincere confession should be the most important celebration of the Year of Mercy. Disciples of Jesus, confessing their fragility with humility and trust (“I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do”), experience the mercy of God. This transforms their hearts, making them merciful and compassionate towards all creatures. The humble and persevering request, “Jesus, have mercy on us and on the whole world”, opens the mind and heart and then, without too many instructions from others, we will see how, where, when and to whom we can show mercy “to us” (ourselves, our family, our work colleagues, our neighbours) and “to the whole world”.

Fr. Adam Golec SAC,

Rome

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Segretariato Generale, Unione dell’Apostolato Cattolico

Piazza San Vincenzo Pallotti 204, 00187 Roma, Italia uac@uniopal.org

Apostles for Today - Jan 2016

Apostles for Today

January 2016

The Mercy of the Father in Our Apostolate

    "Ah my God, my infinite, immense, incomprehensible mercy!"."… And that notwithstanding that you have tolerated me until the present day and moment in your infinite mercy. Oh what love! Oh divine clemency! Oh incomprehensible mercy!".     We often read and repeat these and other words inspired by Saint Vincent. I often ask myself if I will ever be able to repeat them with his same passion and consciousness.  It seems impossible to me, looking at who I am now and my level of maturity. But in this, I am forgetting the gifts of God and think that I have to do everything by my own strength alone. So, what it the road to take? I cannot respond for everyone, but only look at the steps taken in my life and give my testimony, however slight it may be. 

    Very often I have heard it asked: "What must I do? What must we do?", questions which are asked in our Union. What is to be done? We all know that Saint Vincent did not leave a specific work to be developed, as did many other founders: he did not leave it to us to dedicate ourselves particularly to the relief of the poor, to education, to the foundation of schools or hospitals, to social progress. Even if all of these things were very much present in his life: he practised them all, along with many others. It seems to me that he left us, together with the witness of his life, only one thing to do. We often summarise it in the fundamental demand: revive Faith, spread Charity! The inspiration of 1835… the May Appeal, gather everyone ... all are apostles! It seems to me that this does not put before us a specific thing to be done: it places all of our life before us, because the apostle is always an apostle, day and night, in doing one thing or another, or even in impossibility. Perhaps it is precisely for this that many asked themselves what must they do, disorientated regarding how to commit their own lives. What to do, for example, after having made the Act of Apostolic Commitment (how many times I have heard asked: "And now?"). I have also heard religious asking themselves the same thing, despite living lives already characterised by many aspects typical of their vocation.

    I must confess that I have also asked this question, many years ago when I asked it of the person who had guided me in the footsteps of Faith (a Pallottine, imbued with the Founder's experience of the Spirit); I seemed to have met God, to have reflected on the Gospel, to also have reflected deeply on it and studied it, to have read spiritual writings profitably and to have listened to people who spoke to me of God. But even with all of this, I asked myself how I should live and in what should I commit myself. The Lord helped me, and I still thank Him, making me open my eyes a little: I saw that the one who bore witness to me of Faith lived an active charity, not just in words, but in life. At the service of everyone, in the most ordinary and everyday things, the simplest just as the more demanding, those which presented themselves every moment, but always in love towards the person. I saw others who were striving to live in the same manner and then understood that I had to undertake the same journey. I was struck by that apostolic, that authentically apostolic testimony, and wanted to live in the same manner myself, following that same Jesus who had been working in all of these people.  The saints used to ask themselves: "If they can do it, why not I?". All of this had a name, which turned out to be a verb: to love. The Commandment of Jesus. Charity, the substantial constituent of the Pallottine Work.  Then, slowly, the path opened: in order to be an apostle, strive to love. These words penetrated within and began to form the person I was. Without any merit on my part, I (we) had encountered a reality which filled my life (our lives). This Commandment of Jesus was not only able to fill one life, but a thousand lives, all lives. We could still have asked ourselves what we must do. Even when we can no longer do anything, Saint Vincent suggests to us how to live. Just recently in my place of work I had an experience which made me understand how much I am still only at the beginning of this path: I had an argument with one of my colleagues regarding a work matter on which there wasn't agreement. I was convinced of my good reasons and we discussed the matter. In the end my contention prevailed, and I was convinced of it. What I thought was correct, but I damaged my relationship with my colleague. I asked myself what mattered more for me: to be right or to maintain my friendship with my colleague? Afterwards it seemed evident to me: I preferred to have the person, rather than right, on my side, that faced with a person, being right no longer had much importance. In the following days I tried to repair the relationship, saying to him that we could reconsider the matter. 

      Afterwards we returned to being good colleagues, even if it was not easy. I was taught not to be right, but to strive to love. What use to me is my work ability, my expertise, if I go on to alienate someone? A person to whom Christian life could be communicated? 

    How then can we ask ourselves what we should do, since from when we open our eyes in the morning, in all of the many occasions which present themselves in which to love concretely, to serve others, whoever they may be, therefore to be apostles? In the evening perhaps we may seem not to have achieved anything, to have lost ourselves in many gestures towards many people, and not to have built anything. But perhaps we are slowly becoming apostles. 

     This does not mean that it is not necessary to organise the apostolate; an ordered apostolate, in collaboration. This too was a precise desire of the Founder. But he well understood that without the substantial constituent there was no apostolate and whatever was done would be harmful. 

     In this I sense the great Mercy which surrounds us, that of God. At the end of the day it is in this that I place my life again, which only in this way has meaning. Saint Vincent's life was completely suffused by mercy. Something which always struck people was his continual protestation of being the greatest sinner; this, however, did not make him doubt the mercy of the Father. He never thought of himself as not being the object of such love: and thus he was in turn towards everybody. In this way in his life he lived something which remained: it has remained in us, who follow his footprints, and it has remained in the Church - his charism. The Church has received it in a particular way in that great event of mercy which was the Second Vatican Council. The original inspiration, the holiness of the two Popes who conducted it (expressed in the opening and closing messages), all of the Council Fathers, all who worked with them and who prayed and participated in whatever way were, it seems to me, a witness of mercy towards the whole world. This was translated into a desire for dialogue, for encounter and reciprocal understanding with the world. For proclamation and for listening. For reciprocal forgiveness between those who had been divided. 

     It seems to me that to be apostles, people who strive in their lives to place charity in the first place in every situation and who, after failure, take up the path again, placing themselves in this path which is so much greater than ourselves, being part of a much larger plan which we do not see completely. We begin again every day to love (with those who are closer to us) in our concrete lives, we put ourselves again on the same path, begun long before us. We place ourselves on a track and are part of a plan of mercy. In this long journey I seemed to sense that my life is not mine alone; my answer to the Lord is certainly personal, but not only: what happens in life is of God and for this reason I have to share it with others, placing this fragile treasure alongside that of all others, of those who walk with me, in the constant desire of receiving the same from all, so that a great treasure may be created, a common heritage, and we may carry our joys and sorrows together.

     Mercy in the first place. This is the inspiration which comes to us from Pope Francis. It is to be translated into concrete actions, towards all, in the duty of being reconciled with God and with others, since God, who was also offended by us, did not withdraw from love for us. Begin again therefore in our Union to cover everything with Mercy: it is not a concession on our part, but a commandment of Jesus. To live it between all of the components of the Union, every day. I like the expression: bet on God: it is an expression which was used much in the mission in Rome to young people. Bet your own life, and do not take it back, in following Jesus precisely in the path which the Jubilee is proposing to us; otherwise, sadly, we will go away like the rich young man. I would now like to offer for the reflection, some short passages of the Founder, of the Pope and of a witness of our times.

    From the Lumi of Saint Vincent Pallotti (n. 12): "I will endeavour to exercise the virtue of mercy toward all in the most perfect way that I possibly can". This is also our desire.When Saint Vincent calls all to spread Faith and rekindle Charity he becomes the (conscious) instrument of the Lord to bring all to Him, to Love, to Salvation. In this the Mercy of the Father is realised. In this the fundamental intention of the Second Vatican Council, which resound in the words of Pope Francis, is anticipated: "The Council Fathers strongly perceived, as a true breath of the Holy Spirit, a need to talk about God to men and women of their time in a more accessible way. … The Church sensed a responsibility to be a living sign of the Father's love in the world" (MV, n. 4). In this they imitated the Master. And again: "Jesus, seeing the crowds of people who followed him, realized that they were tired and exhausted, lost and without a guide, and he felt deep compassion for them" (MV, n. 8).   
    Finally, I would like to share a short passage from one of the most effective witnesses of our times, Cardinal F.X. Nguyen Van Thuan, Vietnamese, who from his long imprisonment wrote: "I am in prison. If I am waiting for the opportune moment to do something truly great, how many times in my life will similar occasions present themselves? No, I will seize the occasions that every day presents, to fulfil out ordinary actions in an extraordinary way. Jesus, I will not wait, I will live the present moment, filling it to the brim with love" (from: Five loaves and two fish, p. 20). 

     This is how witnesses live, how our Founder lived, how we wish to live every day. A heartfelt greeting to all for a good year in the Lord.

Corrado Montaldo, 

                          Italy           

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Segretariato Generale, Unione dell'Apostolato Cattolico

Piazza San Vincenzo Pallotti 204, 00187 Roma, Italia uac@uniopal.org