ZE070831
ZENIT
The World Seen From Rome
Daily dispatch - August 31, 2007
VATICAN DOSSIER
Benedict XVI Praying for Ecumenical Event
Turkish Youth in Loreto to Welcome Pope
Papal Letter Gives Heads-Up on Trip Plan
WORLD FEATURES
Italy's Bishops Decry Possible Tax Probe
Beads to Unite Believers on Rosary Day
NEWS BRIEFS
Nuns Seek to Put Soul in Communications
Another $4 Million Given to Youth Day
SPIRITUALITY
Father Cantalamessa on Modesty
Benedict XVI Praying for Ecumenical Event
VATICAN CITY, AUG. 31, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is asking prayers so that the 3rd Ecumenical Assembly will be a step toward unity.The ecumenical gathering, to be held in Sibiu, Romania, next Tuesday through Thursday, will be the Pope's prayer intention for this month, according to the Apostleship of Prayer.
The Holy Father's general intention for the month of September is: "That the ecumenical assembly of Sibiu in Romania may contribute to the growth of unity among all Christians, for whom the Lord prayed at the Last Supper."
His apostolic intention is: "That, following Christ joyfully, all missionaries may know how to overcome the difficulties they meet in everyday life."
Turkish Youth in Loreto to Welcome Pope
Australians Also There, Learning for Youth Day '08VATICAN CITY, AUG. 31, 2007 (<A href="http://www.zenit.org">Zenit.org</A>).- A five-member delegation of young Turkish Catholics have joined with Italian youth gathered in Loreto to welcome Benedict XVI, who will arrive Saturday.
It is an experience that "cannot be explained with words, but that needs to be lived firsthand," one said of the welcome they have received in the Diocese of Orvieto-Todi.
"We are sharing these days together with young people from Italy. We prayed together in the cathedral, we have fun together and reflect on themes of the faith," explained Alper Alkac, head of the delegation.
"In Turkey, a country of Muslim majority, it is not easy to live as Christians. People look at you with suspicion and sometimes we have problems with the authorities," Alkac said. "Despite this, young Turkish Catholics do not lack enthusiasm."
A delegation of young people from Sydney, Australia, is also in Loreto, led by Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Fisher, coordinator of World Youth Day 2008. That event will be held in Australia next July.
"We want to learn from the organization of this event," Bishop Fisher said. "Italians are very good at organizing large religious meetings. But we are also here to invite Italian youth to come to Sydney. Australia needs them for a second evangelization of the culture."
Benedict XVI will greet a crowd of some 300,000 young people when he arrives to Loreto on Saturday. A third of that number is already there.
The secretary-general of the Italian bishops' conference, Bishop Giuseppe Betori, explained that the goal of the meeting is for young people to experience that the Church is a welcoming house, like the Virgin Mary's house in Nazareth.
Papal Letter Gives Heads-Up on Trip Plan
Sent to Austrian NewspapersVATICAN CITY, AUG. 31, 2007 (<A href="http://www.zenit.org">Zenit.org</A>).- Benedict XVI sent a letter to diocesan newspapers in Austria, letting locals know what he has in mind for his upcoming trip to their country.
The Pope will travel to Austria from Sept. 7 to 9, where he is scheduled to visit Vienna and the Shrine of Mariazell, which is celebrating its 850th anniversary this year.
The Holy Father wrote, "I love the marvelous landscapes of your country, which remind me of the Sunday walks of my youth, and I love the great Austrian culture and the lovable people of your country."
"When I go to Austria," he continued, "I will meet the great culture that has been enriched there throughout the centuries. But above all, I will meet the present: the conflicts and the questions of an age that is becoming evermore fast paced; the hard work of the faith and of being Christian in living together with different cultures and traditions."
The Pontiff also wrote of the Marian heart of Austria, represented by the Shrine of Mariazell.
"In my private chapel here in Rome there is a copy of Our Lady of Mariazell that Pope John Paul brought home from the shrine," Benedict XVI said.
He added that he also has a wooden statue of St. Joseph holding the child Jesus, a gift of the Austrian bishops.
"When I recite the breviary or I stop to pray in the chapel," he said, "the kind face of the Mother of God of Mariazell looks upon me, and at the same time I understand a little of that feeling of trustful surrender that the beloved figure of St. Joseph transmitted to the baby Jesus."
Italy's Bishops Decry Possible Tax Probe
European Commission Asking AroundROME, AUG. 31, 2007 (<A href=" http://www.zenit.org">Zenit.org</A>).- The Church is treated just like any other noncommercial organization, said the Italian bishops in the face of a possible European Commission tax probe into alleged property tax advantages.
Archbishop Giuseppe Bertori, secretary-general of the Italian bishops' conference, told the Italian Catholic daily Avvenire that the tax benefits enjoyed by the Catholic Church "apply only to activities of a religious and social nature, which are derived from ordinary legislation and is equal to that enjoyed by other noncommercial entities, of the third sector in particular."
He added: "Whoever protests the state's treatment of nonprofit subjects working for social promotion in areas of aid, health care, culture, education, recreation and sports is showing a substantial distrust toward the many social entities of varying origins, particularly active in counteracting suffering and poverty.
"It would be contradictory for the state to put pressure on those entities, whether of the Church or not, who pursue ends of common interest."
Jonathan Todd, spokesman for the European commissioner for competition, Neelie Kroes, said Brussels had received complaints regarding the tax concessions, and that the office was merely seeking information at this stage.
The Holy See, for its part, intervened on this question stating in a note that the tax advantages concern the "ecclesiastical entities of the Church in Italy and on this point the Italian bishops' conference has already responded in an exhaustive way."
Beads to Unite Believers on Rosary Day
Marian Devotion on the Rise, Says ScholarMEXICO CITY, AUG. 31, 2007 (<A href="http://www.zenit.org">Zenit.org</A>).- A group of Catholics in Mexico City are inviting all religious and lay movements to join them Oct. 7 for Worldwide Rosary Day.
The main event will be hosted at the Basilica of Our Lay of Guadalupe in Mexico City, but organizers are asking all interested "religious and lay movements from around the world to organize massive rosaries, joining in this Worldwide <A href="http://www.churchforum.org/rosario/ingles">Rosary</A> Day 2007, in as many locations and countries as possible."
Guillermo Estévez Alverde, one of the organizers of the event, said: "We have already celebrated 11 years of this work and, with our mother's blessing, the Most Holy Virgin Mary, year after year the number of people and countries who join in praying the rosary grows.
"Every year more people and more countries join in to pray the rosary."
Devotion to the rosary, both publicly and privately, is on the rise, claims Mark Miravalle, professor of Mariology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville.
The Mariologist told ZENIT that one reason for the resurgence is that we live in troubled times: "Moral degeneration, terrorism and war, and even natural disasters, are leading people to look upward for solutions to global problems that appear beyond human control or remedy.
"Like the early Church under persecution, more people are turning to Mary, our advocate, for motherly protection, grace, and courage in these times of moral and global crisis."
Traditional
Also, earlier this year on May 19, Los Angeles hosted the first "Rosary Bowl." The event, hosted at the site of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, drew 60,000 to pray the traditional prayer of the Virgin Mary.
Estévez Alverde said that the organizers of the Worldwide Day of the Rosary don't keep tabs on the specific numbers of participants: "We don't know, and don't want to know how many people unite. That is for us to know in heaven, but after the event, every year, we receive information of rosary events that surprise us."
He said that one year a group in Mexico City gathered some 45,000 people to pray the rosary in a bull-fighting ring.
Another group located in a small fishing village in Alaska gathered their divided families to pray the rosary, "asking in petitions for the unity of families. They really felt that this helped them in unity."
Decrease
Miravalle said that during the years immediately following the Second Vatican Council, there was a decrease in Marian devotions.
"This was due to the incorrect perspective that the council called for a de-emphasis on the Mother of Jesus and her roles," he said. "Nonetheless, this misconception had its negative theological and pastoral effects, and led to a decrease in several Marian devotions that had been generously practiced in the Church."
"The pontificate of Pope John Paul II served as a dynamic corrective to this downward tendency," Miravalle continued.
"His teaching and his person," he added, "radiated a contagious love of Our Lady, and this reintroduced a higher Mariology and a more generous Marian devotion into the Church's theological and pastoral life."
Miravalle said: "Benedict XVI and his magisterium is continuing this Marian renewal in both teaching and praxis.
"In a recent audience -- Aug. 22 -- our Holy Father called young people to 'place your lives and each of your projects under the maternal protection of the one who gave the world its savior.'
"The Pope's words and teachings about Our Lady echo throughout the Catholic world, and sustain this contemporary Marian renaissance of truth and love."
"People in general and families in particular are returning to the rosary as a spiritually and historically proven prayer for Christian holiness and for protection," he said. "John Paul II prayed 15 decades of the rosary every day of his pontificate. More families today are making time for the daily rosary because of the spiritual peace they find, and the spiritual protection they need."
Nuns Seek to Put Soul in Communications
ROME, AUG. 31, 2007 (<A href="http://www.zenit.org">Zenit.org</A>).- The blue-robed sisters known for their bookstores and publishing houses are gathered on the outskirts of Rome to study evangelization in the world of modern communications.The Daughters of St. Paul, the women religious behind Pauline Books and Media, opened their general chapter on Wednesday. Seventy-one religious are taking part in the meeting.
According to a communiqué sent to ZENIT, "during their general chapter, the Daughters of St. Paul will study the responsibility of evangelizing in the complex and difficult reality of communications today; how to reach the poorest of the poor with God’s word; how to increase collaborations with the laity; how to qualify relationships in a family spirit; how to give a soul to communications."
The women religious will also elect their next governor-general and determine the priorities of apostolic action for the next six years.
The women religious have opened various new centers in the last 10 years. They are located in four countries in Eastern Europe, two in Latin America, five in Africa and two in Asia, the most recent in Vietnam. There are also foundations being set up in southern Sudan and Indonesia.
They have 261 young people in formation.
Another $4 Million Given to Youth Day
MELBOURNE, Australia, AUG. 31, 2007 (<A href="http://www.zenit.org">Zenit.org</A>).- The Victorian government announced a funding agreement with World Youth Day in support of the Days in the Diocese.The $4 million (US$3.3 million) agreement, announced today, partners the Archdiocese of Melbourne with the Victorian government, to host the largest contingent of pilgrims outside of Sydney during the Days in the Dioceses from July 10 to 14, 2008.
A projected 25,000 pilgrims from abroad and another 25,000 local participants will make the Days in the Dioceses the largest youth event ever staged in Melbourne, featuring youth culture, festivals, concerts, cultural events and spiritual events.
Father Cantalamessa on Modesty
Pontifical Household Preacher Comments on Sunday's ReadingsROME, AUG. 31, 2007 (<A href="http://www.zenit.org">Zenit.org</A>).- Here is a translation of a commentary by the Pontifical Household preacher, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, on the readings from this Sunday's liturgy.
* * *
Be Modest in What You Do!
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sirach 3:19-21, 30-31; Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24a; Luke 14:1, 7-14
The beginning of this Sunday's Gospel helps us to correct a widely diffused prejudice: "One Sabbath when he went to dine at the house of a ruler who belonged to the Pharisees, they were watching him." Reading the Gospel from a certain angle we have ended up making the Pharisees the prototype for all vices: hypocrisy, duplicity, falsity; Jesus' enemies par excellence. The terms "Pharisee" and "Pharisaical" have entered into the vocabulary of many languages with negative connotations.
Such an idea of the Pharisees is not correct. There were certainly many among them who corresponded to this negative image and it is with these that Jesus has serious problems. But not all of them were like this. Nicodemus, who comes to see Jesus one night and who later defended him before the Sanhedrin, was a Pharisee (cf. John 3:1; 7:50ff.). Saul was a Pharisee before his conversion and was certainly a sincere and zealous person then, if misguided. Gamaliel, who defended the apostles before the Sanhedrin, was a Pharisee (cf. Acts 5:34ff.).
Jesus' relationships with the Pharisees were not only conflictual. They often shared the same convictions, such as faith in the resurrection of the dead and the love of God and neighbor as the first and most important commandment of the law. Some, as we see in Sunday's Gospel, even invited Jesus to dinner at their house. Today there is agreement that the Pharisees did not want Jesus to be condemned as much as their rival sect, the Sadducees, who belonged to Jerusalem's priestly caste.
For all these reasons, it would be a very good thing to stop using the terms "Pharisee" and "Pharisaical" in a disparaging way. This would also help dialogue with the Jews who recall with great respect the role played by the Pharisees in their history, especially after the destruction of Jerusalem.
During the dinner that Sabbath, Jesus taught two important things: one directed to those who were invited and the other to their host. To the host Jesus says (perhaps privately or only in the presence of his disciples): "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors ..." This is what Jesus himself did when he invited the poor, the afflicted, the meek, the hungry, the persecuted -- the persons named in the beatitudes -- to the great banquet of the kingdom.
But this time I would like to focus on what Jesus says to the invitees. "When you are invited to a wedding feast, do not take a place of honor ..." Jesus does not intend to give a lesson in good manners here. Neither does he wish to encourage the subtle calculation of those who take a lower place with the secret hope of gaining a more honorable place from the host. The parable could deceive us if we do not think about the banquet and the host that Jesus has in mind. The banquet is the most universal one of the kingdom and God is the host.
In life, Jesus wants to say, Choose the last place, try to work more for the benefit of others than for your own benefit. Be modest in evaluating your merits, allow others to do this instead ("No one is a good judge of his own case"), and already in this life God will lift you up. He will lift you up in his grace; he will make you rise in the ranks of Jesus' friends and true disciples, which is the only thing that really matters.
He will also exalt you in the esteem of others. It is a surprising fact but a true one: It is not only God who "comes to the humble but holds the proud at a distance" (cf. Psalm 107:6); men do the same, whether or not they are believers. Modesty, when it is sincere and not affected, conquers, makes those who practice it loved, makes their company desirable, their opinion appreciated. True glory flees from those who seek it and seeks those who flee from it.
We live in a society that has an extreme need to hear this Gospel message of humility again. Running to take the first seats, perhaps without scruple using others as steppingstones, being opportunistic and viciously competitive -- these are things that are universally condemned but, unfortunately, they are also universally practiced. The Gospel has an impact on society, even when it speaks of humility and modesty.
ZENIT is an International News Agency.
For reprint permission: http://www.zenit.org/english/permissions.html
Visit our web page at http://www.zenit.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe: http://www.zenit.org/english/subscribe.html
To give a ZENIT gift subscription: http://www.zenit.org/english/gift.html
To make a donation to support ZENIT: http://www.zenit.org/english/donation.html
SEND US YOUR NEWS.
Please send press releases using: http://www.zenit.org/english/news.html
Copyright, Innovative Media, Inc.
0 comments:
Post a Comment