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Catholic Martyrs of the New Iraq
With “a heart full of bitterness and mourning”, the Chaldean Catholic Church is today lamenting its martyrs. This is how, in a joint statement the Chaldean Patriarch and his bishops remember Fr Ragheed Ganni and his three sub-deacons - Basman Yousef Daud, Wahid Hanna Isho, Gassan Isam Bidawed – murdered in cold blood last Sunday, as they left the Parish Church of the Holy Spirit in Mosul after Sunday Mass. Before opening fire on Fr. Ganni and his three deacons, the killers demanded their conversion to Islam.
 Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. A Muslim Friend's Letter to Slain Father RagheedROME, JUNE 6, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of a letter written posthumously to Father Ragheed Aziz Ganni by a Muslim friend of his who is a professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University. Father Ragheed and three deacons were shot and killed in Mosul, Iraq, on Sunday after Mass.
* * *
In the name of the compassionate and merciful God,
Ragheed, my brother,
I ask your forgiveness for not being with you when those criminals opened fire against you and your brothers. The bullets that have gone through your pure and innocent body have also gone through my heart and soul.
You were one of the first people I met when I arrived to Rome. We met in the halls of the Angelicum and we would drink our cappuccino in the university's cafeteria. You impressed me with your innocence, joy, your pure and tender smile that never left you.
I always picture you smiling, joyful and full of zest for life. Ragheed is to me innocence personified; a wise innocence that carries in its heart the sorrows of his unhappy people. I remember the time, in the university's dining room, when Iraq was under embargo and you told me that the price of a single cappuccino would have satisfied the needs of an Iraqi family for a whole day.
You told me this as if you were feeling guilty for being far away from your persecuted people and unable to share in their sufferings …
In fact, you returned to Iraq, not only to share the suffering and destiny of your people but also to join your blood to the blood of thousands of Iraqis killed each day. I will never forget the day of your ordination [Oct. 13, 2001] in the [Pontifical] Urbanian University … with tears in your eyes, you told me: "Today, I have died to self" … a hard thing to say.
I didn't understand it right away, or maybe I didn't take it as seriously as I should have. … But today, through your martyrdom, I have understood that phrase. … You have died in your soul and body to be raised up in your beloved, in your teacher, and so that Christ would be raised up in you, despite the sufferings, sorrows, despite the chaos and madness.
In the name of what god of death have they killed you? In the name of which paganism have they crucified you? Did they truly know what they were doing?
O God, we don't ask you for revenge or retaliation. We ask you for victory, a victory of justice over falsehood, life over death, innocence over treachery, blood over the sword. … Your blood will not have been shed in vain, dear Ragheed, because with it you have blessed the soil of your country. And from heaven, your tender smile will continue to light the darkness of our nights and announce to us a better tomorrow.
I ask your forgiveness, brother, for when the living get together they think they have all the time in the world to talk, visit, and share feelings and thoughts. You had invited me to Iraq … I dreamed of that visit, of visiting your house, your parents, your office. … It never occurred to me that it would be your tomb that one day I would visit or that it would be verses from my Quran that I would recite for the repose of your soul …
One day, before your first trip to Iraq after a prolonged absence, I went with you to buy souvenirs and presents for your family. You spoke with me of your future work: "I would like to preside over the people on the base of charity before justice" -- you said.
It was difficult for me to imagine you a "canonical judge" … And today your blood and your martyrdom have spoken for you, a verdict of fidelity and patience, of hope against all suffering, of survival, in spite of death, in spite of everything.
Brother, your blood hasn't been shed in vain, and your church's altar wasn't a masquerade. … You assumed your role with deep seriousness until the end, with a smile that would never be extinguished … ever.
Your loving brother,
Adnam Mokrani
Rome, June 4, 2007
Professor of Islamic Studies in the Institute for the Study of Religion and Culture,
Pontifical Gregorian University [Original text: Arabic. Translation by ZENIT]
Jesus asked that the Feast of the Divine Mercy be preceded by a Novena to the Divine Mercy which would begin on Good Friday. He gave St. Faustina an intention to pray for on each day of the Novena, saving for the last day the most difficult intention of all, the lukewarm and indifferent of whom He said:
"These souls cause Me more suffering than any others; it was from such souls that My soul felt the most revulsion in the Garden of Olives. It was on their account that I said: 'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass Me by.' The last hope of salvation for them is to flee to My Mercy."
In her diary, St. Faustina wrote that Jesus told her:
"On each day of the novena you will bring to My heart a different group of souls and you will immerse them in this ocean of My mercy ... On each day you will beg My Father, on the strength of My passion, for the graces for these souls."
The different souls prayed for on each day of the novena are:
DAY 1 (Good Friday) - All mankind, especially sinners
DAY 2 (Holy Saturday) - The souls of priests and religious
DAY 3 (Easter Sunday) - All devout and faithful souls
DAY 4 (Easter Monday) - Those who do not believe in Jesus and those who do not yet know Him
DAY 5 (Easter Tuesday) - The souls of separated brethren
DAY 6 (Easter Wednesday) - The meek and humble souls and the souls of children
DAY 7 (Easter Thursday) - The souls who especially venerate and glorify Jesus' mercy
DAY 8 (Easter Friday) - The souls who are detained in purgatory;
DAY 9 (Easter Saturday) - The souls who have become lukewarm.
The Chaplet of Divine Mercy may also be offered each day for the day's intention, but is not strictly necessary to the Novena.
http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/novena.htm
During Lent, we will be reading and discussing "Deus Caritas Est," the first encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI. He begins this letter by quoting I John 4:16, "God is love, and he who abides in loved, abides in God." Pope Benedict seeks to proclaim simply, yet boldly, the principal message of the Christian faith, that God is love and has become incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ. Please join us the the group, "The Place Within," as we reflect on the timeliness and hope of Pope Benedict's message.
2/21/2007 Catholic Online ROME (Catholic Online) – Confront evil, wicked passions and vices with the spiritual weapons of prayer, penance and fasting, Pope Benedict XVI said on Ash Wednesday. Pope Benedict, after his Wednesday audience, opened the Roman Catholic Church's observance of Lent with a penitential procession, late afternoon celebration of Mass at the Basilica of Santa Sabina and the imposition of ashes. In his Feb. 21 homily delivered before placing ashes on the heads of cardinals, bishops, clergy and lay people, the pope said that the Lenten period is a time "to become reconciled with God in Jesus Christ." The liturgy of Ash Wednesday carries with it a "double meaning," he said, pointing to the call "to an inner change, to conversion and penance" as well as referring to "the precariousness of human existence." "We have 40 days to deepen" the relationship with God during "the austere period of Lent," Pope Benedict said, noting the faithful have "useful instruments to achieve a true inner and communal renewal: charity or almsgiving, prayer and penance or fasting." "Such external gestures, which must be performed to please God and not to get men's approval," he said, "are acceptable to him if they express the heart's determination to serve him only in simplicity and generosity." Fasting and other Lenten practices are motivated by "man's need to purify himself from within and detoxify himself from sin and evil," the pope said, allowing the faithful to free themselves "from the slavery of his own self " and more available "to serve his brothers." Such actions are "spiritual weapons in the fight against evil, wicked passions and vices," he said. In his 1,200-word 2007 Lenten message released Feb. 13, Pope Benedict said that Lent is time when Catholics are called to recognize the wounds inflicted upon the dignity of the human person, linking the nailing of Jesus to the cross with society's contempt for life and human exploitation. The papal message focused on love, the theme of his encyclical Deus caritas est (God is love), the cross and the responsibility of Christians to respond to love in dealings with others. "The response the Lord ardently desires of us is above all that we welcome his love and allow ourselves to be drawn to him," the pope said. "Accepting his love, however, is not enough. We need to respond to such love and devote ourselves to communicating it to others." The papal message, dated Nov. 21, 2006, was released at the Vatican by Archbishop Paul Cordes, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, this year Feb. 21, and runs through Holy Thursday, April 5. Easter will be celebrated three days later, this year on April 8. The pope noted the theme of this year's Lenten observance is taken from the Gospel of John (19:37): "They shall look on him whom they have pierced." Contemplating Jesus pierced in his side nailed to the cross should move Christians "to open our hearts to others, recognizing the wounds inflicted upon the dignity of the human person," he said. "It moves us, in particular, to fight every form of contempt for life and human exploitation and to alleviate the tragedies of loneliness and abandonment of so many people," Pope Benedict said. He called Catholics to focus their Lenten prayer and penance on "Christ crucified who, dying on Calvary, revealed fully for us the love of God." The pope, as he did in his encyclical, tied agape, "the self-giving love of one who looks exclusively for the good of the other" to eros, "the love of one who … yearns for union with the beloved." "Let us look at Christ pierced in the cross! He is the unsurpassing revelation of God's love, a love in which eros and agape, far from being opposed, enlighten each other," Pope Benedict said. "Only the love that unites the free gift of oneself with the impassioned desire for reciprocity instills a joy, which eases the heaviest of burdens," he said. Yet, the pope stressed, that mankind from its origins has been "seduced by the lies of the evil one," rejecting "God's love in the illusion of a self-sufficiency that is impossible." Adam, he added, was the first who "withdrew from that source of life who is God himself" and became "an extreme sign" of mankind's "loneliness and powerlessness." The Lenten journey, he said, becomes an opportunity "to come out of ourselves in order to open ourselves, in trustful abandonment, to the merciful embrace of the father." "Let us live Lent then," the pope urged, "in which welcoming the love of Jesus, we learn to spread it around us with every word and deed." It is only through the expression of that love of God through its giving back "to our neighbor" can the Christian "be able to participate fully in the joy of Easter." "May Lent be for every Christian a renewed experience of God's love given to us in Christ, a love that each day we, in turn, must 'regive' to our neighbor, especially to the one who suffers most and is in need," the pope said.
"At a certain point the wine ran out." —John 2:3 We're running out of wine. The Spirit is stifled; prophecy is despised (1 Thes 5:19-20). The salt has lost its flavor. We are "good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot" (Mt 5:13). The devil is attacking us rather than vice-versa (Mt 16:18). We need new wine, but all we have is water — lots of baptized people but few who are Spirit-filled. With Mary, we turn to Jesus and say: "We have no more wine." We don't know what to say or do. Mary tells us: "Do whatever He tells you" (see Jn 2:3-5). Jesus wants to change our watered-down Christianity into the new wine of life in the Spirit, but we must obey Him by faith. The Holy Spirit is "given to those who obey Him" (Acts 5:32). Jesus commands us to go to our Jordan and meet our John the Baptizer. We don't feel like going; in fact, we're afraid and very uncomfortable. However, Mary says: "Do whatever He tells you" (Jn 2:5). Finally, almost begrudgingly, we go. We humble ourselves and ask to be prayed over for the Spirit. As the Lord is true to His word, we receive new wine, the renewal of our Confirmation. Prayer: Father, give me gifts, ministries, and works in the power of the Spirit for the common good (1 Cor 12:4-7).Promise: "As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you." —Is 62:5Praise: Praise the risen Jesus, Who constantly pours out His Spirit anew! reprinted from Presentation Ministries 1/14/07
So bright is the radiance of the Light which has come at Christmas, so awesome is the mystery we celebrate, that a single day's observance barely initiates us into the meaning of the feast. Nor does the Church consider stopping with one day's rejoicing as she celebrates the birth of the Savior. Although the commercial world is taking down its trees and tinsel on December 26 to make way for the January white sales, the Church is only
beginning a full twelve days of "high feasting" which will reach their climax and zenith on January 6. Then, in the regal splendor of Epiphany, we see another facet of the Incarnation, a facet which completes the Christmas mystery: the tiny Baby born on Christmas night is in reality the King of the whole world. All the expressions of our Advent longing, our pleas for the King and Ruler, "God, the Mighty, Wonderful, the Prince of Peace," may seem extravagant if we keep only December 25 as a feast day and forget the Epiphany, the real fulfillment of Advent expectation for a royal and kingly Savior.
Each year, then, Christians are given two great feast days plus the full season of Christmastide during which the Church would have us savor the mystery of the Incarnation in all its implications. She wants us to absorb it through study and meditation, to re-live it through her liturgy, and finally to begin to make it a part of our everyday lives--so that the Light of Christ which has been given to us may shine out to all those around us--to our family, our neighborhood, our associates in school or office, and out into the larger communities of national and international life. May God always light your path and may his blessings be yours in the coming New Year.
"What we have seen and heard we proclaim in turn to you so that you may share life with us." —1 John 1:3 St. John's heart was abundantly filled with Jesus (see Jn 10:10). Accordingly, when John spoke, his words were about Jesus (see Lk 6:45). The Jewish Sanhedrin commanded John not "to speak the name of Jesus or teach about Him" (Acts 4:18). John responded that he surely couldn't help speaking about the Jesus that he had personally heard and seen (Acts 4:20). This makes John a perfect Christmas saint. Unlike the many who missed the presence of the infant Jesus at the first Christmas, John was immersed in Jesus and was therefore quick to recognize the signs of His presence (see Jn 20:8; 21:7). John saw Jesus, heard Jesus, and touched Jesus (1 Jn 1:1). John had to be with Jesus, whether it was on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mk 9:2) or at the foot of the cross (Jn 19:26). No wonder John couldn't help speaking of Jesus. For Christians, the Christmas season is just starting. We have another twelve days of Christmas until ordinary time begins. Let's rejoice with the true Christmas Spirit, the Holy Spirit. Like St. John, let's be abundantly filled with Jesus, the Word made Flesh (Jn 1:14), Emmanuel, God-with-us (Mt 1:23). Then let us proclaim Jesus to the world so that they may share life with us (1 Jn 1:3) and make our joy complete (1 Jn 1:4). Prayer: Jesus, transform my senses to be totally attuned to You.Promise: "Light dawns for the just; and gladness, for the upright of heart." —Ps 97:11Praise: St. John received an abundance of Jesus' Spirit as he remained true to Him beneath His cross. reprinted from "Presentation Ministries 12/27/06"
Fourth Sunday of Advent
Dec. 24, 2006
Gospel: Luke 1:39-45
“Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.” (Luke 1:39-40)
This fourth Sunday of Advent also happens to be the only day in the fourth week of Advent. This year, our spiritual preparation time is as short as the liturgical calendar allows. The fourth candle on our Advent wreath will only burn today. Before the day’s end, many of us will celebrate the birth of Jesus at the vigil or midnight Mass.
For those of us who spent much of our Advent “in haste,” it is comforting to know that Mary too experienced a sense of urgency as she awaited the birth of her son. Our mental images of Mary usually don’t include her rushing about, yet she not only made haste to see Elizabeth and John the Baptist in the womb, but she also made haste to Egypt to protect her child from Herod; and I suspect when she learned of the resurrection, she made haste to tell friends and relatives too.
Today will be a day of haste for most of us. We will quickly conclude the spiritual preparation of Advent and move on to the celebration of the birth of Jesus. How can we keep this day holy as we rush to attend church, prepare food, travel, organize the gifts and attend to our family responsibilities?
The life of Mary gives us many examples of “holy haste.” She is a woman who “got the job done” by focusing on God’s will moment by moment, doing what was asked of her and trusting God to take care of everything else. Her “yes” to God about becoming the mother of his son also included a “yes” to trusting God in the great adventure that followed. To observe faithfully the fourth Sunday of Advent, we too need to follow Mary’s example of trust in God’s guidance as we make our “holy haste” toward the birth of his son. Prayer: Thank you, God, Almighty Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for this last day of Advent and all of the graces it brings. Please fill our hearts with peace in the midst of the feverish activity around us, and let us recognize the face of your son in the people we encounter. Make our haste holy as we prepare to share the joy of this day with others. We pray for the guidance of your Holy Spirit and ask these things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. taken from Catholic Spirit, December 2006, Good News
"As for the son you will conceive and bear, no razor shall touch his head, for this boy is to be consecrated to God from the womb. It is he who will begin the deliverance of Israel from the power of the Philistines." —Judges 13:5 Samuel, Samson, and John the Baptizer were perpetual nazirites to prepare the way for tremendous breakthroughs and deliverances. For example, Samuel became a prophet whose words were never without effect (1 Sm 3:19). Within twenty years, he turned the whole Israelite population to the Lord (1 Sm 7:2). Samson delivered the chosen people from the Philistines by pushing over the supporting columns of the Philistine temple and killing several thousand people (Jgs 16:30). John the Baptizer was the greatest man ever born up to that time and prepared the way for the ultimate liberation of humanity by the Messiah Jesus (Mt 11:11). Why does the Church bring to our attention these nazirites shortly before Christmas? The Spirit desires to raise up highly committed disciples to prepare the way of the Lord. In this last week before Christmas, will you be totally available for the Lord? Will you go out into the highways and byways and tell others about Jesus? (Lk 14:23) Will you watch one hour with Jesus or intercede into the night, if the Lord so wills? (Mk 14:37) The Lord is seeking committed followers to prepare for His Christmas coming of salvation and deliverance. Say "Yes." Prayer: Lord, use me; use me up.Promise: "He will be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb." —Lk 1:15Praise: "O Flower of Jesse's stem, You have been raised up as a Sign for all peoples; kings stand silent in Your presence; the nations bow down in worship before You. Come, let nothing keep You from coming to our aid." reprinted from "One Bread, One Body"
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