Wm august 2014

inside: Power and the Sacraments • The First Choice • The bacon priest

wings of change au g us t 2 014 • n o. 28 0 • VO L X X V i • 5 0 p es os • ISSN 0116 - 8142

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editorial

Seed of the Church The Asian Catholic Monthly Magazine

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T

he 2nd century Church Father Tertullian once wrote that "the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church." He was certainly implying that the self-giving of martyrs could become a stimulus for others to embrace the faith more zealously.

It caught my attention that Pope Francis, who will soon start his visit to South Korea, has two major events to preside on his missionary visit: the Asian youth gathering and the beatification of the 124 Korean Christians who died during the 17th and 18th centuries. This is the first time, in 25 years,that a pope is visiting the Korean Peninsula. Thus, it is all the more relevant to consider these two events as one celebration, a celebration of Faith.

Around 2,000 young people from 30 countries are expected to gather for the Sixth Asian Youth Day that will be held in the diocese of Daejon.Pope Francis will be there to celebrate Mass in Daejon’s Stadium, lunch with the young people, and also celebrate the closing Mass of the youth gathering at Haemi Castle. His love for the young has been evident from the beginning of his pontificate.

During the World Youth Day gathering in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, last year, thousands were touched by his simplicity, kindness, closeness to people, and joyful faith. On his part, Francis, in his homily during the event, made a clear and concise appeal to the youth: “Dear young friends, as you return to your homes, do not be afraid to be generous with Christ, to bear witness to His Gospel.” He counts on the young to be the evangelizers, the bearers of the light of faith, the Church of tomorrow, the hope of a better society.

While faith has to be rooted in our own tradition, it has to be lived always in gratitude to those who introduced us to the faith. The beatification of the Korean martyrs is a clear invitation for the youth to nurture the seed of the

Dave Domingues EDITOR

The beatification of the Korean martyrs is a clear invitation for the youth to nurture the seed of the Church... Theirs is the task of being joyful witnesses to the Gospel. This is their time!

Church, to realize that the gift of faith is precious and far greater than their still short-lived experience – it precedes them and will live on after they are gone! Theirs is the task of being joyful witnesses to the Gospel. This is their time! This is their mission!

In the midst of the rich cultural and religious traditions of Asia, young Catholics have much to rejoice, to live for, and to share with others. On the other hand, however, religious persecution is still a reality in some corners of Asia. To live the Gospel and the joy of Faith, therefore, remains a challenge for the young.

But, Pope Francis’ presence in this youth gathering is a clear message not only of assurance in the faith but also a clear statement that he believes in the Asian youth.

There are many expectations surrounding this four-day visit, not just concerning what might happen in the hearts of those who will be there with Pope Francis, but of its impact at large.

The Pope’s visit will conclude with a Mass for peace and reconciliation in Myeong-dong Cathedral, Seoul.

Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung, Archbishop of Seoul, says the people of South Korea are hopeful that the papal visit will produce the "greatest miracle" – that the two Koreas will return to dialogue. Well, off hand, it may seem improbable, but the Spirit of God is our power and guide and, if from the blood of martyrs He builds the Church, this occasion should be no exception.

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your let ters Write to: The Editor, World Mission Magazine • 7885 Segundo Mendoza Street, Villa Mendoza Subd. − Sucat 1715 Parañaque City, M.M. – Philippines • E-mail: wm.editor@gmail.com CONCERN While reading "A Long Way Home" in your WM magazine (June 2014), I had the opportunity to ponder on the refugees of Myanmar. We already knew much about the people of Myanmar because a Good number of them live in our country and our religious Sisters, who had to leave Bangladesh because of Government orders, are in their country.

Reading the above-mentioned article, I reflected on what it means to leave one’s own country and be called refugees in another kind-hearted neighboring country and live in a refugee camp. It does not matter how much I feel for the refugees because I have not had that kind of sad experience. But, as a child, I experienced the partition of India in 1947 and, later, the Liberation war in our own country in 1970. These are painful memories indeed.

The Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS) and the role of Roselyn, giving physical, psychological and moral support, are very inspiring and a great help for the refugees.

May the Lord bring healing to all these uprooted people – the refugees of Myanmar. « SR. MARY JOAN GOMES, RNDM, Bangladesh (Received by e-mail) IRREPLACEABLE

Thank you very much for reminding us to renew our subscription to World Mission magazine. Of course, we don’t want to miss a single copy!

Enclosed is my check for a wholeyear renewal.

Thank you and more power and blessings to your wonderful publication. It is, indeed, irreplaceable! « IMELDA CORCINO, Davao City, Philippines

Catholics who seem to have difficulty fully embracing our faith probably have not had the opportunity to witness that our faith does not stop at believing but moves into the realm of action. I believe this is where we find true meaning and grow further in our spirituality, following the teaching of St. James: “Faith without action is dead.” « GARY/DAISY REYES, Merville, Parañaque City, Philippines NICE SURPRISE

INSPIRING AND UPLIFTING

What I find very informative, inspiring and uplifting in World Mission magazine is how you take Scripture and our teachings in the Catholic Church and show how these are applied in the real world and how they challenge our lives for the better.

I have received my copy of World Mission in the post. I've only just returned from Fiji and it was a very nice surprise to find this waiting for me.

The layout looks very good and the magazine, as a whole, is very professional. Congratulations! « ALLISON PYTLAC, New York (Received by e-mail)

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That Christians in Oceania may joyfully announce the faith to all the people of that region.

inside SPIRIT OF SOLIDARITY

Taking a closer and sensitive look at the challenging realities in the world today, who can afford to be indifferent – even more if we are a people of faith? Vivified by the Spirit of God, in liturgy and in life, we receive, celebrate and live out the transformative power of God. Renewed by this gift of God in our lives, we are impelled to be instruments of God’s action in the world today.

The inspiring figures the readers will encounter in this issue (Jessica Cox, Roy Moore, Fr. Bob MacCahil, Fr. Werenfried and Pope Francis) are but a few of those people who, in various ways, have experienced God working in them and through them, doing beautiful things in the world. This challenge – a faith lived in committed charity – is for all. Our limitations (moral, psychological or even physical) can never be an excuse in remaining unconcerned, nor can our shortcomings or even our failures justify our narcissism. Let the Spirit of True Solidarity conquer our hearts!

06 11

WM FEATURE | Reaching Out

world touch

By KRIS BAYOS, journalist

frontiers

Climate change is upon us

By Fr. Shay Cullen, Mssc

26

IN FOCUS | pope francis' visit to south korea

The first choice

By Joey Villarama, Journalist

30

journal | Walking the talk

A man of the Spirit

By Fr. Dave Domingues, mccj

32

spiritual reflection | BEING FIRST

12

The least is the greatest

Angel without Wings

16

Street footballers: Kicking their way out of poverty

WM special | spirit and power

By Dianne Bergant, CSA

By Leonardo N. Mercado, SVD

34

Missionary vocation | Fr. Werenfried van Straaten

The bacon priest

20

Power and the Sacraments

24

The Holy Spirit and grace as power

By Fr. Lorenzo Carraro, MCCJ

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THE LAST WORD

The first council

By Fr. SILVANO FAUSTI, sJ

WORLD MISSION has the exclusive services of the following magazines for Asia: ALÉM-MAR (Portugal); MUNDO NEGRO (Spain); NIGRIZIA (Italy); NEW PEOPLE (Kenya); WORLDWIDE (South Africa), AFRIQUESPOIR (DR of Congo); ESQUILA MISIONAL (Mexico); MISION SIN FRONTERAS (Peru); and IGLESIA SINFRONTERAS (Colombia).

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w o r l dto u c h CHINA

Christians fear new persecution Once a hub of Christianity, worshippers in Wenzhou fear their faith is facing its biggest threat since the Cultural Revolution When we reached Sanjiang, in Zhejiang province, an elderly woman was angrily telling the pastor how, at the end of April, police dispersed members of her congregation and neighboring ones who had come to protect their new Protestant church from being bulldozed. Several pastors were arrested and many detained, including those from the Sanjiang church – one of the officially sanctioned (and government controlled) "patriotic" churches. Many supporters were also arrested, including pastors from the underground house church movement. One, who asked to be referred to only as "W," escaped the police raid by hiding in a nearby warehouse.

For years, during her evening walks, the woman had watched the construction work taking place on the massive church, which was just a few hundred meters along the main road from her house. When we were there in May, flashing lights warned us of the police roadblock that had closed off access to the church weeks ago, after the Chinese government ordered it to be pulled down. "They want to remove every trace," said "W." The old woman added: "During the Cultural Revolution, they burned bibles, but they didn't remove the crosses."

The old church survived the Cultural Revo-

 WASTE. The beautiful Protestant church in Sanjiang (right) in Zhejiang province, was completly destroyed (top) by the government authorities. Also destroyed were the hearts of the believers.

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lution, but it was so dilapidated that it was converted into a mat-weaving factory.

Wenzhou has been neglected by the Chinese government in recent years. Nevertheless, since the economic reforms, the city has been celebrated as the Chinese capital of private enterprise and Christianity. The city boasts 1,500 churches in every possible architectural form.

The budget for the church in Sanjiang was close to $5M. After nine years of dealing with bureaucracy, raising funds and building work, the massive structure rose from the ground with a 60-meter high tower, a 30-meter long transept and a 50-meter long nave bordered by pilasters and arches. It resembled a European gothic cathedral. The cross was mounted on 8 August 2013.

In early 2014, church demolitions were reported in several towns in Zhejiang province, Shanghai's rich hinterland. Many crosses deemed too obtrusive were forcibly taken down. Early in April, a Catholic church in a rural county of Wenzhou was demolished and the cross on a Protestant church destroyed. A dozen other churches received ultimatums to pull down buildings or crosses in a campaign against "illegal structures," launched in Zhejiang in 2013.

However, Christians in Wenzhou observed that the campaign only targeted churches.

Orders were obeyed in some places,

but Sanjiang resisted. "We knew that even if we removed the cross, it wouldn't stop there, and therefore we had to stand firm," said "W." Although the surface area of the building had exceeded the authorized size, the Sanjiang church administration was confident because its "model church" had received local government approval.

"Finally, a compromise was reached when the authorities agreed only to knock down the top two floors of the annex. But they didn't keep their word," said one evangelical minister from Wenzhou, who asked to be referred to as "Peace."

On 26 April, 1,000 people, many from neighbor ing congregations, came to pray in front of the church in the hope of preventing its destruction. The following day, some 40 church leaders identified as having influence on their congregations were arrested, including official cadres and members of the house church movement. Pastor "Peace" spent 20 hours in police custody. The riot police intervened at 4a.m. on 28 April, and by 8.30p.m. the massive church was reduced to rubble.

According to the American NGO, China Aid, since the beginning of the year, 60 churches in Zhejiang province have received notice that either their crosses or their buildings must be demolished – more than 40 of these are in China's "Jerusalem." www.theguardian.com/ Brice Pedroletti

SOUTH korea

Korean Nobel Prize for Italian priest

PHILIPPINES

Poverty pushes children to hard labor When he was seven years old, Jun Rey Bigallera would wake up before dawn, not to get ready for school but to go to a public market in the southern Philippine city of Davao to sell vegetables. Jun recalls walking for two hours to reach the market. Along the way, he would see other children his age all heading to school. "I envied them, but I had to work and help my family or we would starve," says Jun. Jun would go home with about $2 in his pocket, enough to feed the family with four young children for a day. As he and his siblings got older, Jun had to find risky jobs, like packing fertilizer and pesticides in a factory. Now, at 16 years old, Jun is just entering high school while other children his age are already preparing for college. This child worker case is not uncommon in the Philippines. Amerina Cabanes admits that all her six children are child workers. "I ask my children to help because we honestly need help," she says.

The whole family wakes up about 2 a.m. and roams the city picking up garbage. Her only daughter started working when she was only five years old. She is now 12 and continues to help the family earn a living.

The family earns just over $4 a day. There is a law that is supposed to protect children from engaging in "any work or economic activity … that subjects him or her to any form of exploitation or is harmful to his or her health and safety, or physical, mental or psychological development." However, the law does not seem to be working, with government listing some 431 child laborers in the Davao region alone, while Davao City has the highest number of child workers at 332. A survey by the National Statistics Office in 2011 shows that there are 5.59

million child laborers in the Philippines, almost all of them working in hazardous conditions. The survey shows that out of 29 million Filipino children aged 5-17 years old, about 19% or 5.59 million were already working. Of those 5.59 million children, just over 3 million were considered child laborers while 2.9 million were reported to be exposed to hazardous working conditions. "What is important is for the government to come up with programs that will address the problems being faced by parents of children who are into child labor," says Florie May Tacang, executive director of the children's advocacy group, Kaugmaon, for children's rights and social development. "It is very challenging to stop the practice," she says, adding that Filipino culture is "supportive of child labor." Tacang says Filipinos do not see and consider child labor as a form of abuse. "It is a poverty issue and is an accepted practice that must be addressed by the government," she says. The government has, so far, identified 609 of the country’s poorest municipalities and some 80 villages that have the highest incidence of child labor.

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, who has exposed how prevalent child labor is in the provinces, says "much is still to be done by the Government. We need to see more government people checking on companies that hire children," the senator says, adding that the Government needs to support the rehabilitation of the children and the parents. Many parents blame themselves, including Amerina. "I must admit that it's my fault, our fault as parents," Amerina says. "But they [the children] also want to help us because they also feel our needs. We are family," she says. www.ucanews.com

He may have been born Italian but his heart has undoubtedly become Korean.

Fr. Bordo Vincenzo, OMI, who has adopted the Korean name Ha Jong Kim, is this year’s recipient of the Ho-Am Prize for Community Service for his work as the Director of Anna House Social Welfare Foundation, a cluster of facilities that feeds the elderly among its other social services.

The Ho-Am Prize, an award given annually to “domestic or ethnic Koreans living abroad who have made outstanding contributions to the development of science and culture and enhancement of the welfare of mankind,” is South Korea’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize. Named after Samsung’s former chairman, Lee Byung-chull whose pen name is Ho-Am, it has been awarded since 1990.

Even at a young age, Fr. Kim has been interested in Eastern culture. Born in Piansano, Italy in 1957, he was deeply influenced by oriental philosophy.

As a Brother of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), he came to Korea in 1990 to fulfil what he discerned was God’s mission for him. Two years after settling in the Peninsula, he focused his attention towards the poor and underprivileged residents of Seongnam.

A year later, he set up the House of Peace, a soup kitchen that provided food for and a sense of community to senior citizens and the lonely. In 1994, he founded the Magnolia Village Study Room for the education of underprivileged children.

As if his efforts in the first half of the 1990s were not enough, Fr. Kim, in 1998, established the Anna House, which provides free dinner for more than 500 neglected senior citizens.

José Rebelo

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AUSTRALIA

Boat people not welcomed

AFGHANISTAN

Where being a child is a full-time job Before the sun has risen, Sami is pushing a dented wheelbarrow through the dim streets, at 13, still a tiny figure among the vegetable hawkers and butchers slicing bloody flanks of sheep from carcasses hung on hooks. He gathers water from a public well and takes it back to the bakery.

By 6a.m., the gas-fired stone kiln is glowing a fiery red. Dough is flung against its curved walls to bake into the flat loaves known as khasa and the round loaves called kamachi. The sweet aroma of fresh bread wafts through the cramped storefront.

Sami sweeps a platform where hot flatbread is stacked for sale. He then sits cross-legged to begin the long hours of selling each loaf for 10 afghanis, about 20 New Zealand cents, to customers who thrust worn bills through a window that he opens and closes with a long metal hook.

Working until dark, six days a week, Sami earns about US$80 a month, enough to support his entire family: disabled father, mother, three brothers and five sisters.

Sami has been at the bakery since he was 10, when he rode a bus to here from the northern countryside to assist his uncle, Yar Mohammed, the bakery owner, who himself began working at age 8.

"I'm happy I can support my family, but I would rather go to school and be an educated person," Sami says. He shrugs as he flips over a steaming loaf with his hook, a weary gesture that makes him seem old and careworn. He is the only person in his family with a job. www.ucanews.com/ David Zucchino

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Australia is pursuing draconian measures to deter people without visas from entering the country by boat. In doing so, it is failing in its obligation under international accords to protect refugees fleeing persecution.

Last fall, Prime Minister Tony Abbott launched Operation Sovereign Borders, a campaign involving the military to divert boats full of asylum seekers to Indonesia before they can reach Australian shores.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison now says that no boat has arrived in Australia in the last six months, and vows to take “every step necessary to ensure that people who arrive illegally by boat are not rewarded with permanent visas.”

Mr. Morrison has also moved to impose a freeze on granting permanent protection visas to about 1,400 people already in the country and already judged to be legitimate refugees fleeing persecution. In addition, he introduced a bill last month to lower the threshold for deporting asylum seekers. For instance, people will have to prove that they have more than a 50% chance of being harmed if they return to their home country. Current rules stipulate that asylum seekers cannot be returned if there is a “real chance” of harm.

Australian politics is fraught with debate on this subject. Before the hotly contested federal election last September, then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd pledged that no one who arrived by boat without a visa would ever be granted permission to settle in Australia, and

adopted a tough policy of sending asylum seekers to a refugee-processing center in nearby Papua New Guinea; those found to be genuine refugees would be resettled there. But as a signatory to the United Nations Convention on Refugees, Australia is legally obligated to grant anyone fleeing persecution and seeking asylum the right to enter the country.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, said recently that “something strange happens” in the minds of Australians when it comes to asylum seekers who arrive by boat without a visa.

Horrible instances of hundreds of people dying in unseaworthy boats may play a role in this thinking. So may xenophobia. Curiously, though, the hostility to people who try to arrive by boat does not seem to extend to asylum seekers in general. Australia is fairly generous about offering protection to refugees, as long as they apply for protection from overseas, obtain a visa, then enter Australia.

In 2012, there were 29,610 such applications and 8,367 were recognized as refugees. Between 2001 and 2008, when Australia imposed mandatory detention of visa-less asylum seekers at offshore processing centers, 70% of the 1,637 asylum seekers were recognized as refugees.

But there is something about the boat people that has provided politicians with an exploitable issue that does Australia’s otherwise commendable record on refugees no good. www.nytimes.com

“The most distinctive way to prepare spiritually for the coming of Pope Francis is for the Philippines to become a people rich in mercy.

Let us make mercy our national identity.”

– Archbishop Socrates Villegas, CBCP President, in his pastoral letter of July 2014, to prepare the People of God for the visit of Pope Francis.

“Populations armed with smartphones and an increased sense of their human rights, will not accept a future of high inequality and low growth.” – Paul Mason, Economics Editor of Channel 4 News, commenting on the OECD predictions for the world economy until 2060. www.theguardian.com

“Reduce the stockpile of weapons! Ban weapons that have no reason for existing in human society and instead invest in education, healthcare, saving our planet and building societies marked by more solidarity and brotherhood.”

“We are silently accepting a scarcity of the Eucharist, which is already to a certain extent perilous, because we are not prepared to change admission to the priesthood. In my opinion that is irresponsible. We must open new doors including discussing that of priestly celibacy.”

– Bishop Krätzl, a former Auxiliary in Vienna, in two interviews on the occasion of his Diamond Jubilee as a priest. www.thetablet.co.uk

– Pope Francis, in a message to the delegates working on the full implementation of an international treaty banning the production and use of anti-personnel mines, Maputo, Mozambique, late June 2014.

“The Eucharist should be available where people live.”

– Bishop Krätzl, a former Auxiliary in Vienna, in two interviews on the occasion of his Diamond Jubilee as a priest. www.thetablet.co.uk

INDONESIA

Southeast Asia's largest red-light district closes Southeast Asia’s largest red-light district, in the Indonesian city of Surabaya, was shut down recently after pressure from locals.

Authorities have announced the closure of the Dolly prostitution complex in Putat Jaya village, Sawahan subdistrict, stating that the area should be transformed into a “dignified” space that will attract businesses.

“There are social conflicts. People living in the red-light district feel uneasy with the activities,” Mayor Tri Rismaharani said.

“Children feel the same. We, the government, must take a serious step to deal with it.” She acknowledged that the closure of the red-light

district wasn’t easy because sex workers and pimps strongly protested against the threats it presented to their livelihood. “We understand why they reject it. They live there. We, however, won’t leave them behind after the closure. We will give them cash compensation so that they can find jobs.” The Social Affairs Ministry has allocated eight billion rupiah (about US$677,000) to be disbursed to sex workers and pimps, with each individual receiving five million rupiah.

According to data from the town’s social agency, 1,020 sex workers and 311 pimps depended on the red-light district for their livelihood. The area, consisting of 52 brothels,

was first established by a sex worker named Dolly Khavit in 1967.

Siane Indriani from the National Commission on Human Rights asserted that the closure wasn’t a violation of human rights. “Instead,

it’s a good move and part of [the government’s] effort to uphold the dignity of the sex workers and pimps,” she said.

“They should be able to think about how they can get jobs besides prostitution.” www.ucanews.com

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WEST AFRICA

Fear and ignorance as Ebola goes 'out of control' When Ebola first struck Pujeh, a village deep in Sierra Leone’s forested interior region, residents did what they always do when a mysterious illness brings death: they consulted the traditional healer. But the elderly herbalist soon caught one of the world’s most contagious diseases, and then became a source for spreading it as visitors streamed in.

By the time officials had pinpointed Pujeh as a hotspot for the disease months later, dozens had died. “The people living in these areas said there’s no such thing as Ebola,” said a district doctor who spoke on condition of anonymity. “They have their traditional beliefs and their traditional cures and they look up to their traditional leaders. Until we can bring the traditional leaders onside, it will be very difficult to convince them that Ebola even exists.”

As the death toll from the latest outbreak of the world’s deadliest virus climbed to 467 – far exceeding the previous most lethal outbreak which killed 254 people in Congo – officials and health workers are battling a surge of infections propelled by misinformation and doubt about the disease’s existence on one side, and mistrust in the scandal-hit governments on the other.

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Following a Doctors Without Borders warning that the illness is “out of control” in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, west African health ministers recently began a two-day summit in Ghana’s capital of Accra, to discuss ways to strengthen regional cooperation. The World Health Organization has also warned four other West African countries – Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mali and Guinea Bissau – to prepare for the possible arrival of travelers carrying the virus.

Some government officials have disputed the WHO’s statement, saying the increasing death toll is a sign of better surveillance. “We are not saying everything is okay but there are fewer people dying in silence now, which is a good thing – the more we can identify when and where there are fatalities, the better we can prevent further cases,” Health Ministry official, Sakouba Keita, said from Guinea’s capital of Conakry.

The country has been the hardest hit by the virus, which first appeared there in February, before spreading through the tropical forests that sprawl into Liberia and Sierra Leone. More disturbingly, it has also jumped to all three countries’ denselypopulated capitals.

“This is different from other cases just

by the fact it’s a cross-border epidemic.

Previous outbreaks have been very localized, which makes them easier to isolate and contain. Now for the first time, it’s also affecting urban areas,” said Dr Nestor Ndayimirije, Liberia’s WHO representative who has handled epidemics in several other countries.

Ebola was first identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan in 1976, which suffered simultaneous outbreaks of different strains miles apart. It was named after Congo’s Ebola River, where its most lethal mutation – the Zaire strain – infected 318 people and killed 280.

Ebola has a fatality rate of up to 90% and is transmitted through contact with fluids of infected people or animals, like urine, sweat, blood and saliva, even after death.

A doctor in Sierra Leone said patients’ families often attempted to break them out of treatment centers – often successfully. “Some of them are in denial and think it is something they can treat at home, and faith healers are one of the problems for us. When you have patients disappearing like that, you don’t know where the virus will appear next.” www.theguardian.com

f r o n t i e r s

CLIMATE CHANGE IS UPON US We all have to be caretakers of our God-given world; the garden of Eden is sadly wilting and dying and we, humans, will be dying in body and spirit with it – through disease, famine, and extreme weather events. Now it's time to repent and make amends. by

Fr. Shay Cullen, Mssc | PREDA FOUNDATION

T

he sights, sounds, and smells that assailed me as I was walking through the devastated chaos and destruction of Tacloban City in the Philippines last year, soon after the most powerful storm ever to hit land, made me realize that this was the future. This utter devastation wrecked by a vengeful nature on her tormentors was going to be repeated across the globe. Climate change is upon us. Extreme weather conditions will be what we can expect in the future.

Humans are the custodians of the Creation and guardians of the Planet Earth and yet we have sinned against them. Now it's time to repent and make amends, but how?

As I write this, the Balkans are experiencing the worst f looding in 120 years when records began. Vast areas of countryside, towns and villages are inundated and as many as 300 landslides have destroyed property and 35 people were killed. In Afghanistan, not long ago, an entire village with hundreds of people were buried alive when a rain saturated hillside came roaring down to bury and smother them all.

Every news bulletin seems to carry reports of another huge ecological disaster: droughts and wildfires in the United States are consuming forests and fields, even more destructive floods are to come in Europe, we are told.

The United Nations Inter-Country Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), after seven years of exhaustive research and number crunching, made its latest report to inform and convince us that catastrophic climate change can be averted and even reversed if we act now.

It's for real! The planet has warmed up and we, humans, have caused it by burning fossil fuels non-stop for the

last 150 years. That has to stop. We must turn to alternative sources of energy, the report strongly advises, or else..

The worst offenders are the oil and coal-burning industries. Their power plants, factories, houses and cars warm the earth by releasing CO2 gases. The carbon dioxide and methane gases create a blanket around the earth causing this warming. In turn, this has melted huge sections of the polar ice caps and removed nature's big reflector of sunlight.

Antarctica is melting, too. Soon the rise in ocean levels will be covering low-lying islands and beach fronts.

The permafrost in Siberia and Canada is melting, releasing even more deadly methane gas from the once frozen bogs and releasing it into the atmosphere. The effect on food production and water resources will be massive and will lead to food shortages and the social impact will be great; migration and armed conflicts will erupt.

China, one of the worst climate polluters with its thousands of coal and oil power plants, is in direct conf lict with Vietnam after moving an oil drilling platform into waters claimed

by Vietnam.

The contents of the report of the IPCC are vehemently denied by powerful business interests in the gas, oil and coal industries. These thermal tycoons want the burning of fossil fuels to continue but the time is coming when fossil fuels have to be abandoned and left in the ground. Alternative renewable sources of electric power like solar, wind and geothermal electric generation have to power the future.

The common people and their governments have to stand up to the polluters of the planet and bring closer that day when the demand for oil and coal would have tapered off. In the Philippines, crony capitalists are manipulating the national leadership and "capturing" the regulators to persuade them to approve more coal plants.

We all have to be caretakers of our God-given world; the Garden of Eden is sadly wilting and dying and we, humans, will be dying in body and spirit with it – through disease, famine, and extreme weather events. Remember, more than 6,000 people were killed by Typhoon Haiyan last November 8. We must preserve all life, especially the life of the planet itself.

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SPECIAL FEATURE • Reaching Out

Angel without wings

Despite her disability, armless pilot Jessica Cox has been inspiring thousands of people around the globe because of her various achievements. Her determination to go against what society dictates to be “normal” is proof that everyone is created equal by God and that all difficulties can be overcome. This passion to live and to inspire has led her back to her mother’s hometown, one of the many hit by Supertyphoon Haiyan (locally known as 'Yolanda') in Central Philippines, to give her people the same encouragement that they unwittingly gave her – to strive to live a full life despite problems and difficulties. by

KRIS BAYOS | journalist

Handicap International

 SOLIDARITY. Jessica gets acquainted with the situation of the typhoon-stricken areas during her recent visit to the Philippines.

A

fter Supertyphoon Haiyan hit the Philippines late last year, armless pilot and motivational speaker Jessica Cox felt compelled to fly to her mother’s hometown in Eastern Samar, this time to remind their people of the resilience she got from them and to encourage them to keep the faith despite the calamity.

When Haiyan first made its landfall in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, on November 8, Jessica was in Washington D.C. lobbying for the passage of a major disability bill at the United States Senate.

She was instantly affected by the news

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about the devastation caused by the typhoon , especially as her mother, Inez Macabare, hails from Bobon town in Eastern Samar.

Nick Spark, the director of the documentary film about Jessica’s life entitled “Rightfooted,” recounted that Jessica immediately hosted a fund-raising for the survivors of the calamity after visiting the Philippine Consulate in Washington. Despite already doing that much, Jessica still felt compelled to come to the Philippines because of her Filipino roots.

“Her whole life, she talked about

her mother giving her strength to overcome things and that’s very much associated with being a Filipino,” he said.

“For her to come back (here) is about giving the lesson back to the Filipino people: reminding them of what they gave her – resilience.”

After months of raising money to fund their trip, 31-year-old Jessica, her husband Patrick Chamberlain, Nick, and the “Rightfooted” film crew flew to Manila and later on to Tacloban on February 24, not only to motivate survivors, especially those who lost limbs due to the calamity, but also to capture on film

the Filipino’s sense of resilience, for which Jessica herself is most known.

The following is the transcript of the interview with Jessica after her team’s trip to Eastern Visayas.

What was your purpose in visiting the provinces hit by Supertyphoon Haiyan?

Our trip was an awareness trip to let the world know that there (are) still people who need support. Yes, it happened months ago but there is something that needs continuous support.

We came here for that and also to bring inspiration to all the survivors.

We actually brought a film crew.

The documentary will be seen by millions of people worldwide and we hope to bring awareness. And when the film is finished, it will draw attention to the fact that everyone there still needs support. This was our particular mission and to likewise bring inspiration.

I hope our visit also brought the survivors encouragement. That Waray (the colloquial name by which people of the region are known – Ed.) spirit my mom talks about, of being tough and not giving up, they have it and, hopefully, my condition served as a reminder to them that they can move on and keep going.

Can you tell us what happened when you finally landed in Tacloban, Leyte?

We really had no way to prepare ourselves for what we were about to see.

The time the airplane touched down, I was looking at the airport and I couldn’t even recognize it. There were no area walls. When I got out of the plane and went to the baggage claim, the carousel wasn’t even moving. The only thing that was the same when I was there a year ago was the f loor! From that, one could already tell that they really had gone through a lot.

Did you visit your mother’s relatives in Bobon? How are they?

We did visit our family. Tatay Custodio is sickly and we lost a distant aunt who drowned in the surge. I also found

Handicap International

 INSPIRATION. Jessica shares her life story with some of the victims of the Supertyphoon.

I know that they are in the present moment of struggle, sacrifice, and difficulty. It’s hard to see the purpose now. I was there to, hopefully, let them know that these struggles and difficulties will help them become stronger and show myself as an example. out that my other aunt tripped over something right after the typhoon and she broke her hips. She’s basically bedridden. She asked to see me. We’ve been praying for the victims.

Aside from your relatives, you reportedly met with typhoon survivors who lost limbs as a result of the calamity. How was your meeting with them?

Their stories of survival were the most compelling thing to hear; what they (had) gone through and what they had to do to survive. It’s inspiring to see how truly resilient they are to smile even, though they (had) gone through this devastation.

I didn’t know I was going to be inspired but I truly was after being there and being with people in Tacloban and Guian, especially in Bobon where my mom’s roots are.

What did you tell the other typhoon survivors when you met them?

I told them faith is bigger (than their miseries) and that God could help us through our struggles. They actually strengthen us oftentimes.

When I was a child wondering why I was different and angry about not having arms, I couldn’t understand God’s purpose. And now, years later, I could see how those struggles I went through helped develop my character and who I am today.

I know that they are in the present moment of struggle, sacrifice, and difficulty. It’s hard to see the purpose now.

I was there to, hopefully, let them know that these struggles and difficulties will help them become stronger and show myself as an example.

In your motivational talks, you always cite your mother for the resilience that she has taught you. Why is it important for the “Rightfooted” team to travel to Eastern Samar to film your return to your Filipino roots?

People wonder how I am still resilient or why and how I am accomplishing one thing after another, despite the setbacks. I talk about the Filipino spirit of resilience that my mom taught me: to not give up and to be tough. It was hard for me to fully convey that and I said the only way it could be done was to capture

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my roots. Of course, he (Nick) wasn’t so excited on that until we heard about the supertyphoon because, then, we have more purpose to be there: to also capture the people who connect with me because my mom was from there.

How much of a Filipino are you, Jessica?

I think much of my spirit is my mom’s. She’s really fearless. Courage and strength could be fostered but a lot of it, too, comes from her. I am so much of her.

She was the youngest of 13 children and her father passed away when she was just seven months old. His passing away almost guaranteed that the family would be impoverished because no one could be the breadwinner and yet they still pulled through as a family and stayed strong. There were times when there was not enough food for them but they made it a point to make education their main concern. Every single one of them went through college through the help of older siblings supporting the younger ones down the line. That’s how they got through school despite their poverty. That strength saw me through in my own setbacks.

Did you experience bullying during your younger years? How did you overcome the stress of being made fun of?

It was very hard learning how to deal with being made fun of because I’d be in the playground, school cafeteria and the last thing you want to be is be different. My mom would always tell me: “Ignore them. Ignore them,” when I tell her about them making fun of me.

I’ve learned that I can’t control how the rest of the world reacts to me but what I can control is the way I carry myself. If it is with confidence, its less likely that I’d be victimized by bullying or being made fun of. Or, even if I do, it won’t affect me as much because I have the confidence to say: “You know what?

You can think of whatever you want to think about me but I am confident of what I am.”

Personal acceptance and confi-

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Handicap International

 CONFIDENCE. Walking through the devastated areas, Jessica exudes hope to the bystanders.

Personal acceptance and confidence made it a lot easier than finding a perfect way to react to the rest of the world... ultimately, it is, indeed, up to us whether or not we would allow someone’s negative reaction to affect us. dence made it a lot easier than finding a perfect way to react to the rest of the world. There is a saying that goes: “No one can make you feel inferior with your permission.” I love that saying because, ultimately, it is, indeed, up to us whether or not we would allow someone’s negative reaction to affect us.

How was your journey of self-acceptance?

I wore prosthetic arms for 11 years but on the first day of my 8th grade in school, I decided to leave them behind.

And that was a very good decision because I was essentially accepting myself, how God created me to be. That was the start of my journey of self acceptance and confidence.

I don’t know what triggered it because it was a gradual process. It didn’t happen overnight. It wasn’t like one day I woke up and say, I’m confident and I’m gonna leave these arms behind. It was little steps along the way and I’m sure that it’s an ongoing journey.

Being an international motivational speaker, you are a public figure and being one entails self-confidence. How

did you build your self-confidence despite being born without arms?

Self-discovery! I realized that God must have a good reason for creating me this way and when I accepted that, I was able to move forward and come out of my shell.

Is there a particular story about the people you come across with in your line of work that struck you the most?

One day, I got an e-mail from someone who was talking about how he was previously suicidal. When he heard about my story and what I’ve done in my life, it reassured him that he should try to keep going. And he did! What is good about receiving that e-mail is knowing that what I do saves (lives). Incredible and very rewarding!

What aspect of your work are you most passionate about?

I’m part of the International Child Amputee Network and I have been a mentor for 10 years now. In this work, I get connected with children who have no limbs and I’ve met seven to eight girls who were born without arms. I become an example to them, of what

SPECIAL FEATURE • Reaching Out they can accomplish and I get to give them hope. I’m most passionate in mentoring work.

I think they’ve gotten a long way after having me as their mentor. I invited them to my wedding because I wanted to instill in their young minds that they, too, can get married one day with someone who can love them for who they are.

Speaking of marriage, can you tell us how you met your husband, Patrick?

We were both in taekwondo and I was moving into a new school. I saw that he was co-teaching there with my good friend who introduced him to me. He transferred to the new school as an instructor the next month and that’s when he asked me out. I started falling for him when I heard him play the piano. He was expressing himself though music and that’s how I got to know him better and better.

Did you date much before meeting Patrick? Were you picky with the men you chose to date?

I was very shy about my difference and self-conscious of the fact that I

have no arms. There were guys who liked me in high school but I didn’t respond to them. I only learned to have self-confidence in my college years.

Patrick came to my life after, when I was already more confident.

What difference did Patrick make in your life and in your work as a motivational speaker?

I never realized the impact when he entered into my life and joined my team as a speaker. I thought he just brought a new element when we did presentations together. Now that we’ve been married for two years, I have seen the impact he’s made.

People who see Patrick and I as a couple are inspired and come to believe that, indeed, love conquers all – even the difference and disability. We hope to have kids one day when the time is right and with what God chooses to bless us with.

If given a chance, would you like to be reborn with arms?

I think if I were born with arms, I wouldn’t have been able to make the impact that I get to make every day on people’s lives even in just going to the

The challenge of not having arms has also strengthened me in ways: the resilience of not giving up and the ability of finding creative ways and solutions. When I think about how different my life could be otherwise, I would rather not trade my life now for a life with arms.

store, being out in public or speaking on stage. The challenge of not having arms has also strengthened me in ways: the resilience of not giving up and the ability of finding creative ways and solutions.

When I think about how different my life could be otherwise, I would rather not trade my life now for a life with arms.

Being born armless is actually a blessing in disguise. It’s hard to immediately connect it to being a gift but, certainly, it would be revealed how it is a blessing.

After achieving a lot despite your disability, is there something else you’d like to try?

I went skydiving on my last birthday. I took scuba diving lessons. I’m also doing cycling and I hope to join a cycling race one day.

When someone tells me that I can’t do this or that, it gives me all the more reason to do the thing. It challenges me to prove them wrong. I tell people to use the doubt others have in you as a motivation or encouragement to do something.

As someone who is regarded as a model for women, what do you want to tell the ladies reading the World Mission magazine?

Being a woman should not prevent you from accomplishing anything that you want to do because being one is actually an advantage. So to all the women, don’t let anything stand in your way. Know that you have the strength to do what you want.

Finally, what is your message to our readers who might be in the same position as you are or are having different problems in other aspects of their lives?

Trust in God and know that He’s always there as He’s always been and He’s using our situation as a way of strengthening us and that He has a plan for us all. In other words, trust in God even when it is most difficult.

Handicap International

 HARMONY. Jessica and Patrick, her husband, playing the piano in one of their presentations.

If you like be in touch with Jessica, link to her website, www.rightfooted.com.

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SPECIAL FEATURE • Reaching Out

Street footballers: Kicking their way out of poverty

In a country where poverty thrives but opportunities to overcome it are very scarce, football has provided a level-playing field for poor children to develop themselves and aim for greatness. With the right attitude and determination, street children can rise from their limitations and become somebody – not merely a statistic in the growing number of poor households in a highly materialistic society. by

KRIS BAYOS | journalist

F

ifteen-year-old Ronalyn is a scavenger at the dumpsite in Payatas, Quezon City, the biggest open dumpsite in Metro Manila. She sorts out garbage and gets whatever she can sell, recycles, and even eats from the dumpsite. On a normal day, she could earn an average of PhP50 or around US$1 from her stash which she contributes to help buy their family’s food for the day. She is among the millions of Filipino children forced to work at an early age because of poverty.

Seventeen-year-old Crystal, meanwhile, was born in a cemetery in Caloocan City. Her parents also scavenge garbage to make a living and a junkyard in the gravesite is what they call home.

She used to live in a community where drug addiction, prostitution and malnutrition abound. If not for an accident that almost killed her when she was still a toddler, she would not have made her way to a foster home in Montalban, Rizal province. (Crystal has been featured in the World Mission and her story landed on the cover of the November 2013 issue – Ed.) Street children like Ronalyn and Crystal were considered “invisible” in a society that is highly materialistic and which has low regard for the poor. But these girls proved that they can be – and have become – somebody. In fact, they are among the first Filipino athletes to ever make it to a finals match for the World Cup.

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Ronalyn and Crystal were part of the Philippine team in the Street Child World Cup (SCWC) held last March.

They played against host Brazil, which won the finals match for the girls’ tournament with a score of 1-0. The boys, for their part, fared well and made it to the quarter finals. British Roy Moore, leader and coach of the Philippine team, is obviously proud. With very little equipment and rare access to a football field, the children did well despite training on a concrete basketball court once a week and playing on their slippers or bare feet.

But more than winning the SCWC, Roy says it is most rewarding for him to see how the children’s attitude has changed because of football. “In football, the most important thing we talk about is their attitude. Attitude is the most important thing both on and off the pitch because if a child is really gifted in football, they’ll only make it professionally if their attitude is good.”

Change in the attitude

Roy, who co-founded the Fairplay For All (FFA) Foundation, a charity that

Street children like Ronalyn and Crystal were considered “invisible” in a society that has low regard for the poor. But these girls proved that they can be somebody. They are among the first Filipino athletes to make it to a finals match for the World Cup.

Roy FFA

 DIGNIFIED. The smiles of these street children show that their dreams are very much alive.

Roy FFA

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Roy FFA

has been working in the slums of Payatas since 2010, introduced football to the children amid the rising popularity of the Azkals, the Philippine men’s national football team that beat the defending team of Vietnam during the 2012 Suzuki Cup and eventually ascended to the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup. Roy once played goalkeeper during his stay at the University of York in England so playing football is among his interests.

Surprisingly, Roy says he didn’t have a hard time teaching a game that’s not as popular in the Philippines as basketball. “The kids love the game and they were always asking for more training. They want to play all the time.

If anything, the problem was how to stop them from playing,” he says with a meaningful smile.

But kids being kids, Roy recounts how the players started out as deviants who eventually embraced discipline and good values because of the game’s rules and regulations. “Kids are the same everywhere,” he points out. “If you have rules and consequences and you stick to them, they’ll learn and get used to them. Whereas before the kids would be really naughty, deviant, fight-

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ing and swearing with each other, now their attitudes have improved.”

The once makulit (naughty) and pasaway (deviant) children of Payatas, who only played football as a break from their work at the dumpsite or an escape from their miserable condition, have so far won 20 trophies in various tournaments, including those played against well-equipped teams and children of well-off backgrounds. Roy relishes how the Payatas Football Club won against rich kids whose school had its own football field and who are equipped with everything they need for the game. “It was their first time to play on grass and we won mostly because the kids would always run, fight for the ball and try no matter what. It is this attitude that separates them from the rich kids and football played a great part to harness those values. Football brings discipline and teamwork,” he says.

Game-changer

Eventually, football has not only become a past time for the street children of Payatas, but a subtle means to break the cycle of poverty they were born into. While Ronalyn qualified for the Philippine team that joined the SCWC, two other girls are getting col-

lege scholarships after being recruited to join the varsity teams of Far Eastern University and of the University of the Philippines ,respectively. “Only 5 to 10 percent of the kids will find a career in football that is why, for everything else, attitude is the most important thing,” Roy explains.

“Obviously, I’m very proud of a lot of them. I can see how their attitude has improved,” Roy adds. “The biggest change is when you ask the kids what they dream of becoming in the future. When we first started, they would say, 'I want to be a truck driver, a scavenger' or 'I just want a house for our family.' Whereas now, when you ask them, they’ll tell you they want to be a doctor, a teacher, a lawyer, a chef or an architect. They have dreams now, they think about the future, about helping their family and they are working hard towards that.”

This positive change in the attitude and mindset of the street children of Payatas is fueling the FFA’s drive. Roy says they have a plan to raising funds to build their own football field. “If you can create footballers in the national team from Payatas, training once a week on a basketball court with very little equipment and not

SPECIAL FEATURE • Reaching Out the most professional training, that shows the potential that they already have and how good they are with such limited access. And if you improve the access, more of them would be able to make it,” he argues.

Play, study, and eat

But FFA’s work does not revolve around football alone. Before establishing FFA, Roy actually volunteered to work in the Asian Students Christian Foundation (ASCF), which provided foster homes to street children like Crystal.

His meaningful work at the ASCF encouraged Roy to return to the Philippines and establish his own charity that would work directly with the poorest of the poor – in his case, among the scavengers of Payatas.

Currently, the FFA runs a drop-in center which operates like a day care center where children get informal schooling and are fed. The Foundation also gives scholarships to older children to help them attend public schools and sustains them with nutritious food grown from its own garden.

Roy says they plan to eventually build a school of their own, the Fairplay

Academy. FFA needs roughly PhP12 million or US$250,000 to acquire land and build the football field and the school building.

“If it’s just helping one or two persons or improving their attitude or just make them feel happy for a certain period of time, that is not what charity or development work is supposed to do.

For it to be successful, it has to have tangible results – which is, ultimately, the improvement of the community in the long term. In our case, we will sponsor the children as far as they can go. Once they become professionals, they’ll get a livelihood and change their entire family’s situation,” Roy says.

But Roy is not the only one making a difference in the lives of Payatas’ street children. Being with them is likewise making a difference in his life.

Roy could have been making a decent income after getting a triple bachelors degree in economics, politics and philosophy in England but he’s in the Philippines working on a charity without getting a salary.

“There’s a difference between understanding something academically than understanding it in the real

You can understand that 20,000 children die every day because they don’t have enough food but to see it personally is different.

To live in a community where kids need to work because they don’t have enough food is different than merely reading about it.

Roy FFA

 MAKING A DIFFERENCE. Roy (left) is proud of being an instrument of change for the poor.

world,” Roy says. “You can understand that 20,000 children die every day because they don’t have enough food but to see it personally is different. To live in a community where kids need to work because they don’t have enough food is different than merely reading about it in a paper.”

For one, Roy shares a story of orphaned siblings who work as jumper boys who literally jump from one dump truck to another to scavenge for metal and sell them to junk shops. One day, one of the boys didn’t realize that the metal he was flattening out was a strip of bullets. When he pounded them with a hammer, a live bullet set off and hit his brother in the leg.

“This story was what struck me the most because these kids are trying as hard as they can just to get the basic food and to get one kilo of rice a day.

They are more hardworking than any senator, congressman or another politician but the problem is that nobody sees it. No one makes the effort to understand,” he says.

Roy adds: “When you see what is going on in the world, perpetuating injustice is something that I don’t want to do. Besides, I could never work in an environment where I feel I am neither productive nor making a difference because, for me, that would be a waste.”

And speaking of waste, Roy remembers a day when he treated the kids to a fast food restaurant after winning a tournament. The children literally brought all the leftovers with them as well as the rubbish. “They were joking that ‘there’s no point putting these waste in the bin because they’ll end up in Payatas anyway.’ So they took all their trash home and sold them later on.”

Just like the hardworking children, Roy says his work in Payatas has made him more hardworking than he used to be.

You can help Roy and the FFA provide opportunities for the children of Payatas to rise from poverty and fulfill their dreams.

Email ffafoundation@gmail.com to inquire how you can help.

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wm special • spirit and power

Power and the Sacraments

The concepts of power and grace, and their transfer from the origin, i.e., God, to His creation, are illustrated not only in the Sacred Scriptures, but also in the Sacraments of the Church. The reality of the existence of this power is not only limited to the context of the Christian faith, but is also confirmed in other religions, as well as the metaphysical, and even in medicine. In addition, the transfer of power and grace from God to His creation not only entails carrying out specific symbolic gestures and rituals, but more importantly, requires genuine faith. by

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E

“

ver since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what He has made” (Rom.1:20).

The Oriental concepts of power, like prana, chi, ilimu, & bisa, are a common reality in Asia. They trace their origin in the belief that the “Absolute” is energy or power that is shared with the rest of creation. In Christianity, this concept is seen in St. Paul’s theology

of energy which likens power to a facet of the Holy Spirit. Similarly, Greek Orthodox theology views the Holy Spirit as uncreated energy or grace. When humans participate in uncreated energy, it becomes created energy. This participated energy is used for healing, as recounted in Acts: “So extraordinary were the mighty deeds God accomplished at the hands of Paul that when face cloths or aprons that touched his skin were applied to the sick, their diseases left them and evil spirits came out of them.” The faithful, through a process of theosis or divinization, gradually share in this divinity.

On the other hand, grace as a technological and theological term, does not exist in Scriptures. Instead, Christ used a symbolic language such as the metaphor of the vine and the branches to illustrate it (Jn. 15:1-17). The branches can only bear fruit if they remain with the trunk. Furthermore, He says that He is the Living Water (Jn. 4:10-15).

Imposition of Hands

The imposition of hands, as documented in the Bible, is the vehicle for transmitting the Holy Spirit as power and grace. In the Old Testament, imposition of hands signified many things.

It served as a blessing, like when Jacob blessed his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen. 48:13-16). It was a sign of consecration, of being chosen and given the aptitude for exercising some function, as when Moses laid his hands on Joshua (Dt. 34:9). It also distinguished between the one offering a sacrifice and the victim itself (Lv. 1:4).

T he New Testament at tached other meanings to the imposition of hands. Jesus touched children, “embraced them and blessed them, placing His hands on them” (Mk.10:16) because the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. His act of touching

the sick (Lk. 13:13; Mk. 8:23 ff, Lk. 4:40) healed them. He also empowered the disciples to heal: if “they lay hands on the sick, they will recover” (Mk. 15:18).

Before His ascension, He raised His hands towards His Apostles and gave them power (Lk. 24:40).

While Saul became temporarily blind, Ananias placed his hands on him so he could recover his sight and get baptized (Acts 9:10-19). When Simon the Magician saw that the Spirit was conferred by the laying of hands on the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, ‘Give me this power too, so that anyone upon whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 8:1820). Furthermore, the practice of the laying of hands signified the transmission of the Holy Spirit and power for a precise mission, as in the ordination of the first deacons (Acts 6:6), or when Paul ordained Timothy (2 Tim. 1:6 ff ).

Through the laying of hands, the Jerusalem community also commissioned Barnabas and Saul in their mission to the Gentiles (Acts 13:3).

St. Irenaeus and God’s Arms

St. Irenaeus (130-202 AD) harmonized the inspired written texts and the Church magisterium on the transmission of power. He based his theology on the Incarnation and spoke of God the Father as having two arms, the Son and the Holy Spirit, in creation and in embracing the world. In creation, Irenaeus said: “Now God shall be glorified in His handiwork, fitting it so as to be conformable to, and modeled after, His Own Son. For by the hands of the Father, that is, by the Son and the Holy Spirit, man, and not (merely) a part of man, was made in the likeness of God. Now the soul and the spirit are certainly a part of the man, but certainly not the man; for the perfect man consists in the commingling and the union of the

Now God shall be glorified in His handiwork, fitting it so as to be conformable to, and modeled after, His Own Son. For by the hands of the Father, that is, by the Son and the Holy Spirit, man, and not (merely) a part of man, was made in the likeness of God.

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soul receiving the Spirit of the Father, and the admixture of that fleshly nature which was molded after the image of God” (Adversus Haereses).

Gesture of Forgiveness

Meanwhile, the famous Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), in his painting “The Return of the Prodigal Son,” illustrated God the Father’s mercy. In the painting, the father had both hands on the prodigal son’s shoulders, a sign of forgiveness and reassurance. Rembrandt painted one hand of the Father as strong and masculine while the other hand as soft and feminine. The feminine hand is reminiscent of a passage in Isaiah: “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb?

Even should she forget, I will never forget you.” Rembrandt instinctively illustrated St. Irenaeus’ theology of God the Father’s two arms in embracing fallen humankind.

Under imposition of hands

Many gestures in the sacraments and the liturgy require the imposition of hands and the invocation of the Holy Spirit. In adult baptism, for example, a part of the ritual requires the minister to pray: “May Christ our Savior strengthen you with His power for He is the Lord for ever and ever.” Then he places his hands on the candidate in silence. In the baptism of children, on the other hand, the rite instructs the celebrant to impose his hands over all the children at once and say: “May you have the strength in the power of Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns for ever and ever.”

In the Roman rite of confirmation, the celebrant and other ministers with him lay or extend their hands upon all the candidates while the celebrant says: “All powerful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, by water and the Holy Spirit, You freed Your sons and daughters from sin and gave them new life.

Send Your Spirit upon them to be their Helper and Guide…”

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Rembrandt

 MERCY. Rembrandt's painting of "the return of the prodigal son" illustrates a merciful God.

In the case of the Eucharistic celebration, the laying of hands and the invocation of the Holy Spirit (epiclesis) are performed to change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.

According to Maloney, “the principal elements found in the Eucharistic epiclesis as gathered from the various liturgical texts are: (1) a simple invocation to God, (2) a petition that God the Father send down the Holy Spirit, (3) a petition that the Holy Spirit transform the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, and (4) a similar petition that the Holy Spirit apply to the faithful the sanctifying fruits of the Eucharist.”

Meanwhile, in the Sacrament of Holy Orders, the imposition of hands stands out clearly because no words are said while the bishop and priests present lay their hands over the ordinandi. In the Sacrament of Matrimony, the imposition of hands is not explicit. But when the couple exchange vows and hold hands, this gesture is a kind of imposition of hands. Before the couple exchanges their vows, the priest tells the couple to “join your right hands and express your intention before God and His Church.”

In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the priest extends his hands over the penitent’s head while saying the prayers of absolution. In the Anointing of the Sick, the priest lays his hands

on the head of the sick person before anointing the latter with holy oil.

The Seed and the Soil

In short, the laying of hands in all the sacraments points to sacraments as having power. But despite their inherent power, how come the sacraments become effective (or non-effective) in varying degrees? This question points to the role of the sacraments and the receiver.

The classical expression is that the sacraments “work” ex opera operato and ex opera operantis. St. Thomas Aquinas sometimes substitutes ex opera operato as ex opera Christi, meaning that the sacraments are effective through the work of Christ on the one hand, and the faith of the receiver, on the other hand.

“From the moment that a sacrament is celebrated in accordance with the intention of the Church, the power of Christ and His Spirit acts in and through it, independently of the personal holiness of the minister. Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them” (CCC 1128).

The parable of the sower and seed (Mt. 13:1-9) explains that, even if the seed is powerful, it alone cannot work if it is planted on stone or among thorns.

It needs good soil, and the fruit can

wm special • spirit and power vary. So if the Eucharist is received sacrilegiously, the act harms the receiver.

The “seed” is Christ while the “soil” is the recipient. The seed and the soil are both needed for the sacraments to be effective. Hence the sacraments do not “work” automatically because they require the cooperation or proper disposition of the receiver. Vatican II declares: “In order that the liturgy may be able to produce its full effects, it is necessary that the faithful come to it with proper dispositions, that their minds be attuned to their voices, and they cooperate with heavenly grace lest they receive it in vain.”

The Seed and Power

According to the Vatican II, Christ the Fundamental Sacrament is always present in His Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations. He is present in the Sacrifice of the Mass not only in the person of His minister, “the same new offering, through the ministry of priests, who formerly offered Himself on the cross,” but especially in the Eucharistic species. By His power, He is present in the sacraments so that when

a minister baptizes, it is really Christ Himself who baptizes.

As humans, believers do not see how the words of consecration in the Eucharist change the ordinary bread into the Body of Christ and wine into the Living Blood of Christ. But the Eucharistic miracles throughout the centuries attest to the power of the Eucharist, even if the minister lacks faith or is a sinner. During the eighth century in Lanciano, Italy, a priest who doubted the Real Presence was surprised that the Host was transformed into f lesh and blood. This miracle is displayed in the present-day church in Lanciano.

The scientists who examined the flesh say it contains arterioles, veins and nerve fibers while the blood is type AB. Even psychics and members of other religions recognize the Eucharistic Presence. Persons whose third eyes are developed can see auras of other people. The late Master Choa Kok Soi, who popularized pranic healing, writes: “The Holy Eucharist is truly sacred. When the wafers or hosts are consecrated, a tremendous amount of divine energy in the form of brilliant

The “seed” is Christ while the “soil” is the recipient. The seed and the soil are both needed for the sacraments to be effective.

Hence the sacraments do not “work” automatically because they require the cooperation or proper disposition of the receiver.

 SACRAMENTAL PRESENCE. Christ is truly present in the sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist.

electric violet comes down. The hosts are transformed from ordinary bread into “small blazing suns.”

Faith and Healing

Is faith related to the placebo effect?

Some experiments affirm that patients with incurable diseases who were administered starch pills got well. The placebo effect works, in part, thru the patient’s power of visualization.

During prayer rallies of the Philippinebased charismatic group El Shaddai, its founder, Mike Velarde, tells the assembly to raise inverted umbrellas to “catch” the grace of God. Faith, therefore, can accomplish much if applied to the sacraments.

Again, Choa Hok Soi described the Eucharist as power and as source of healing: “This is assuming that the priest is sufficiently spiritually developed…. Divine healing of the mind, emotion, and body occurs when the sacred host is taken with proper understanding, devotion, and gratitude…. In some instances, the participant may see his or her body filled with divine light and may experience bliss, divine ecstasy, and divine illumination… Eucharistic healing can be used to heal physical ailments, psychological ailments, and emotion hurts or pain.”

The Gospel of Luke narrates the story of the woman who suffered, twelve years, from hemorrhages. She envisioned that she will get well by touching the tassel of Jesus’ cloak. Even if there were many people touching Him, Jesus felt something exceptional because power came out of Him. He asked: “Who touched me?” When the woman realized that she had not escaped the Lord’s notice, she came forward trembling. Falling down before Him, she explained why she had touched Him and how she had been healed immediately. This narrative illustrates the role of the seed and the soil. Although many people pressed around Christ, nobody got healed except a woman who merely touched the tassel of his cloak. Christ attributes the cure to her great faith.

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wm special • spirit and power

The Holy Spirit and grace as power

Culture plays a critical role in the interpretation of concepts, including matters of faith. In Oriental cultures, the concept of power is rooted in nature, the universe, and even in consciousness. Taking into consideration these cultural saliencies in religious instruction in Asia has allowed for a better understanding of Christian beliefs, particularly with regard to the concept of power and the Holy Spirit. by

Leonardo N. Mercado, SVD | Contributor

S

peaking in behalf of the Asian bishops, Pope John Paul II, in 1998, admitted that Christianity in Asia is perceived as a Western religion because (1) Jesus is perceived as a Western figure, even if He was “born on Asian soil” and (2) Christianity in Asia is “associated with Western colonial influence,” unlike Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and Oriental religions which are very Eastern in character.

The Church is partly to blame for this. In the 17th century, Matteo Ricci (1562-1610) and his other Jesuit companions tried to reconcile the Chinese veneration of departed ancestors to Catholic liturgy. But Pope Clement XI, in 1704, condemned the innovation.

After realizing the consequences of its mistake, Rome retracted the condemnation in 1939. But the belated decision missed the golden opportunity when the Chinese authorities then welcomed the approach of Ricci and companions.

Vatican II and post-Vatican II documents have encouraged inculturation or the dialogue between the Good News and culture. This dialogue with culture may be on the level of the physical, the social, the mental and the symbolic.

In Asia, such an inculturation proved useful in illustrating beliefs about the Holy Spirit and power.

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The “Missing” Spirit

In his book entitled I Believe in the Holy Spirit, the Dominican theologian Yves Congar documented how the Catholic Church in past centuries had “forgotten” the Holy Spirit. For example, German theologian Karl Adams, in 1924, wrote that the Catholic faith rests on the trinity of God, Christ and Church. It was written at a time when the first Vatican Council in 1870 stressed the infallibility of the pope and the Immaculate Conception of Mary.

In addition, the lone Eucharistic prayer before Vatican II had no explicit wording for the Holy Spirit, even if the invocation of the Holy Spirit is essential in the Eucharistic sacrifice. This was eventually corrected in the newer Eucharistic prayers after Vatican II. The Council restored the rightful place of the Holy Spirit in ecclesiology, in the theology of mission, and other areas.

As the Church began to reintensify its missionary work, particularly in Asia, following Vatican II, the Holy Spirit had to be “reintroduced” using the familiar concepts of power in the Orient.

Power in Asian Thought

Power is a perennial concern in Asian, the Pacific, African, and in other cultures. Asian thought holds that power

comes from the “Absolute” and is shared in the universe, humans, and the whole of creation.

In Hinduism, prana, the life-sustaining force of living beings, comes primarily from the Almighty who is Pure Consciousness. Prana is applied in pranic healing as well as in athletics.

The counterpart of prana in Taoism and Confucianism is chi. Humans may acquire chi through the practice of Tai Chi – relaxation, meditation, breath control among other means.

In Bahasa Indonesia, power is tenaga dalan. In Javanese culture, power is ilimu. In Filipino, power is bisa. All these Oriental cultures hold that power can be acquired through ascetical practices.

The Bible uses different symbols of the Holy Spirit. Among them are water, oil, fire, cloud, light, dove, wind, seal, and the finger of God. But the Bible has another image, namely, power...

In Asian thought, power can apply to the divine.

Power as an Image of the Holy Spirit

The Bible uses different symbols of the Holy Spirit. Among them are water, oil, fire, cloud, light, dove, wind, seal, and the finger of God. But the Bible has another image, namely, power.

In the Pauline writings, power is applied to God the Father, Christ, or the Holy Spirit. In Romans, God the Father is referred to as the source of this power: “Ever since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes of

eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what He has made.”

Combining East and West

In Asian thought, power can apply to the divine. Through inculturation, the Asian concepts of power can be paralleled with the Christian doctrines on the Holy Spirit and grace by defining the Holy Spirit as uncreated energy while defining grace as a participation in this divine energy.

The Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference (FABC), in its 1992 document "The Spirit at Work in Asia Today," noted a strong correspondence between prana and the Holy Spirit. Prana, as mentioned earlier, corresponds to qi (chi) in Taoism and Confucianism as well as the equivalent terms in Indonesian and Filipino thought. The Asian theologians in the said document taught: “We cannot but recognize the lofty moral and spiritual values that these philosophies of life offer to humankind’s search for peace, harmony and meaning. In many ways, they ref lect the workings of the Holy Spirit in the cosmos and particularly in humanity and its history.”

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IN focus • pope francis' visit to south korea

The first choice

Early on in his papacy, Pope Francis made it clear that he wanted to visit Asia, something that his predecessor, Benedict XVI seemed to have overlooked. After the apostolic voyage to Brazil for World Youth Day in 2013, the Philippines and Sri Lanka figured prominently in Francis’ list of possible Asian destinations. All of a sudden, however, South Korea popped up on the papal radar out of nowhere, and emerged as the first Asian country that Francis will visit as the Bishop of Rome. Although the Pope’s attendance in the 6th Asian Youth Day and the beatification of scores of Korean martyrs are the official reasons disclosed by the Vatican for making the trip, many are speculating why Pope Francis made South Korea his first choice.

An analysis of his decisions and pronouncements in the past few months, however, seem to collectively hint at the true reasons why the Holy Father decided to go to the Korean Peninsula. by

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A

long with Africa, Asia has been identified as one of the “growth centers” of the Catholic faith, with a significant increase in the number of ordinations and baptisms over the past few years. Despite this, however, only about 11% of the Catholic population is based in the Asian region, where two thirds of the world’s population resides. That is why modern day popes, beginning with the “Pilgrim Pope” Paul VI, have, time and again, emphasized the importance of Asia as a frontier for evangelization that needs to be given special attention for the continual and effective spread of the Gospel and the faith. Among Asian countries, the Philippines, which has long been regarded as the “Beacon of Catholicism in Asia,” Vietnam, India, South Korea, and Sri Lanka, have always been recognized by the Vatican as the countries where Catholicism remains alive and well. It was not uncommon, therefore, during the reign of Popes Paul VI and St. John Paul II, that a papal visit to an Asian country be included in the itinerary of an apostolic voyage.

Papal Snub

During the pontificate of Benedict XVI, however, focus was on the reevangelization or the re-awakening of the faith in the “Old Christian” countries of Europe. Although there is no doubt that Benedict constantly had his eye on Asia (if the number of Asian cardinals he elevated to the Sacred College during his reign as pope is a good measure), his physical presence, by way of an apostolic pilgrimage to Asia, was sorely missed. That is why journalists, who covered the World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro in 2013, equated Pope Francis’ intention to visit the Philippines or Sri Lanka in the near future, which he expressed in a media briefing on the flight back to Rome, as a way of making amends to Asia for Benedict XVI’s apparent “papal snub.” While everyone in Rome, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka was second-guessing when the Holy Father would make this trip

 CLOSENESS. South Korean President Park Geun-hey has officially invited Pope Francis.

In Korea alone, the Catholic population grew to an astounding 70% in the past decade. Catholics now comprise 10% of the traditionally Buddhist South Korean population. South Korea is now the third largest Catholic nation in Asia, next to the Philippines and Vietnam. to Asia, the Vatican, in March 2014, announced that Pope Francis will be visiting South Korea in August 2014 to attend the 6th Asian Youth Day. On top of this, the Holy Father will beatify a group of 124 Korean martyrs during that voyage. (In a press briefing on the plane ride back to Rome following his apostolic journey to the Holy Land in May, Pope Francis himself confirmed that he will be visiting the Philippines in January 2015. – Ed.) In Gratitude

To be sure, the announcement, like a thief in the night, surprised many people in and out of Catholic circles. A statement issued by Seoul Archbishop Andrew Yeom Cardinal Soo-jung, who was elevated to the College of Cardinals only a month before the announcement of the papal trip to the Korean Peninsula was made, seemed devoid of any hint that the Cardinal knew that the Pope was coming to his country. There already was, however, a standing invitation from the South Korean President and the Bishops’ Conference for the Holy Father to visit the country. Cardinal Yeom believes Pope Francis’ genu-

ine closeness to and affection for the Korean people prompted the decision.

“During the Mass of Thanksgiving for the creation of new cardinals, the Holy Father offered words of affection to me that he really loves Korea; now that he is really coming to our country, I can feel the abundant grace of God. The Holy Father’s papal visit to Korea is a great joy and blessing to our country,” the Cardinal’s statement read.

Meanwhile, CNN’s Vatican analyst and Boston Globe’s Associate Editor for “all things Catholic,” John Allen, Jr. surmises that one of the main reasons why Pope Francis made South Korea his first stop in Asia was “to say thank you” for Asia’s contribution to the Catholic Church. Again, although only a tenth of Catholics resides in the Asian region, the rate at which Catholicism ballooned in Asian countries over the past several years cannot be overlooked. In Korea alone, the Catholic population grew to an astounding 70% in the past decade.

Catholics now comprise 10% of the traditionally Buddhist South Korean population. South Korea is now the third largest Catholic nation in Asia, next to the Philippines and Vietnam.

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Faith Cultivated by Martyrs

The Korean Church attributes this dramatic increase in the Catholic population to Pope John Paul II’s twin visits to their country. The first visit was in 1984 while the second was in 1989.

During the first trip, St. John Paul II canonized Fr. Andrew Kim Tae-gon, the first Korean priest-martyr, as well as 102 other martyrs. The Holy Father returned a second time to the Peninsula to attend the 44th International Eucharistic Congress held in Seoul.

Since then, the Korean Church has blossomed astoundingly and has encouraged a number of vocations among the Korean faithful.

Aside from rekindling the zeal and inspiration that St. John Paul II has bequeathed to the Koreans, Allen, meanwhile, believes that Pope Francis, by beatifying more than a hundred Korean martyrs, wants to impart a statement – more appropriately, a teaching – on the significance of martyrs in today’s modern world. In the same way that Pope Francis wants to emphasize that there are saints still living among us in this day and age, (as he clearly underscored by canonizing St. John XXIII and St. John Paul II in April), he also wants to draw attention to the continual spillage of blood for the Christian faith to this very day. Allen, in his Boston Globe article, has placed the tally somewhere between one new Christian martyr per day to one per hour. Statistics show that Asia is where most modern-day martyrdoms take place. The Diocese of Daejeon, venue for the Asian Youth Day from August 14 to 18, is the birthplace of St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon. In addition, several places in the diocese have been prominently linked to the persecution of Christians in the 19th century.

In his welcome message to the delegates of the 6th Asian Youth Day, Archbishop Patrick D’Rozario, the Chairman of the Youth Desk of the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences’ Office of the Laity and Family, invited participants to (1) remember the roots of the faith that were introduced in Asia,

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Dave Domingues

 CHALLENGE. The blood shed by a number of Korean martyrs strengthens our faith today.

The seeds that have been planted by the martyrs of Daejeon, as well as the new martyrs that Pope Francis will beatify, will definitely serve as a profound example and reminder to the youth of how difficult it was for the first Asian Christians to live out their faith.

(2) rediscover the faith (and values) that have been lost in this highly secularized society, and (3) walk together with Jesus and the martyrs as present-day witnesses of the faith. The seeds that have been planted by the martyrs of Daejeon, as well as the new martyrs that Pope Francis will beatify, will definitely serve as a profound example and reminder to the youth of how difficult it was for the first Asian Christians to live out their faith, and how the martyrs’ sacrifices have nurtured, enriched, and perpetuated the faith that Asian Catholics are enjoying today. If anything, the Holy Father’s participation in the youth gathering affirms this invitation by Archbishop D’Rozario, and further strengthens the theme “Asian Youth! Wake up! The glory of the martyrs shines on you!”

In write ups about him after his nomination to the cardinalate, it was emphasized that Cardinal Yeom was descendant from Korean martyrs. His ancestor Peter Yeom Seok-tae and wife Mary were executed during the time of the Joseon Dynasty in 1850 when persecution of Christians was common. Meanwhile, another ancestor, Joseph YeomDeok-sun was among the first Korean converts to Christianity. Both are venerated by Korean Catholics as “fathers of the faith.” Cardinal Yeom, for all intents and purposes, is therefore a living testament to the sacrifice of Asian martyrs, most especially the Korean martyrs.

After all, a cardinal’s scarlet robes are a symbol of his willingness to spill the blood for the faith.

A Harbinger of Peace

Korean Cardinal

While others may see it as a mere coincidence, the inclusion of Cardinal Yeom in Pope Francis’ first batch of cardinals is also very telling. When Vatican experts f loated the names of several cardinals-in-waiting, the Seoul Archbishop was at the bottom of these lists, if at all he was included in them.

On a larger scale, Pope Francis’ trip to South Korea is also a reinforcement of one of his “official platforms” as pope.

Peace has always been one of the key messages of the Holy Father since he ascended to the Chair of St. Peter. In his Christmas and Easter urbi et orbi (“to the city and to the world”) messages, the Pope constantly appealed for peace in

IN focus • pope francis' visit to south korea Syria, parts of Africa, the Middle East, and the Holy Land. There is no doubt that peace between and the eventual reunification of the two Koreas are also in his prayers. During an address to 180 ambassadors accredited to the Holy See in January this year, the Holy Father prayed for “reconciliation in the Peninsula…for the good of all the Korean people.” He also encouraged the governments of the two Koreas not to grow weary of finding a solution to attain peace and unity.

In naming Cardinal Yeom, whose longstanding advocacy is for peace in the Korean Peninsula, Pope Francis also made this message and intention for peace clear. In the same way, the Seoul Archbishop hoped that the Holy Father’s visit will pave the way for peace.

“I pray that Pope Francis’ visit will bring reconciliation and peace to the Korean Peninsula; I hope that this will be the chance for all Asia to feel the peace of the Lord,” the Cardinal said.

For his part, Cardinal Yeom advanced the cause of peace by being the first South Korean Roman Catholic leader to cross the Korean inter-border last May 21. The Cardinal visited South Korean Catholics working in the North-South factory complex situated in Kaesong, North Korea. South Korean Catholic officials, however, denied that Cardinal Yeom’s trip was

in preparation for a possible visit by the Pope himself to the neutral zone. Fresh tension between Seoul and Pyongyang once again brewed in recent months, with Pyongyang constantly conducting missile and rocket test launches and harshly criticizing the South Korean government, and its allegiance to the United States, anew.

Personal Affinity

But perhaps the Holy Father’s reason for visiting South Korea had a very personal motive to it. Very early in his life as a Jesuit, Fr. Jorge Mario Bergoglio wanted to be assigned to Asia, particularly to Japan, as a missionary. However, for reasons of health, the assignment did not become possible. Fr. Bergoglio, however, was able to visit Japan in 1987, which was the closest opportunity he could probably have gotten to realizing his dream of becoming a missionary in Asia, immersing himself in Asia’s rich culture, and inserting himself among and closely encountering the peoples of the region.

But Fr. Bergoglio did not have to go far to realize this dream, and make friends and collaborators among the Asians. In 1994, Fr. Han Lim Moon, a South Korean native who migrated to Argentina at age 21, and who was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires in 1984, met with then-

 GREAT JOY. Cardinal Yeom shares the great love Pope Francis has for the Korean people.

Auxiliary Bishop Bergoglio to ask permission to invite the Little Servants of the Holy Family based in Seoul to Flores, one of the four vicariates within the Archdiocese and where the future Pope was born. Bergoglio consented to the visit by the Korean missionaries.

Since then, Bishop Bergoglio became a friend of the Korean community in Flores and was regularly invited to all its feasts. This close encounter with the Korean faithful (and the world has been witness to this pope’s desire for close personal encounters and his promotion of a “culture of encounter) is perhaps what prompted the Holy Father, on a very personal level, to repay the Korean people’s kindness. This “culture of encounter,” that is to reach out beyond the confines of one’s comfort zones, to cultivate brotherhood and dialogue, and to touch the poor and the neglected, as the Pope has articulated many times, is the foundation of peace.

In February, Pope Francis appointed Fr. Moon as Auxiliary Bishop of San Martin, Argentina, perhaps as a further testament to the Holy Father’s affinity and affection towards the Korean faithful. Bishop Moon, who was consecrated last May 4th, is the first South Korean native to become part of the Argentinian Catholic Bishops’ Conference. In a reaction posted on the Salt and Light TV’s official blog, Bishop Moon said he himself was clueless as to why Pope Francis made him a bishop.

Although the “official” reasons for Pope Francis’ visit to South Korea have been declared by the Vatican, one can definitely surmise that the Holy Father has a deeper and more personal reason for making Korea his first Asian destination. His personal encounters and experiences with members of the Asian, particularly the Korean, Church, and his magisterium on social issues and themes like sainthood and martyrdom that is slowly taking shape through his actions and pronouncements, paint an “unofficial” picture of why Francis made South Korea his first choice.

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JOURNAL • Walking the talk

A man of the Spirit

Fr. Bob McCahill, a Maryknoll Father from the U.S., is no stranger to the many poor and sick people living along the streets of Bangladesh. He has been serving them for the past 35 years.

His itinerant missionary life, his simplicity, his nearness and sincere concern for the poor and those who suffer has made him a “universal brother” to the Muslims and Hindus of the impoverished country, where religious and racial differences can surprisingly be easily overcome by genuine love and service. His work is an example of how the Holy Spirit blows wherever He wills (cf Jn 3:8) The following is a compilation of short anecdotes of Fr. McCahill’s journey that hopes to capture his tireless efforts and his continuing aspiration to seek and touch the Face of Christ through his encounters with the poor of Bangladesh. by

Fr. Dave Domingues | Comboni missionary

While walking on a side street during a visit to one of the ten towns in Bangladesh I have lived in, the face of a young man coming towards me lit up with astonishment. “Do you know who I am?” he asked. I did not. “I am Razzak,” he said before adding a big smile, “… the Queen’s boy!” Then I remembered. Razzak was a perilously emaciated child whom I took, along with his mother, to the Save the Children Nu-

trition Unit in Dhaka in the mid-80’s.

There, Razzak recovered and blossomed. When a female member of the English royal family visited Dhaka, she paid special attention to the shriveled Razzak. Afterwards, the staff dubbed Razzak “the Queen’s boy.” Now, 28 years later, Razzak is a fine-looking shop clerk. I do not know which one of us was more delighted by our chance encounter. Ordinarily, I never got the chance to see again the children I have been privileged to help.

Reality of Being Human

The New Mission

God Sends His Angels

At the beginning of the year, a seminarian spent some weeks with me. One morning, Kevin and I bicycled to a distant village intending to arrange with a couple the hospitalization of their child.

However, the child was no longer there.

His father had vacated their village home and taken the family elsewhere in search of work. The child’s need for professional treatment was dwarfed by the family’s need for food. “First things first,” the father must have thought.

Meanwhile, Kevin and I continued to try to be useful to the poor, sometimes, with a bit of success.

Months earlier, Bishop Bejoy D’Cruze sent me an invitation: “Come spend some years in my diocese.” Eight months later, we met to iron out the details. Thus, at the beginning of May, I – with no little assistance from the Lord – inserted myself in Hobiganj District of Sylhet Diocese, where mostly Muslims and Hindus live. The bishop appreciated this missionary approach.

“First comes the witness of Christian living, the witness of practical love,” he affirmed with enthusiasm.

During my first days in Hobiganj town, I walked and talked, that is, walked up and down the mile-long main street and spoke with anyone who looked like they wanted to converse. At a bookstore, a lady teacher, upon hearing of my need to find a room, suggested that I see the headmaster of the government high school just across the street.

Headmaster Gaffar was sympathetic and offered me a teacher’s room on campus for “up to four months duration.” Through Gaffar, God was clearly intervening in my quest for shelter in the crowded town.

The Queen’s Boy

José Rebelo

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Simple Rewards

The Pilgrimage Ahead

The Common Bond

In village Tetuia, Tanvir’s grandfather, Rajob Ali, was so happy to receive his 7-month old grandson back home after surgery that he wanted to reward me. Rajob offered me fresh milk and went through the motions of milking the family’s cow to make it clear to me that the milk would be unadulterated.

However, not even his pantomime convinced me to accept warm milk fresh from the udder, especially because many cows in Bangladesh suffer from TB or worm infestation. I thanked him for the kind offer and explained why I stopped drinking milk at age 18: my bones were already strong by then!

Hamid, the wiry, retired gateman of the high school, always asks me whether or not I have eaten. That is the normal way for Bengalis to show regard for their partners in conversation. I had just eaten supper so I itemized for Hamid what I had eaten: rice, vegetable curry, lentil soup, and cucumber. He smiled upon hearing the familiar names. “We eat, we live, we die, all according to the time Allah has fixed for us,” Hamid commented. He knows there is more to life than eating. Even so, he enjoys hearing precisely what I ate – even if they are always the same four items.

I had already purchased bananas at Nozrul Islam’s fruit stand several times before. But our first conversation came much, much later. He knew no other Christian but me. It pleased him to learn that I wished to help unite people.

“There are many similarities between Muslims and Christians,” he proposed.

I agreed with his insight and added that I believe there are deep similarities between persons of all faiths. Nozrul seriously nodded in agreement, but said no more. He had been accustomed to dwelling on the dissimilarities between himself and persons of other faiths.

The truth is we are all one family.

José Rebelo

José Rebelo

José Rebelo

Among Brothers

Grandfather of Souls

Infectious Zeal

During Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, Mamoon invited me into his home. When he and his wife started to prepare a snack for me, I reminded him that I, too, was keeping the fast with them. His mouth fell open in surprise.

“You are a Christian and you are fasting with us?” Mamoon threw his arms around me. “You are doing so much for us!” Mamoon credited me for doing good for all Muslims by keeping the fast with them. Solidarity!

As I crossed a bridge to catch a bus, Parul, an NGO officer, was also crossing on the way to her village office. She is quite a pretty woman and wears an Islamic veil which leaves her face uncovered. Thus, people can see it and praise the Creator for her beauty. “What is his relationship to you?” the conductor of our bus asked Parul when she paid both our fares. “He is my grandfather,” she smiled back. Friends have told me how cool it is to have grandchildren. I know the feeling!

When I prepared to bicycle away from the library, a collegian was waiting for me on the path. “I wish to converse with you,” he began. “I like what you do. I also would like to serve the people.”

Not much more was said. Urging him to continue focusing on ways by which he could be even more useful to others, I called on the Best Giver to bless the young man.

Brotherhood – this is perhaps what summarizes Fr. McCahill’s mission and Christian witness in Bangladesh over the past several decades. To show the human face of God’s love, i.e., Christ’s love, to all people regardless of their religion or race, is to regard them as one’s very own brother. After all, the world is one big brotherhood united by love.

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spiritual reflection • BEING FIRST

The least is the greatest

Jesus’ teachings were indeed considered radical during His time, especially by those who wanted to silence Him or put Him to death. However, His teachings were also a source of confusion among His closest disciples who, at one point of their journey, were thrilled by Jesus’ miracles, but then confounded by His prediction of His death during the next. Again, Jesus offers the image of a child to explain His point, especially those who desire to be first in God’s kingdom. by

Dianne Bergant, CSA | the Carroll Stuhlmueller, CP Distinguished Professor of Old Testament Studies

"Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest." Luke 9:48

O

nce again, Jesus turns our standards of judgment upside down: the least shall be the greatest. Just what does this mean?

How are we to fashion society and live comfortably within it if we turn everything askew? Is this another instance in which Jesus uses exaggeration in order to make a point? And what point is He intending to make? A careful look at the passage itself, and then its broader literary context, will shed some light on its fundamental message.

Jesus chooses a child to make His point. It is important to know that, in the ancient society of His time, children were not considered important at all. Their usefulness consisted in performing the lowest and most menial tasks, like washing feet and tending herds. True, they were the future of

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society, but while they were children, they were really insignificant and totally vulnerable. We should not be surprised then that Jesus uses the apparent insignificance and menial service of a child to teach a lesson, for that was the model of Himself that He placed before His followers. He was “meek and humble of heart” (Matt 11:29), one “who did not come to be served but to serve” (Mark 10:45). Later in Luke’s gospel, a child will be offered as the model of the true follower: “Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it" (Luke 18:17).

Symbolism of the Child

In this particular saying, the insignificance of the child is not applied to Jesus or to the disciples. Rather, the child represents all of those whom society considers unimportant and vulnerable. They are the ones who have been marginalized because they are poor or homeless; they are immigrants or unemployed; they are those who suffer

physical or mental disadvantage. In placing the child before His followers, Jesus is saying: ‘When you welcome any one of these, in my name, you welcome me.” And He goes further: ‘And when you welcome me, you welcome the one who sent me.’ Now we know what is meant by the saying: “…the least among you is the greatest.” Jesus has reinterpreted what it means to be great.

Now we can see how truly radical such a saying is. Jesus is indeed turning everything upside down.

This saying must have truly startled Jesus’ followers, for they lived in a society where honor and shame not only governed one’s place in that society, but actually determined one’s basic acceptability. Those who held places of honor were highly respected; those in lowly places were shunned, lest one somehow be ‘infected’ by that shame oneself. It was not uncommon for someone who lost honor to commit suicide. This code was one of exclusion, not inclusion, as Jesus taught. Jesus does not really do away with the honor-shame code. He re-

defines it: “…the least among all of you is the greatest." This must have been heard as a startling statement.

The Gospel writer knew how radical this saying was, for this very passage is Jesus’ response to a quarrel His followers had among themselves: “An argument arose among the disciples about which of them was the greatest” (Luke 9:46). We are not sure who was involved in this argument. However, earlier in this chapter, we read about Jesus’ transfiguration on the mountain. That event was witnessed by Peter, James, and John. Might their privileged status as having been so chosen by Jesus have precipitated the argument?

This possibility is reinforced in the next two passages. There, we read that John complains when someone who did not belong to their group was seen casting out demons in Jesus’ Name (9:49-50).

He seems to want to keep the power of Jesus for only a select few. In the next passage, John and James want to command fire to come down from heaven and consume a Samaritan village that would not offer Jesus hospitality (9:5156). This fury at not being welcomed suggests that there was a form of arrogance even in those who were part of Jesus’ inner circle.

In this passage about the child, we see Jesus do what He does so many times. That is, He addresses a problem indirectly, allowing His listeners to draw their own conclusions. The broader passage unfolds in this way.

The focus of the argument is on the disciples themselves; which of them is the greatest? Jesus refocuses their attention from themselves to those whom they should welcome. According to social practice, if they wanted status, they would only welcome those already judged by society as having the status.

Jesus redefines who has status when He says: “… the least among you is the greatest.” This means that those who would be “the greatest” should welcome and associate with those whom society considers “the least.” This is certainly a radical teaching.

 GREATNESS. Jesus showed us, in word and in deed, how to have a welcoming heart.

Like the early disciples, we are told to welcome those whom society has refused to welcome. Jesus identifies with them, and so, to welcome them is to welcome Him, and to welcome Jesus is to welcome the One who sent Him. Ignorance of the Disciples

The very arrangement of the stories in this part of the Gospel underscores the disciples’ inability to understand the radical nature of the standards of the reign of God. For example, after the thrill of being part of Jesus’ feeding the five thousand in the deserted place (9:10-17), Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah of God (9:18-20).

It is at that moment of great exhilaration that Jesus foretells His death and resurrection (9:21-27). How could the disciples possibly understand the conf licting meaning of these events?

Though they witnessed His transfiguration, Peter, James, and John certainly did not understand. The stories of their attitudes toward the exorcist (9:49-50) and the Samaritan village (9:51-56) are evidence of that. Earlier, when a man asked the disciples to heal his son who was suffering from a demon, they were unable to do so. These stories show that the disciples have neither power over evil nor understanding of Jesus’ teaching. This entire set of stories precedes Jesus’ last prediction of His death (Luke 9:43b-45). They are found at the end of

His Galilean ministry. Jesus is now set to face His suffering and death. “[H] e resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). He would now have to pay the price for being faithful to His messiahship. In an earlier prediction of His death, he had warned His disciples of the price they would have to pay for their faithfulness to Him. But had they understood?

What does this passage about the child say to us today? For one thing, it warns us about how easy it is to misunderstand the Gospel because the standards presented by Jesus are often so different from the standards by which we normally live. This passage addresses the ancient code of honor and shame, a code that accepts some and rejects others. In this passage, the reversal of the standards that determined this code is very clear. Like the early disciples, we are told to welcome those whom society has refused to welcome. Jesus identifies with them, and so, to welcome them is to welcome Him, and to welcome Jesus is to welcome the One who sent Him. The teaching is just that simple, and just that difficult.

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missionary vocation • Fr. Werenfried van Straaten

The bacon priest

In response to his first appeal for help on behalf of the German refugees in the aftermath of World War II, Fr. Werenfried van Straaten received large donations of ham from the farmers near his abbey in Belgium. Because of that, the nickname “Bacon Priest” stuck with him and actually became popular. Subsequently, Fr. Werenfried founded the charity, Aid to the Church in Need, aimed at helping the Catholic communities under the communist regimes beyond the Iron Curtain. He was at its helm for more than 50 years, travelling extensively to promote it, becoming a worldwide figure of courage and dedication. During that time, he responded to requests from a number of popes to expand his work into Africa, South America, and worldwide. Today, the charity supports Christians who are suffering, persecuted, or in serious pastoral need in more than 130 countries. by

Fr. Lorenzo Carraro, MCCJ | comboni missionary

A

t the end of the Second World War, the devastation in Europe was enormous. The fighting had destroyed whole communities.

Families and individuals were frightened and displaced. Millions of Germans had been swept from their homes by the advancing Red Army. Many in Poland and Czechoslovakia w e re d r i v e n westward, becoming refugees w it h no home s and no prospec ts for the future.

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A young Dutch priest, by a mysterious design of Divine Providence, took it upon himself to help this desperate wave of human tide.

It was Winter 1947 when Fr. Werenfried Van Straaten wrote an article for the Christmas issue of the magazine of his Abbey of Tongerlo, an article that was to change his whole life. Called "No Room at the Inn," the article evoked the plight of the homeless and stateless, the almost fifteen million who had fled or had been removed from their homelands in Central and Eastern Europe to Germany as a result of the Yalta and Potsdam Agreements.

Fr. Werenfried followed up the article with a fund-raising campaign: he undertook his first preac hing mission

to beg alms at a small Flemish village whose inhabitants had suffered much under the Nazi occupiers. He pleaded with them to forgive the enemy of yesterday and to donate food – particularly sides of cured bacon – to be sent to these defeated Germans who were now poverty-stricken and starving.

For the rest of his life, Fr. Werenfried would recall the generous response from those villagers, many of whom had lost loved ones in the war against the Nazis. One of his most famous sayings dates from this time: "People are better than we think. And God, too, is better than we think." It was this first mission, too, that provided him with the nickname which endured for the rest of his life, "The Bacon Priest."

The monastery at Tongerlo became a vast warehouse as he hitchhiked through Belgium, begging for supplies of food and clothing. To this day, despite the relocation of the charity's administrative headquarters to Konigstein near Frankfurt in Germany, Tongerlo has remained the goods depot.

Later, during the years of the Cold War, Fr. Werenfried extended his mission to the countries behind the Iron Curtain, to the Christians of Eastern Europe suffering under communist dictatorships, founding the charity; Aids for the Church in Need (ACN). Often, his work had to be carried out in dangerous circumstances, and in secret. What this young Dutch priest had begun immediately after the war in Germany very soon continued in other countries. Before long, the charity was for the whole suffering Church around the world.

But, unable to resist the call, he applied for admission to the Capuchin Franciscans in 1934, having chosen this Order because he admired the poverty and simplicity of its members. One of the requirements for entry was a series of stringent medical tests. The doctor

Warrior for peace

The second of four children, Fr. Werenfried was born Philip Johannes Hendrik van Straaten on January 17, 1913 in Mijdrecht, Holland. Both his parents were schoolteachers and devout Catholics and, after his two brothers entered the religious life, the young man decided that two priests in the family were enough. He studied Literature at the University of Utrecht, where he was active in Christian societies and student politics.

who examined him told the young Hendrik van Straaten that if he undertook the rigors and penances then demanded by the Capuchin way of life, he would be dead within three months. The doctor forbade him from joining.

Van Straaten was devastated, but God had something else in store for

him. In the same year, he made a retreat at the flourishing Norbertine Abbey of Tongerlo in Belgium. There he found his spiritual home. Admission to final vows was not assured, however, as his health remained delicate. Then, the Abbot agreed to have the novice as his secretary, and he was admitted to full membership of the Order, taking the religious name Werenfried (Warrior for Peace).

Throughout his life, he was a tireless founder and builder. In the early years of his work in Eastern Europe, he started an "Order of Building Companions" to put up churches and homes for uprooted communities. In 1966, he cofounded a native African congregation of nuns, the Daughters of the Resurrection. An inspiring preacher, Fr. Werenfried van Straaten appealed tirelessly for donations, usually taking the collection personally in his famous “hat of millions.”

There was always a rebellious side to Fr. Werenfried’s character, but he knew how to harness this for good.

And it may have been his fearlessness and his vision that made him so popular with young people. He, in turn, recognized that the youth are inclined to respond to a challenge. While he denounced the "great heresy of Communism", he also berated the West for falling prey to "the practical atheism of materialism" – a society that had no respect for the weakest and the poorest,

 GOODS DEPOT. The Monastery at Tongerlo became a vast warehouse as Fr. Werenfried hitchhiked through Belgium

begging for supplies of food and clothing in order to help those in dire need.

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and which even killed millions of its own young by abortion, and that was in danger of perdition.

“Vehicles for God”

Starting as early as 1949, some three thousand ‘rucksack priests’ were supported by the charity so that they could minister to the millions of uprooted Catholics in a devastated post-war Germany. They all were in need of transportation. To solve this, Father Werenfried, in 1950, began his first great campaign to provide “Vehicles for God,” as the initiative was then called.

The center for all this activity quickly became the small town of Königstein, close to the city of Frankfurt, Germany, where ACN still has its international headquarters today. It was in Königstein, now known as “Father Werenfried Square,” that the various vehicles would initially be gathered: motorcycles, VW ‘Beetles,’ and converted trucks and buses – the famous “chapel trucks” which not only carried food and clothing but also had a ‘fold-out’ altar in the center.

Altogether, some 35 “chapel trucks” were created, all bearing the names of saints and angels and traveling with the priests to the scattered groups of German Catholic refugees in areas where Catholic churches did not exist or had been destroyed. Thanks to the generosity of hundreds of thousands of ordinary people, the charity has been able to fund and supply thousands of cars, boats, bicycles, trucks, motorcycles – and even horses and donkeys – to support the Church in her pastoral mission over the course of five decades.

In 1998, ACN also helped fund the creation of the first ever “chapel boat” on the River Volga. Today, there are three such boats, traveling along the Rivers Volga and Don and ministering to isolated communities of believers there. One of them even bears the name “Werenfried.” It is no longer possible today to accurately state the exact number of vehicles supplied by ACN since the program began, but, between

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 GREAT ALLY. Fr. Werenfried found in St. John Paul II the great support he needed.

Fr. Werenfried's work developed into providing spiritual and material succor to Christians in the persecuted Church behind the Iron Curtain. He travelled throughout the Western world, raising awareness of "the Church of Silence."

1994 and 2009 alone, no fewer than 6,352 cars, over 1,000 motorcycles, 80 motorboats, and 6,650 bicycles were supplied by the charity in support of the Church’s pastoral outreach.

Worldwide Outreach

From this beginning, Fr. Werenfried's work developed into providing spiritual and material succor to Christians in the persecuted Church behind the Iron Curtain. He travelled throughout the Western world, raising awareness of "the Church of Silence" and of its predicament in the Communist bloc. He collected alms to provide prayer books, catechetical and liturgical texts, as well as material help.

In 1953, Fr. Werenfried founded an inf luential newsletter, The Mirror.

His sources were impeccable, and in the Western world, he was often the only one describing the true scale of suffering and religious persecution under the Communist regimes. In time, he came to distribute more than 700,000 copies in six languages to

supporters of his charity around the world. During the early days, he wrote each language version himself, in his own fine handwriting, and these were copied or printed out.

Fr. Werenfried himself travelled extensively behind the Iron Curtain, to hold clandestine meetings with Church leaders and gather information about the situation on the ground.

Often, he carried a false passport, and went in disguise; danger did not concern him. When the Russian troops retreated temporarily from Budapest in October 1956, he headed straight for the Hungarian capital.

In his haste, he forgot to take his passport and arrived in the white habit of his Order. For the first time, he met the imprisoned Hungarian Archbishop Mindszenty, who made a deep impression on him; he later became the Archbishop's spokesman in the West.

It was the start of a f lood of aid for the Church in Hungary.

In 1959, Fr. Werenfried traveled through Asia, visiting the refugee

missionary vocation • Fr. Werenfried van Straaten areas and meeting Mother Teresa in her “House of the Dying” in Calcutta.

In 1962, he attended the Second Vatican Council in Rome as a “peritus” or expert. There he met with more than sixty bishops form the Iron Curtain countries who were directly or indirectly receiving help from his organization.

In 1965, during the Simba uprising, Fr. Werenfried visited the Belgian Congo, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 1972, the Vatican sent him as a special envoy to Burundi, where the Tutsi were then massacring the Hutus.

On his arrival in a small chartered airplane from Zaire, Fr. Werenfried was placed under arrest. After one night, he escaped, finding his way to the Nunciature where he sought and received sanctuary before slipping out of the country a few days later.

Twin souls

Fr. Werenfried was on reasonably good terms with Pope Saint John XXIII who, in 1962, asked him to extend his charity's work to the Church in Latin America, and with Pope Paul VI, but he disagreed with their policy of seeking an accommodation with Communism.

His greatest supporter was the Polish Saint John Paul II who, as the then-Archbishop of K rakow, had defied the Communist authorities to build a church in the town of Nowa Huta. For months, he and his people carried out building work at night while the Communists pulled down their efforts by day. Eventually, the church was completed and reluctantly accepted by the Communists. The

building materials had been paid for

by Fr. Werenfried's charity.

When Saint John Paul II was chosen as pope, Fr. Werenfried was already 65 years old, but continue to be the pontiff’s “twin soul” for the entire length of the pontificate. It was during this time when Fr. Werenfried life took an interest in helping the Orthodox Church.

With the changes in Eastern Europe, Fr. Werenfried, who was already over 80 years old, made two extensive trips to Russia and Siberia. On both occasions, he met the Patriarch of Moscow, agreeing to give aid to a small number of Russian Orthodox projects.

To some of his supporters, this was a step too far, but he explained that the duty to help the Orthodox Church in need was the same duty which had given birth to his work at the end of the Second World War. His policy of Christian charity to the Russian Orthodox Church was sanctioned by Pope Saint John Paul himself. Following the death of “The Bacon Priest” on January 31, 2003, at the ripe age of 90, the Pope honored Fr. Werenfried for his passion and dedication to serve those in need, naming him as an “Outstanding Apostle of Charity.”

Fr. Werenfried always believed that his true vocation in life was simply to be “a beggar for God’s suffering children.”

In the year 2,000, on the 60th anniversary of his ordination, he said: “I took the vow of poverty and gave away all that I possessed. I retained only my voice which has cried out everywhere for help, and the pen with which I write my begging letters on behalf of the suffering,

 DEDICATION. With passion for the poor, his hat had collected thousands for charity.

tirelessly working to bring God’s love and comfort to those in need of it most.”

Fr. Werenfried’s beautiful vision of creating an “international movement of love” lives on, bringing the light and hope of Christ wherever there is hate, discord, oppression or poverty around the world. He wrote: “Let us, therefore, in the Name of God, restore love, which opens doors and hearts to Him. We human beings are one race, all of us…

We must love one another and help one another. Let us be like Saint Martin.

Once, he was riding his horse when a beggar cried out for help, but Saint Martin had nothing left to give. So he took his cloak, cut it in half and gave one half to the beggar… The beggar was Christ. Every poor man is Christ!”

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the last word

THE FIRST COUNCIL by

Fr . SILVANO FAUSTI, s.J. | BIBLIST & WRITER

“They rejoiced at the consolation” – Read Acts 15:1-35

T

he Council of Jerusalem tries to make table fellowship possible among people of different cultures. It doesn’t condemn anybody. In the same way as Vatican II did in our time, it aims at “bringing up to date” all the members of the Church so that they may answer the new demands of a community open to the world (this is aggiornamento). As then, even here and now, God keeps on working. Because He is life and love, God is the eternal ephemeral, always new. Those who are afraid of novelty are scared by the steps of the One who accompanies every journey of ours, even when we escape (Cf. Genesis 3:10).

Reality, above all if it doesn’t come from our own projects, is not a problem to solve. It is Word of God to read with care: it manifests God and saves humanity.

The Church is a constant changing body: it is growing and it will grow until it reaches its “full stature” (cf. Ephesians 4:14).

But a new identity puts the old one in a crisis. In the Council of Jerusalem, the ancient Church points out the way to solve the unavoidable conflicts.

In the confrontation between progressives and traditionalists, it is the essence of Christianity that is at stake: salvation comes from faith not from traditional laws. Faith adapts itself to all cultures like water to all containers. What matters is that nobody is cut off from life. It is easy, in the name of traditionalism, to hinder the faith transmission to all. This concerns us also since the distance between the Church and today’s world is greater than that between the then Jews and pagans. We are able to see how our fathers in faith lived the conflict of novelty.

Some Christian-Jews go from Jerusalem to Antioch in order to accuse the former-pagan Christians of not respecting their traditions. The new Christians stand up against them and rightly so. God, as He talked in the past, keeps on talking also in the present. Paul is very sure that the Gospel is one (Galatians 1:1ff ), old and always new. There is only one door to salvation: the grace of faith in Jesus. This opens to everybody the salvation promised to Abraham, even if each one accesses to it in his/her own way.

The new community doesn’t break from the ancient one. In order not to jeopardize the good of unity, it sends Paul and Barn-

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abas to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, Peter defends Paul. He doesn’t use theoretical arguments. He tells his own experience: God gave the pagan Cornelius the Spirit in the same way He did to them (Acts 10:1ff ). And yet even Peter had opposed God’s work in the name of non-negotiable, millenary and more than millenary traditions, like the circumcision and Moses’ law. James agrees with Peter and finds out that this novelty is already foreseen in the Holy Scripture (cf. Acts 15:13-22).

The problem is solved without condemnations. The Gospel is for everybody. It is necessary to welcome the novelty but also to extend mercy towards those who find it hard to accept it. For this reason, minimal rules that allow all to be together are devised.

All are happy and consoled as nobody is cut off and each diversity is respected. The “traditionalists,” however, are called a “sect” (=hedge, barrier). In Greek, the word airesis (choice) is the origin of “heresy” (cf. Acts 15:5). As a matter of fact, they “choose” the past and refuse the present. Because of this, they refuse “the new thing that God does” (Isaiah 43:19). Moreover, they reject God Himself, Father of all, who is always present in all. The “traditionalists” don’t know that they are “heretic” and “sectarian.”

The “innovators,” instead, are the Catholic Christians, who help the “traditionalists” to grow in their weak faith.

The aggiornamento (bringing up to date) – a divine word which patterns our steps on God’s steps in salvation history – must be ongoing, especially nowadays, in order to open the door of faith to the post-modern world. Otherwise, we betray our Gospel tradition. Paul would reproach us as he did the Galatians: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him, who called you in the grace of Christ, and turning to a different Gospel – not that there is another gospel, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6ff ). © Popoli – www.popoli.info

REFLECT AND PRAY – Do you realize that the Second Vatican Council (1963-65) enlivens the spreading of Christianity to the ends of the earth?

– Do you welcome believers from different cultures who are now present in our pluralistic society?

– Are you aware that we are all called to be missionaries wherever we are and witness the truth of the Gospel with renewed enthusiasm?

Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.

- From In Quest of Democracy (1991)