Pentecost

Some of Pope's Homily during Pentecost Mass 2012:

The story of Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles, we heard the first reading (cf. Acts 2,1-11), contains a background of the last great frescoes are at the beginning of the Old Testament: the ancient history of the construction of Tower of Babel (cf. Gen 11:1-9). But what is Babel? And 'the description of a kingdom in which men have concentrated so much power to think of not having to make more reference to a distant God and be so strong that they can build yourself a route that leads to heaven to open the doors and get to But instead of God in this situation occurs something strange and unusual. While the men were working together to build the tower, suddenly realized they were building against each other. While trying to be like God, they ran the danger of not being even more men, because they had lost a key element of being human beings: the ability to agree, to understand each other and work together.

This Biblical story has its perennial truth, we can see it throughout history, but also in our world. With the advancement of science and technology we have come to power to dominate the forces of nature, to manipulate the elements, to manufacture living beings, reaching almost to the same human being. In this situation, pray to God something seems outdated, useless, because we ourselves can build and create anything we want. But we do not realize that we are reliving the same experience of Babel. It 's true, we have increased our ability to communicate, get information, to transmit information, but we can say that has increased the capacity to understand or perhaps, paradoxically, we understand less and less? Among men do not seem to meander perhaps a sense of distrust, suspicion, fear of one another, until it became dangerous even to each other? Then return to the initial question: can there really units, harmony? And how?

The answer is found in Sacred Scripture: The unit can be only with the gift of the Spirit of God, who will give us a new heart and a new language, a new capacity to communicate. And this is what occurred at Pentecost. On that day, fifty days after Easter, a strong wind blew the flame of Jerusalem and the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples gathered, is put on each and they kindled the divine fire, a fire of love can transform. The fear vanished, my heart felt a new force, the languages ​​they broke up and began to speak out, so that everyone could understand the message of Jesus Christ crucified and risen. At Pentecost, where there was division and alienation, are born unity and understanding.

Spiritual Warfare pt 1 by Michael Voris

46th WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE BENEDICT XVI
FOR THE 46th WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY

Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization

[Sunday, 20 May 2012]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As we draw near to World Communications Day 2012, I would like to share with you some reflections concerning an aspect of the human process of communication which, despite its importance, is often overlooked and which, at the present time, it would seem especially necessary to recall. It concerns the relationship between silence and word: two aspects of communication which need to be kept in balance, to alternate and to be integrated with one another if authentic dialogue and deep closeness between people are to be achieved. When word and silence become mutually exclusive, communication breaks down, either because it gives rise to confusion or because, on the contrary, it creates an atmosphere of coldness; when they complement one another, however, communication acquires value and meaning.

Silence is an integral element of communication; in its absence, words rich in content cannot exist. In silence, we are better able to listen to and understand ourselves; ideas come to birth and acquire depth; we understand with greater clarity what it is we want to say and what we expect from others; and we choose how to express ourselves. By remaining silent we allow the other person to speak, to express him or herself; and we avoid being tied simply to our own words and ideas without them being adequately tested. In this way, space is created for mutual listening, and deeper human relationships become possible. It is often in silence, for example, that we observe the most authentic communication taking place between people who are in love: gestures, facial expressions and body language are signs by which they reveal themselves to each other. Joy, anxiety, and suffering can all be communicated in silence – indeed it provides them with a particularly powerful mode of expression. Silence, then, gives rise to even more active communication, requiring sensitivity and a capacity to listen that often makes manifest the true measure and nature of the relationships involved. When messages and information are plentiful, silence becomes essential if we are to distinguish what is important from what is insignificant or secondary. Deeper reflection helps us to discover the links between events that at first sight seem unconnected, to make evaluations, to analyze messages; this makes it possible to share thoughtful and relevant opinions, giving rise to an authentic body of shared knowledge. For this to happen, it is necessary to develop an appropriate environment, a kind of ‘eco-system’ that maintains a just equilibrium between silence, words, images and sounds.

The process of communication nowadays is largely fuelled by questions in search of answers. Search engines and social networks have become the starting point of communication for many people who are seeking advice, ideas, information and answers. In our time, the internet is becoming ever more a forum for questions and answers – indeed, people today are frequently bombarded with answers to questions they have never asked and to needs of which they were unaware. If we are to recognize and focus upon the truly important questions, then silence is a precious commodity that enables us to exercise proper discernment in the face of the surcharge of stimuli and data that we receive. Amid the complexity and diversity of the world of communications, however, many people find themselves confronted with the ultimate questions of human existence: Who am I? What can I know? What ought I to do? What may I hope? It is important to affirm those who ask these questions, and to open up the possibility of a profound dialogue, by means of words and interchange, but also through the call to silent reflection, something that is often more eloquent than a hasty answer and permits seekers to reach into the depths of their being and open themselves to the path towards knowledge that God has inscribed in human hearts.

Ultimately, this constant flow of questions demonstrates the restlessness of human beings, ceaselessly searching for truths, of greater or lesser import, that can offer meaning and hope to their lives. Men and women cannot rest content with a superficial and unquestioning exchange of skeptical opinions and experiences of life – all of us are in search of truth and we share this profound yearning today more than ever: “When people exchange information, they are already sharing themselves, their view of the world, their hopes, their ideals” (Message for the 2011 World Day of Communications).

Attention should be paid to the various types of websites, applications and social networks which can help people today to find time for reflection and authentic questioning, as well as making space for silence and occasions for prayer, meditation or sharing of the word of God. In concise phrases, often no longer than a verse from the Bible, profound thoughts can be communicated, as long as those taking part in the conversation do not neglect to cultivate their own inner lives. It is hardly surprising that different religious traditions consider solitude and silence as privileged states which help people to rediscover themselves and that Truth which gives meaning to all things. The God of biblical revelation speaks also without words: “As the Cross of Christ demonstrates, God also speaks by his silence. The silence of God, the experience of the distance of the almighty Father, is a decisive stage in the earthly journey of the Son of God, the incarnate Word …. God’s silence prolongs his earlier words. In these moments of darkness, he speaks through the mystery of his silence” (Verbum Domini, 21). The eloquence of God’s love, lived to the point of the supreme gift, speaks in the silence of the Cross. After Christ’s death there is a great silence over the earth, and on Holy Saturday, when “the King sleeps and God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages” (cf. Office of Readings, Holy Saturday), God’s voice resounds, filled with love for humanity.

If God speaks to us even in silence, we in turn discover in silence the possibility of speaking with God and about God. “We need that silence which becomes contemplation, which introduces us into God’s silence and brings us to the point where the Word, the redeeming Word, is born” (Homily, Eucharistic Celebration with Members of the International Theological Commission, 6 October 2006). In speaking of God’s grandeur, our language will always prove inadequate and must make space for silent contemplation. Out of such contemplation springs forth, with all its inner power, the urgent sense of mission, the compelling obligation “to communicate that which we have seen and heard” so that all may be in communion with God (1 Jn 1:3). Silent contemplation immerses us in the source of that Love who directs us towards our neighbours so that we may feel their suffering and offer them the light of Christ, his message of life and his saving gift of the fullness of love.

In silent contemplation, then, the eternal Word, through whom the world was created, becomes ever more powerfully present and we become aware of the plan of salvation that God is accomplishing throughout our history by word and deed. As the Second Vatican Council reminds us, divine revelation is fulfilled by “deeds and words having an inner unity: the deeds wrought by God in the history of salvation manifest and confirm the teaching and realities signified by the words, while the words proclaim the deeds and clarify the mystery contained in them” (Dei Verbum, 2). This plan of salvation culminates in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the mediator and the fullness of all revelation. He has made known to us the true face of God the Father and by his Cross and Resurrection has brought us from the slavery of sin and death to the freedom of the children of God. The fundamental question of the meaning of human existence finds in the mystery of Christ an answer capable of bringing peace to the restless human heart. The Church’s mission springs from this mystery; and it is this mystery which impels Christians to become heralds of hope and salvation, witnesses of that love which promotes human dignity and builds justice and peace.

Word and silence: learning to communicate is learning to listen and contemplate as well as speak. This is especially important for those engaged in the task of evangelization: both silence and word are essential elements, integral to the Church’s work of communication for the sake of a renewed proclamation of Christ in today’s world. To Mary, whose silence “listens to the Word and causes it to blossom” (Private Prayer at the Holy House, Loreto, 1 September 2007), I entrust all the work of evangelization which the Church undertakes through the means of social communication.

From the Vatican, 24 January 2012, Feast of Saint Francis de Sales.

BENEDICTUS XVI

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Pope's prayer intentions for May: Families and Missionaries

May 2012
General Intention: The Family. That initiatives which defend and uphold the role of the family may be promoted within society. 

Missionary Intention: Mary, Guide of Missionaries. That Mary, Queen of the World and Star of Evangelization, may accompany all missionaries in proclaiming her Son Jesus.

TEACHINGS ON EASTER, SABBATH AND SUNDAY by Pope Benedict XVI

The Old Testament account of creation that we listened to clearly indicates this order of realities. But it leads us a further step forward. It has structured the process of creation within the framework of a week leading up to the Sabbath, in which it finds its completion. For Israel, the Sabbath was the day on which all could participate in God’s rest, in which man and animal, master and slave, great and small were united in God’s freedom. Thus the Sabbath was an expression of the Covenant between God and man and creation. In this way, communion between God and man does not appear as something extra, something added later to a world already fully created. The Covenant, communion between God and man, is inbuilt at the deepest level of creation. Yes, the Covenant is the inner ground of creation, just as creation is the external presupposition of the Covenant. God made the world so that there could be a space where he might communicate his love, and from which the response of love might come back to him. From God’s perspective, the heart of the man who responds to him is greater and more important than the whole immense material cosmos, for all that the latter allows us to glimpse something of God’s grandeur.

Easter and the paschal experience of Christians, however, now require us to take a further step. The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week. After six days in which man in some sense participates in God’s work of creation, the Sabbath is the day of rest. But something quite unprecedented happened in the nascent Church: the place of the Sabbath, the seventh day, was taken by the first day. As the day of the liturgical assembly, it is the day for encounter with God through Jesus Christ who as the Risen Lord encountered his followers on the first day, Sunday, after they had found the tomb empty. The structure of the week is overturned. No longer does it point towards the seventh day, as the time to participate in God’s rest. It sets out from the first day as the day of encounter with the Risen Lord. This encounter happens afresh at every celebration of the Eucharist, when the Lord enters anew into the midst of his disciples and gives himself to them, allows himself, so to speak, to be touched by them, sits down at table with them. This change is utterly extraordinary, considering that the Sabbath, the seventh day seen as the day of encounter with God, is so profoundly rooted in the Old Testament. If we also bear in mind how much the movement from work towards the rest-day corresponds to a natural rhythm, the dramatic nature of this change is even more striking. This revolutionary development that occurred at the very the beginning of the Church’s history can be explained only by the fact that something utterly new happened that day. The first day of the week was the third day after Jesus’ death. It was the day when he showed himself to his disciples as the Risen Lord. In truth, this encounter had something unsettling about it. The world had changed. This man who had died was now living with a life that was no longer threatened by any death. A new form of life had been inaugurated, a new dimension of creation. The first day, according to the Genesis account, is the day on which creation begins. Now it was the day of creation in a new way, it had become the day of the new creation. We celebrate the first day. And in so doing we celebrate God the Creator and his creation. Yes, we believe in God, the Creator of heaven and earth. And we celebrate the God who was made man, who suffered, died, was buried and rose again. We celebrate the definitive victory of the Creator and of his creation. We celebrate this day as the origin and the goal of our existence. We celebrate it because now, thanks to the risen Lord, it is definitively established that reason is stronger than unreason, truth stronger than lies, love stronger than death. We celebrate the first day because we know that the black line drawn across creation does not last for ever. We celebrate it because we know that those words from the end of the creation account have now been definitively fulfilled: “God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen 1:31). Amen.
(Pope Benedict XVI, HOMILY OF EASTER VIGIL 2011)

PERUTUSAN PASKA 2012

YESUS KRISTUS: CAHAYA DUNIA, SUMBER KEHIDUPAN, SABDA ALLAH, PERJANJIAN BARU DAN KEKAL BAGI KITA

Shalom dan Dominus Vobiscum,

Syukur ke hadrat Allah Bapa melalui Yesus Kristus, Putera-Nya di dalam persekutuan dengan Roh Kudus bertemu lagi dalam satu dimensi yang baru pada tahun 2012 pada hari Paska yang mulia ini. Musim Pra-Paska (Lent) ini telah membuka minda kita untuk menyemak peribadi kita, mengenali lebih dekat kepada Pencipta, menghayati kesusahan golongan yang kurang bernasib baik dan memperbanyak lagi ibadah serta kesederhanaan hidup. Musim Lent juga mengingatkan kita akan perjalanan Tuhan Yesus Kristus sebelum Dia memulakan karya pelayananNya, Dia telah berpuasa selama 40 hari. Paus Benediktus XVI juga telah berpesan, “Ini adalah waktu yang tepat untuk memperbaharui perjalanan iman kita, baik sebagai seorang individu mahupun sebagai sebahagian dari komuniti, dengan bimbingan Sabda Tuhan dan sakramen-sakramen Gereja. Perjalanan ini adalah perjalanan yang ditandai dengan doa dan berbagi, hening dan berpuasa, sebagai antisipasi menyambut sukacita Paskah.” . Bagi kita orang Katolik, puasa dan pantang ertinya adalah tanda pertaubatan, tanda penyangkalan diri, dan tanda kita mempersatukan sedikit pengorbanan kita dengan pengorbanan Yesus di kayu salib sebagai ganti dosa kita dan demi mendoakan keselamatan dunia. Jika pantang dan puasa dilakukan dengan hati tulus maka keduanya dapat menghantar kita bertumbuh dalam kekudusan. Kekudusan ini yang dapat berbicara lebih lantang dari pada khutbah yang berapi-api sekalipun, dan dengan kekudusan inilah kita mengambil peranan dalam karya keselamatan Allah. Allah begitu mengasihi dan menghargai kita, sehingga kita diajak oleh-Nya untuk mengambil bahagian dalam karya keselamatan ini. Caranya, dengan bertaubat, berdoa dan melakukan perbuatan kasih, dan sesungguhnya inilah yang bersama-sama kita lakukan dalam kesatuan dengan Gereja pada masa Pra-Paska. Namun, kesudahan musim Pra-Paska ini juga membuka lagi dimensi baru agar hidup kita tertransformasi untuk melakukan anjakan paradigma dalam memperbaiki keadaan hidup kita bukan sahaja dari segi pembangunan modal insan tetap pertumbuhan spiritual bagi musim Paska (Easter).

Musim Paska merupakan musim yang melambangkan kemenangan kita selepas mengharungi 40 hari bersama Yesus. Semoga Paska kita mematangkan lagi kehidupan kita sebagai orang Kristian yang lebih peka akan kasih Tuhan dan sesama. Dalam homili Paus kita semalam, “.."Jadilah terang", kata Tuhan, "Lalu terang itu": Yesus bangkit dari kubur. Hidup lebih kuat daripada kematian. Yang baik adalah lebih kuat dari yang jahat. Cinta lebih kuat dari kebencian. Kebenaran lebih kuat dari kebohongan. Kegelapan hari-hari sebelumnya diusir saat Yesus bangkit dari kubur dan dirinya sendiri menjadi cahaya murni Tuhan. Tapi ini berlaku tidak hanya untuk dia, tidak hanya untuk kegelapan hari-hari. Dengan kebangkitan Yesus, cahaya itu sendiri dibuat baru. Dia menarik kita semua setelah dia ke dalam cahaya baru kebangkitan dan ia mengalahkan kegelapan sekali. Ia adalah hari Tuhan yang baru, baru bagi kita semua..”. Bagi kita musim Paska tidak bermakna bahawa kita telah bebas dari segala bentuk kesusahan mahupun cubaan namun sekadar mengingatkan kita tentang kematian kita pada dosa dan bangkit hidup semula sebagai individu yang baru. Kita juga harus menghapus "pakaian lama" yang tidak boleh dipakai di hadirat Allah. Penolakan ini sebenarnya adalah sebuah janji yang kita pegang tangan kepada Kristus, sehingga Dia mampu membimbing kita dan mengenakan kita jubah pujian. “Pakaian" apakah yabg perlua dibuang? Sudah tentu ada dihuraikan dengan jelas dalam bab kelima dari Surat Paulus kepada jemaah Galatia yang sebut "perbuatan daging" - sebuah istilah yang merujuk tepat untuk yang lama pakaian yang kita hapus. Paulus menunjuk mereka demikian: " penyembahan berhala, sihir, perseteruan, perselisihan, iri hati, amarah, kepentingan diri sendiri, berpauk-puak, roh pemecah, kedengkian, kemabukan, pesta pora dan sebagainya.." (cf Gal 5:20-21). Ini adalah pakaian yang kita perlu hapus: pakaian kematian.

Ingin juga saya reflekan pengalaman hidup saya pada permulaan suku tahun ini. Perjalanan hidup ini ibarat rollercoaster yang bergerak di landasan yang berlingkar. Permulaan Januari 2012 merupakan permulaan tahun yang agak sederhana. Pada minggu pertama selepas Krismas lepas, saya mula berfikir tentang program KAYA 20 (20th Kuching Archdiocesan Youth Apostolate). Akhirnya, saya pun nekad menyertainya sebagai fasilitator. Saya gembira kerana adik saya juga turut sama mengikuti. Pengalaman KAYA 20 tidak sama dengan pengalaman saya semasa KAYA 20 dulu. Mungkin pengalaman saya sebagai fasilitator tidak sama seperti pengalaman sebagai peserta. Banyak perkara baru yang saya pelajari dalam program KAYA 20. Saya juga mula mengenali lebih dekat peribadi dan perwatakan saya. Saya sedar bahawa saya masih belum sempurna. Ada sesuatu dalam diri saya yang membuatkan saya unik daripada fasilitator dan peserta lain. Saya sebenarnya mempunyai masalah seksualiti yang agak serius. Penyakit ini sudah lama saya sembunyikan sehinggalah saya mengikuti program KAYA 20, saya akhirnya berkongsikan kepada sebahagian fasilitator dan peserta dan saya terus diberi sokongan moral. Namun itu, setelah menghadiri beberapa sesi penyembuhan batin secara karismatik, Adorasi maha kudus, sesi ceremah “Wonderfully Made” dan Misa Kudus harian, saya mula menerima keadaan saya seadanya dan berusaha untuk hidup lebih kudus setiap hari. Dan saya tidak keseorangan menharungi salib ini. Pengalaman saya mengendalikan liturgi juga bukanlah sesuatu perkara yang saya pandang remeh namun ianya memang sukar. Syukur saya berupaya memahami pengurusan liturgi yang lebih effisien. Setiap program mahupun institusi komuniti pasti tidak terlepas daripada krisis komitmen dan dalaman YCU yang serius. Sikap suka mengelak, cemburu, angkuh, kurang kerjasama, kurang peka dan saling menunding jari adalah kelemahan pihak pengurusan fasilitator kami. Begitu juga dengan masalah dengan peserta yang suka memberontak, mengelak, kesihatan tak menentu dan isu “couple” menyelubungi kami. Namun perjalanan program KAYA20 dari 9 Januari hingga 6 Februari 2012 jugalah kami semua harungi dengan tabah dan sempoi. Kalau tak ada angin, manakan pula pokok tidak bergoyang. Isu air juga menguji kesabaran para peserta. Selepas program KAYA20 berakhir, kami tetap berhubung sehingga kini. Ternyata tema “Who do you say I am?” tetap releven sejak ia diperkenalkan pada KAYA 15.

Perjalanan pada bulan Februari lebih berfokuskan pada persiapan sebelum berangkat melanjutkan pelajaran ke ijazah sarjana muda. Pada mulanya, saya tidak berjaya ditawarkan apa-apa pun bidang pengkhususan pada 3 keputusan Februari lalu. Saya berasa amat kecewa. Namun, saya tidak berputus asa. Saya kemukan rayuan dan degan sabar berdoa agar mendapat tawaran. Sepanjang menanti keputusan rayuan, saya memenuhkan jadual harian saya dengan bersiar-siar, mengikut program outreach bersama dengan geng AKAYA 20 (Alumni KAYA), melayari Internet dan membaca disamping berada dirumah bersama keluarga dalam rutin harian. Pada 20 Februari 2012, saya ditawarkan berita gembira bahawa tawaran ijazah saya tiba seperti yang dipinta iaitu Ijazah Sarjana Muda Sains (Kepujian) Komunikasi Data dan Perangkaian lebih mudah dikenali sebagai “networking”. Bayangkan dalam masa 1 minggu sahaja persiapan saya perlu lakukan. Dalam minggu itulah juga saya berhempas pulas membuka SSPN, memempah tiket penerbangan, membeli pakaian baru, menyiapkan barang-barang ke bagasi dan sebagainya. Setelah bersiap sedia, tanggal 1 Mac merupakan penentu masa depan sebagai siswa ijazah, saya berlepas ke Kuala Lumpur International Airport(KLIA) daripada Kuching International Airport(KIA). Saya dibantu oleh rakan karib saya iaitu Melvin yang berasal daripada Miri. Pada mulanya saya yakin saya telah melakukan persiapan terbaik namun banyak kesilapan telah terjadi. Kesilapan pertama ialah kesilapan meletakan berat muatan bagasi daripada 25kg tetapi hakikatnya ianya seberat 35 kg. Saya kerugian sebanyak RM200 kerana kecuaian saya. Kesilapan kedua adalah susunan dan cara bagasi itu dibawa terutama kotak-kotak barang telah menyukarkan saya untuk membawa ke rumah kakak Melvin. Saya malu dengan kecuaian tersebut kerana saya telah pun menyusahkan ibunya untuk mengangkut kotak tersebut. Selama 1 hingga 3 Mac, saya bermalam dirumah kakak Melvin. Biarpun kurang selesa kerana pelbagai faktor, saya sangat bersyukur kerana diberi tempat untuk berteduh sebelum saya melapor ke UiTM Shah Alam. Maka bermulalah titik sejarah pengajian ijazah saya di Universiti Teknologi Mara Shah Alam sebagai pelajar ijazah bermula 4 Mac 2012 hingga pada hari Paska ini. Pelbagai pengalaman suka manis, duka pahit, tawar dan biasa telah lalui di bumi asing ini. Kalau hendak dihuraikan dalam perutusan ini memanglah tidak cukup.

Justeru, saya ingin membawa pembaca blog saya ke realiti semua ini. Mengapa saya ingin berkongsi pengalaman hidup ini dalam perutusan ini? Sessungguhnya tanggungjawab umat Kristian adalah untuk saling membantu satu sama lain seperti yang disampaikan oleh rasul dalam suratnya kepada umat Ibrani: “Dan marilah kita kita saling memperhatikan supaya kita saling mendorong dalam kasih dan dalam pekerjaan baik”. Dalam kehidapan saya, jika anda lihat saya ni bukanlah seorang yang ingin berlagak santo mahupun budak baik namun saya mempunyai tanggungjawab untuk menyampaikan perkhabaran Firman Tuhan kepada sesiapa sahaja yang ingin dijangkau kerana saya terinspirasi oleh pelbagai tokoh-tokoh Katolik yang terkemuka seperti Paus Yohanes Paulus II, Bunda Teresa, Padre Pio dan ramai lagi. Dalam perutusan sebelum ini juga, saya tetap menggunakan analogi yang sama sebagai blogger. Menjadi seorang Katolik, tinggal di Malaysia, seorang belia 20-an, siswa dan anak sulung merupakan satu tanggungjawab sukar dan ingin saya kongsikan bersama umat yang lain. Pokoknya tema yang saya kemukan sebagai perutusan Paska adalah YESUS KRISTUS: CAHAYA DUNIA, SUMBER KEHIDUPAN, SABDA ALLAH, PERJANJIAN BARU DAN KEKAL BAGI KITA. Terlebih dahulu, saya juga meletakkan Yesus Kristus sebagai tema tahunan kali ini kerana melalui Dialah segala tujuan hidup kita mempunyai makna.

Sebagai cahaya dunia, Yesus Kristus menanti selama 30 tahun untuk memperlengkapan diri sebelum mengkhabarkan Injil. Apa yang saya lalui dalam kehidupan ini menunjukkan saya memerlukan lebih banyak pengalaman dan pengetahuan untuk menjadi misionari yang baik. Sungguhpun demikian dengan mengikuti lebih giat penglibatan belia di gereja dan komuniti sekurang-sukarnya saya mampu memberi inspirasi kepada belia lain seperti adik saya untuk terlibat. Maka secara tidak langsung konsep cahaya dunia dapat digambarkan seperti diri kita membawa cahaya bagi sesiapa dalam kegelapan agar mereka juga beroleh terang yang mampu menyemarakan lagi suasana. Dalam liturgi malam Paska, paderi yang memberkati lilin Paska akan menyalakan lilin untuk diberikan kepada para umat, Di sini, kita dapat mengandaikan kematian Kristus telah membuka lembaran baru sebagai cahaya apabila Dia bangkit semula. Oleh itu, sangat tepatlah paderi yang bertindak sebagai wakil Kristus di bumi untuk menyalakan lilin dan memberikan kepada umat yang lain.

Yesus Kristus sebagai Sumber Kehidupan dilambangkan dalam musim Paska sebagai air yang mengalir. Air merupakan sumber terpenting bagi manusia. Manusia tidak mampu hidup tanpa air sekurang-kurangnya 3 hari. Di dalam liturgi Paska, air digunakan dalam pembaptisan sebagai tanda memetarai sesorang yang kehausan akan kebenaran agar diberi minuman yang memuaskan. Air juga menyucikan sesuatu yang kotor. Setiap kali kita masuk ke Gereja kita diseru untuk meletakan tanda salib sebagai lambang peringatan pembaptisan kita. Dalam kehidupan saya, keperluan untuk meminum air adalah sebanyak 1.5 liter (7 gelas) sehari. Begitu juga kita, sebagai umat Kristian perlu sentiasa diisi dengan air Yesus Kristus melalui doa, devosi, Firman dan Misa Kudus setiap hari kalau semampu mungkin.

Sabda Allah menjadi daging telah terbukti melalui datang Yesus Kristus ke dunia. Kedatangan Dia telah diramal oleh banyak nabi dalam Perjanjian Lama. Sungguhpun demikian, begitu ramai orang Farisi dan Saduki buta akan keilahian dan kehadiran Yesus sebagai Mesias. Mereka buta kerana mereka mempelajari Firman hanya untuk memenuhi tuntutan agama mereka tanpa keikhlasan. Ramai diantara umat Kristian terutama umat Katolik mengenali Tuhan hanya di gereja. Mereka tidak berupaya menjadi Sabda Tuhan bergerak kepada mereka yang lain. Sesungguhnya untuk menjadi satu dalam Kristus, kita harus mengenal Dia secara peribadi melalui Firman, sakramen dan devosi. Bunda Teresa pernah menyatakan bahawa dia melihat seorang pengemis di stesen keretapi , dia terbayang akan Yesus yang berkata, “Aku haus.” ; dari situ Bunda Teresa telah pun menghayati Firman Allah sehingga beliau melihat Yesus dalam pengemis. Dapat saya simpulkan bahawa Sabda Yesus menjadi daging telah terpenuhi di dalam Injil Matius bab 25 dan Injil Yohanes 1. Rasul Paulus juga pernah meningatkan kita bahawa bait Allah juga ada dalam tubuh kita. Justeru, kehidupan kita yang berakarkan firman akan tereflek melalui perbuatan kita.

Kedatangan Yesus bermula kerana perjanjian dan kenaikan Yesus juga berasaskan perjanjian yang dimaterai sejak Abraham hinggalah ke nabi Maleaki pada zaman Perjanjian Lama. Dalam Injil, sebelum Yesus sengsara di kayu salib, Dia telah pun mengikat perjanjian baru dan kekal melalui pengorbanannya di salib. Dimana pada malam sebelum Dia dikhianati, melalui Ekaristi Yesus mengaitkan darahnya sebagai minuman rohani yang membawa kepada pengampunan dosa dan kehidupan kekal. Dalam Perjanjian Lama, kita lihat Allah Bapa menguji iman Abraham dengan mengorbankan anaknya Ishak sebagai korban sembilihan. Simboliknya, Yesus dilambangkan sebagai Anak Domba Allah yang menghapus dosa dunia. Maka, tidak perlunya lagi korban sembelihan untuk menghapus dosa kerana Yesus Kristuslah medium pengampunan dosa itu. Sebab itu umat Katolik amat mementingkan sakramen Ekaristi. Kerana Ekaristi itu adalah pengikat akan kita kepada Yesus Kristus yang sesungguhnya membawa kepad kehidupan kekal.

Konklusinya, perutusan saya pada Paska adalah untuk mengajak para pembaca termasuk diri saya sendiri untuk sentiasa menghayati siapa peribadi Yesus Kristus ini kepada kita. Kristuslah harapan kita yang telah bangkit, dan Dia mendahului kita ke Galilea. Yang telah bangkit mendahului kita dan ia mendampingi kita di sepanjang jalan dunia. Dia adalah harapan kita, Dia adalah kedamaian sejati di dunia. Dialah cahaya kita, sumber kehidupan, Sabda Allah , dan perjanjian barundan kekal bagi semua umat yang percaya akanNya. Kristus tlah wafat, Kristus telah bangkit, Kristus akan kembali. Alleluia! Amin!

Homily Of His Holiness Benedict XVI On Chrism Mass 2012

CHRISM MASS

Saint Peter's Basilica
Holy Thursday, 5 April 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

At this Holy Mass our thoughts go back to that moment when, through prayer and the laying on of hands, the bishop made us sharers in the priesthood of Jesus Christ, so that we might be “consecrated in truth” (Jn 17:19), as Jesus besought the Father for us in his high-priestly prayer. He himself is the truth. He has consecrated us, that is to say, handed us over to God for ever, so that we can offer men and women a service that comes from God and leads to him. But does our consecration extend to the daily reality of our lives – do we operate as men of God in fellowship with Jesus Christ? This question places the Lord before us and us before him. “Are you resolved to be more united with the Lord Jesus and more closely conformed to him, denying yourselves and confirming those promises about sacred duties towards Christ’s Church which, prompted by love of him, you willingly and joyfully pledged on the day of your priestly ordination?” After this homily, I shall be addressing that question to each of you here and to myself as well. Two things, above all, are asked of us: there is a need for an interior bond, a configuration to Christ, and at the same time there has to be a transcending of ourselves, a renunciation of what is simply our own, of the much-vaunted self-fulfilment. We need, I need, not to claim my life as my own, but to place it at the disposal of another – of Christ. I should be asking not what I stand to gain, but what I can give for him and so for others. Or to put it more specifically, this configuration to Christ, who came not to be served but to serve, who does not take, but rather gives – what form does it take in the often dramatic situation of the Church today? Recently a group of priests from a European country issued a summons to disobedience, and at the same time gave concrete examples of the forms this disobedience might take, even to the point of disregarding definitive decisions of the Church’s Magisterium, such as the question of women’s ordination, for which Blessed Pope John Paul II stated irrevocably that the Church has received no authority from the Lord. Is disobedience a path of renewal for the Church? We would like to believe that the authors of this summons are motivated by concern for the Church, that they are convinced that the slow pace of institutions has to be overcome by drastic measures, in order to open up new paths and to bring the Church up to date. But is disobedience really a way to do this? Do we sense here anything of that configuration to Christ which is the precondition for all true renewal, or do we merely sense a desperate push to do something to change the Church in accordance with one’s own preferences and ideas?

But let us not oversimplify matters. Surely Christ himself corrected human traditions which threatened to stifle the word and the will of God? Indeed he did, so as to rekindle obedience to the true will of God, to his ever enduring word. His concern was for true obedience, as opposed to human caprice. Nor must we forget: he was the Son, possessed of singular authority and responsibility to reveal the authentic will of God, so as to open up the path for God’s word to the world of the nations. And finally: he lived out his task with obedience and humility all the way to the Cross, and so gave credibility to his mission. Not my will, but thine be done: these words reveal to us the Son, in his humility and his divinity, and they show us the true path.

Let us ask again: do not such reflections serve simply to defend inertia, the fossilization of traditions? No. Anyone who considers the history of the post-conciliar era can recognize the process of true renewal, which often took unexpected forms in living movements and made almost tangible the inexhaustible vitality of holy Church, the presence and effectiveness of the Holy Spirit. And if we look at the people from whom these fresh currents of life burst forth and continue to burst forth, then we see that this new fruitfulness requires being filled with the joy of faith, the radicalism of obedience, the dynamic of hope and the power of love.

Dear friends, it is clear that configuration to Christ is the precondition and the basis for all renewal. But perhaps at times the figure of Jesus Christ seems too lofty and too great for us to dare to measure ourselves by him. The Lord knows this. So he has provided “translations” on a scale that is more accessible and closer to us. For this same reason, Saint Paul did not hesitate to say to his communities: Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. For his disciples, he was a “translation” of Christ’s manner of life that they could see and identify with. Ever since Paul’s time, history has furnished a constant flow of other such “translations” of Jesus’ way into historical figures. We priests can call to mind a great throng of holy priests who have gone before us and shown us the way: from Polycarp of Smyrna and Ignatius of Antioch, from the great pastors Ambrose, Augustine and Gregory the Great, through to Ignatius of Loyola, Charles Borromeo, John Mary Vianney and the priest-martyrs of the 20th century, and finally Pope John Paul II, who gave us an example, through his activity and his suffering, of configuration to Christ as “gift and mystery”. The saints show us how renewal works and how we can place ourselves at its service. And they help us realize that God is not concerned so much with great numbers and with outward successes, but achieves his victories under the humble sign of the mustard seed.

Dear friends, I would like briefly to touch on two more key phrases from the renewal of ordination promises, which should cause us to reflect at this time in the Church’s life and in our own lives. Firstly, the reminder that – as Saint Paul put it – we are “stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor 4:1) and we are charged with the ministry of teaching, the (munus docendi), which forms a part of this stewardship of God’s mysteries, through which he shows us his face and his heart, in order to give us himself. At the meeting of Cardinals on the occasion of the recent Consistory, several of the pastors of the Church spoke, from experience, of the growing religious illiteracy found in the midst of our sophisticated society. The foundations of faith, which at one time every child knew, are now known less and less. But if we are to live and love our faith, if we are to love God and to hear him aright, we need to know what God has said to us – our minds and hearts must be touched by his word. The Year of Faith, commemorating the opening of the Second Vatican Council fifty years ago, should provide us with an occasion to proclaim the message of faith with new enthusiasm and new joy. We find it of course first and foremost in sacred Scripture, which we can never read and ponder enough. Yet at the same time we all experience the need for help in accurately expounding it in the present day, if it is truly to touch our hearts. This help we find first of all in the words of the teaching Church: the texts of the Second Vatican Council and the Catechism of the Catholic Church are essential tools which serve as an authentic guide to what the Church believes on the basis of God’s word. And of course this also includes the whole wealth of documents given to us by Pope John Paul II, still far from being fully explored.

All our preaching must measure itself against the saying of Jesus Christ: “My teaching is not mine” (Jn 7:16). We preach not private theories and opinions, but the faith of the Church, whose servants we are. Naturally this should not be taken to mean that I am not completely supportive of this teaching, or solidly anchored in it. In this regard I am always reminded of the words of Saint Augustine: what is so much mine as myself? And what is so little mine as myself? I do not own myself, and I become myself by the very fact that I transcend myself, and thereby become a part of Christ, a part of his body the Church. If we do not preach ourselves, and if we are inwardly so completely one with him who called us to be his ambassadors, that we are shaped by faith and live it, then our preaching will be credible. I do not seek to win people for myself, but I give myself. The Curé of Ars was no scholar, no intellectual, we know that. But his preaching touched people’s hearts because his own heart had been touched.

The last keyword that I should like to consider is “zeal for souls”: animarum zelus. It is an old-fashioned expression, not much used these days. In some circles, the word “soul” is virtually banned because – ostensibly – it expresses a body-soul dualism that wrongly compartmentalizes the human being. Of course the human person is a unity, destined for eternity as body and soul. And yet that cannot mean that we no longer have a soul, a constituent principle guaranteeing our unity in this life and beyond earthly death. And as priests, of course, we are concerned for the whole person, including his or her physical needs – we care for the hungry, the sick, the homeless. And yet we are concerned not only with the body, but also with the needs of the soul: with those who suffer from the violation of their rights or from destroyed love, with those unable to perceive the truth, those who suffer for lack of truth and love. We are concerned with the salvation of men and women in body and soul. And as priests of Jesus Christ we carry out our task with enthusiasm. No one should ever have the impression that we work conscientiously when on duty, but before and after hours we belong only to ourselves. A priest never belongs to himself. People must sense our zeal, through which we bear credible witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us ask the Lord to fill us with joy in his message, so that we may serve his truth and his love with joyful zeal. Amen.

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