When asked to write an article on Nelson Mandela my first reaction was: “Can I, in one short article, do justice to this world icon whose legacy of freedom and equality will live on for a long time…?”  I don’t think so.
I remember so vividly the 11th February, 1990 – the day Mandela was released from prison after 27 years of incarceration.   As it happened, Joy Smith and the GLT were on visitation in South Africa and our two Capetown communities –  Grassy Park and Sea Point  were at a meeting in Sea Point.  As the SABC broadcast the proceedings of this momentous occasion, we sat glued to the TV and with the rest of the country (and the world) we cheered as the moment, which had been anticipated for years, dawned.   Nelson Mandela walked out of Victor Verster Prison gates a free man – hand in hand with his then wife Winnie Madikizela Mandela.  Mandela was greeted with jubilant cheers and victory signs as he smiled and waved at his many country men and women who for years had been denied any access to his words or image.   A new South Africa was born.  Our country would never be the same again!  Only hours after his release he was addressing massed rallies in Cape town, Durban and Soweto ( South Western Townships ) Johannesburg, which thousands of people attended.
Rohlihlalha Mandela was born on 18th July 1918…into the Royal Thembu clan in Mvezo – a small village in Transkei, South Africa.   The name Nelson was given to him by a teacher on his first day at school because his name was difficult to pronounce.  He spent a peaceful boyhood, herding cattle and other rural pursuits, playing the usual games of young boys.   His father who was destined to be a chief, served as a counselor to tribal chiefs.  When Nelson was 9 years old his father died and he was adopted by Chief Dalindyebo, the acting Regent of the Thembu people and was brought up in the Tembu royal court. When Dalindyebo wanted to arrange marriages for them, he and his cousin, ran away from home and settled in Johannesburg.
In the course of his life he was married three times.  His first wife was Evelyn Mase and with her he had 4 children – 2 sons and 2 daughters.  The marriage lasted for 13 years and ended in divorce.  He later married Winnie Madikizela (a political activist in her own right) and they had 2 daughters together.  This marriage also ended in divorce.  On his 80th birthday, he married Graca Machel (widow of the late Mozambican President, Samora Machel).  He remained with her till his death in 2013.
He studied law at the Fort Hare University and later at the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg).  He qualified as a lawyer in 1952 setting up his own practice with Oliver Tambo.  The law firm provided free and low-cost legal counsel to unrepresented blacks.

As a young man Mandela became actively involved in the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.  In 1942 he joined the ANC (African National Congress) a multi-racial national movement which strove to bring about political change in South. For 20 years he conducted non-violent, peaceful acts of defiance against the apartheid government Constantly harassed and hounded by the Apartheid regime, for his campaign against apartheid, Nelson was finally  incarcerated on Robben Island in 1964.  Here he would spend 18 of his 27 years of prison life.   Here too began his transformation which would see him eventually emerge as the leader who would bring his country to democracy and freedom.  From Robben Island he was moved to Pollsmoor Prison in Capetown.  In 1990 he was released from Victor Verster Prison, in Paarl near Capetown.  During his incarceration Mandela came to symbolize the struggle of oppressed people everywhere.  When F.W. de Klerk became President of South Africa, he unbanned the ANC and shortly afterwards released Mandela.  To everyone’s amazement Mandela left prison with no bitterness towards his oppressors.  Instead of hatred and revenge he chose the path of forgiveness, championing reconciliation among the races.  He used every opportunity, every circumstance to negotiate reconciliation.  He used the nation’s passion for sport, to build the nation, as was witnessed in the 1995 Rugby World Cup hosted in South Africa.  He sought out and befriended his enemies making allies of them.  He set about working to abolish racial prejudice; to achieve human rights and a better future for all; to replace the apartheid regime with a multi-racial democracy.
In 1993, Mandela, together with former President De Klerk, received the Nobel Peace Prize for the crucial role both played in dismantling apartheid and facilitating negotiations between black and white South Africans.  He worked tirelessly to put South Africa back on the world map.
On 27th April 1994 South Africa held its first democratic elections. Not many others could have steered the country from the brink of civil war to democracy as Mandela did. Nelson Mandela voted for the first time in his life.  The ANC won a resounding victory.  Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa’s first black, democratically elected, President on May 10th at the age of 77, with De Klerk as his first deputy.  After one term as President, Mandela handed over the reigns to Thabo Mbeki and retired from active politics.  However, he continued to campaign globally for peace and remained a negotiator and peace-maker in crisis areas in Africa.  He focused his energies on empowering disadvantaged children, making efforts to see that every child had access to an education, (which he believed was the surest tool in effecting change) to  basic health care and a good life.  He busied himself raising money to build schools and clinics in South Africa’s rural areas.  He took up the struggle against HIV/AIDS.  This struggle became very personal when his only surviving son died of the disease.
Tata Madiba (as the country fondly called him) died in his home in Johannesburg on 5th December 2013 aged 95.  At his passing we bid Hamba Kahle (go well) to a man who had become the international symbol of peace and tolerance; one of very few statesmen to have achieved almost universal respect; an advocate for peace and equality, both nationally and globally ;  a man who carried with him a moral authority and a gentle but firm sense of justice and fairness……..
Rest in Peace Madiba.  Your legacy lives on.
Every year, on Mandela’s birthday – 18th July, -the world celebrates Mandela Day.  This celebration was inspired by Nelson Mandela himself at his 90th birthday celebrations in Hyde Park, London in 2008, when he said “It is time for new hands to lift the burdens.  It is in your hands now”.  To honour this day, people everywhere are called to act on the idea that each person has the power to change the world.  The challenge is to devote 67 minutes of one’s time (one minute for every year Mandela devoted to public service ),  in solidarity with humanity – giving and serving, forgetting oneself to help others and continuing the legacy of this “Father of the Nation.”
SOME FAMOUS MANDELA QUOTES:
“I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.”
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
“Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”
“Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front.”
“I hate race discrimination most intensely and in all its manifestations. I have fought it all during my life; I fight it now, and will do so until the end of my days.”
Sources:  Various
                 Internet
Sent in by Joy Money
 
 

 
We have just celebrated a day for refugees but do celebrations like that really make us reflect or do we just hear it said, “Today is World Day for Refugees”?   The facts below give some idea of the real situation:
Over twelve years ago, the General Assembly of the United Nations set up “The World Day for Refugees” with the aim of sensitising public opinion  and inviting the public to reflect on the millions upon millions of refugees and asylum seekers who are forced to flee from war and violence, leaving their loved ones, their homes and everything that has formed part of their lives for many years.
This year’s campaign whose slogan is “A Story behind every Number” invites us to reflect on the fact that, behind  each one, there is a story that deserves to be listened to – a story of suffering and humiliation, but also of courage, the will to survive and the hope of once again being able to build their own future…
“Around the world, conflict has forced a record number of people to flee their homes.  More than 50 million people are currently displaced by war and violence, some 33.3 million in their own country and some 16.7 million as refugees, mostly in neighboring countries.  Last year alone, more than 10 million people were newly displaced; every 15 minutes, one family was forced into flight.
Most of the world’s refugees – 86 per cent — live in the developing world, compared to 70 per cent 10 years ago. Most of these countries have kept their doors open to people in search of safety, and have shown a generosity that is often well beyond their means. I appeal to all Member States and our partners in civil society to do their utmost to support the nations and communities that have welcomed the forcibly displaced into their midst…”
These rising numbers are a stark reminder of the international community’s inability to overcome its divisions to prevent and end conflicts. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and its partners continue to provide lifesaving assistance: water and sanitation, food and shelter, education and protection services. But a humanitarian response alone is not enough. Political solutions are urgently needed.
Ban-Ki Moon, Secretary-General  U.N.
Who are they?
Every minute eight people leave everything behind to escape war, persecution or terror. There are several types of forcibly displaced persons.
Refugees : A refugee is someone who fled his or her home and country owing to “a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion”, according to the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention. Many refugees are in exile to escape the effects of natural or human-made disasters.
Developing countries host four-fifths of the world’s refugees. The 48 Least Developed Countries provide asylum to 2.3 million refugees.
Asylum seekers :  Asylum seekers say they are refugees and have fled their homes as refugees do, but their claim to refugee status is not yet definitively evaluated in the country to which they fled.
Internally Displaced Persons :  Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are people who have not crossed an international border but have moved to a different region than the one they call home within their own country.
Stateless Persons :  Stateless persons do not have a recognized nationality and do not belong to any country. Statelessness situations are usually caused by discrimination against certain groups. Their lack of identification — a citizenship certificate — can exclude them from access to important government services, including health care, education or employment.
Returnees :  Returnees are former refugees who return to their own countries or regions of origin after time in exile. Returnees need continuous support and reintegration assistance to ensure that they can rebuild their lives at home.
UNHCR, United Nations http://www.un.org/en/events/refugeeday/
 

 
MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
Migrants and Refugees: Towards a Better World

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Our societies are experiencing, in an unprecedented way, processes of mutual interdependence and interaction on the global level. While not lacking problematic or negative elements, these processes are aimed at improving the living conditions of the human family, not only economically, but politically and culturally as well. Each individual is a part of humanity and, with the entire family of peoples, shares the hope of a better future. This consideration inspired the theme I have chosen for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees this year: Migrants and Refugees: Towards a Better World.
From the Christian standpoint, the reality of migration, like other human realities, points to the tension between the beauty of creation, marked by Grace and the Redemption, and the mystery of sin. Solidarity, acceptance, and signs of fraternity and understanding exist side by side with rejection, discrimination, trafficking and exploitation, suffering and death. Particularly disturbing are those situations where migration is not only involuntary, but actually set in motion by various forms of human trafficking and enslavement. Nowadays, “slave labour” is common coin! Yet despite the problems, risks and difficulties to be faced, great numbers of migrants and refugees continue to be inspired by confidence and hope; in their hearts they long for a better future, not only for themselves but for their families and those closest to them.
What is involved in the creation of “a better world”? The expression does not allude naively to abstract notions or unattainable ideals; rather, it aims at an authentic and integral development, at efforts to provide dignified living conditions for everyone, at finding just responses to the needs of individuals and families, and at ensuring that God’s gift of creation is respected, safeguarded and cultivated.
It must also be emphasized that such cooperation begins with the efforts of each country to create better economic and social conditions at home, so that emigration will not be the only option left for those who seek peace, justice, security and full respect of their human dignity. The creation of opportunities for employment in the local economies will also avoid the separation of families and ensure that individuals and groups enjoy conditions of stability and serenity.
I would point to yet another element in building a better world, namely, the elimination of prejudices and presuppositions in the approach to migration. Not infrequently, the arrival of migrants, displaced persons, asylum-seekers and refugees gives rise to suspicion and hostility. There is a fear that society will become less secure, that identity and culture will be lost, that competition for jobs will become stiffer and even that criminal activity will increase. The communications media have a role of great responsibility in this regard: it is up to them, in fact, to break down stereotypes and to offer correct information in reporting the errors of a few as well as the honesty, rectitude and goodness of the majority. A change of attitude towards migrants and refugees is needed on the part of everyone, moving away from attitudes of defensiveness and fear, indifference and marginalization – all typical of a throwaway culture – towards attitudes based on a culture of encounter, the only culture capable of building a better, more just and fraternal world. The communications media are themselves called to embrace this “conversion of attitudes” and to promote this change in the way migrants and refugees are treated.
I think of how even the Holy Family of Nazareth experienced initial rejection: Mary “gave birth to her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn” (Lk 2:7). Jesus, Mary and Joseph knew what it meant to leave their own country and become migrants: threatened by Herod’s lust for power, they were forced to take flight and seek refuge in Egypt (cf. Mt 2:13-14). But the maternal heart of Mary and the compassionate heart of Joseph, the Protector of the Holy Family, never doubted that God would always be with them. Through their intercession, may that same firm certainty dwell in the heart of every migrant and refugee.
The Church, responding to Christ’s command to “go and make disciples of all nations”, is called to be the People of God which embraces all peoples and brings to them the proclamation of the Gospel, for the face of each person bears the mark of the face of Christ! Here we find the deepest foundation of the dignity of the human person, which must always be respected and safeguarded. It is less the criteria of efficiency, productivity, social class, or ethnic or religious belonging which ground that personal dignity, so much as the fact of being created in God’s own image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:26-27) and, even more so, being children of God. Every human being is a child of God! He or she bears the image of Christ! We ourselves need to see, and then to enable others to see, that migrants and refugees do not only represent a problem to be solved, but are brothers and sisters to be welcomed, respected and loved. They are an occasion that Providence gives us to help build a more just society, a more perfect democracy, a more united country, a more fraternal world and a more open and evangelical Christian community. Migration can offer possibilities for a new evangelization, open vistas for the growth of a new humanity foreshadowed in the paschal mystery: a humanity for which every foreign country is a homeland and every homeland is a foreign country.
Dear migrants and refugees! Never lose the hope that you too are facing a more secure future, that on your journey you will encounter an outstretched hand, and that you can experience fraternal solidarity and the warmth of friendship! 
 

Today we are united as a Family in celebrating the feast of Our Lady of all Graces.  Mary played a significant role in the vocation of Pierre Bienvenu Noailles and in his work as a Founder – he invited us to honour her with the title of Our Lady of all Graces.  In a sense it is she who draws us into the Holy Family and inspires us to live our call to be Family, with faith and commitment to the mission of Jesus, the mission of communion.  We are reminded of the words of Jesus that a sign of our belonging, as it was for Mary, is to “hear the word of God and do it” (Lk 11:28)
Rf. Circular no. 317   

Communication at the Service of an Authentic Culture of Encounter
[Sunday, 1 June 2014]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today we are living in a world which is growing ever “smaller” and where, as a result, it would seem to be easier for all of us to be neighbours.  Developments in travel and communications technology are bringing us closer together and making us more connected, even as globalization makes us increasingly interdependent.  Nonetheless, divisions, which are sometimes quite deep, continue to exist within our human family.  On the global level we see a scandalous gap between the opulence of the wealthy and the utter destitution of the poor.  Often we need only walk the streets of a city to see the contrast between people living on the street and the brilliant lights of the store windows.  We have become so accustomed to these things that they no longer unsettle us.  Our world suffers from many forms of exclusion, marginalization and poverty, to say nothing of conflicts born of a combination of economic, political, ideological, and, sadly, even religious motives.
In a world like this, media can help us to feel closer to one another, creating a sense of the unity of the human family which can in turn inspire solidarity and serious efforts to ensure a more dignified life for all.  Good communication helps us to grow closer, to know one another better, and ultimately, to grow in unity.  The walls which divide us can be broken down only if we are prepared to listen and learn from one another.  We need to resolve our differences through forms of dialogue which help us grow in understanding and mutual respect.  A culture of encounter demands that we be ready not only to give, but also to receive.  Media can help us greatly in this, especially nowadays, when the networks of human communication have made unprecedented advances.  The internet, in particular, offers immense possibilities for encounter and solidarity.  This is something truly good, a gift from God.
This is not to say that certain problems do not exist.  The speed with which information is communicated exceeds our capacity for reflection and judgement, and this does not make for more balanced and proper forms of self-expression.  The variety of opinions being aired can be seen as helpful, but it also enables people to barricade themselves behind sources of information which only confirm their own wishes and ideas, or political and economic interests.  The world of communications can help us either to expand our knowledge or to lose our bearings.  The desire for digital connectivity can have the effect of isolating us from our neighbours, from those closest to us.  We should not overlook the fact that those who for whatever reason lack access to social media run the risk of being left behind.
While these drawbacks are real, they do not justify rejecting social media; rather, they remind us that communication is ultimately a human rather than technological achievement.  What is it, then, that helps us, in the digital environment, to grow in humanity and mutual understanding?  We need, for example, to recover a certain sense of deliberateness and calm.  This calls for time and the ability to be silent and to listen.  We need also to be patient if we want to understand those who are different from us.  People only express themselves fully when they are not merely tolerated, but know that they are truly accepted.  If we are genuinely attentive in listening to others, we will learn to look at the world with different eyes and come to appreciate the richness of human experience as manifested in different cultures and traditions.  We will also learn to appreciate more fully the important values inspired by Christianity, such as the vision of the human person, the nature of marriage and the family, the proper distinction between the religious and political spheres, the principles of solidarity and subsidiarity, and many others.
How, then, can communication be at the service of an authentic culture of encounter?  What does it mean for us, as disciples of the Lord, to encounter others in the light of the Gospel?  In spite of our own limitations and sinfulness, how do we draw truly close to one another?  These questions are summed up in what a scribe – a communicator – once asked Jesus: “And who is my neighbour?” (Lk 10:29).  This question can help us to see communication in terms of “neighbourliness”.  We might paraphrase the question in this way: How can we be “neighbourly” in our use of the communications media and in the new environment created by digital technology?  I find an answer in the parable of the Good Samaritan, which is also a parable about communication.  Those who communicate, in effect, become neighbours.  The Good Samaritan not only draws nearer to the man he finds half dead on the side of the road; he takes responsibility for him.  Jesus shifts our understanding: it is not just about seeing the other as someone like myself, but of the ability to make myself like the other.  Communication is really about realizing that we are all human beings, children of God.  I like seeing this power of communication as “neighbourliness”.
Whenever communication is primarily aimed at promoting consumption or manipulating others, we are dealing with a form of violent aggression like that suffered by the man in the parable, who was beaten by robbers and left abandoned on the road.  The Levite and the priest do not regard him as a neighbour, but as a stranger to be kept at a distance.  In those days, it was rules of ritual purity which conditioned their response.  Nowadays there is a danger that certain media so condition our responses that we fail to see our real neighbour.
It is not enough to be passersby on the digital highways, simply “connected”; connections need to grow into true encounters.  We cannot live apart, closed in on ourselves.  We need to love and to be loved.  We need tenderness.  Media strategies do not ensure beauty, goodness and truth in communication.  The world of media also has to be concerned with humanity, it too is called to show tenderness.  The digital world can be an environment rich in humanity; a network not of wires but of people.  The impartiality of media is merely an appearance; only those who go out of themselves in their communication can become a true point of reference for others.  Personal engagement is the basis of the trustworthiness of a communicator.  Christian witness, thanks to the internet, can thereby reach the peripheries of human existence.
As I have frequently observed, if a choice has to be made between a bruised Church which goes out to the streets and a Church suffering from self-absorption, I certainly prefer the first.  Those “streets” are the world where people live and where they can be reached, both effectively and affectively.  The digital highway is one of them, a street teeming with people who are often hurting, men and women looking for salvation or hope.  By means of the internet, the Christian message can reach “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).  Keeping the doors of our churches open also means keeping them open in the digital environment so that people, whatever their situation in life, can enter, and so that the Gospel can go out to reach everyone.  We are called to show that the Church is the home of all.  Are we capable of communicating the image of such a Church? Communication is a means of expressing the missionary vocation of the entire Church; today the social networks are one way to experience this call to discover the beauty of faith, the beauty of encountering Christ.  In the area of communications too, we need a Church capable of bringing warmth and of stirring hearts. 
Effective Christian witness is not about bombarding people with religious messages, but about our willingness to be available to others “by patiently and respectfully engaging their questions and their doubts as they advance in their search for the truth and the meaning of human existence” (BENEDICT XVI, Message for the 47th World Communications Day, 2013).  We need but recall the story of the disciples on the way to Emmaus.  We have to be able to dialogue with the men and women of today, to understand their expectations, doubts and hopes, and to bring them the Gospel, Jesus Christ himself, God incarnate, who died and rose to free us from sin and death.  We are challenged to be people of depth, attentive to what is happening around us and spiritually alert.  To dialogue means to believe that the “other” has something worthwhile to say, and to entertain his or her point of view and perspective.  Engaging in dialogue does not mean renouncing our own ideas and traditions, but the claim that they alone are valid or absolute.
May the image of the Good Samaritan who tended to the wounds of the injured man by pouring oil and wine over them be our inspiration.  Let our communication be a balm which relieves pain and a fine wine which gladdens hearts.  May the light we bring to others not be the result of cosmetics or special effects, but rather of our being loving and merciful “neighbours” to those wounded and left on the side of the road.  Let us boldly become citizens of the digital world.  The Church needs to be concerned for, and present in, the world of communication, in order to dialogue with people today and to help them encounter Christ.  She needs to be a Church at the side of others, capable of accompanying everyone along the way.  The revolution taking place in communications media and in information technologies represents a great and thrilling challenge; may we respond to that challenge with fresh energy and imagination as we seek to share with others the beauty of God.
From the Vatican, 24 January 2014, the Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales.
FRANCIS
 

An interview of the review “Vida Nueva” with Fr. Antonio SPADARO, SJ
 “The web is not an instrument of evangelisation but an environment to be inhabited.”
Priest, Jesuit, writer, blogger, tweeter, teacher, consultant to two Pontifical Councils… He is also known because of his position as editor-in-chief of  Civiltà Cattolica … and one of the most important contributions of this scholar is what is called cybertheology, something  which he himself defines as “thinking faith in the era of the Web”.  He has just published a book on this subject in Spanish and on April 5 last he spoke in the “ICongreso iMisión”, where he left thought-provoking statements to be reflected on: “The Web is not an instrument of evangelisation”; “There is no point making Facebook profiles with photos of little angels” and “The logic of the pulpit no longer works”.
What in the role of the Church on the Web?
The Gospel concerns the people of today so the Church is called to be where they are. Today people are also on the Web and therefore the Church is called to be there too, not because it has to be up to date but because it has to be wherever people live.
So it is not an instrument of evangelisation but an environment…
There is a line of thought emerging on this subject. All we have to do is read Pope Benedict XVI’s last message for the World Communications Day: the Church no longer uses the word “instrument” but “environment”. The Web is not simply an instrument; it is an environment where we can relate and get to know one another. Therefore we are also called to live in the Internet.
Is there some resistance to this in the Church?
There is, because the Internet is looked on as something like radio or television. I have seen this with bishops. In the beginning there is resistance but then this turns into enthusiasm. Promoting this way of understanding the Web is an interesting and exciting challenge because we are not speaking of using a tool; we are speaking about incarnating the Christian life in a new environment.
There could be an objection that the Church is too exposed by being on the Web.
The Church should be on the Web because that is where people are. I can understand the objection that it is too exposed but it is always better to be where we can give an opinion that is different from others than not to be there at all.
Another idea which you support is that on the Web we must encourage questions rather than give answers.
This is another big challenge.  At the present time everything is an answer.  For example, advertising gives answers to questions which often we haven’t even asked.  Evangelisation has fallen into this way of thinking also and we have grown accustomed to seeing the Gospel as the answer to all the questions that people ask.  This way of thinking turns the Gospel into one more answer among many. At present, the great challenge is to show people that the Gospel contains the big questions that concern them. This can facilitate a meeting with Christ.
Is there a danger of falling into a kind of Church marketing?
This is a risk.  That is why I insist that we must not only give answers but encourage questions.   We have to avoid the way the world of advertising thinks, trying to sell the best product.
Aren’t there people excluded from the digital continent too?
Recently the awareness has grown that the Web should be recognised as a right, for example, to access information.  Access to the Internet is fundamental, so projects are being set up so that places without resources can get the necessary technology. In this regard, I would like to say that it is very important that communications reflect the needs of the poorest. Those who have access to the media have the responsibility of giving a voice to those who have not.
Is the Pope a model of communications?
It attracts attention when a 77 year-old person without technological experience communicates in an up-to-date way.  In fact, he is a Pope who is easily tweetable and who has a very good relationship with the media because he gets his message across very easily.  This can surprise us, but it actually comes from his pastoral concern and his desire to be in contact with people.
(Source: Vida Nueva  No. 2890 – April 2014)

It was a normal, dull Winter’s evening.  I hadn’t much to do so I lay down on the sofa to rest for a quarter of an hour.  After a few minutes I fell asleep and found myself in a carpenter’s workroom. Was it really a dream?  Things seemed strange.  My clothes were not the ones I usually wear.  I was dressed like a citizen of Palestine 2000 years ago.
Suddenly, a person that I recognised appeared – St. Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  I couldn’t understand what was happening to me. He put down his tools, came over to me and began to speak to me in confidence about what had happened when he realised that Mary was expecting a baby that wasn’t his.   He didn’t doubt her but he was very confused. At that moment, I could see his limitations, his humanness, the tremendous effort that he had to make in order to understand such a great mystery. I must say, these limitations made me feel very close to him, to his way of behaving and thinking.
It was at that time that an angel appeared to him and told him that he must adopt the Son of God. He, a humble carpenter, had to look after the salvation of the world while living a simple, ordinary life.
He also told me that he felt very close to me, in my worries about not being able to pay taxes and maintain my home, in the difficulty of my work, in family relationships and many other things. Then he looked into my eyes and told me to hand over all my problems to Mary and to place everything in the Father’s hands.
In a very reassuring voice, he advised me to live joyfully always and to think about all the sufferings of Nazareth because they were a poor family and had learned to be happy with little, finding their wealth in doing the Father’s will.
When I woke up I saw clearly the exhortation which the Founder gave me when I became a member of the Holy Family of Bordeaux and placed myself in the hands of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, “Feel the strength of bring a Family, of union in prayer and work, of spreading the faith through example…”
I am very happy now when someone says to me, “Be like St. Joseph…” It used to worry me. For the past twenty years I have been trying to be like him and to practise the virtues of which he gave an example in a very humble way.  My hope is that Divine light will always guide my feet towards what is essential, towards simplicity and humility so that I may always serve my sisters and brothers who are in need.
Enzo
A Lay Associate of the Holy Family  of Bordeaux – Italy  
 

Resurrection is not just a return to life as it was, not just the resuscitation of a corpse. It is not just the ongoing existence of an immortal soul. Resurrection is new life beyond time and space but, as we see in Jesus, with a continuity of personhood. Resurrection is also the symbol of a transformation of the disciples who experienced new life flowing from the presence of God in the risen Christ. Paul is transformed from the persecutor to an apostle; the disciples are transformed into men and women imbued with the Spirit of Jesus and ready to share the message and mission of Jesus.
Jesus lives as the first fruits of a resurrection which is promised to all those who belong to him. New life is now the reality for all believers, as Paul seems to indicate when he says in 1Corinthians 15:12-19 that there is a direct relationship between the resurrection of Jesus and our resurrection. In an emerging universe, the resurrection of Jesus is the presence of God unfolding from within Jesus and giving him a new depth of life with God.  Resurrection is the extravagant love of God which transforms the whole individual person of Jesus Nazareth as well as ourselves with the final blossoming of a new depth of consciousness. Resurrection is the presence of God unfolding within each and every individual person, and therefore it is also a new inner relationship with God.
Resurrection is a revelatory symbol insofar as we experience a new dimension of God’s unfolding presence within us. Resurrection is also salvific insofar as we experience a new depth of life manifested in reconciliation, healing, and liberation within the whole Earth community. Resurrection provides a deeper, more loving web of relationship within the entire human community as we enter into and return to the fullness of life.
(Cletus Wessels – Jesus in the New Universe Story )
 
 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3)

Dear Young Friends,
How vividly I recall the remarkable meeting we had in Rio de Janeiro for the Twenty-eighth World Youth Day. It was a great celebration of faith and fellowship! There, on the seashore, Jesus renewed his call to each one of us to become his missionary disciples. May we perceive this call as the most important thing in our lives and share this gift with others, those near and far, even to the distant geographical and existential peripheries of our world.
As a way of accompanying our journey together, for the next three years I would like to reflect with you on the Beatitudes found in the Gospel of Saint Matthew (5:1-12). This year we will begin by reflecting on the first Beatitude: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3)
1. The revolutionary power of the Beatitudes
It is always a joyful experience for us to read and reflect on the Beatitudes! Jesus proclaimed them in his first great sermon, preached on the shore of the sea of Galilee. There was a very large crowd, so Jesus went up on the mountain to teach his disciples. That is why it is known as “the Sermon on the Mount”. In the Bible, the mountain is regarded as a place where God reveals himself. Jesus, by preaching on the mount, reveals himself to be a divine teacher, a new Moses. What does he tell us? He shows us the way to life, the way that he himself has taken. Jesus himself is the way, and he proposes this way as the path to true happiness. Throughout his life, from his birth in the stable in Bethlehem until his death on the cross and his resurrection, Jesus embodied the Beatitudes. All the promises of God’s Kingdom were fulfilled in him.
The Beatitudes of Jesus are new and revolutionary. They present a model of happiness contrary to what is usually communicated by the media and by the prevailing wisdom. A worldly way of thinking finds it scandalous that God became one of us and died on a cross! According to the logic of this world, those whom Jesus proclaimed blessed are regarded as useless, “losers”. What is glorified is success at any cost, affluence, the arrogance of power and self-affirmation at the expense of others.
Jesus challenges us, young friends, to take seriously his approach to life and to decide which path is right for us and leads to true joy. This is the great challenge of faith…). If you too are able to say “yes” to Jesus, your lives will become both meaningful and fruitful.
2. The courage to be happy
What does it mean to be “blessed” (makarioi in Greek)? To be blessed means to be happy. Tell me: Do you really want to be happy? In an age when we are constantly being enticed by vain and empty illusions of happiness, we risk settling for less and “thinking small” when it comes to the meaning of life. Think big instead! Open your hearts!
If you are really open to the deepest aspirations of your hearts, you will realize that you possess an unquenchable thirst for happiness, and this will allow you to expose and reject the “low cost” offers and approaches all around you. When we look only for success, pleasure and possessions, and we turn these into idols, we may well have moments of exhilaration, an illusory sense of satisfaction, but ultimately we become enslaved, never satisfied, always looking for more. It is a tragic thing to see a young person who “has everything”, but is weary and weak.
Saint John, writing to young people, told them: “You are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one” (1 Jn 2:14). Young people who choose Christ are strong: they are fed by his word and they do not need to ‘stuff themselves’ with other things! Have the courage to swim against the tide. Have the courage to be truly happy! Say no to an ephemeral, superficial and throwaway culture, a culture that assumes that you are incapable of taking on responsibility and facing the great challenges of life!
3. Blessed are the poor in spirit…
Jesus is God who strips himself of his glory. Here we see God’s choice to be poor: he was rich and yet he became poor in order to enrich us through his poverty (cf. 2 Cor 8:9). This is the mystery we contemplate in the crib when we see the Son of God lying in a manger, and later on the cross, where his self-emptying reaches its culmination… By his incarnation Jesus came among us as a poor beggar, asking for our love. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that “man is a beggar before God” (No. 2559) and that prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst and our own thirst (No. 2560).
You might ask me, then: What can we do, specifically, to make poverty in spirit a way of life, a real part of our own lives? I will reply by saying three things.
First of all, try to be free with regard to material things. The Lord calls us to a Gospel lifestyle marked by sobriety, by a refusal to yield to the culture of consumerism. This means being concerned with the essentials and learning to do without all those unneeded extras which hem us in. Let us learn to be detached from possessiveness and from the idolatry of money and lavish spending. Let us put Jesus first. He can free us from the kinds of idol-worship which enslave us. Put your trust in God, dear young friends! He knows and loves us, and he never forgets us… If we are to come through the financial crisis, we must be also ready to change our lifestyle and avoid so much wastefulness. Just as we need the courage to be happy, we also need the courage to live simply.
Second, if we are to live by this Beatitude, all of us need to experience a conversion in the way we see the poor. We have to care for them and be sensitive to their spiritual and material needs. To you young people I especially entrust the task of restoring solidarity to the heart of human culture. Faced with old and new forms of poverty – unemployment, migration and addictions of various kinds – we have the duty to be alert and thoughtful, avoiding the temptation to remain indifferent. We have to remember all those who feel unloved, who have no hope for the future and who have given up on life out of discouragement, disappointment or fear. We have to learn to be on the side of the poor, and not just indulge in rhetoric about the poor! Let us go out to meet them, look into their eyes and listen to them. The poor provide us with a concrete opportunity to encounter Christ himself, and to touch his suffering flesh.
However – and this is my third point – the poor are not just people to whom we can give something. They have much to offer us and to teach us. How much we have to learn from the wisdom of the poor!… They show us that people’s value is not measured by their possessions or how much money they have in the bank. A poor person, a person lacking material possessions, always maintains his or her dignity.
4. … for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
The central theme of the Gospel is the kingdom of God. Jesus is the kingdom of God in person; he is Immanuel, God-with-us. And it is in the human heart that the kingdom, God’s sovereignty, takes root and grows. The kingdom is at once both gift and promise. It has already been given to us in Jesus, but it has yet to be realized in its fullness. That is why we pray to the Father each day: “Thy kingdom come”.
The Lord wants a poor Church which evangelizes the poor. When Jesus sent the Twelve out on mission, he said to them: “Take no gold, nor silver, nor copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor a staff; for the labourers deserve their food” (Mt 10:9-10). Evangelical poverty is a basic condition for spreading the kingdom of God. The most beautiful and spontaneous expressions of joy which I have seen during my life were by poor people who had little to hold onto. Evangelization in our time will only take place as the result of contagious joy.
 
We have seen, then, that the Beatitude of the poor in spirit shapes our relationship with God, with material goods and with the poor. With the example and words of Jesus before us, we realize how much we need to be converted, so that the logic of being more will prevail over that of having more! The saints can best help us to understand the profound meaning of the Beatitudes. So the canonization of John Paul II, to be celebrated on the Second Sunday of Easter, will be an event marked by immense joy. He will be the great patron of the World Youth Days which he inaugurated and always supported. In the communion of saints he will continue to be a father and friend to all of you.
 
Dear friends, the Magnificat, the Canticle of Mary, poor in spirit, is also the song of everyone who lives by the Beatitudes. The joy of the Gospel arises from a heart which, in its poverty, rejoices and marvels at the works of God, like the heart of Our Lady, whom all generations call “blessed” (cf. Lk 1:48). May Mary, Mother of the poor and Star of the new evangelization help us to live the Gospel, to embody the Beatitudes in our lives, and to have the courage always to be happy.
From the Vatican, 21 January 2014
Memorial of Saint Agnes, Virgin and Martyr
FRANCIS
 
 
 
 
 

 
UNHCR – High Commissioner for Refugees United Nations
I would like to inform you that we have received your donation. We are truly grateful ; you know how these resources are invaluable for our work at this time, which is so difficult because of the many humanitarian crises and lack of available funds.
I would like to take this opportunity to share with you a story that made ??us very happy : yesterday (April 9 ) for the first time since the summer of 2013 , our colleagues were able to enter the neighborhood  of Boustan Qaser , east of Aleppo ,  which has been under siege for years.
The goods were transported to this community using 54 pull-carts  and 75 workers; 270 trips were made to deposit them in a warehouse of the Syrian Red Cross, and to proceed  as soon as possible to the distribution to these needy people.
The UNHCR staff there have witnessed a disastrous humanitarian situation, with severe shortages of food, water , medicines and basic supplies … If we can reach places like this, it is also thanks to your support .
Thank you again !
Giovanna Li Perni