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Friday, November 22, 2013

CATHOLIC NEWS WORLD : FRI. NOV. 22, 2013 - SHARE

JOHN F. KENNEDY - DEATH ANNIVERSARY - THE 1ST CATHOLIC PRESIDENT OF THE USA

FREE CATHOLIC MOVIES MOTHER TERESA IN THE NAME OF GOD'S POOR - 1997 DRAMA - PART 9

POPE FRANCIS VISITS MONASTERY - "MARY, OUR HOPE"

TODAY'S SAINT: NOV. 22: ST. CECILIA

TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : FRI. NOV. 22, 2013

AMAZING NEW MOVIE CHRISTMAS CANDLE FROM MAX LUCADO'S BOOK

FREE CATHOLIC MOVIES MOTHER TERESA IN THE NAME OF GOD'S POOR - 1997 DRAMA - PART 8
Pope Francis has blessed another severely deformed man. During his Wednesday general audience on November 20, 2013 Pope Francis blessed a man without a face. This is 2 weeks after he made headlines for his kiss and blessing a Vinicio Riva who has a disease that causes tumors on his face. Pope Francis is showing that the love of God goes beyond all physical deformities and looks to the soul.  (Image shared from DailyMail UK)

 2013



JOHN F. KENNEDY - DEATH ANNIVERSARY - THE 1ST CATHOLIC PRESIDENT OF THE USA

JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY was born on May, 29, 1917 and died on November 22, 1963. He was also called 'Jack' or JFK. He became the 35th President of the United States of America in Januarey 1961. He was assassinated in Dallas, Texas at the age of 46 by Lee Harvey Oswald. JFK served in the US army during the Second World War and he also served on the US Senate from 1953-1960. He was the youngest President elected at age 43. JFK was the only Catholic President. Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts to Joseph Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald who were of Irish decent.  JFK came from a family of 9 children Robert, Edward, Rosemary, Joseph, Eunice, Kathleen, Patricia, and Jean. (IMAGES FROM GOOGLE)
PRAYER FOR SOUL OF JFK
Lord Jesus, our Redeemer, You willingly gave Yourself up to death so that all people might be saved and pass from death into a new life. Listen to our prayers; look with love on Your people who mourn and pray for their dead brother/sister. Lord Jesus, You alone are holy and compassionate; forgive our brother/sister his/her sins.
By dying You opened the gates of life for those who believe in You; do not let Your brother/sister be parted from You, but by Your glorious power give him/her light, joy, and peace in heaven where You live for ever and ever. Amen.



FREE CATHOLIC MOVIES MOTHER TERESA IN THE NAME OF GOD'S POOR - 1997 DRAMA - PART 9

JCE News is showing - Mother Teresa: In the Name of God's Poor (1997)

 -  Biography | Drama  -  5 October 1997 (USA)
PART 9 OF 9 - 
This is the true story of Mother Teresa, beginning in Calcutta, India, where she starts her order to help the poorest of Gods poor.

Director:

 Kevin Connor

Writers:

        Jan Hartman (story), Dominique Lapierre (story),

Stars:

        Geraldine Chaplin, Keene Curtis, Helena Carroll 

POPE FRANCIS VISITS MONASTERY - "MARY, OUR HOPE"

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis just concluded a visit to the Camaldolese Monastery of Sant’Antonio Abate at the foot of Rome's Aventine hill. He went to the cloistered convent to celebrate Vespers with the nuns on the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple, dedicated by the Church to all cloistered religious. He is not the first Pope to visit the convent on the Aventine – both Paul VI and Blessed John Paul II made the short trip across Rome’s Tiber river to visit. The Vespers was solemn, the nuns chanting the office in air filled with incense. 
 In his homily, based on the readings, Pope Francis spoke about Mary, calling her the mother of Hope. He called on the nuns to be women of hope, saying that hope “nourished by listening , contemplation , patience.” Pope Francis said, that while at the foot of the cross, when everything seems really over, all hope might have been cut off. 

“[Mary], too, in that moment, might have said if she remembered the promises of the Annunciation : ‘It was not true! I was deceived .‘ But she did not,” the Pope said. “Instead, she, who was blessed because she believed, by her faith that sees the new future bloom and waits hopefully for the tomorrow of God.”

He went on to say the only lamp on the tomb of Jesus was the hope of the mother, who at that time was the hope of all humanity. He then asked them, is that lamp still burning in the monastery? Do they expect this tomorrow of God? Pope Francis said the mother of hope sustains us in times of doubt and difficulty , discomfort and apparent defeat , and in true human losses. 

“Mary, our Hope,” concluded Pope Francis. Help us to make our lives an offering pleasing to our Heavenly Father, and a joyful gift for our brothers, an attitude that always looks to tomorrow .

SHARED FROM RADIO VATICANA

TODAY'S SAINT: NOV. 22: ST. CECILIA


St. Cecilia
MARTYR, PATRONESS OF CHURCH MUSIC
Feast: November 22
Information:
Feast Day:
November 22
Born:
Rome
Major Shrine:
Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome, Italy
Patron of:
Church music,great musicians, poets

The name of St. Cecilia has always been most illustrious in the church, and ever since the primitive ages is mentioned with distinction in the canon of the mass, and in the sacramentaries and calendars of the church. Her spouse Valerian, Tiburtius, and Maximus, an officer, who were her companions in martyrdom, are also mentioned in the same authentic and venerable writings. St. Cecilia was a native of Rome, of a good family, and educated in the principles and perfect practice of the Christian religion. In her youth she by vow consecrated her virginity to God, yet was compelled by her parents to marry a nobleman named Valerian. Him she converted to the faith, and soon after gained to the same his brother Tiburtius. The men first suffered martyrdom, being beheaded for the faith. St. Cecilia finished her glorious triumph some days after them. Their acts, which are of very small authority, make them contemporary with Pope Urban I, and consequently place their martyrdom about the year 230, under Alexander Severus; others, however, place the triumph of these martyrs under Marcus Aurelius, between the years 176 and 180. Their sacred bodies were deposited in part of the cemetery of Calixtus, which part, from our saint, was called St. Cecilia's cemetery. Mention is made of an ancient Church of St. Cecilia in Rome in the fifth century, in which Pope Symmachus held a council in the year 500. This church being fallen to decay, Pope Paschal I began to rebuild it; but was in some pain how he should find the body of the saint, for it was thought that the Lombards had taken it away, as they had many others from the cemeteries of Rome, when they besieged that city under King Astulphus in 755. One Sunday, as this pope was assisting at matins as was his wont, at St. Peter's, he fell into a slumber, in which he was advertised by St. Cecilia herself that the Lombards had in vain sought for her body, and that he should find it; and he accordingly discovered it in the cemetery called by her name, clothed in a robe of gold tissue, with linen cloths at her feet, dipped in her blood. With her body was found that of Valerian, her husband; and the pope caused them to be translated to her church in the city; as also the bodies of Tiburtius and Maximus, martyrs, and of the popes Urban and Lucius, which lay in the adjoining cemetery of Praetextatus, on the same Appian road. This translation was made in 821. Pope Paschal founded a monastery in honour of these saints, near the Church of St. Cecilia, that the monks might perform the office day and night. He adorned that church with great magnificence, and gave to it silver plate to the amount of about nine hundred pounds—among other things a ciborium, or tabernacle, of five hundred pounds weight; and a great many pieces of rich stuffs for veils and such kinds of ornaments; in one of which was represented the angel crowning St. Cecilia, Valerian, and Tiburtius. This church, which gives title to a cardinal priest, was sumptuously rebuilt in 1599 by Cardinal Paul Emilius Sfondrati, nephew to Pope Gregory XIV, when Clement VIII caused the bodies of these saints to be removed under the high altar, and deposited in a most sumptuous vault in the same church called the Confession of St. Cecilia; it was enriched in such a manner by Cardinal Paul Emilius Sfondrati as to dazzle the eye and astonish the spectator. This church of St. Cecilia is called In Trastevere, or Beyond the Tiber, to distinguish it from two other churches in Rome which bear the name of this saint.
St. Cecilia, from her assiduity in singing the divine praises (in which, according to her Acts, she often joined instrumental music with vocal), is regarded as patroness of church music. The psalms, and many sacred canticles in many other parts of the holy scripture, and the universal practice both of the ancient Jewish and of the Christian church, recommend the religious custom of sometimes employing a decent and grave music in sounding forth the divine praises. By this homage of praise we join the heavenly spirits in their uninterrupted songs of adoration, love, and praise. And by such music we express the spiritual joy of our hearts in this heavenly function, and excite ourselves therein to holy jubilation and devotion.

TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : FRI. NOV. 22, 2013

Memorial of Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr
Lectionary: 501


Reading 1                    1 MC 4:36-37, 52-59

Judas and his brothers said,
“Now that our enemies have been crushed,
let us go up to purify the sanctuary and rededicate it.”
So the whole army assembled, and went up to Mount Zion.

Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month,
that is, the month of Chislev,
in the year one hundred and forty-eight,
they arose and offered sacrifice according to the law
on the new altar of burnt offerings that they had made.
On the anniversary of the day on which the Gentiles had defiled it,
on that very day it was reconsecrated
with songs, harps, flutes, and cymbals.
All the people prostrated themselves and adored and praised Heaven,
who had given them success.

For eight days they celebrated the dedication of the altar
and joyfully offered burnt offerings and sacrifices
of deliverance and praise.
They ornamented the facade of the temple with gold crowns and shields;
they repaired the gates and the priests’ chambers
and furnished them with doors.
There was great joy among the people
now that the disgrace of the Gentiles was removed.
Then Judas and his brothers and the entire congregation of Israel
decreed that the days of the dedication of the altar
should be observed with joy and gladness
on the anniversary every year for eight days,
from the twenty-fifth day of the month Chislev.

Responsorial Psalm          1 CHR 29:10BCD, 11ABC, 11D-12A, 12BCD

R. (13b) We praise your glorious name, O mighty God.
“Blessed may you be, O LORD,
God of Israel our father,
from eternity to eternity.”
R. We praise your glorious name, O mighty God.
“Yours, O LORD, are grandeur and power,
majesty, splendor, and glory.
For all in heaven and on earth is yours.”
R. We praise your glorious name, O mighty God.
“Yours, O LORD, is the sovereignty;
you are exalted as head over all.
Riches and honor are from you.”
R. We praise your glorious name, O mighty God.
“You have dominion over all,
In your hand are power and might;
it is yours to give grandeur and strength to all.”
R. We praise your glorious name, O mighty God.

Gospel                         LK 19:45-48

Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out
those who were selling things, saying to them,
“It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer,
but you have made it a den of thieves
.”
And every day he was teaching in the temple area.
The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile,
were seeking to put him to death,
but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose
because all the people were hanging on his words.

2 UNDERGROUND PRIESTS IMPRISONED FOR CATECHISM CLASSES

ASIA NEWS REPORT: by Bernardo Cervellera
The two young priests gave catechism classes to adults in Qinyuan . Faithful who helped them are fined. Some Catholics hope that the concentration of power in the National Security Council will lessen patriotic association’s power and enhance religious freedom. Others fear the situation will worsen because reforms reaffirm the Communist Party monopoly of power.


Rome (AsiaNews) - Two priests from the underground Church are in prison since early October. They are "guilty" of having organized catechism classes for adults in the town of Qinyuan , near Baoding (Hebei ). The two men are Fr. Tian Dalong and another priest whose identity is unknown to AsiaNews, both in their 40s.  They were arrested and isolated in police barracks in Baoding, an area with one of the largest non-official communities. Four lay faithful, who helped the priests in their pastoral activities have been forced to pay a fine of 4 thousand yuan each (about 400 EUR ) , accounting for more than two months' salary of a skilled worker.
According to AsiaNews sources, there are at least 10 priests in similar conditions, some have even been sentenced to the laojiao (forced labor camps for "reform through labor") for years. What is important about these latest arrests is that they took place just weeks after the Third Plenum of the Chinese Communist Party, a meeting which the leadership loudly proclaimed would produce "unprecedented" reforms.
The world media, coached by Xinhua's carefully controlled reports, have praised these possible reforms, focusing on the economic novelties: a gradual reduction of government influence in the economy; promotion of private investment and foreign tax reform, the elimination of mandatory residence visas ( hukou ) for migrants; reform of the one-child law, etc ...

AsiaNews has presented these aspects also showing the ambiguities (see here,here, here and here).

Chinese Catholics are wondering if the plenum will bring more hope of freedom for Catholics and for religious freedom in general. These questions focus on the future function of the new National Security Council launched by the Plenum as an example of the new reform .

According to Xinhua, the National Security Council ( NSC ) should "perfect the national security system and  strategy, guaranteeing the nations security". The few explanations on how the NSC would function were given by Xi Jinping, who stated that the new body should "strengthen the unity of the leadership in state security", making "national security and social stability preconditions for reform and development " (Xinhua , 15/11/2013 ) .

Several experts think that "the unity of the leadership in state security" means that the NSC will be a superior power to the army, the police, the intelligence services and the judiciary, which should ensure social stability and internal relations with foreign countries.

Some Catholics in the north and east of China believe this concentration of power in the hands of the central government , and perhaps the same Xi Jinping, will promote religious freedom. Very often, the imprisonments, the expropriation of church land, the arrests of priests and faithful depend on the decisions of local leaders, who have no qualms in ignoring national regulations on religion . In addition, strengthening central power could weaken the Ministry of Religious Affairs - currently among the most Stalinist government offices - and patriotic associations.

As proof of a certain relaxation of control in the peripheries, Catholics are quoted as saying that the police leave underground communities room to breathe, are concerned about the health of the bishops (for fear of having to face a more serious crises in the case of an appointment ), maintain dialogue (perhaps to control) with underground priests .

Instead other believers in Beijing and central China say that "nothing has changed" and that the situation is always the same: underground priests are imprisoned (such as the two mentioned above); meetings among the faithful are banned; the Patriotic Association's control is absolute. If you add to this the list of bishops that have disappeared in police custody over the years, the bishop of Shanghai still under house arrest, control over other bishops (even official ones), their conclusion is understandable: "So far, nothing has changed.  We'll see in a few months time if there is a change of policy. Anyway, this will depend on the idea of ​​reform that leadership has in mind : the concentration of all power in the hands of a few may even worsen the situation. "


According to the activist Hu Jia , the concentration of power "may be used against human rights defenders, those who support the universal values ​​and freedom of speech and religion - people who the Party can not tolerate because they see them as a threat to government. "

This is confirmed by the Xinhua reports on the final document of the third Plenum (The final official version of which has yet to be released) reiterates that all the reforms serve to reinforce the Chinese Communist Party's monopoly of power.

ASIA NEWS REPORT

POPE FRANCIS GOD "NEVER TIRES OF FORGIVING US"

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday called on priests to be humble servants of the Sacrament of Forgiveness. Speaking during the weekly General Audience, the Pope also prayed for contemplative religious brothers and sisters who dedicate themselves to God in prayer and silent work.

Speaking to the faithful in a packed St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis said the Church accompanies us on our journey of conversion for the whole of our lives, calling us to experience reconciliation in its communal and ecclesial dimension.

The instruments through which we receive forgiveness – he said – are priests who are called to be the servants of this sacrament. They must recognise - he added - that they too are in need of forgiveness and healing and thus they must exercise their ministry in humilty and mercy.

Speaking off the cuff, the Pope said that he too is a sinner and goes to confession every 15 days. Let us not forget – he said – that God “never tires of forgiving us, and through the ministry of a priest he offers us an embrace that regenerates us and allows us to continue in our journey”.

At the end of the audience the Pope recalled that Thursday, November 21st, which marks the liturgical feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Temple, is the day dedicated to those who belong to contemplative religious orders. And urging material and spiritual support for cloistered religious, he said “It's a good opportunity to thank the Lord for the gift of so many people who, in monasteries and hermitages, dedicate themselves to God in prayer and silent work".

Finally he commended the about-to-begin International Year of Family Farming saying that it highlights the countless benefits that family farming contributes to economic growth, to social solidarity, to respect for creation and to the moral fibre of the entire community.

Below, please find Pope Francis' remarks to English speaking pilgrims, read out in English by an assistant:

Dear Brothers and Sisters: Today I would like to speak again on the forgiveness of sins by reflecting on the power of the keys, which is a biblical symbol of the mission Jesus entrusted to the Apostles.

First and foremost, we recall that the source of the forgiveness of sins is the Holy Spirit, whom the Risen Jesus bestowed upon the Apostles. Hence, he made the Church the guardian of the keys, of this power.

The Church, however, is not the master of forgiveness, but its servant. The Church accompanies us on our journey of conversion for the whole of our lives and calls us to experience reconciliation in its communal and ecclesial dimension. We receive forgiveness through the priest. Through his ministry,

God has given us a brother to bring us forgiveness in the name of the Church. Priests, who are the servants of this sacrament, must recognize that they also are in need of forgiveness and healing, and so they must exercise their ministry in humility and mercy. Let us then remember always that God never tires of forgiving us. Let us truly value this sacrament and rejoice in the gift of pardon and healing that comes to us through the ministry of priests.


SHARED FROM RADIO VATICANA


h an office on the 23rd of January.

AMAZING NEW MOVIE CHRISTMAS CANDLE FROM MAX LUCADO'S BOOK


From bestselling author, Max Lucado, comes THE CHRISTMAS CANDLE, a timeless holiday film for the entire family. IN THEATERS TODAY
Deep in the heart of the English countryside lies the enchanting village of Gladbury. Legend has it every 25 years an angel visits the village candlemaker and touches a single candle. Whoever lights this candle receives a miracle on Christmas Eve. But in 1890, at the dawn of the electric age, this centuries old legend may come to an end.

When David Richmond (Hans Matheson), a progressive young minister, arrives in Gladbury, the villagers discover a new formula for miracles: good deeds and acts of kindness. While David's quest to modernize Gladbury sets him at odds with the old world candlemaker, he finds an unlikely ally in the lovely skeptic, Emily Barstow (Samantha Barks). Now, the fiery candlemaker must fight to preserve the legacy of the Christmas Candle. But when the candle goes missing, the miraculous and human collide in the most astonishing Christmas the village of Gladbury has ever seen.
Starring Hans Matheson (Clash of the TitansSherlock Holmes), Samantha Barks (Les Miserables), Lesley Manville (Disney's A Christmas Carol), and Sylvester McCoy (The Hobbit TrilogyDoctor Who). Also starring John Hannah (The Mummy,Four Weddings and a Funeral) and Barbara Flynn (Miss Potter) with James Cosmo (Game of ThronesBraveheart). And introducing singing phenomenon, Susan Boyle, in her feature film debut.

FREE CATHOLIC MOVIES MOTHER TERESA IN THE NAME OF GOD'S POOR - 1997 DRAMA - PART 8

 2013

JCE News is showing - Mother Teresa: In the Name of God's Poor (1997)

 -  Biography | Drama  -  5 October 1997 (USA)
PART 8 OF 9 - TUNE IN TOMORROW FOR PART 9
This is the true story of Mother Teresa, beginning in Calcutta, India, where she starts her order to help the poorest of Gods poor.

Director:

 Kevin Connor

Writers:

       Jan Hartman (story), Dominique Lapierre (story),

Stars:

       Geraldine Chaplin, Keene Curtis, Helena Carroll