Catholic World News: Sun. Aug. 23, 2009

Catholic world news: Sun. Aug. 23, 2009: headlines-
VATICAN: POPE: TRULY FOLLOWING CHRIST CAN FILL THE HEART WITH JOY-
AUSTRALIA: $1.5 MILLION INTER-DENOMINATIONAL CHRISTIAN CAMPAIGN-
EUROPE: GERMANY: ARCHBISHOP INTIATES 40 DAYS OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS-
AFRICA: SOMALIA: DEATH TOLL RISES IN MOGADISHU-
ASIA: MONTH OF RAMADAN BEGINS FOR MUSLIMS WORLDWIDE -
AMERICA: DAY OF DISCERNMENT-
TODAY'S SAINT: ST. ROSE OF LIMA-




VATICAN
POPE: TRULY FOLLOWING CHRIST CAN FILL THE HEART WITH JOY

Pope Benedict XVI prayed the Angelus with the faithful gathered in the courtyard of the Apostolic retreat at Castel Gandolfo. Pope Benedict XVI began his remarks before this Sundays Angelus prayer by joking about his wrist, which he called, lazy, after doctors removed his cast this past Friday.The final part of Chapter VI of the Gospel of John was the backdrop for his reflections this Sunday, in which he discussed the need for the faithful to allow Christ to inform their deepest thoughts and have lordship over their will. He went on to say that today as in days past, many people are still 'shocked' by the paradox of the Christian faith." Some people reject Christ's teaching outright, while others seek to tailor his teachings to fit the prevailing trends of the day. Thus distoring its meaning and its importance. Unlike the ease of luke warm disclipleship, truly following Christ can fiill the heart with joy.

(SOURCE:http://www.radiovaticana.org/en1/index.asp

AUSTRALIA
$1.5 MILLION INTER-DENOMINATIONAL CHRISTIAN CAMPAIGN

CathNews Australia reports a seven-week, $1.5 million inter-denominational Christian media campaign will be launched in NSW to promote the faith, highlighting Jesus Christ as the uniting factor.
The Sydney Morning Herald report quoted a description of Christ as the "ultimate pin-up boy".
"Research showed us that people were not really happy about the church," the newspaper quoted Bible Society chief executive Daniel Willis saying. "When we started this research in 2003, all the problems that were associated with the church were being raised, and there was a lot of bad press. The church was anathema but Jesus was fine."
The $1.5 million "Jesus. All About Life" campaign will kick off with a viral internet component next month, before moving on to prime-time TV and billboard advertising running until the end of October.
It is privately funded by the Bible Society and is supported by of a range of denominations, including the Catholic Church, NSW Christian Brethren and Hillsong.
Mr Willis said the campaign would not shy away from the reality that some people had had negative experiences with Christian churches, but Jesus - who had stood up to religious leaders and those using the church for financial gain - "stands up to scrutiny".
"We acknowledge that some people have been dealt a rough deal by the church but Jesus, when he was here and was talking to people, he cut through all that as well," he said.
(SOURCE:http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=15942

EUROPE
GERMANY: ARCHBISHOP INTIATES 40 DAYS OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS

Kathnet reports that Archbishop Joachim Cardinal Meisner invites from the 23. September to 1. November all believers, municipalities and communities of the diocese to a 40 day prayer chain for priestly and religious vocations. "Let us together knock at the heart of the Lord", writes the Archbishop in the message which is on the initiative http://www.bittet.de/ Web site."" The prayer chain in the priest year 2009 / 2010 is Wednesday, 23. September at 6.30 pm solemnly opened in the Cologne Cathedral by Dr. Norbert Feldhoff Dompropst. The conclusion is 1. November 5 pm in the Altenberger Cathedral. During time between, the prayers are called meet local Churches, chapels, group, youth rooms but also in homes and private houses. Shape and length of the prayers are freely provided the participating believers. Are individual hours or full days to pray. The interested parties are called to register in writing that is a prayer chain coherence, prayed the steadily at least somewhere in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese.(SOURCE: http://www.kath.net/detail.php?id=23712


AFRICA
SOMALIA: DEATH TOLL RISES IN MOGADISHU

AllAfrica reporst that at least nine people were killed Saturday in the Somali capital Mogadishu in the second consecutive day of battles, Radio Garowe reports.
More than 12 other people were wounded in the fighting, which erupted at a government checkpoint on the key southern road that links Mogadishu to Afgoye, an agricultural town in Lower Shabelle region under the control of insurgents.
Locals said the fighting erupted in the morning and lasted for nearly two hours, with both sides using machineguns and heavy bombs. Al Shabaab insurgents briefly seized control of the checkpoint, witnesses reported.
African Union peacekeepers (AMISOM) based at the compound of Somali National University "joined the fight" to help government forces retake control of the important checkpoint.
There were no AMISOM casualties, but all the nine dead victims were Somali soldiers or insurgents, medical sources said.
Yusuf Mohamed "Indha Ade," the former warlord of Lower Shabelle, told a press conference that government forces were victorious in the battle and claimed to have captured "new territory." Mr. Indha Ade was recently appointed at the Somali government's state minister for defense.
Al Shabaab has not spoken publicly about the new fighting, but the battles come a day after upwards of 30 people were killed in fierce clashes yesterday. READ: 31 dead in Mogadishu battles and bombs
Somalia's capital Mogadishu is home to AMISOM-backed government forces and gunmen loyal to two insurgent factions, Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam.
The insurgency has threatened to overthrow the Horn of Africa country's internationally recognized government, which is weak and has been cornered to a few neighborhoods of Mogadishu.
(SOURCE: http://allafrica.com/stories/200908230003.html

ASIA
MONTH OF RAMADAN BEGINS FOR MUSLIMS WORLDWIDE

Today the majority of Arab countries and Iran began the month of Ramadan, dedicated to fasting and charity. The religious leaders in Saudi Arabia and Iran set the date according to astronomical observations. The sacred month, which is one of the five pillars of Islam, starts today in Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Syria, Yemen, Tunisia, Algeria, Sudan, Palestinian Territories and other Asian countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia. In Libya, however, the starting date was yesterday, as well as for the Shia in Lebanon.
During this month Muslims must abstain from eating, drinking, smoking, having sexual relations from sunrise to sunset.
King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia, guardian of the most important holy places of Islam, sent out a message last night asking all Muslims during the month to absorb themselves in the qualities of mercy, tolerance, generosity, and follow the footsteps of the Prophet Muhammad. "We have to commit ourselves - he said - to the spirit of brotherhood and to improve feelings of compassion, generosity and mercy, seeking our reward from God."
During the month of Ramadan, hundreds of thousands of faithful Muslims travel to Mecca on the "little pilgrimage" or Omra (different to the Hajj, the great pilgrimage, which this year takes place in November). This year there are fears of a drop in attendance due to the swine flu epidemic. Several countries, including Iran, Egypt and France have advised Muslims not to travel to Mecca.
Compensating for the decline in pilgrims, this year the number of beggars swarming Mecca has risen disproportionately, all seeking to take advantage of the call for generosity during the month of Ramadan. Throughout the holy month many old people enter the country to beg. But for many, the charity system has become subjected to racketeering. Captain Eqab Al-Rubaie, director of operations in the passport department in Mecca, reports that so far they have arrested 677 beggars of different nationalities. But the largest arrest occurred in the province of Asir, south of Arabia, where the number detained is more than 23 thousand, mostly Yemenis.
One university study showed that at least 100 thousand child beggars arrive in Saudi Arabia each year. Most of them came from Yemen, and then from several Asian and African countries.
(SOURCE: http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=16122&size=A

AMERICAS
DAY OF DISCERNMENT

CNA reports that a Day of Discerment brought some to a Church in Gastonia. Some were simply curious to learn more. Some already knew they have a calling to serve.
“I wanted to come and meet the priests, to see how they work, what they do,” said 15-year-old Billy Stocker, a parishioner of Queen of the Apostles in Belmont.
Billy was among the 60 male high school and college students who gathered with the bishop, priests and seminarians of the Diocese of Charlotte for a Day of Discernment at St. Michael the Archangel Church in Gastonia, N.C. on Aug. 5.
The daylong event allowed the young men to interact and ask questions of the clergy and seminarians to discern what God is asking of their lives and to explore their possible callings to the priesthood.
In addition to attending Mass celebrated by Bishop Peter J. Jugis, the young men spent the day in prayer, Eucharistic adoration and talks with the priests and seminarians.
The day also included sports, games and a panel discussion with a question-and-answer session about life in the priesthood and seminary.
Billy said he has always had a calling toward the priesthood.
“I want to help people and help people get closer to God,” he said.
“Discernment day allows young Catholic men to realize that the call to the priesthood is a real possibility for them,” said Father Christopher Gober, pastor of St. Lucien Church in Spruce Pine and St. Bernadette Mission in Linville and vocations director for the Diocese of Charlotte.
“The day gives them a context to see other men are thinking about it as well,” he said.
“They realize they aren’t the only ones thinking about a calling to the priesthood,” said Father Benjamin Roberts, parochial vicar of St. Paul the Apostle Church in Greensboro.
Father Roberts, who was ordained in June, has attended every discernment day since 2005 and was on hand to talk to the participants about life as a newly ordained priest.
“It’s been wonderful … more amazing than I thought it would be,” he said.
Discernment day, said Father Gober, allows young men to see “that the priesthood is a joyful life.”
“I’ve been thinking about the priesthood for a year,” said 19-year-old Josh Herman, a parishioner of St. Dorothy Church in Lincolnton.
“I wanted to come and get a better understanding of what I may be getting myself into,” he said with a smile.
“The joy,” said Father Roberts, “is seeing young men come to discernment day and then enter the seminary a few years later.”
Wendell Sawyer was one of those young men. The 20-year-old attended last year’s discernment day and is now attending St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Pennsylvania.
“All the signs pointed to the priesthood,” he said. “Discernment day jolts people out of their comfortable surroundings and makes them think about the priesthood more seriously.”
Bishop of Charlotte, Peter Jugis said he believed there were some future priests in the recent group.
“I was happy to spend the day with these young people who are exploring the idea of a call to the priesthood,” said the bishop.
“Every day I pray a rosary specifically for our seminarians, and for all the young people of our diocese who are exploring the idea of priesthood or religious life,” he said.
(SOURCE: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=16908

TODAY'S SAINT

St. Rose of Lima
PATRON OF SOUTH AMERICA, DOMINICAN TERTIARY

Feast Day:
August 23
Born:
April 20, 1586, Lima, Viceroyalty of Peru
Died:
August 24, 1617, Lima, Viceroyalty of Peru
Canonized:
April 2, 1671, Rome by Pope Clement X
Major Shrine:
convent of Santo Domingo in Lima, Peru
Patron of:
embroiderers; gardeners; India; Latin America; people ridiculed for their piety; Peru; Philippines; Santa Rosa, California; against vanity; Lima; Peruvian Police Force

Rose of Lima has a special claim on our interest for she has the honor of being the first person born in the Western Hemisphere to be canonized by the Church.
The child who became St. Rose of Lima was born on April 20 1586, of a Spaniard, Gaspar de Flores, and Maria d'Olivia, a woman who had Inca blood in her veins. The infant, one of ten children born to the couple, was baptized Isabel, after an aunt, Isabel de Herrara, who acted as godmother. This ceremony took place at home, for the baby was extremely weak. Several weeks later the tiny infant was carried to the nearby church of San Sebastian for baptism by the priest, Don Antonio Polanco. By the time she was confirmed by Archbishop Toribio of Lima, the name Isabel had been replaced by Rose, and this was the name now bestowed on her. Rose had a fresh, lovely complexion, and she was worried by the thought that this name had been given as a tribute to her beauty. So sensitive was her conscience that she had genuine scruples over bearing the name, and on one occasion, after hearing someone praise her comeliness, she rubbed pepper into her face to mar it; another time, she put lime on her hands, inducing acute suffering. This was her way-a way conditioned by the time and place-of fighting a temptation to vanity. Rose seems to have taken for her model St. Catherine of Siena, and, like the earlier saint, she experienced so ardent a love of God whenever she was in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament that exaltation completely filled her soul. Yet Rose was not without a practical side. Her father had been well-to-do, but when he lost money in mining ventures, the family's fortunes reached a very low ebb. Rose helped out by selling her fine needlework; she also raised beautiful flowers and these too were taken to market. One of her brothers, Ferdinand, was sympathetic and understanding toward this sister who was so markedly "different." As she grew to maturity, her parents were anxious to have Rose marry, and indeed there were several worthy aspirants for her hand. Rose did not wish marriage, and, to end the arguments and offers, she joined the Third Order of St. Dominic, donned the habit, and took a vow of perpetual virginity.
For many years Rose lived virtually as a recluse. There was a little hut in the family garden, and this she used as an oratory. She often wore on her head a circlet of silver studded on the inside with sharp points, in memory of the Lord's crown of thorns. Other forms of penitence which she inflicted on her body were floggings, administered three times daily, the wearing of a hair shirt, and the dragging of a heavy, wooden cross about the garden. She rubbed her lips with gall and often chewed bitter herbs to deaden the sense of taste. Both eating and sleeping were reduced to a minimum. Naturally her health was affected, but the physical disorders which resulted from this regime-stomach ailments, asthma, rheumatism, and fevers-were suffered uncomplainingly. This manner of life offended her family, who preferred their daughter to follow the more conventional and accepted ways of holiness. Finally, when Rose began to tell of visions, revelations, visitations, and voices they deplored her penitential practices more than ever. Sometimes she brought sick and hungry persons into her own home that she might better care for them.
During an illness towards the end of her life, she was able to pray, "Lord, increase my sufferings, and with them increase Thy love in my heart." This remarkable woman died on August 25, 1617, at the age of thirty-one.
She was laid to rest in the Dominican convent at Lima. Later, when miracles and cures were being attributed to her intervention, the body was transferred to the church of San Domingo. There it reposes today in a special chapel. Rose of Lima was declared patroness of South America and the Philippines; she was canonized by Pope Clement in 1671, August 30 being appointed her feast-day. This holy woman is highly honored in all Spanish-American countries. The emblems associated with her are an anchor, a crown of roses, and a city. (Edited from: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/R/stroseoflima.asp

SAINTLY QUOTE

Do not be afraid to be saints. Follow Jesus Christ who is the source of freedom and light. Be open to the Lord so that He may lighten all your ways. Pope John Paul II

TODAY'S MASS READINGS

Joshua 24: 1 - 2, 15 - 18
1
Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God.
2
And Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, `Your fathers lived of old beyond the Euphra'tes, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.
15
And if you be unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
16
Then the people answered, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods;
17
for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed;
18
and the LORD drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land; therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God."

Psalms 34: 2 - 3, 16 - 21
2
My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and be glad.
3
O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!
16
The face of the LORD is against evildoers, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
17
When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit.
19
Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
20
He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.
21
Evil shall slay the wicked; and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.

Ephesians 5: 21 - 32
21
Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22
Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord.
23
For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.
24
As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands.
25
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
26
that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
27
that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
28
Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
29
For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church,
30
because we are members of his body.
31
"For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."
32
This mystery is a profound one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church;
And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
25
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
26
that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
27
that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
28
Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
29
For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church,
30
because we are members of his body.
31
"For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."
32
This mystery is a profound one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church;

GOSPEL

John 6: 60 - 69
60
Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?"
61
But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at it, said to them, "Do you take offense at this?
62
Then what if you were to see the Son of man ascending where he was before?
63
It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
64
But there are some of you that do not believe." For Jesus knew from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that would betray him.
65
And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father."
66
After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him.
67
Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?"
68
Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life;
69
and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."