2013
(Vatican Radio) Christians must always guard against the deceit of the devil, said Pope Francis at Friday’s morning Mass in Casa Santa Marta. The Pope underlined that Christians cannot follow the victory of Jesus over evil “halfway”, nor confuse or relativize truth in the battle against the devil.
Jesus casts out demons, and then someone offers explanations “to diminish the power of the Lord,” he said. The Pope focused his homily on the day’s Gospel and immediately underlined that there is always the temptation to want to diminish the figure of Jesus, as if he were “a healer at most” and so as not to take him “so seriously”. It is an attitude, he observed, that has “reached our present day”.
“There are some priests who, when they read this Gospel passage, this and others, say: ‘But, Jesus healed a person with a mental illness’. They do not read this, no? It is true that at that time, they could confuse epilepsy with demonic possession; but it is also true that there was the devil! And we do not have the right to simplify the matter, as if to say: ‘All of these (people) were not possessed; they were mentally ill’. No! The presence of the devil is on the first page of the Bible, and the Bible ends as well with the presence of the devil, with the victory of God over the devil.”
For this reason, he warned, “we should not be naïve”. The Pope observed that the Lord gave us certain criteria to “discern” the presence of evil and to follow “the Christian way when there are temptations”. One of the criteria is “not to follow the victory of Jesus” only “halfway”.
“Either you are with me, says the Lord, or you are against me,” the Pope said. Jesus, he added, came to destroy the devil, “to give us the freedom” from “the enslavement the devil has over us”. And, he cautioned, this is not “exaggerating”.
“On this point,” he said, “there are no nuances. There is a battle and a battle where salvation is at play, eternal salvation; eternal salvation” of us all.
There is criteria for watchfulness. “We must always be on guard,” exhorted the Pope, “on guard against deceit, against the seduction of evil”.
“And we can ask ourselves the question: Do I guard myself, my heart, my feelings, my thoughts? Do I guard the treasure of grace? Do I guard the presence of the Holy Spirit in me? Or do I let go, feeling secure, believing that all is going well? But if you do not guard yourself, he who is stronger than you will come. But if someone stronger comes and overcomes, he takes away the weapons in which one trusted, and he shall divide the spoil. Vigilance! Three criteria! Do not confuse the truth. Jesus fights the devil: first criterion. Second criterion: he who is not with Jesus is against Jesus. There are no attitudes in the middle. Third criterion: vigilance over our hearts because the devil is astute. He is never cast out forever. It will only be so on the last day.”
When the impure spirit leaves man, the Pope pointed out, “it wanders in deserted places, and seeking rest and finding none, says: ‘I will return to my house, from which I left’.”
And when he finds it “swept clean and adorned”, then he goes, “takes another seven spirits worse than he, who come and make their homes”. And, this way, “the last state of man becomes worse than the first”.
“Vigilance,” he said, “because his strategy is this: ‘You became Christian. Advance in your faith. I will leave you. I will leave you tranquil. But then when you are used to not being so watchful and you feel secure, I will come back’. The Gospel today begins with the devil being cast out and ends with the devil coming back! St. Peter would say: ‘It is like a fierce lion that circles us’. It is like that. ‘But, Father, you a little ancient. You are frightening us with these things…’ No, not me! It is the Gospel! And these are not lies: it is the Word of the Lord!
“Let us ask the Lord for the grace to take these things seriously. He came to fight for our salvation. He won against the devil! Please, let us not do business with the devil! He seeks to return home, to take possession of us… Do not relativize; be vigilant! And always with Jesus!”
Jesus casts out demons, and then someone offers explanations “to diminish the power of the Lord,” he said. The Pope focused his homily on the day’s Gospel and immediately underlined that there is always the temptation to want to diminish the figure of Jesus, as if he were “a healer at most” and so as not to take him “so seriously”. It is an attitude, he observed, that has “reached our present day”.
“There are some priests who, when they read this Gospel passage, this and others, say: ‘But, Jesus healed a person with a mental illness’. They do not read this, no? It is true that at that time, they could confuse epilepsy with demonic possession; but it is also true that there was the devil! And we do not have the right to simplify the matter, as if to say: ‘All of these (people) were not possessed; they were mentally ill’. No! The presence of the devil is on the first page of the Bible, and the Bible ends as well with the presence of the devil, with the victory of God over the devil.”
For this reason, he warned, “we should not be naïve”. The Pope observed that the Lord gave us certain criteria to “discern” the presence of evil and to follow “the Christian way when there are temptations”. One of the criteria is “not to follow the victory of Jesus” only “halfway”.
“Either you are with me, says the Lord, or you are against me,” the Pope said. Jesus, he added, came to destroy the devil, “to give us the freedom” from “the enslavement the devil has over us”. And, he cautioned, this is not “exaggerating”.
“On this point,” he said, “there are no nuances. There is a battle and a battle where salvation is at play, eternal salvation; eternal salvation” of us all.
There is criteria for watchfulness. “We must always be on guard,” exhorted the Pope, “on guard against deceit, against the seduction of evil”.
“And we can ask ourselves the question: Do I guard myself, my heart, my feelings, my thoughts? Do I guard the treasure of grace? Do I guard the presence of the Holy Spirit in me? Or do I let go, feeling secure, believing that all is going well? But if you do not guard yourself, he who is stronger than you will come. But if someone stronger comes and overcomes, he takes away the weapons in which one trusted, and he shall divide the spoil. Vigilance! Three criteria! Do not confuse the truth. Jesus fights the devil: first criterion. Second criterion: he who is not with Jesus is against Jesus. There are no attitudes in the middle. Third criterion: vigilance over our hearts because the devil is astute. He is never cast out forever. It will only be so on the last day.”
When the impure spirit leaves man, the Pope pointed out, “it wanders in deserted places, and seeking rest and finding none, says: ‘I will return to my house, from which I left’.”
And when he finds it “swept clean and adorned”, then he goes, “takes another seven spirits worse than he, who come and make their homes”. And, this way, “the last state of man becomes worse than the first”.
“Vigilance,” he said, “because his strategy is this: ‘You became Christian. Advance in your faith. I will leave you. I will leave you tranquil. But then when you are used to not being so watchful and you feel secure, I will come back’. The Gospel today begins with the devil being cast out and ends with the devil coming back! St. Peter would say: ‘It is like a fierce lion that circles us’. It is like that. ‘But, Father, you a little ancient. You are frightening us with these things…’ No, not me! It is the Gospel! And these are not lies: it is the Word of the Lord!
“Let us ask the Lord for the grace to take these things seriously. He came to fight for our salvation. He won against the devil! Please, let us not do business with the devil! He seeks to return home, to take possession of us… Do not relativize; be vigilant! And always with Jesus!”
SHARED FROM RADIO VATICANA
EU PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT MEETS PONTIFF
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday met with the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schultz. During the meeting, the two men discussed the situation with migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea, especially in light of the tragedy off the island of Lampedusa in which over 300 people died in a shipwreck.“I share the view that for the richest part of the world it is a shame that people, just some metres in front of our borders, or coasts, died. So what the European Union must do, and the member-states of the Union especially, is reform our whole system of immigration,” Martin Shultz said. We have the Dublin II Convention which is covering exclusively political asylum, but temporary protection for refugees from civil war regions, from regions of natural disasters, or even a system of legal immigration, is missing in Europe.”
Pope Francis on Friday also met with Jean-Claude Mignon, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
SHARED FROM RADIO VATICANA
NEW SAINT DECLARED AND 7 MORE CAUSES ADVANCED
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has declared a new saint and advanced seven other causes for sainthood, the latter including a North American religious sister and two laymen. A statement, issued Friday by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, said the Pope has recognized the sainthood of Medieval mystic Blessed Angela da Foligno and “enrolled her” on the Church’s official “catalogue of saints”.A laywoman and member of the Secular Franciscan Order, Blessed Angela was born in a well-to-do family in Foligno, Italy, circa 1248; she died on 4 January 1309. A wife, mother and widow, she lived a deep spiritual conversion in 1285. Attracted by the ideals of St. Francis of Assisi, she joined the Secular Franciscan Order six years later. Her visions were recorded by her spiritual director.
The statement says the Pope “extended the liturgical cult in honour of Angela da Foligno to the Universal Church”, after having received a report from the prefect of the Congregation, Cardinal Angelo Amato, sdb, on 9 October.
The Pope also authorized a decree, attributing a miracle to the intercession of Venerable Maria Assunta Caterina Marchetti (1871-1948), Italian co-foundress of a community of religious sisters, the Congregazione delle Suore Missionarie di San Carlo.
The decree also recognizes the heroic virtues of:
- Bishop Pio Alberto Del Corona (1837-1912), Italian founder of the Dominican Sisters of the Holy Spirit
- Attilio Luciano Giordani (1913-1972), Italian layman, father, and Salesian Cooperator
- Sr. Maria Eleonora Giorgi (1882-1945), Italian religious sister of the Sisters Servants of Our Lady of Sorrows
- Amato Ronconi (c. 1226-1292), Italian layman, Secular Franciscan and founder of a hospice for the poor in Rimini, Italy
- Sr. Marie Elisabeth Turgeon (1840-1881), Canadian foundress of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary
- Sr. Maria Jane Wilson (1840-1916), Indian foundress of the Franciscan Sisters of Our Lady of Victories.
14 KILLED IN VIOLENT CLASHES BETWEEN EXTREMISTS
CISA NEWS REPORT:
BANGUI, October 08, 2013(CISA) -Fourteen people have been killed in violent clashes between Christians and Muslims in an isolated town in eastern Central African Republic that began last week, police and a senior Catholic official said on Sunday October 06, 2013.
The mineral-rich but impoverished nation has descended into chaos since northern Seleka rebels seized the capital, Bangui, and ousted President Francois Bozize in March.
UN officials and rights groups say both sides may have committed war crimes, prompting calls for outside intervention to end the violence.
Residents of Bangassou, around 750 km east of the capital Bangui, said Seleka fighters had backed the town’s Muslims during the clashes, which saw four people killed on Saturday October 05.
“All four of those killed were from the Christian community,” Bangassou’s Catholic Bishop Juan José Aguirre told Reuters. “We’re overwhelmed, inundated by thousands of men, women, and children seeking refuge from the fighting at the diocese,” he said.
Clashes initially broke out after Christians organized a march to protest against abuses by Seleka’s predominantly Muslim fighters based in the town, said Bangassou police official Edouard Mbiga.
“Muslim community members, backed by Seleka, brought out weapons and blocked the march. The situation deteriorated and there were 10 deaths on both sides. It all a started from that,” he said.
Michel Djotodia, who swept to power at the head of the Seleka rebellion, was officially sworn in as the country’s president in August.
His attempts to rein in his ex-rebel supporters, including firing the head of the army and formally dissolving Seleka, have failed to curb the violence, leading to calls – notably from former colonial power France – for a robust intervention force.
“It’s an appalling situation … There are abuses every day – thefts, rapes, murders,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told France’s Europe 1 radio station on Sunday.
“We have troops there. The Africans also have troops. And we are working with the United Nations, African Union and regional organizations to find a solution for peace.”
France – which intervened earlier this year to oust Islamist rebels from another one of its former colonies, Mali – has said it will provide operational support for an African peacekeeping mission, known as MISCA.
Reinforcements for the African force have begun to arrive but the planned 3,600-strong mission will not be fully deployed before 2014.
SHARED FROM CISA NEWS
ASIANEWS SYMPOSIUM AT PONTIFICAL URBANIANUM UNIVERSITY
ASIA NEWS REPORT:
The vast fresco outlined by Card. Pell and the words of Card. Filoni show that in Aisa, in the midst of many positives and negatives, there is a strong search for the religious and a great future for the Church. The importance of the third sector stressed by Prof. Caloia . For Fr. Samir it is possible to defeat Islamic fundamentalism (without weapons ) . The mission in Asia is still only just beginning.
Vatican City ( AsiaNews) - The future good of Asia can be guaranteed if religious freedom and the commitment of Christians in society is affirmed. In any case, despite suffering from persecution and marginalization, Christians are even now able to be signs of humanity full of hope for their continent and the world.
This is just a synthesis of the wealth of ideas and recommendations that emerged from the symposium celebrated two days ago in the Aula Magna of the Pontifical Urbanianum University , on the occasion of the 10 years of the AsiaNews.it website .
The theme , "Ten years of Asia - Ten years of our history", wanted to retrace the steps through which the webpages of AsiaNews has increasingly become "an indispensable source of information about the social, political , economic and religious life in Asia", as pointed out by Card. George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
But above all, the symposium sought to photograph the Asian reality in its developments and its contradictions , trying to glimpse the its future path and reality.
In addition to Card. Pell, the Symposium was attended by speakers the caliber of Archbishop Savio Hon Tai -fai , secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples , Fr . Samir Khalil Samir, an Islamic scholar in Beirut; economist Angelo Caloia , Professor at the Catholic University of Milan and Lumsa . Their interventions were interspersed by the polyphonic choral pieces of the Millennium Ensemble (which groups together Italians , Russians and Kazakhs ) , who sang the Creed of the Byzantine Slavonic liturgy and an "Elegy for martyrs " , composed in memory of the sufferings of Christians in Asia. At the conclusion - a moment of prayer was entrusted to Sister Helen, Missionary of Charity , who spoke of the fruitfulness of the charism of Mother Teresa and her sisters for Asia.
Guests also included representatives of several Asian and European embassies to the Holy See , as well as experts and scholars on Asia. An unexpected and most welcome guest was the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples , Card. Fernando Filoni, who in saluting the Assembly , reiterated the importance of Asia , and spoke of his surprise in visiting the vibrant Korean Church, on his recent trip to that country.
In his extensive and deeply documented intervention, Card. Pell highlighted the influence of Asia on Oceania and in particular his country Australia, whose exports of raw materials and food, in large part, goes to Asia and China. The two economies (China and Australia) are so interdependent that " if China sneezes - he said - Australia catches a cold ."
He also revealed how Australia is a country of "refugees" where there is a high rate of immigrants and integration. The Asian Catholics - from the Middle East , the Philippines, Vietnam , India - who have arrived in the great oceanic island are "a source of strength and vitality for the Catholic community ." "The Vietnamese community - he added - is a source of growth in vocations to the priesthood and in 2011 the Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen , who came to Australia as a refugee , became the first Vietnamese bishop of the country."
The Cardinal then outlined the positives and negatives of the Asian continent: economic development based exclusively on a strictly material dimension, the subsequent damage to the ecology, and the growing wealth and the danger of an impending demographic winter , which already touches Russia , Japan, Korea and China. But he also showed how there is "strong, great and inevitable religious impulse in the human heart" in Asia. In this way , in stark opposition to the materialism and secularism brought by globalization , there is a strong religious revival , so that if the present trend continues among Protestants and Catholics, over the next 10-20 years , "China will become the third Christian nation the world after the United States and Brazil. "
In fact, in relation to the great religious question of the Asian continent , Msgr. Savio Hon spoke of the necessary link between contemplation and mission, communion and action required for each missionary activity , even for the work of communication such as AsiaNews . Archbishop Hon , the only Chinese member of the Vatican curia , cited as an example the correspondence between St. Therese of Lisieux and a missionary of the Paris Foreign Missions , Fr. Adolphe Rulland and wished " in its efforts to take part in the mission of the Church AsiaNews is always sustained by the prayer of St. Teresa , in the hope that the news from Asia, good or bad, provide an opportunity for fellowship and contemplation".
Quoting a phrase from Alexander Solzhenitsyn , according to which the forced labour camps have become the new " cloisters " , the director of AsiaNews, Fr . Bernardo Cervellera , wanted to recall the priests , nuns and bishops who suffer persecution and imprisonment, and who even in prison are signs of apostolic fruitfulness, like the Vietnamese Cardinal Francis Xavier Van Thuan , whose cause of beatification has been opened.
The Jesuit Fr . Samir Khalil touched on an issue that has characterized most of the Middle East over the past 10 years: the growth of Islamic fundamentalism that is taking its toll among Christians and among Muslims themsleves. These 10 years have also shown the failure of military operations (Afghanistan , Iraq , Libya, Syria) . The growth of fundamentalism is in part due to the contact with the West often seen as atheistic and immoral, but especially to the cultural, political and religious crisis Islam is suffering in its attempts to deal with modern society . For the great scholar of Islam , it is possible to eradicate fundamentalism if the Muslim world agrees to deal with modernity in a work of discernment of what is good and not good and if it agrees to review the historical elements of the faith , saving the original core and freeing it from the weight of cultural additions that have been made over the centuries. The presence of Christians in the Islamic world is of vital importance, in particular in collaboration with moderate Muslims, to build a society without discrimination , avoiding fundamentalism and secularism .
In his elaborate intervention, Prof. Caloia , explained "Asian economic miracle " , but also showed the need to correct its aim, with policies not only aimed at export but which pay greater attention to the population (education, health , pensions) , walking towards democracy. He pointed out that this more humanistic process of development, needs the testimony and commitment of the third sector , which can correct the one-sidedness of a market and profit to take to heart the many " human needs that are unsatisfied because not remunerated " .
Fr. Cervellera , after an analysis of the economic growth in Asia which is threatening to provoke divisions and conflicts , also showed the strength of growth of the Asian churches , able to "attract" the Asian person which globalization and fundamentalism attempt to render " anonymous " . He recalled the prophecy of John Paul II , which has become the AsiaNews slogan : "Asia , here is our common task for the third millennium."
"After 10 years with the on-line agency - he said - this task ' for the Third Millennium ' is still only at the beginning: Asia is still the continent with the largest number of non-Christians in the world ( about 80 %) , and its becoming a 'center of the world ' , with its greatness and distortions ... makes the witness of Christians even more urgent. We believe that Asia will play a leading role in the destiny of the world and the future of the Church . "
Pope Francis' message to AsiaNews and the desire expressed by him to travel to Asia in the next year , is further confirmation of this.
SHARED FROM ASIA NEWS IT
The vast fresco outlined by Card. Pell and the words of Card. Filoni show that in Aisa, in the midst of many positives and negatives, there is a strong search for the religious and a great future for the Church. The importance of the third sector stressed by Prof. Caloia . For Fr. Samir it is possible to defeat Islamic fundamentalism (without weapons ) . The mission in Asia is still only just beginning.
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Vatican City ( AsiaNews) - The future good of Asia can be guaranteed if religious freedom and the commitment of Christians in society is affirmed. In any case, despite suffering from persecution and marginalization, Christians are even now able to be signs of humanity full of hope for their continent and the world.
This is just a synthesis of the wealth of ideas and recommendations that emerged from the symposium celebrated two days ago in the Aula Magna of the Pontifical Urbanianum University , on the occasion of the 10 years of the AsiaNews.it website .
The theme , "Ten years of Asia - Ten years of our history", wanted to retrace the steps through which the webpages of AsiaNews has increasingly become "an indispensable source of information about the social, political , economic and religious life in Asia", as pointed out by Card. George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
But above all, the symposium sought to photograph the Asian reality in its developments and its contradictions , trying to glimpse the its future path and reality.
In addition to Card. Pell, the Symposium was attended by speakers the caliber of Archbishop Savio Hon Tai -fai , secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples , Fr . Samir Khalil Samir, an Islamic scholar in Beirut; economist Angelo Caloia , Professor at the Catholic University of Milan and Lumsa . Their interventions were interspersed by the polyphonic choral pieces of the Millennium Ensemble (which groups together Italians , Russians and Kazakhs ) , who sang the Creed of the Byzantine Slavonic liturgy and an "Elegy for martyrs " , composed in memory of the sufferings of Christians in Asia. At the conclusion - a moment of prayer was entrusted to Sister Helen, Missionary of Charity , who spoke of the fruitfulness of the charism of Mother Teresa and her sisters for Asia.
Guests also included representatives of several Asian and European embassies to the Holy See , as well as experts and scholars on Asia. An unexpected and most welcome guest was the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples , Card. Fernando Filoni, who in saluting the Assembly , reiterated the importance of Asia , and spoke of his surprise in visiting the vibrant Korean Church, on his recent trip to that country.
In his extensive and deeply documented intervention, Card. Pell highlighted the influence of Asia on Oceania and in particular his country Australia, whose exports of raw materials and food, in large part, goes to Asia and China. The two economies (China and Australia) are so interdependent that " if China sneezes - he said - Australia catches a cold ."
He also revealed how Australia is a country of "refugees" where there is a high rate of immigrants and integration. The Asian Catholics - from the Middle East , the Philippines, Vietnam , India - who have arrived in the great oceanic island are "a source of strength and vitality for the Catholic community ." "The Vietnamese community - he added - is a source of growth in vocations to the priesthood and in 2011 the Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen , who came to Australia as a refugee , became the first Vietnamese bishop of the country."
The Cardinal then outlined the positives and negatives of the Asian continent: economic development based exclusively on a strictly material dimension, the subsequent damage to the ecology, and the growing wealth and the danger of an impending demographic winter , which already touches Russia , Japan, Korea and China. But he also showed how there is "strong, great and inevitable religious impulse in the human heart" in Asia. In this way , in stark opposition to the materialism and secularism brought by globalization , there is a strong religious revival , so that if the present trend continues among Protestants and Catholics, over the next 10-20 years , "China will become the third Christian nation the world after the United States and Brazil. "
In fact, in relation to the great religious question of the Asian continent , Msgr. Savio Hon spoke of the necessary link between contemplation and mission, communion and action required for each missionary activity , even for the work of communication such as AsiaNews . Archbishop Hon , the only Chinese member of the Vatican curia , cited as an example the correspondence between St. Therese of Lisieux and a missionary of the Paris Foreign Missions , Fr. Adolphe Rulland and wished " in its efforts to take part in the mission of the Church AsiaNews is always sustained by the prayer of St. Teresa , in the hope that the news from Asia, good or bad, provide an opportunity for fellowship and contemplation".
Quoting a phrase from Alexander Solzhenitsyn , according to which the forced labour camps have become the new " cloisters " , the director of AsiaNews, Fr . Bernardo Cervellera , wanted to recall the priests , nuns and bishops who suffer persecution and imprisonment, and who even in prison are signs of apostolic fruitfulness, like the Vietnamese Cardinal Francis Xavier Van Thuan , whose cause of beatification has been opened.
The Jesuit Fr . Samir Khalil touched on an issue that has characterized most of the Middle East over the past 10 years: the growth of Islamic fundamentalism that is taking its toll among Christians and among Muslims themsleves. These 10 years have also shown the failure of military operations (Afghanistan , Iraq , Libya, Syria) . The growth of fundamentalism is in part due to the contact with the West often seen as atheistic and immoral, but especially to the cultural, political and religious crisis Islam is suffering in its attempts to deal with modern society . For the great scholar of Islam , it is possible to eradicate fundamentalism if the Muslim world agrees to deal with modernity in a work of discernment of what is good and not good and if it agrees to review the historical elements of the faith , saving the original core and freeing it from the weight of cultural additions that have been made over the centuries. The presence of Christians in the Islamic world is of vital importance, in particular in collaboration with moderate Muslims, to build a society without discrimination , avoiding fundamentalism and secularism .
In his elaborate intervention, Prof. Caloia , explained "Asian economic miracle " , but also showed the need to correct its aim, with policies not only aimed at export but which pay greater attention to the population (education, health , pensions) , walking towards democracy. He pointed out that this more humanistic process of development, needs the testimony and commitment of the third sector , which can correct the one-sidedness of a market and profit to take to heart the many " human needs that are unsatisfied because not remunerated " .
Fr. Cervellera , after an analysis of the economic growth in Asia which is threatening to provoke divisions and conflicts , also showed the strength of growth of the Asian churches , able to "attract" the Asian person which globalization and fundamentalism attempt to render " anonymous " . He recalled the prophecy of John Paul II , which has become the AsiaNews slogan : "Asia , here is our common task for the third millennium."
"After 10 years with the on-line agency - he said - this task ' for the Third Millennium ' is still only at the beginning: Asia is still the continent with the largest number of non-Christians in the world ( about 80 %) , and its becoming a 'center of the world ' , with its greatness and distortions ... makes the witness of Christians even more urgent. We believe that Asia will play a leading role in the destiny of the world and the future of the Church . "
Pope Francis' message to AsiaNews and the desire expressed by him to travel to Asia in the next year , is further confirmation of this.
SHARED FROM ASIA NEWS IT
TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : FRI. OCT. 11, 2013
Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 465
Reading 1 JL 1:13-15; 2:1-2
Gird yourselves and weep, O priests!
wail, O ministers of the altar!
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
O ministers of my God!
The house of your God is deprived
of offering and libation.
Proclaim a fast,
call an assembly;
Gather the elders,
all who dwell in the land,
Into the house of the LORD, your God,
and cry to the LORD!
Alas, the day!
for near is the day of the LORD,
and it comes as ruin from the Almighty.
Blow the trumpet in Zion,
sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all who dwell in the land tremble,
for the day of the LORD is coming;
Yes, it is near, a day of darkness and of gloom,
a day of clouds and somberness!
Like dawn spreading over the mountains,
a people numerous and mighty!
Their like has not been from of old,
nor will it be after them,
even to the years of distant generations.
wail, O ministers of the altar!
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
O ministers of my God!
The house of your God is deprived
of offering and libation.
Proclaim a fast,
call an assembly;
Gather the elders,
all who dwell in the land,
Into the house of the LORD, your God,
and cry to the LORD!
Alas, the day!
for near is the day of the LORD,
and it comes as ruin from the Almighty.
Blow the trumpet in Zion,
sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all who dwell in the land tremble,
for the day of the LORD is coming;
Yes, it is near, a day of darkness and of gloom,
a day of clouds and somberness!
Like dawn spreading over the mountains,
a people numerous and mighty!
Their like has not been from of old,
nor will it be after them,
even to the years of distant generations.
Responsorial Psalm PS 9:2-3, 6 AND 16, 8-9
R. (9) The Lord will judge the world with justice.
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart;
I will declare all your wondrous deeds.
I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, Most High.
R. The Lord will judge the world with justice.
You rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
their name you blotted out forever and ever.
The nations are sunk in the pit they have made;
in the snare they set, their foot is caught.
R. The Lord will judge the world with justice.
But the LORD sits enthroned forever;
he has set up his throne for judgment.
He judges the world with justice;
he governs the peoples with equity.
R. The Lord will judge the world with justice.
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart;
I will declare all your wondrous deeds.
I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, Most High.
R. The Lord will judge the world with justice.
You rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
their name you blotted out forever and ever.
The nations are sunk in the pit they have made;
in the snare they set, their foot is caught.
R. The Lord will judge the world with justice.
But the LORD sits enthroned forever;
he has set up his throne for judgment.
He judges the world with justice;
he governs the peoples with equity.
R. The Lord will judge the world with justice.
Gospel LK 11:15-26
When Jesus had driven out a demon, some of the crowd said:
“By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons,
he drives out demons.”
Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.
But he knew their thoughts and said to them,
“Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste
and house will fall against house.
And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?
For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons.
If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul,
by whom do your own people drive them out?
Therefore they will be your judges.
But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons,
then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.
When a strong man fully armed guards his palace,
his possessions are safe.
But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him,
he takes away the armor on which he relied
and distributes the spoils.
Whoever is not with me is against me,
and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
“When an unclean spirit goes out of someone,
it roams through arid regions searching for rest
but, finding none, it says,
‘I shall return to my home from which I came.’
But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order.
Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits
more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there,
and the last condition of that man is worse than the first.”
“By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons,
he drives out demons.”
Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.
But he knew their thoughts and said to them,
“Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste
and house will fall against house.
And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?
For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons.
If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul,
by whom do your own people drive them out?
Therefore they will be your judges.
But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons,
then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.
When a strong man fully armed guards his palace,
his possessions are safe.
But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him,
he takes away the armor on which he relied
and distributes the spoils.
Whoever is not with me is against me,
and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
“When an unclean spirit goes out of someone,
it roams through arid regions searching for rest
but, finding none, it says,
‘I shall return to my home from which I came.’
But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order.
Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits
more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there,
and the last condition of that man is worse than the first.”
TODAY'S SAINT: OCT. 11: ST. TARACHUS
St. Tarachus
SOURCE http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/T/sttarachus.asp
MARTYR
Feast: October 11
Information:
Feast Day:
October 11
IN the year 304, Tarachus, Probus, and Andronicus, differing in age and nationality, but united in the bonds of faith, being denounced as Christians to Numerian, Governor of Cilicia, were arrested at Pompeiopolis, and conducted to Tharsis. They underwent a first examination in that town, after which their limbs were torn with iron hooks, and they were taken back to prison covered with wounds. Being afterwards led to Mopsuestia, they were submitted to a second examination, ending in a manner equally cruel as the first. They underwent a third examination at Anazarbis, followed by greater torments still. The governor, unable to shake their constancy, had them kept imprisoned that he might torture them further at the approaching games. They were borne to the amphitheatre, but the most ferocious animals, on being let loose on them, came crouching to their feet and licked their wounds. The judge, reproaching the jailers with connivance, ordered the martyrs to be despatched by the gladiators.
(Taken from Catholic Encyclopedia)
Feast: October 11
Information:
Feast Day:
October 11
IN the year 304, Tarachus, Probus, and Andronicus, differing in age and nationality, but united in the bonds of faith, being denounced as Christians to Numerian, Governor of Cilicia, were arrested at Pompeiopolis, and conducted to Tharsis. They underwent a first examination in that town, after which their limbs were torn with iron hooks, and they were taken back to prison covered with wounds. Being afterwards led to Mopsuestia, they were submitted to a second examination, ending in a manner equally cruel as the first. They underwent a third examination at Anazarbis, followed by greater torments still. The governor, unable to shake their constancy, had them kept imprisoned that he might torture them further at the approaching games. They were borne to the amphitheatre, but the most ferocious animals, on being let loose on them, came crouching to their feet and licked their wounds. The judge, reproaching the jailers with connivance, ordered the martyrs to be despatched by the gladiators.
(Taken from Catholic Encyclopedia)
SOURCE http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/T/sttarachus.asp
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