2015
#BreakingNews 12 stabbed in bus attack in Israel - Please PRAY
#PopeFrancis “War must not be waged in the name of God” Angelus
(Image Pope Francis Blesses Lambs on Feast of St. Agnes - Source Photos.va)
Today's Mass Readings : Wednesday January 21, 2015
ASIA NEWS IT REPORT: Tel Aviv, 12 stabbed in bus attackFour injured passengers are in critical condition. The police suspect terrorist attack of a "lone wolf". The assailant is a young 23 year old from Tulkarem (West Bank).
Tel Aviv (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Israeli police wounded and arrested a person who had stabbed 12 passengers on a bus in the town center. The assailant is a young man of 23 from the West Bank city of Tulkarem who had entered Israel illegally.
The number 40 bus was traveling down Menachem Begin Road, when the young man attacked some passengers inside. Then he tried to escape, wounding still more, and was shot in the leg by guards nearby. Four of the injured are in a serious condition. Police are treating this as a "terrorist attack".
Following the Gaza war last summer, there have been several terrorist attacks carried out by "lone wolves", in short individuals not belonging to groups or organizations.
Last November, in Tel Aviv, an Israeli soldier was killed in a knife attack and a woman killed at the bus stop in the West Bank. The increased tension coincided with mounting tensions and protests by Jewish settlers who wanted to pray (and occupy) the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, in violation of the status quo of the city.
At the same time, in recent months, al Qaeda and Isis there have frequently called on Muslims to strike people and structures that are the enemy of Islam as "lone wolves".
ASIANEWSIT REPORT
#PopeFrancis “War must not be waged in the name of God” Angelus
Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has appealed for peace and reconciliation in Niger.
Speaking on Wednesday at the weekly General Audience, the Pope explicitly referred to brutalities perpetrated against Christians, children and Churches.
He invited those present to join him in praying for the victims of recent violence in Niger.
Let us invoke the Lord – he said – for the gift of reconciliation and peace, may “religious sentiment never give rise to violence, oppression and destruction”.
“War must not be waged in the name of God” he said.
Pope Francis concluded his appeal expressing his hope that in the West African nation a climate of reciprocal respect and peaceful cohabitation be re-established as soon as possible for the good of all.
Last week, in Niger’s capital Niamey and in the town of Zinder, at least 15 people were killed in two days of violent protests against the publication in France of a satirical magazine depicting Islam’s prophet.
Over a dozen Christian Churches and other buildings were set ablaze.
Security forces have been using tear gas to disperse hundreds of opposition supporters taking part in banned demonstrations in the capital.
(Linda Bordoni)Today's Mass Readings : Wednesday January 21, 2015
Memorial of Saint Agnes, Virgin and Martyr
Lectionary: 313
Reading 1HEB 7:1-3, 15-17
Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High,
met Abraham as he returned from his defeat of the kings
and blessed him.
And Abraham apportioned to him a tenth of everything.
His name first means righteous king,
and he was also “king of Salem,” that is, king of peace.
Without father, mother, or ancestry,
without beginning of days or end of life,
thus made to resemble the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.
It is even more obvious if another priest is raised up
after the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become so,
not by a law expressed in a commandment concerning physical descent
but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed.
For it is testified:
You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
met Abraham as he returned from his defeat of the kings
and blessed him.
And Abraham apportioned to him a tenth of everything.
His name first means righteous king,
and he was also “king of Salem,” that is, king of peace.
Without father, mother, or ancestry,
without beginning of days or end of life,
thus made to resemble the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.
It is even more obvious if another priest is raised up
after the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become so,
not by a law expressed in a commandment concerning physical descent
but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed.
For it is testified:
You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
Responsorial PsalmPS 110:1, 2, 3, 4
R. (4b) You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand
till I make your enemies your footstool.”
R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
The scepter of your power the LORD will stretch forth from Zion:
“Rule in the midst of your enemies.”
R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
“Yours is princely power in the day of your birth, in holy splendor;
before the daystar, like the dew, I have begotten you.”
R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
The LORD has sworn, and he will not repent:
“You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”
R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom
and cured every disease among the people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand
till I make your enemies your footstool.”
R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
The scepter of your power the LORD will stretch forth from Zion:
“Rule in the midst of your enemies.”
R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
“Yours is princely power in the day of your birth, in holy splendor;
before the daystar, like the dew, I have begotten you.”
R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
The LORD has sworn, and he will not repent:
“You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”
R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
AlleluiaSEE MT 4:23
R. Alleluia, alleluia.Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom
and cured every disease among the people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMK 3:1-6
Jesus entered the synagogue.
There was a man there who had a withered hand.
They watched Jesus closely
to see if he would cure him on the sabbath
so that they might accuse him.
He said to the man with the withered hand,
“Come up here before us.”
Then he said to the Pharisees,
“Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to destroy it?”
But they remained silent.
Looking around at them with anger
and grieved at their hardness of heart,
Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”
He stretched it out and his hand was restored.
The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel
with the Herodians against him to put him to death.
There was a man there who had a withered hand.
They watched Jesus closely
to see if he would cure him on the sabbath
so that they might accuse him.
He said to the man with the withered hand,
“Come up here before us.”
Then he said to the Pharisees,
“Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to destroy it?”
But they remained silent.
Looking around at them with anger
and grieved at their hardness of heart,
Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”
He stretched it out and his hand was restored.
The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel
with the Herodians against him to put him to death.
Breaking : Boko Haram Kidnaps 80 from Cameroon and escapes to Nigeria - 24 Freed - Please Pray
Shared from AlJazeera
10 Killed and 45 Churches Burned in Niger by Terrorists in Protests over Charlie Hebdo - Breaking News
AllAfrica/RFI report: Deadly riots and destruction on Saturday in Niger's capital; ongoing tensions on display with a police crackdown on an unrelated political march on Sunday. Two days of violence left five civilians dead in Niamey, and another five in Zinder, the city's second city. Rioters also vandalised a dozen churches, with AFP reporting eight Christian houses of worship burning along the river Niger. Nigerian president Mahmadou Issoufou denounced the destruction, saying "those who loot these places of worship, who desecrate them and kill their Christian compatriots... have understood nothing of Islam". Numerous bars, hotels, and other non-Muslim-owned places of commerce were also destroyed. Muslim elder Yaou Sonna called for calm on state television: "Don't forget that Islam is against violence. I urge men and women, boys and girls to calm down." Over 250 Christians in Zinder were placed under military protection, the French embassy encouraged the some 2,000 French citizens living in Niamey to stay home. On Sunday, conflict continued as a political opposition party decided to carry out a long-planned, but banned, march on parliament against "bad governance". Police fired tear gas on some 300 demonstrators who had gathered in a central square and several protestors, including a former minister, were arrested. French President Francois Hollande and Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius have condemned the violence.
(Image shared from Daily Capital) Text from AllAfrica
Latest News from #Vatican and #PopeFrancis - Prayers for Niger - Questions on Plane - Thanks to God for Trip
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20-01-2015 - Year XXII - Num. 014
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| Questions and answers on the Manila-Rome flight Vatican City, 20 January 2015 (VIS) – At the end of his seventh apostolic trip, on return flight from Manila to Rome, the Pope again answered questions from the journalists who accompanied him on the flight. He confessed that he had been most impressed and moved by the gestures of the Filipino people, gestures which expressed “faith, love, family, hopes, the future. … True enthusiasm,joy, happiness, able to celebrate even in the rain”. On the other hand, he also noted the resignation of the Filipinos, who “know suffering”. The Pontiff spoke about the possibility of an apostolic trip to Central Africa or Uganda at the end of the year, and confirmed that he will travel to Philadelphia to attend the World Meeting of Families, to New York, where he will visit the United Nations, and Washington. He commented that he would like to travel to California for the canonisation of Junipero Serra, but time restrictions make this unlikely. With regard to South America, he said that there were proposals for trips to Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay over the coming year. A summary of the Pope's answers is given below. - On the question about religious freedom and freedom of expression, posed on the flight from Colombo to Manila, and the confusion it generated “In theory, it may be said that the Gospel says we must turn the other cheek. In theory, we can say that we have the freedom to express ourselves, and this is important. In theory we are all in agreement, but we are human, and so there is prudence, which is a virtue in human coexistence. I cannot continually provoke or insult someone, because I would risk angering them, I risk receiving a reaction that is not right, not right. But it is human. Therefore, I say that the freedom of expression must take into consideration the reality of humanity, and for this reason I say that we must be prudent. This means we must be polite and prudent, as prudence is the virtue that regulates human relations”. - On corruption throughout the world and in the Church “In today's world, corruption is the order of the day and corrupt attitudes easily establish themselves in institutions, since an institution has many components here and there, it has many heads and deputies, and so is very easy for corruption to take root there. Any institution can fall prey to this. Corruption means taking from the population. A corrupt person, who makes corrupt deals, or who governs in a corrupt fashion, or who associates with others to make corrupt deals, steals from the people. They are the victims. … Today it is a worldwide problem. … And with regard to corruption in ecclesiastical institutions … when I speak about the Church, I like to speak about the faithful, the baptised, all the Church. And in this case it is better to speak about sinners. We are all sinners, aren't we? But when we speak about corruption, we speak about corrupt people, or Church institutions that have fallen prey to corruption, and there are cases. … It is easy for corruption to take root, but let's remember this: sinners yes, corrupt no! We must never be corrupt. We must ask for forgiveness for those Catholics, those Christians, who scandalise with their corruption. It is a wound in the Church; but there are many saints, and sinners who are holy but not corrupt”. - On responsible parenthood “I think that three is the number of children per family that the experts say is correct to maintain the population, three per couple. When there are fewer than this, there is the other extreme, which we see in Italy where I have heard – I do not know if it is true – that from 2024 there will not be the money to pay pensioners. The key phrase to answer this question is the one that the Church has always used: responsible parenthood. How does one do this? Through dialogue. Every person, accompanied by their pastor, must find out how to achieve responsible parenthood. … Some believe that – excuse the expression – to be good Catholics we must be like rabbits. No. Responsible parenthood. This is clear, and for this reason in the Church here are matrimonial groups, experts in this. I know of many, many legitimate ways to achieve this. … On the other hand, for the poorest people, a child is a treasure. It is true, we must also be careful here. But for them, a child is a treasure. God knows how to help them. Perhaps some are not careful in this respect, it is true. Parenthood must be responsible. But look also at the generosity of those fathers and mothers who see every child as a treasure”. - On the Pope's remark that the world needs to weep “One of the things that is lost when there is too much comfort, or values are not well-understood, or we get used to injustice, to this throwaway culture, is the capacity to weep. It is a grace that we must ask for. … We Christians must ask for the grace to weep, especially those Christians who are well-off; to weep about injustice and sin. Weeping opens you to the understanding of new realities or new dimensions of reality”. |
| The Pope thanks the Virgin for the fruits of his apostolic trip Vatican City, 20 January 2015 (VIS) – After landing at Rome's Ciampino military airport at5.30 p.m. local time, and before returning to the Vatican, Pope Francis stopped at the Basilica of St. Mary Major to pray to the Virgin “Salus populi romani”, and to give thanks for the positive outcome of his apostolic trip to Sri Lanka and the Philippines. |
| Other Pontifical Acts Vatican City, 20 January 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has: - appointed Msgr. Jorge Giovanny Pazmino Abril, O.P., as bishop of Ambato (area 3,844, population 538,800, Catholics 499,000, priests 98, permanent deacons 3, religious 216), Ecuador. The bishop-elect was born in Banos, Ecuador in 1965, and was ordained a priest in 1995. He studied philosophy and theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador and holds a licentiate in dogmatic theology from the University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome. He has served in a number of pastoral and academic roles, including professor in pastoral theology and philosophy at the School of Religious Sciences of the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador, vocational promoter of the Dominican vicariate general of Ecuador, president of the Ecuadorian Conference of Religious, parish priest, professor in the major seminary of Guayaquil and general secretary of the Interprovincial Conference of Dominicans of Latin America and the Caribbean. He is currently vicar general of the vicariate general of “Santa Catalina de Siena” of Ecuador and head of contemplative life in the archdiocese of Quito. - accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the archdiocese of Ispahan of the Latins, Iran, presented by Bishop Ignazio Bedini, S.D.B., in accordance with canon 401 para. 1 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. |
Saint January 21 : St. Agnes : Engaged couples; Chastity; Gardeners; Girls; Rape victims; virgins
 Information:
| Few legends of saints have been more cherished than that of the virgin martyr Agnes. She was held in high regard by the primitive Christian Church, and her name has remained a symbol of maidenly purity through the ages. According to tradition, Agnes was a Christian girl of Rome, perhaps twelve or thirteen years old, when Diocletian began his persecutions. Like St. Lucy, she was sentenced by a judge to a house of ill fame, but a young man who looked upon her lustfully was stricken blind. Thereafter she was taken out to be burned, but whether she met her death by fire or sword we cannot know with any certainty. Although we have no contemporary sources for the facts of her life and martyrdom, there is little reason to doubt the main outline of the story. References to this young saint appear in many Church writings of later date. St. Ambrose, St. Damasus, and Prudentius all praise her purity and heroism. Her name occurs in the Canon of the Mass. Agnes' crypt was in the Via Nomentana, and the stone covering her remains was carven with the words, |
SOURCE: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/A/stagnes.asp#ixzz1k5vt7hDQ
Saint January 20 : Bl. Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi : Nigerian Priest
 Information:
| Bl. Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi was born in 1903 in Igboezunu, at the edge of: the forest near the ancient city of Aguleri in southern Nigeria. His parents, Tabansi and Ejikwevi, were Igbo farmers who practised the "traditional religion" and gave him the name Iwene at birth. In 1909 he was sent to the Christian village of Nduka, where he was baptized three years later by Irish missionaries and given the name Michael. His peers described him as studious and very demanding with himself, with a precocious personality and deep piety. At the age of 16 he received his first school leaving certificate, which qualified him for teaching. He taught at Holy Trinity Primary School in Onitsha for three years and served for a year as headmaster at St Joseph School in Aguleri. In 1925, against the wishes of his family, he entered St Paul's Seminary in Igbariam. After finishing his philosophical and theological studies, he was ordained a priest in the cathedral of Onitsha on 19 December 1937 by the missionary Bishop Charles Heerey. The second indigenous priest of Onitsha and the first in the Aguleri region, he began his pastoral ministry in the parish of Nnewi. In 1939 he was appointed parish priest of Dunukofia (Umudioka region), where he courageously tackled immoral customs and destroyed the harmful myth of the "cursed forest", which weighed heavily on the peace of consciences and families. To combat premarital cohabitation, he set up marriage preparation centres where girls and young women could be sheltered and receive Christian formation. For the moral education of young people he also established the League of Mary, with remarkable success. On foot or bicycle, Fr Tansi went from village to village preaching, catechizing and setting up prayer centres that eventually became parishes. He spent hours and hours hearing confessions, even until late at night. His zeal, shining example and life of prayer and penance transformed the people into a true Christian community resulting in so many vocations to the priesthood and religious life that his parish held the diocesan record. The same energy characterized his years as parish priest of Akpu, where he served from 1945 until his transfer to Aguleri in 1949. On an unspecified date between 1949 and 1950, during a priests' day of recollection, Bishop Heerey expressed the desire that one of his priests would embrace the monastic life so that he could later establish a contemplative monastery in his Diocese. Fr Tansi immediately said he was willing. Bishop Heerey contacted the Trappist Abbey of Mount St Bernard in Leicestershire, England, which was willing to receive him for a trial period as an oblate. In the summer of 1950 he led his parishioners on a pilgrimage to Rome for the Holy Year and left from there for Mount St Bernard. After two and a half years as an oblate, he was admitted to the novitiate on the vigil of the Immaculate Conception, taking the name Cyprian. One year later he took his simple vows and was solemnly professed on 8 December 1956. For the next seven years he lived a hidden life of prayer and work, humility and obedience, in faithful and generous observance of the Cistercian rule. In 1963, after 13 years of valuable experience as a Trappist, the time now seemed ripe for establishing a monastery in Nigeria. However, political tensions led his superiors to choose neighbouring Cameroon for the foundation instead. This was a hard blow for Fr Cyprian, who had been appointed novice master for the African monastery. It was the only time in 13 years of monastic life that he ever lost his temper, but he quickly regained control and accepted God's will with supernatural heroism. In January 1964 he began experiencing intense pain in one of his legs. Diagnosed as having thrombosis, the following morning he was found unconscious and was taken to the Royal Infirmary of Leicester, where examination revealed an aortic aneurysm. He died the following morning, 20 January 1964. He was buried at Mount St Bernard on 22 January. Present for the funeral liturgy were several Nigerian priests living in London, including his spiritual son, Fr Francis Arinze, the future Archbishop of Onitsha, Cardinal and President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue. His body was exhumed in 1988 and reburied in the priests' cemetery near the cathedral of Onitsha, where he had been ordained a priest 51 years earlier. After the beatification ceremonies, his remains will be buried in the parish church of his native village, Aguieri. |
SOURCE: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/C/blcyprianmichaeliwenetansi.asp#ixzz1k0qnMljp
 Information:
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St Sebastian was born at Narbonne, in Gaul, but his parents were of Milan, in Italy, and he was brought up in that city. He was a fervent servant of Christ, and though his natural inclinations gave him an aversion to a military life, yet to be better able, without suspicion, to assist the confessors and martyrs in their sufferings, he went to Rome and entered the army under the emperor Carinus about the year 283. It happened that the martyrs, Marcus and Marcellianus, under sentence of death, appeared in danger of being shaken in their faith by the tears of their friends: Sebastian—seeing this, steps in and made them a long exhortation to constancy, which he delivered with the holy fire that strongly affected all his hearers. Zoe, the wife of Nicostratus, having for six years lost the use of speech by a palsy in her tongue, fell at his feet, and spoke distinctly; by the saint making the sign of the cross on her mouth. She, with her husband Nicostratus, who was master of the rolls, the parents of Marcus and Marcellianus, the jailer Claudius, and sixteen other prisoners, were converted; and Nicostratus, who had charge of the prisoners, took them to his own house, where Polycarp, a holy priest, instructed and baptized them. Chromatius, governor of Rome, being informed of this, and that Tranquillinus, the father of SS. Marcus and Marcellianus, had been cured of the gout by receiving baptism, desired to be instructed in the faith, being himself grievously afflicted with the same distemper. Accordingly, having sent for Sebastian, he was cured by him, and baptized with his son Tiburtius. He then enlarged the converted prisoners, made his slaves free, and resigned his prefectship.
Chromatius, with the emperor's consent, retired into the country in Campania, taking many new converts along with him. It was a contest of zeal, out of a mutual desire of martyrdom, between St. Sebastian and the priest Polycarp, which of them should accompany this troop, to complete their instruction, and which should remain in the city to encourage and assist the martyrs, which latter was the more dangerous province. St. Austin wished to see such contests of charity amongst the ministers of the church. Pope Caius, who was appealed to, judged it most proper that Sebastian should stay in Rome as a defender of the church. In the year 286, the persecution growing hot, the pope and others concealed themselves in the imperial palace, as a place of the greatest safety, in the apartments of one Castulus, a Christian officer of the court. St. Zoe was first apprehended, praying at St. Peter's tomb on the feast of the apostles. She was stifled with smoke, being hung by the heels over a fire. Tranquillinus, ashamed to be less courageous than a woman, went to pray at the tomb of St. Paul, and was seized by the populace and stoned to death. Nicostratus, Claudius, Castorius, and Victorinus were taken, and, after having been thrice tortured, were thrown into the sea. Tiburtius, betrayed by a false brother, was beheaded. Castulus, accused by the same wretch, was thrice put on the rack, and afterwards buried alive. Marcus and Marcellianus were nailed by the feet to a post, and having remained in that torment twenty-four hours, were shot to death by arrows.
St. Sebastian, having sent so many martyrs to heaven before him, was himself impeached before the Emperor Diocletian, who, having grievously reproached him with ingratitude, delivered him over to certain archers of Mauritania, to be shot to death. His body was covered with arrows, and he left for dead. Irene, the widow of St. Castulus, going to bury him, found him still alive, and took him to her lodgings, where, by care, he recovered of his wounds, but refused to flee, and even placed himself one day by a staircase where the emperor was to pass, whom he first accosted, reproaching him for his unjust cruelties against the Christians. This freedom of speech, and from a person, too, whom he supposed to have been dead, greatly astonished the emperor; but, recovering from his surprise, he gave orders for his being seized and beat to death with cudgels, and his body thrown into the common sewer. A pious lady, called Lucina, admonished by the martyr in a vision, got it privately removed, and buried it in the catacombs at the entrance of the cemetery of Calixtus. A church was afterwards built over his relics by Pope Damasus, which is one of the seven ancient stationary churches at Rome, but not one of the seven principal churches of that city, as some moderns mistake; it neither being one of the five patriarchal churches, nor one of the seventy-two old churches which give titles to cardinals. Vandelbert,
St. Ado, Eginard, Sigebert, and other contemporary authors relate that, in the reign of Louis Debonnair, Pope Eugenius II gave the body of St. Sebastian to Hilduin, Abbot of St. Denys, who brought it into France, and it was deposited at St. Medard's, at Soissons, on the 8th of December, in 826 With it is said to have been brought a considerable portion of the relics of St. Gregory the Great. The rich shrines of SS. Sebastian, Gregory, and Medard were plundered by the Calvinists in 1564, and the sacred bones thrown into a ditch, in which there was water. Upon the declaration of two eye-witnesses, they were afterwards found by the Catholics, and in 1578 enclosed in three new shrines, though the bones of the three saints could not be distinguished from each other. The head of this martyr, which was given to St. Willibrord by Pope Sergius, is kept at Esternach, in the duchy of Luxemburg. Portions of his relics are shown in the cathedral at St. Victor's; the Theatins and Minims at Paris; in four churches at Mantua; at Malacca, Seville, Toulouse; Munich in the ducal palace; Tournay in the cathedral; Antwerp in the Church of the Jesuits; and at Brussels in the chapel of the court, not at St. Gudule's, as some have mistaken. St. Sebastian has been always honoured by the church as one of her most illustrious martyrs. We read in Paul the deacon in what manner, in the year 680, Rome was freed from a raging pestilence by the patronage of this saint. Milan in 1575, Lisbon in 1599, and other places, have experienced in like calamities the effects of his intercession with God in their behalf.
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SOURCE: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/S/stsebastian.asp#ixzz1k0rAyfDJ
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