37 killed for being Christian

cross detail3.jpgLiving and dying in Christ in 2009 was way too common.
Especially the dying part.  Pope
Benedict’s Christmas homily notes that “The Church everywhere proclaims the
Gospel of Christ, despite persecutions, discriminations, attacks and at times hostile
indifference. These, in fact, enable her to share the lot of her Master and
Lord.” Many of the 37 people killed this past year met hostility for their
acceptance of Christ as Savior, others were easy targets because they were
priests or nuns or in some way connected with the Church. Being killed for
being Christian is not the same as saying the 37 were martyrs for the faith.
Some may be legitimate martyrs, but not all.


Those who died:

Fr Joseph
Bertaina, of the Consolata Missionaries, killed January 16, 2009, Langata,
Kenya

Fr Eduardo de la Fuente Serrano, 61, killed February 14, 2009, Havana,
Cuba

Fr Juan Gonzalo Aristizabal Isaza, 62, killed February 22, 2009, Medellin,
Colombia

Fr Daniel Matsela Mahula, 34, killed February 27, 2009, Jouberton,
South Africa

Fr Lionel Sham, 66, killed March 7, 2009, Mohlakeng, South Africa

Fr
Révocat Gahimbare, killed March 8, 2009, Karuzi, Burundi

Fr Gabriel Fernando
Montoya Tamayo, 40 & Fr Jesús Ariel Jiménez, 45, Redemptorists, killed
March 16, 2009, La Primavera, Colombia

Fr Ramiro Luden, 64, killed March 20,
2009, Recife, Brazil

Fr Lorenzo Rosebaugh, 74, Missionary Oblates of Mary
Immaculate, killed May 18, 2009, lta Verapaz, Guatemala

Fr Ernst Plöchl, 78,
Congregation of the Missionaries of Mariannhill, killed May 31, 2009 Cape
Province, South Africa

Mr Jorge Humberto Echeverri Garro, 40, killed June 11,
2009, Colonos, Panama Arauca, Colombia

Fr Habacuc Benítez Hernández, 39, and
Seminarians Oregon Eduardo Benitez, 19, and Silvestre Gonzalez Cambron, 21,
killed June 13, 2009, Tierra Caliente, Guerrero, Mexico

Fr Gisley Azevedo
Gomes, 31, Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata of Our Lord Jesus Christ, killed
June 15, 2009, Brazlandia, Brasilia

Fr Mariano Arroyo Merino, 74, killed July
13, 2009, Shrine of Our Lady of the Rule, Cuba

Mr Ricky Sukaka Agus, 27,
Caritas worker, killed July 15, 2009, Musezero, North Kivu, DR of Congo

Fr Mukalel James, 39, killed July 30, 2009, Mangalore, Karnataka,
India

Fr Leopoldo Cruz, Redemptorist, killed August 24, 2009, El Salvador

Fr
Cecilio Lucero, Filipino, 48, killed September 6, 2009, Northern Samar
province, Philippines

Fr Roger Ruvoletto, 52, Fidei Donum missionary, killed September
19, 2009, Manaus, Brazil

Fr Evaldo Martiol, 33, killed September 26, 2009,
Santa Caterina, Brazil

Fr Danilo Oscar Cardozo 57, killed September 27, 2009,
Villavicencio, Colombia


Mr William Quijano, 21, Community of St. Egidio in El
Salvador, September 28, 2009, Apopa, San Salvador

Fr Edward Hinds, 61, killed
October 24, 2009, Chatham, New Jersey


Fr Louis Jousseaume, 70, killed October
26, 2009, Tulle, France

Sr Marguerite Bartz, 64, Sisters of the Blessed
Sacrament, killed October 31/November 1, 2009, Navajo, New Mexico

Fr Hidalberto
Henrique Guimaraes, 48, killed November 7, 2009, Maceió, Brazil

Fr Miguel Angel
Hernandez, 45, Capuchin Franciscan, killed November 8, 2009, Ocotepeque
Honduras, and found dead in a province of eastern Guatemala

Fr Jean Gaston
Buli, killed on November9/10 2009, Bunia, DR of Congo

Fr
Daniel Cizimya Nakamaga, 51, killed December 6, 2009, Kabare, DR of Congo

Fr Louis Blondel, 70, Missionaries of Africa, killed December
6 /7, 2009, Pretoria, South Africa

Sr Denise Kahambu Muhayirwa, 44,
Trappistine, killed December 7, 2009, Murhesa, DR of Congo

Fr
Jeremiah Roche, Society of St. Patrick for Foreign Missions, killed December
10/11, 2009, Kericho, Kenya

Fr Alvino Broering, 46, killed December 14, 2009,
Santa Catarina, Brazil


Fr Emiro Jaramillo Cardenas, 73, killed on December 20,
2009, Santa Rosa de Osos, Columbia


We are never very far from offering our
lives for Christ. The day after Christmas we observe the feast of the first
martyr, Saint Stephen, a deacon and one of the seven chosen to serve the
Church. In his Angelus address Pope Benedict recalled for us that

Stephen’s
witness, like that of the Christian martyrs, shows our fellow men and women, so
often distracted and disoriented, in whom they must place their trust in order
to give meaning to life. The martyr is, in fact, the person who dies in the
certainty of being loved by God and, placing nothing before love for Christ,
knows he has chosen the better part. Fully identifying himself with the death
of Christ, he realizes that he is a life-giving seed that opens the way for
peace and hope in the world. Today, presenting us St. Stephen the Deacon as a
model, the Church is also showing us that acceptance and love for the poor is
one of the privileged ways to live the Gospel and to bear credible witness
before the world of the Kingdom of God that is to come. (Angelus, December 26,
2009)


Rome Reports filed this story.

Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God


Mother & Child.jpg

God our Father, may we always profit by the prayers of the
Virgin Mother Mary, for You bring us life and salvation through Jesus Christ
her Son who lives and regins with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever.

from Catechism of the Catholic:

Called in the Gospels “the Mother of
Jesus,” Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and
even before the birth of her son, as “the mother of my Lord.” In
fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became
her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father’s eternal Son,
the second person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is
truly “Mother of God.” (495).

from the Directory on Popular and the
Liturgy: The Solemnity of the Holy Mother of God:

On New Year’s Day, the octave
day of Christmas, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Holy Mother of
God. The divine and virginal motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a
singular salvific event: for Our Lady it was the foretaste and cause of her
extraordinary glory; for us it is a source of grace and salvation because
“through her we have received the Author of life.”

The solemnity of the 1
January, an eminently Marian feast, presents an excellent opportunity for
liturgical piety to encounter popular piety: the first celebrates this event in
a manner proper to it; the second, when duly catechised, lends joy and
happiness to the various expressions of praise offered to Our Lady on the birth
of her divine Son, to deepen our understanding of many prayers, beginning with
that which says: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners”.

In
the West, 1 January is an inaugural day marking the beginning of the civil
year. The faithful are also involved in the celebrations for the beginning of
the new year and exchange “new year” greetings. However, they should
try to lend a Christian understanding to this custom making of these greetings
an expression of popular piety. The faithful, naturally, realize that the
“new year” is placed under the patronage of the Lord, and in
exchanging new year greetings they implicitly and explicitly place the New Year
under the Lord’s dominion, since to him belongs all time (cf. Ap 1, 8; 22,13)

A
connection between this consciousness and the popular custom of singing the Veni
Creator Spiritus can easily be made so that on 1 January the faithful can pray
that the Spirit may direct their thoughts and actions, and those of the
community during the course of the year.+New year greetings also include an
expression of hope for a peaceful New Year. This has profound biblical,
Christological and incarnational origins. The “quality of peace” has
always been invoked throughout history by all men, and especially during violent
and destructive times of war.

The Holy See shares the profound aspirations of
man for peace. Since 1967, 1 January has been designated “world day for
peace”. Popular piety has not been oblivious to this initiative of the
Holy See. In the light of the new born Prince of Peace, it reserves this day
for intense prayer for peace, education towards peace and those value
inextricably linked with it, such as liberty, fraternal solidarity, the dignity
of the human person, respect for nature, the right to work, the sacredness of
human life, and the denunciation of injustices which trouble the conscience of
man and threaten peace. (115-117)

Pope Benedict XVI’s monthly prayer intentions for January 2010

B16 & BI.jpgA new year, a new set of intentions given to us for our personal and communal prayer for the Pope and for the good of the Church. Saint Paul teaches to pray for the Church. And the Pope himself has reminded us that “He who prays does not waste time, even if the situation has all the markings of being an emergency and seems to push us toward action alone.”  The intentions given to us have the great importance for our Christian life in our local context and for thriving of the Christian Way. Please be attentive to these intentions!


The general intention


That young people may learn to
use modern means of social communication for their personal growth and to
better prepare themselves to serve society.


The missionary intention

That every
believer in Christ may be conscious that unity among all Christians is a condition
for more effective proclamation of the Gospel.

New Year: keeping Christ in our lives

Vatican new year.jpgNow is the old year passed away.
Let us begin the new this day.
Praising our God, who here on earth
Kept us in quietness and mirth!
Oh, like the glad new year may we
Wholly renewed this day be,
Praising our God eternally!

Child of our love, O Jesus dear,
Thou who art still our Savior here,
Thee do we pray with all our heart:
Never more leave us, nor depart.
Save us from war, from hate, from fear;
Keep us in peace together here;
Grant us a tranquil, joyous year!

Gladly together then will we,
O highest God of heaven, to thee
Bring through the year our songs of praise,
And evermore through endless days
Here will on earth our time shall be,
And then, throughout eternity,
Singing with joyful hearts to Thee!

Pope Saint Sylvester I

Pope Sylvester and the dragon.jpg

The liturgical prayer for Saint Sylvester may be found here.
The Church’s Liturgy commemorates the death of Pope Saint Sylvester, a pope we rarely think about other than on the day of his memorial. Many of the hagiographical materials available seem to be more apocryphal narratives surrounding the saintly pope than factual occurrences: for example, the Sylvester’s slaying a dragon (note the image above) and raising the dragon’s victims

to life; or the curing of Constantine of leprosy; and the Donation of Constantine. It is recorded that Pope Sylvester baptized Constantine. The historical evidence for this pontificate for this era is sorely lacking for such an important time in Church history. What is known of Sylvester is given to us through the Vita beati Sylvestri.

The lack of historical record, however, does not mean the events of history did not happen, it just means we don’t have reliable sources. However, given that the narratives are recorded in ecclesiastical memory and the liturgical patrimony of the Church, means that their was a historical man who followed Christ, ordained priest and elected Pope, and worked for the good of the Christian faith given in Tradition. Post-modern people often place too much emphasis on the manuscript tradition (what is absolutely verifiable) and too little weight on hagiographical materials, including homilies and pious legends, to give  us a sense of Church history.

The son of Rufinus and Justa, Sylvester was ordained a priest by Pope Marcellinus and elected bishop of Rome in AD 314, after the death of Pope Saint Miltiades.

During his twenty-one year pontificate, in addition to the various churches honoring the martyrs, he oversaw with Constantine and Helena as patrons, the construction of three of the greatest

Roman churches: Saint John Lateran, Holy Cross of Jerusalem, and the first Saint Peter’s. Sylvester’s pontificate also saw the development of the Roman Liturgy, the foundation of a school of singers for the Liturgy and the publication of the first Martyrology. Further, Sylvester was instrumental in stemming the spread of Arianism throughout the Western church, as well as the promulgation of orthodox christology (homousion of the Son) in the wake of Nicea I (325).

Father Charles Dumont, Cistercian monk, priest, poet: RIP

On the solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, a few
hours after the Midnight Mass (in which he participated from his room), Father
Charles Dumont was born into eternal life. Born in Ixelles (Brussels) on 26
September 1918, he entered Scourmont Abbey on 11 June 1941, he professed solemn
vows on 16 July 1946, and was ordained priest on 15 May 1950. He served
several times as chaplain at the abbey of Notre Dame de la Paix (Chimay), as
well as at Soleilmont. For several years he assisted at Caldey and he filled the
office of Novice Master at Scourmont from 1993 to 1996.


He introduced many
people, especially within the Order, to the knowledge and the love of the
Cistercian Fathers, in particular St Bernard. He was the editor of Collectanea
Cistercienia, later Cisterciensia (1963-71) and assisted in the editing of Cistercian Studies Quarterly. Two of his
recent works are Pathways to Peace: Cistercian Wisdom According to St. Bernard
and Praying the Word of God. Cistercian Sister Elizabeth Connor wrote a book on
Father Charles entitled, Charles Dumont Monk-Poet: A Spiritual Biography. His
funeral took place at Scourmont on 28 December. May God grant Father Charles eternal light, peace and happiness.

Spencer Abbey & Lunch: a personal pilgrimage at Christmas

Abbey Church, Library, dorm 2009.jpgI spent a few hours today at Saint Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, MA, and then later in the day had lunch with a friend, Msgr. Robert Johnson in Worcester. It was beautifully sunny but incredibly cold.

Spencer’s abbey has always held a special place in my heart because of the beauty of the location –on top of a hill with rolling fields and lakes– and because of friendship I share with some of the monks and the sacred Liturgy.
Saint Joseph’s Abbey is a monastic house of monks of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (OCSO), the Trappists.

Spencer Abbey, sanctuary 2009.jpg

I even stopped by the Holy Rood Guild and purchased an icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and a linen amice.
See the monks’ blog that’s periodically update, here.

Archbishop Job of the Orthodox Church in America: RIP at 63

Archbishop Job.jpgLast week the Lord called to Himself Orthodox
Church of America’s Archbishop Job. After a serious of religious services in Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania, where he was buried. Since hearing of the archbishop’s sudden death of pulmonary embolism, I’ve kept +Job in prayer, and I urge you to do the same.


Archbishop Job was a talented, spiritual
and a man of great humanity. His spiritual sons all testify to the beauty of
his person. Born of a bi-Church family (Catholic & Orthodox), young Richard John was baptized Catholic and later, for serious reasons, was received into the Orthodox Church. The Archbishop’s father rejected his son for many years but reconciled. Through the years he developed the skills of writing liturgical music and icons and was an acclaimed pastor of souls. Before returning to his home city of Chicago as bishop in 1992, Job served the Orthodox faithful of New England beginning in 1983 when he was ordained a bishop at 37 years old.

I was struck by the person and ministry of +Job a number of years ago and was saddened by
his death. The Archbishop’s bio can be read here and his obit here.

Let us pray.

O God of spirits and of all
flesh, Who has trampled down death; You have overthrown the devil and have
given Life to Your world: now give rest, Lord, to the soul of Your departed
servant Archbishop Job, in a place of light, a place of refreshment and a place
of repose, where there is no sickness, sighing nor sorrow.  As You are a
Good God, Who loves mankind, pardon every sin, which he has committed, whether
by word or by deed or by thought, for there is no man who lives and has not sinned. 
You alone are sinless, Your Righteousness is Eternal and Your Word is
Truth.  For You are the Resurrection, the Life and the Repose of your
newly presented servant, Archbishop Job, Christ our God and we give glory,
together with Your Father, Who is Eternal and Your All-Holy, Good and
Life-Creating Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen!

May his memory be eternal!

Saint Thomas Becket

St Thomas Becket3.jpg

Our prayer today is one asking the Lord for the grace being a courageous witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The liturgical prayer (used at Mass) is found here.

Read Butler’s life of Becket and/or the Catholic Encyclopedia article on the martyred archbishop.

I’m multi-media here at Communio blog, so I found a montage of scenes from the movie “Becket” (1964) with Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole creatively put together. The acting is superb, dress is stunning and the drama insightful.
You like to read the piece on transferral of Becket’s relics here.