My People

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Be On Fire With Love For God

Pope Francis addressed some of the dangers facing the faithful in his 2018 Lenten Message. The message, dated November 1, 2017, the solemnity of all Saints, follows:

"Dear Brothers and Sisters,

"Once again, the Pasch of the Lord draws near! In our preparation for Easter, God in His providence offers us each year the season of Lent as a 'sacramental sign of our conversion.'[1] Lent summons us, and enables us, to come back to the Lord wholeheartedly and in every aspect of our life.

"With this message, I would like again this year to help the entire Church experience this time of grace anew, with joy and in truth. I will take my cue from the words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew: 'Because of the increase of iniquity, the love of many will grow cold' (24:12).

"These words appear in Christ's preaching about the end of time. They were spoken in Jerusalem, on the Mount of Olives, where the Lord's passion would begin. In reply to a question of the disciples, Jesus foretells a great tribulation and describes a situation in which the community of believers might well find itself: amid great trials, false prophets would lead people astray and the love that is the core of the Gospel would grow cold in the hearts of many.

False prophets

"Let us listen to the Gospel passage and try to understand the guise such false prophets can assume.

"They can appear as 'snake charmers,' who manipulate human emotions in order to enslave others and lead them where they would have them go. How many of God's children are mesmerized by momentary pleasures, mistaking them for true happiness! How many men and women live entranced by the dream of wealth, which only makes them slaves to profit and petty interests! How many go through life believing that they are sufficient unto themselves, and end up entrapped by loneliness!

"False prophets can also be 'charlatans,' who offer easy and immediate solutions to suffering that soon prove utterly useless. How many young people are taken in by the panacea of drugs, of disposable relationships, of easy but dishonest gains! How many more are ensnared in a thoroughly 'virtual' existence, in which relationships appear quick and straightforward, only to prove meaningless! These swindlers, in peddling things that have no real value, rob people of all that is most precious: dignity, freedom, and the ability to love. They appeal to our vanity, our trust in appearances, but in the end they only make fools of us. Nor should we be surprised. In order to confound the human heart, the devil, who is 'a liar and the father of lies' (Jn 8:44), has always presented evil as good, falsehood as truth. That is why each of us is called to peer into our heart to see if we are falling prey to the lies of these false prophets. We must learn to look closely, beneath the surface, and to recognize what leaves a good and lasting mark on our hearts, because it comes from God and is truly for our benefit.

A cold heart

"In his description of hell, Dante Alighieri pictures the devil seated on a throne of ice,[2] in frozen and loveless isolation. We might well ask ourselves how it happens that charity can turn cold within us. What are the signs that indicate that our love is beginning to cool?

"More than anything else, what destroys charity is greed for money, 'the root of all evil' (1 Tim 6:10). The rejection of God and His peace soon follows; we prefer our own desolation rather than the comfort found in His word and the sacraments.[3] All this leads to violence against anyone we think is a threat to our own 'certainties:' the unborn child, the elderly and infirm, the migrant, the alien among us, or our neighbor who does not live up to our expectations.

"Creation itself becomes a silent witness to this cooling of charity. The earth is poisoned by refuse, discarded out of carelessness or for self-interest. The seas, themselves polluted, engulf the remains of countless shipwrecked victims of forced migration. The heavens, which in God's plan, were created to sing His praises, are rent by engines raining down implements of death.

"Love can also grow cold in our own communities. In the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, I sought to describe the most evident signs of this lack of love: selfishness and spiritual sloth, sterile pessimism, the temptation to self-absorption, constant warring among ourselves, and the worldly mentality that makes us concerned only for appearances, and thus lessens our missionary zeal.[4]

What are we to do?

"Perhaps we see, deep within ourselves and all about us, the signs I have just described. But the Church, our Mother and Teacher, along with the often bitter medicine of the truth, offers us in the Lenten season the soothing remedy of prayer, almsgiving, and fasting.

"By devoting more time to prayer, we enable our hearts to root out our secret lies and forms of self-deception,[5] and then to find the consolation God offers. He is our Father and He wants us to live life well.

"Almsgiving sets us free from greed and helps us to regard our neighbor as a brother or sister. What I possess is never mine alone. How I would like almsgiving to become a genuine style of life for each of us! How I would like us, as Christians, to follow the example of the Apostles and see in the sharing of our possessions a tangible witness of the communion that is ours in the Church! For this reason, I echo Saint Paul's exhortation to the Corinthians to take up a collection for the community of Jerusalem as something from which they themselves would benefit (cf. 2 Cor 8:10). This is all the more fitting during the Lenten season, when many groups take up collections to assist Churches and peoples in need. Yet I would also hope that, even in our daily encounters with those who beg for our assistance, we would see such requests as coming from God Himself. When we give alms, we share in God's providential care for each of His children. If through me God helps someone today, will He not tomorrow provide for my own needs? For no one is more generous than God.[6]

"Fasting weakens our tendency to violence; it disarms us and becomes an important opportunity for growth. On the one hand, it allows us to experience what the destitute and the starving have to endure. On the other hand, it expresses our own spiritual hunger and thirst for life in God. Fasting wakes us up. It makes us more attentive to God and our neighbor. It revives our desire to obey God, who alone is capable of satisfying our hunger.

"I would also like my invitation to extend beyond the bounds of the Catholic Church, and to reach all of you, men and women of good will, who are open to hearing God's voice. Perhaps, like ourselves, you are disturbed by the spread of iniquity in the world, you are concerned about the chill that paralyzes hearts and actions, and you see a weakening in our sense of being members of the one human family. Join us, then, in raising our plea to God, in fasting, and in offering whatever you can to our brothers and sisters in need!

The fire of Easter

"Above all, I urge the members of the Church to take up the Lenten journey with enthusiasm, sustained by almsgiving, fasting, and prayer. If, at times, the flame of charity seems to die in our own hearts, know that this is never the case in the heart of God! He constantly gives us a chance to begin loving anew.

"One such moment of grace will be, again this year, the '24 Hours for the Lord' initiative, which invites the entire Church community to celebrate the sacrament of Reconciliation in the context of Eucharistic adoration. In 2018, inspired by the words of Psalm 130:4, 'With you is forgiveness,' this will take place from Friday, March 9 to Saturday, March 10. In each diocese, at least one church will remain open for twenty-four consecutive hours, offering an opportunity for both Eucharistic adoration and sacramental confession.

"During the Easter Vigil, we will celebrate once more the moving rite of the lighting of the Easter candle. Drawn from the 'new fire,' this light will slowly overcome the darkness and illuminate the liturgical assembly. 'May the light of Christ rising in glory dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds,'[7] and enable all of us to relive the experience of the disciples on the way to Emmaus. By listening to God's word and drawing nourishment from the table of the Eucharist, may our hearts be ever more ardent in faith, hope, and love.

"With affection and the promise of my prayers for all of you, I send you my blessing. Please do not forget to pray for me."

[1] Roman Missal, Collect for the First Sunday of Lent (Italian).

[2] Inferno XXXIV, 28-29.

[3] "It is curious, but many times we are afraid of consolation, of being comforted. Or rather, we feel more secure in sorrow and desolation. Do you know why? Because in sorrow we feel almost as protagonists. However, in consolation the Holy Spirit is the protagonist!" (Angelus, December 7, 2014).

[4] Evangelii Gaudium, 76-109.

[5] Cf. BENEDICT XVI, Encyclical Letter Spe Salvi, 33.

[6] Cf. PIUS XII, Encyclical Letter Fidei Donum, III.

[7] Roman Missal (Third Edition), Easter Vigil, Lucernarium.

Migrants, Communities Challenged To Love

Pope Francis addressed challenges facing migrants and refugees and local communities in his homily at a January 14 Mass on the World Day of Migrants and Refugees. The Pope said:

"This year I wanted to celebrate the World Day of Migrants and Refugees with a Mass that invites and welcomes you especially who are migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. Some of you have recently arrived in Italy, others are long-time residents and work here, and still others make up the so-called 'second-generation.'

"For everyone in this assembly, the Word of God has resonated and today invites us to deepen the special call that the Lord addresses to each one of us. As He did with Samuel (cf 1 Sm 3:3b-10,19), He calls us by name - each one of us - and asks us to honor the fact that each of us has been created a unique and unrepeatable being, each different from the others and each with a singular role in the history of the world. In the Gospel (cf Jn 1:35-42), the two disciples of John ask Jesus, 'Where do you live?' (v. 38), implying that the reply to this question would determine their judgment upon the master from Nazareth. The response of Jesus is clear: 'Come and see!' (v. 39), and opens up to a personal encounter which requires sufficient time to welcome, to know, and to acknowledge the other.

"In the Message for this year's World Day of Migrants and Refugees I have written, 'Every stranger who knocks at our door is an opportunity for an encounter with Jesus Christ, who identifies with the welcomed and rejected strangers of every age (Mt 25:35,43).' And for the stranger, the migrant, the refugee, the asylum seeker, and the displaced person, every door in a new land is also an opportunity to encounter Jesus. His invitation 'Come and see!' is addressed today to all of us, to local communities and to new arrivals. It is an invitation to overcome our fears so as to encounter the other, to welcome, to know, and to acknowledge him or her. It is an invitation which offers the opportunity to draw near to the other and see where and how he or she lives. In today's world, for new arrivals to welcome, to know, and to acknowledge means to know and respect the laws, the culture, and the traditions of the countries that take them in. It even includes understanding their fears and apprehensions for the future. And for local communities to welcome, to know, and to acknowledge newcomers means to open themselves without prejudices to their rich diversity, to understand the hopes and potential of the newly arrived as well as their fears and vulnerabilities.

"True encounter with the other does not end with welcome, but involves us all in the three further actions which I spelled out in the Message for this Day: to protect, to promote, and to integrate. In the true encounter with the neighbor, are we capable of recognizing Jesus Christ who is asking to be welcomed, protected, promoted, and integrated? As the Gospel parable of the final judgment teaches us: the Lord was hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, a stranger, and in prison -- by some He was helped and by others not (cf Mt 25:31-46). This true encounter with Christ is source of salvation, a salvation which should be announced and brought to all, as the apostle Andrew shows us. After revealing to his brother Simon, 'We have found the Messiah' (Jn 1:41), Andrew brings him to Jesus so that Simon can have the same experience of encounter.

"It is not easy to enter into another culture, to put oneself in the shoes of people so different from us, to understand their thoughts and their experiences. As a result we often refuse to encounter the other and raise barriers to defend ourselves. Local communities are sometimes afraid that the newly arrived will disturb the established order, will 'steal' something they have long labored to build up. And the newly arrived also have fears: they are afraid of confrontation, judgment, discrimination, failure. These fears are legitimate, based on doubts that are fully comprehensible from a human point of view. Having doubts and fears is not a sin. The sin is to allow these fears to determine our responses, to limit our choices, to compromise respect and generosity, to feed hostility and rejection. The sin is to refuse to encounter the other, the different, the neighbor, when this is in fact a privileged opportunity to encounter the Lord.

"From this encounter with Jesus present in the poor, the rejected, the refugee, the asylum seeker, flows our prayer of today. It is a reciprocal prayer: migrants and refugees pray for local communities, and local communities pray for the newly arrived and for migrants who have been here longer. To the maternal intercession of Mary Most Holy we entrust the hopes of all the world's migrants and refugees and the aspirations of the communities which welcome them. In this way, responding to the supreme commandment of charity and love of neighbor, may we all learn to love the other, the stranger, as ourselves."

Former Muslims Share Experiences

by Michael Halm

Former Muslims United is a program of the American Freedom Defense Initiative. It was formed in September 2009 by a group of leading American apostates from Islam, Nonie Darwish, Mohammed Asghar, Amil Imani, Wafa Sultan, and Ibn Warraq, to educate the American public and policymakers about the need for Muslims to repudiate the threat from authoritative Shariah to the religious freedom and safety of former Muslims.

Director Nonie Darwish puts it bluntly, "If you convert, you die," and explains, "Few Americans know what is going o inside the Muslim world and what it portends for them. The fact is that most Americans are subjected to much of the same misinformation with regard to Islam that I grew up with inside the Muslim world. Thus Americans are in the dark attempting to formulate their strategy to defend themselves against the threat of terror, domestic jihad, and Sharia. While they get ridiculed for being 'Islamophobes,' the Muslim world itself is undergoing a huge and painful awakening.'

She gives the example of Egyptian lawyer and women's rights activist Nagla Al Imam who announced her conversion to Christianity in Cairo, Egypt. It sent shock waves in and beyond Egypt, as perhaps the first case ever of its kind where a Muslim woman, who is also a Sharia expert, has openly challenged Islamic apostasy laws.

On an internet chat room she announced that she was not afraid to stand up for the human rights of apostates and refused to leave her homeland, Egypt. This was immediately followed by death threats. Upon arrival at an alleged interview, she was taken forcibly to a room and held against her will for hours, assaulted, threatened, and insulted by several people.

Darwish presents an insider's look at Sharia in Cruel and Usual Punishment. "This is Allah's law," she was told, and she knew what awaited those who questioned Allah's law. But she doesn't believe the lies anymore, and now she wants to share her experiences with the Western world. Cruel and Usual Punishment is an insider's look at how Muslims sacrifice their basic human rights to obey the archaic and brutal laws handed down to their prophet centuries ago. Heed this warning: Sharia Law is attempting to infiltrate Western culture and destroy democracy.

Her book, Now They Call Me Infidel, is subtitled Why I Renounced Jihad for American, Israel, and the War on Terror. When she was a girl of eight, her father died while leading covert attacks on Israel. A high-ranking Egyptian military officer stationed with his family in Gaza, he was considered a "shahid," a martyr for jihad. Yet Darwish questioned the love of violence and hatred of Jews and Christians, the tolerance of glaring social injustices, and the blame America and Israel for everything. Today she thrives as an American citizen, a Christian, a conservative Republican, and an advocate for Israel.

Abdallah Saleed has written similar books, Freedom of Religion, Apostasy and Islam with Hassan Saleed and The Dark Side of Islam with R. C Sproud. In the second he focuses on four basic areas in which Islam rejects the very foundations on which Christianity is built. In addition to discussing the differences between Islam and Christianity, Saleeb gives his own perspective on the "dark side" of Islam in light of violence perpetrated b Jihadists.

Ibn Warraq's books, Why I am Not a Moslem and Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out, tell the same story again and again. "No quick portrait of the typical apostate is likely to appear," he writes, "some are young (students in their teens), some are middle-aged with children; some are scientists, while others are economists, business people, or journalists. Our witnesses, nonetheless, do have certain moral and intellectual qualities in common: for instance, they are all comparatively well educated, computer literate with access to the Internet, and rational, with the ability to think for themselves. However, what is most striking is their fearlessness, their moral courage, and their moral commitment to telling the truth. They all face social ostracism, the loss of friends and family, a deep inner spiritual anguish and loneliness - and occasionally the death penalty if discovered."

Condemn Violence In Name Of Religion

Pope Francis met February 2 in the Vatican with participants in a conference on ways of combatting religious violence.

The Pope's address follows:

"I offer you a warm welcome and I thank you for your presence. It is highly significant that political authorities and religious leaders can meet to discuss how to respond to acts of violence committed in the name of religion.

"I would begin by reiterating what I have often stated, and in particular during my visit to Egypt: 'God, the lover of life, never ceases to love man, and so he exhorts us to reject the way of violence. Above all and especially in our day, the religions are called to respect this imperative, since, for all our need of the Absolute, it is essential that we reject any 'absolutizing' that would justify violence. For violence is the negation of every authentic religious expression We have an obligation to denounce violations of human dignity and human rights, to expose attempts to justify every form of hatred in the name of religion, and to condemn these attempts as idolatrous caricatures of God' (Address to Participants in the International Peace Conference, Al-Azhar Conference Centre, Cairo, April 28, 2017).

"Violence promoted and carried out in the name of religion can only discredit religion itself. Consequently, such violence must be condemned by all, and especially by genuinely religious persons, who know that God is always goodness, love, and compassion, and that in Him there is no room for hatred, resentment, or vengeance. The religious person knows that among the greatest blasphemies is to invoke God as the justification for one's own sins and crimes, to invoke Him in order to justify killing, mass murder, enslavement, exploitation in whatever form, oppression and persecution of individuals and entire populations.

"The religious person knows that God is the Holy One, and that no one can claim to use His name in order to perpetrate evil. Every religious leader is called to unmask any attempt to manipulate God for ends that have nothing to do with Him or His glory. We need to show, with unremitting effort, that every human life is sacred, that it deserves respect, esteem, compassion and solidarity, without regard for ethnicity, religion, culture, or ideological and political convictions.

"Adherence to a particular religion does not confer additional dignity and rights upon individuals, nor does non-adherence deny or diminish them.

"There is a need, then, for a common commitment on the part of political authorities, religious leaders, teachers, and those engaged in the fields of education, training, and communications, to warn all those tempted by perverse forms of misguided religiosity that these have nothing to do with the profession of a religion worthy of this name.

"This will help all those people of good will who seek God to encounter Him in truth, to encounter the One who sets us free from fear, hatred, and violence, and who desires to use the creativity and energy of each person to spread His plan of love and peace, which is offered to all.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I renew my appreciation for your readiness to engage in reflection and dialogue on a subject of such dramatic import, and for your expert contribution to the growth of a culture of peace, invariably founded on truth and love. May God bless you and your work. Thank you."

Encounter Jesus In Religious Life

The World Day of Consecrated Life is celebrated each year on February 2, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord. Pope John Paul II established this day in 1997.

Pope Francis celebrated Mass in the Vatican to mark this day. His homily follows:

"Forty days after Christmas, we celebrate the Lord who enters the Temple and comes to encounter His people. In the Christian East, this feast is called the 'Feast of Encounter:' it is the encounter between God, who became a child to bring newness to our world, and an expectant humanity, represented by the elderly man and woman in the Temple.

"In the Temple, there is also an encounter between two couples: the young Mary and Joseph, and the elderly Simeon and Anna. The old receive from the young, while the young draw upon the old. In the Temple, Mary and Joseph find the roots of their people. This is important, because God's promise does not come to fulfilment merely in individuals, once for all, but within a community and throughout history. There too, Mary and Joseph find the roots of their faith, for faith is not something learned from a book, but the art of living with God, learned from the experience of those who have gone before us. The two young people, in meeting the two older people, thus find themselves. And the two older people, nearing the end of their days, receive Jesus, the meaning of their lives. This event fulfils the prophecy of Joel: 'Your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions' (2:28). In this encounter, the young see their mission and the elderly realize their dreams. All because, at the center of the encounter, is Jesus.

"Let us look to our own lives, dear consecrated brothers and sisters. Everything started in an encounter with the Lord. Our journey of consecration was born of an encounter and a call. We need to keep this in mind. And if we remember aright, we will realize that in that encounter we were not alone with Jesus; there was also the people of God, the Church, young and old, just as in today's Gospel. It is striking too, that while the young Mary and Joseph faithfully observe the Law - the Gospel tells us this four times - and never speak, the elderly Simeon and Anna come running up and prophesy. It seems it should be the other way around. Generally, it is the young who speak enthusiastically about the future, while the elderly protect the past. In the Gospel, the very opposite occurs, because when we meet one another in the Lord, God's surprises immediately follow.

"For this to occur in the consecrated life, we have to remember that we can never renew our encounter with the Lord without others; we can never leave others behind, never pass over generations, but must accompany one another daily, keeping the Lord always at the center. For if the young are called to open new doors, the elderly hold the keys. An institute remains youthful by going back to its roots, by listening to its older members. There is no future without this encounter between the old and the young. There is no growth without roots and no flowering without new buds. There is never prophecy without memory, or memory without prophecy. And constant encounter.

"Today's frantic pace leads us to close many doors to encounter, often for fear of others. Only shopping malls and internet connections are always open. Yet that is not how it should be with consecrated life: the brother and the sister given to me by God are a part of my history, gifts to be cherished. May we never look at the screen of our cellphone more than the eyes of our brothers or sisters, or focus more on our software than on the Lord. For whenever we put our own projects, methods, and organization at the center, consecrated life stops being attractive; it no longer speaks to others; it no longer flourishes because it forgets its very foundations, its very roots.

"Consecrated life is born and reborn of an encounter with Jesus as He is: poor, chaste, and obedient. We journey along a double track: on the one hand, God's loving initiative, from which everything starts and to which we must always return; on the other, our own response, which is truly loving when it has no 'ifs' or 'buts,' when it imitates Jesus in His poverty, chastity, and obedience. Whereas the life of this world attempts to take hold of us, the consecrated life turns from fleeting riches to embrace the One who endures forever. The life of this world pursues selfish pleasures and desires; the consecrated life frees our affections of every possession in order fully to love God and other people. Worldly life aims to do whatever we want; consecrated life chooses humble obedience as the greater freedom. And while worldly life soon leaves our hands and hearts empty, life in Jesus fills us with peace to the very end, as in the Gospel, where Simeon and Anna come happily to the sunset of their lives with the Lord in their arms and joy in their hearts.

"How good it is for us to hold the Lord 'in our arms' (Lk 2:28), like Simeon. Not only in our heads and in our hearts, but also 'in our hands,' in all that we do: in prayer, at work, at the table, on the telephone, at school, with the poor, everywhere. Having the Lord 'in our hands' is an antidote to insular mysticism and frenetic activism, since a genuine encounter with Jesus corrects both saccharine piety and frazzled hyperactivity. Savoring the encounter with Jesus is also the remedy for the paralysis of routine, for it opens us up to the daily 'havoc' of grace. The secret to fanning the flame of our spiritual life is a willingness to allow ourselves to encounter Jesus and to be encountered by Him; otherwise we fall into a stifling life, where disgruntlement, bitterness, and inevitable disappointments get the better of us. To encounter one another in Jesus as brothers and sisters, young and old, and thus to abandon the barren rhetoric of 'the good old days' - a nostalgia that kills the soul - and to silence those who think that 'everything is falling apart.' If we encounter Jesus and our brothers and sisters in the everyday events of our life, our hearts will no longer be set on the past or the future, but will experience the 'today of God' in peace with everyone.

"At the end of the Gospels, there is another encounter with Jesus that can inspire the consecrated life. It is that of the women before the tomb. They had gone to encounter the dead; their journey seemed pointless. You too are journeying against the current: the life of the world easily rejects poverty, chastity, and obedience. But like those women, keep moving forward, without worrying about whatever heavy stones need to be removed (cf. Mk 16:3). And like those women, be the first to meet the Lord, risen and alive. Cling to Him (cf. Mt 28:9) and go off immediately to tell your brothers and sisters, your eyes brimming with joy (cf. v. 8). In this way, you are the Church's perennial dawn. You, dear consecrated brothers and sisters, are the Church's perennial dawn! I ask you to renew this very day your encounter with Jesus, to walk together towards Him. And this will give light to your eyes and strength to your steps."

Celebrate Your Baptism Day

Pope Francis urged Catholics to celebrate their baptismal date on January 7, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. The Pope spoke at the Angelus, stating:

"Today's celebration of the Baptism of the Lord concludes the Christmas Season and invites us to think about our baptism. Jesus wished to receive the baptism that John the Baptist preached and administered in the Jordan. It was a baptism of repentance: those who approached expressed the wish to be purified of sins and, with the help of God, they committed to begin a new life.

"Thus we understand the great humility of Jesus, the One who had no sin, in joining the queue of the penitents, mingling among them to be baptized in the waters of the river. How humble Jesus is! And in so doing, He manifested what we celebrated at Christmas: Jesus' willingness to immerse Himself in the river of humanity, to take upon Himself the failings and weaknesses of men and women, to share their wish for liberation and the triumph over all that distances one from God and renders one a stranger to brothers and sisters. As in Bethlehem, even along the banks of the Jordan, God keeps His promise to take upon Himself the destiny of the human being, and Jesus is the tangible and definitive sign of it. He took all of us upon His shoulders; He carries all of us, in life, in our days.

"Today's Gospel passage emphasizes that when Jesus 'came up out of the water, immediately He saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove' (Mk 1:10). The Holy Spirit, who had worked from the beginning of creation and had led Moses and the people in the desert, now descends in fullness upon Jesus to give Him the power to accomplish His mission in the world. The Spirit is the creator of Jesus' baptism and also of our baptism. He opens the eyes of our hearts to the truth, to the whole truth. He propels our life along the path of charity. He is the gift that the Father has given to each one of us on the day of our baptism. He, the Spirit, transmits the tenderness of divine forgiveness to us. And it is again He, the Holy Spirit, who makes the revelatory Word of the Father resonate: 'You are My Son' (cf. v. 11).

"The celebration of Jesus' baptism invites every Christian to remember his or her own baptism. I cannot ask you whether you remember the day of your baptism, because most of you were infants, like me; we were baptized as infants. But I ask you another question: do you know the date of your baptism? Do you know what day you were baptized? Each one think about it. And if you do not know the date or have forgotten it, upon returning home, ask your mom, grandma, uncle, aunt, grandpa, godfather, godmother: what is the date? We must always keep that date in our memory, because it is a date of celebration; it is the date of our initial sanctification; it is the date on which the Father gave us the Holy Spirit who encourages us to walk; it is the date of the great forgiveness. Do not forget: what is the date of my baptism? Let us invoke the maternal protection of Mary Most Holy, that all Christians can understand ever better the gift of baptism and commit to living it with coherence, witnessing to the love of the Father and of the Son and of the Spirit."

Light to the Nations

(A Christian Perspective on World News)

marriage is gift of life and love

WASHINGTON - National Marriage Week USA and World Marriage Day are opportunities "to focus on building a culture of life and love that begins with supporting and promoting marriage and the family," wrote Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., chairman of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in a letter to his brother bishops.

February 7-14 marks the annual celebration of National Marriage Week USA. World Marriage Day is celebrated annually on the second Sunday of February. This year, World Marriage Day is Sunday, February 11, coinciding with the World Day of the Sick.

The USCCB offers resources to the faithful for the promotion and defense of marriage as a lifelong union of one man and one woman through its dedicated websites ForYourMarriage.org, PorTuMatrimonio.org, and MarriageUniqueForAReason.org. Additional resources specifically for the celebration of National Marriage Week, including a homily resource, bulletin insert, poster, and prayer intentions, can be found on the USCCB website: www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/marriage-and-family/national-marriage-week.cfm.

Starting February 7, a daily virtual marriage retreat for couples will be made available on the ForYourMarriage.org website and via the For Your Marriage social media channels on Facebook and Twitter. The seven-day retreat will focus on the theme "Marriage: School of Life and Love." A rosary for engaged and married couples and for families in need of healing will be live-streamed from the chapel at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, DC via the USCCB Facebook page and Twitter feed on Friday, February 9 at 3:00 pm EST.

A wide array of prayer cards, books, and pamphlets on marriage and family can be ordered online through the USCCB store.

National Marriage Week USA, launched in 2010, is part of an international event seeking to mobilize individuals, organizations, and businesses in a common purpose to strengthen marriage in communities and influence the culture. For information and resources, visit: NationalMarriageWeekUSA.org.... World Marriage Day was started in 1983 by Worldwide Marriage Encounter.

(Source: USCCB press release)

youth are hope for future

WASHINGTON - Noting the deteriorating prospects for peace in the Holy Land, representatives of bishops' conferences from several countries, including the United States, acknowledged the struggle of the young people they met but called them the "hope for a better future."

The bishops made their annual solidarity visit to the Holy Land January 13 - 18, 2018. They visited Gaza, met with school children there and in the West Bank and in Israel as well as with students at Hebrew University and Bethlehem University. They also visited l'Arche in Bethlehem and a home of the elderly in Beit Emmaus.

In a communique issued at the end of their visit, the bishops cited the many challenges (unemployment, discrimination, and lack of opportunity) faced by youth, particularly those living in the West Bank and Gaza. But in their discussions with Israeli youth, the bishops found that many shared with their Palestinian counterparts the "same aspirations for peaceful coexistence."

For the bishops, it was clear that it is the youth from West Bank, Gaza, and Israel who are resilient and courageous in keeping alive the hope for a peaceful resolution to the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops along with bishops from other nations on this solidarity visit have long decried violence as a way to resolve conflict but instead strongly supported a two-state solution in which a secure Israel coexists with a viable and independent Palestinian state.

The bishops called on communities in their respective countries to act in solidarity with youth who have an essential role in promoting peace through actions such as prayer, and supporting programs that create jobs, provide housing, and foster dialogue.

The Coordination of Episcopal Conferences in Support of the Church of the Holy Land has met every January since 1998 to pray and act in solidarity with the Christian community in the Holy Land. Bishops representing Europe, North America, and South Africa participated in this visit.

The bishops' statement is available at http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/global-issues/middle-east/israel-palestine/holy-land-coordination-communique-january-2018.cfm

(Source: USCCB press release)

Edge To Edge

Pray The News

Because we are sons and daughters of God, saved by Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we do not merely read the news but make the news. We direct the course of world events by faith expressed in action and intercession. Please pray for the stories covered in this paper. Clip out this intercessory list and make it part of your daily prayer.

• We pray that we will be on fire with love for Jesus.
• We pray for wisdom and discernment in addressing the needs of migrants and the communities where they live.
• We pray for the heart of Jesus for migrants.
• We pray that we will celebrate our baptismal day.
• We pray in thanksgiving for the witness of those in religious life and for the example of all the saints.
• We pray tor all peacemakers.
• We pray for Ireland and England through the intercession of St. Patrick.
• We pray for all fathers through the intercession of St. Joseph.
• We pray for an end to violence and war and for the victory of the civilization of life and love over the culture of death.
• We pray for persecuted Christians throughout the world and especially in the Middle East.
• We pray that the Sacred Heart of Jesus will give us His heart for others and that we will overcome indifference with compassion.