In an interview on Irish TV in 1974, St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta revealed her suffering because of the apparent absence of God as she constantly prayed and received holy Communion for so many years. Her mission to love and save the abandoned and dying in the streets of Calcutta had already been approved by the Holy See since 1950. Her Congregation of the "Missionaries of Charity" counted thousands of young sisters and other co-workers as well as many sponsors who adopted unwanted children instead of aborting them or wasting them as in the West. Yet, at the time of the interview, she had already experienced the "Darkness of the Night" and doubts that were experienced by great saints such as St.Teresa of Avila. Her response was to cling to Jesus the Saviour and love Him; for in her opinion suffering was the way in which souls are purified by God - If sufferings are accepted and existential doubts are brought to the light of Christ, the rest of temptations can be treated...The reader may wish to listen to this contemplative nun who dared to act in the world and "make the ocean one drop less" every time she went about helping the human person:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th2QzJwy8tI
She said she was an instrument in God's hands which reminds us by the hymn of St. Francis of Assisi "Make me a channel of your peace": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI1Gst7pEqc
During the 1975-1976 civil war in Lebanon, Mother Teresa wanted to cross from one side to the other in Beirut in order to care for the injured. As she prayed, the response of heaven was immediate and she could cross...In 1979, I was attending her talk and was seated near her in the first row at the Jesuit hall in Cairo. As she finished her talk, I had the privilege of a handshake by Mother Teresa!
A great saint whose missionaries are active in most countries, one of my cousins is a sister in her Missionary of Charity congregation in Congo...
Friday, July 27, 2018
Saturday, July 14, 2018
The Lord disciplines the one He loves
Last Sunday July 8, 2018 my wife and I attended the 10 a.m. Mass at Holy Rosary parish in Toronto. The celebrant was Fr. Daniel Callam, CSB who heard my confession after the Mass. Fr. Callam is a graduate of the University of Toronto. He earned a Master's degree in Mathematics. However he achieved much learning in pursuing his academic and pastoral work. With a doctorate in theology from Oxford University he is currently a Professor of Theology who teaches regularly at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas in the United States.
I had developed a great relationship with Fr. Callam since he was Pastor at Holy Rosary in 2009 and 2010. His open mind, and highly-developed sense of Catholic Tradition position him as a Thomist philosopher who is able to distinguish and critique today's age of post-modernism. His book "A Catholic Goes to the Movies" was published last year. I recall my conversation with Fr. Callam about the Christian philosopher René Girard and correspondence with him of what I believe was a "Development in the Doctrine of Salvation" that I found in an article by the late Jesuit Cardinal Avery Dulles in First Things here.
When I asked Fr. Callam to hear my confession, he listened patiently. He did not rush to give me absolution but became more interested as it turned to a dialogue on my life since I was conceived in my mother's womb. I told him how from an early age I like to imitate the priest and how I got more involved in youth and Church matters as the late saintly Bishop Paul Antaki invited me to meetings and conferences...As I mentioned my sins, he listened more. However, as I mentioned my suffering since 1986, he told me about suffering of others. I know many old persons who are suffering in silence. I believe this is why sick people and old ones who look for God get closer to Church and attempt to be in communion with the Savior. The Lord disciplines the ones whom He loves as a father the son in whom he delights...
I had developed a great relationship with Fr. Callam since he was Pastor at Holy Rosary in 2009 and 2010. His open mind, and highly-developed sense of Catholic Tradition position him as a Thomist philosopher who is able to distinguish and critique today's age of post-modernism. His book "A Catholic Goes to the Movies" was published last year. I recall my conversation with Fr. Callam about the Christian philosopher René Girard and correspondence with him of what I believe was a "Development in the Doctrine of Salvation" that I found in an article by the late Jesuit Cardinal Avery Dulles in First Things here.
When I asked Fr. Callam to hear my confession, he listened patiently. He did not rush to give me absolution but became more interested as it turned to a dialogue on my life since I was conceived in my mother's womb. I told him how from an early age I like to imitate the priest and how I got more involved in youth and Church matters as the late saintly Bishop Paul Antaki invited me to meetings and conferences...As I mentioned my sins, he listened more. However, as I mentioned my suffering since 1986, he told me about suffering of others. I know many old persons who are suffering in silence. I believe this is why sick people and old ones who look for God get closer to Church and attempt to be in communion with the Savior. The Lord disciplines the ones whom He loves as a father the son in whom he delights...
Sunday, July 8, 2018
Sunday, July 1, 2018
I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me
"I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me" (Psalm 30). The above verse is read today July 1st, 2018, Canada Day, in Sunday Mass according to the Roman Catholic Church. Although it comes from Psalm 30, it is part of the message found in Wisdom:
God did not make death,
nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.
For he fashioned all things that they might have being;
and the creatures of the world are wholesome,
and there is not a destructive drug among them
nor any domain of the netherworld on earth,
for justice is undying.
For God formed man to be imperishable;
the image of his own nature he made him.
But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world,
and they who belong to his company experience it.
The Jesuit scholar Fr. Henri Boulad, who has experienced some serious health issues, has given an interpretation in his homily from the Jesuits Residence in Cairo (here in French: En Lui La Vie...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rBVsE0MYR0). According to him, God gives humanity access to eternal life in Christ Jesus raised from the dead. Christ himself experienced death in his humanity. In the Gospel, Christ carries divinity in his body - when a woman touched his clothes, her hemorrhage stopped immediately as Jesus sensed certain power brought out from him. Again, requested by a synagogue official named Jairus, Jesus was able to bring back to life his daughter who had died. This is a manifestation of the power of God in Christ. By reflecting upon the hours that preceded the betrayal of Christ, his crucifixion and death, one can only attempt to fathom the passion of Jesus in what St. John of the Cross described as 'The Dark Night of the Soul.' Although Fr. Boulad did not mention it in his homily, he said that his faith in Christ's power over evil and death and Christ's own assertion that He is the Way and Life to eternal joy are the basis of his faith. I believe that Fr. Boulad was able to cross 'The Dark Night of the Soul' in his health crisis from which he is recovering. Active in missionary work over nearly the past 50 years, including his missionary work in the Sudan, his electrifying lectures in Europe, Canada, and Egypt, it was hard for him to give up an active life to discern God's will for him in the next years. I can only admire his faith especially his recent discernment. When I asked him last week by email to pray for my health, he answered right away that he is praying for me. Together with the blessed Virgin Mary and other saints, let us continue to pray for this scholar yet humble priest.
God did not make death,
nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.
For he fashioned all things that they might have being;
and the creatures of the world are wholesome,
and there is not a destructive drug among them
nor any domain of the netherworld on earth,
for justice is undying.
For God formed man to be imperishable;
the image of his own nature he made him.
But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world,
and they who belong to his company experience it.
The Jesuit scholar Fr. Henri Boulad, who has experienced some serious health issues, has given an interpretation in his homily from the Jesuits Residence in Cairo (here in French: En Lui La Vie...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rBVsE0MYR0). According to him, God gives humanity access to eternal life in Christ Jesus raised from the dead. Christ himself experienced death in his humanity. In the Gospel, Christ carries divinity in his body - when a woman touched his clothes, her hemorrhage stopped immediately as Jesus sensed certain power brought out from him. Again, requested by a synagogue official named Jairus, Jesus was able to bring back to life his daughter who had died. This is a manifestation of the power of God in Christ. By reflecting upon the hours that preceded the betrayal of Christ, his crucifixion and death, one can only attempt to fathom the passion of Jesus in what St. John of the Cross described as 'The Dark Night of the Soul.' Although Fr. Boulad did not mention it in his homily, he said that his faith in Christ's power over evil and death and Christ's own assertion that He is the Way and Life to eternal joy are the basis of his faith. I believe that Fr. Boulad was able to cross 'The Dark Night of the Soul' in his health crisis from which he is recovering. Active in missionary work over nearly the past 50 years, including his missionary work in the Sudan, his electrifying lectures in Europe, Canada, and Egypt, it was hard for him to give up an active life to discern God's will for him in the next years. I can only admire his faith especially his recent discernment. When I asked him last week by email to pray for my health, he answered right away that he is praying for me. Together with the blessed Virgin Mary and other saints, let us continue to pray for this scholar yet humble priest.
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