The Kingdom of God

PRAISED BE JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH!

6 million people during the Papal Mass at the Luneta
January 18, 2015

A week ago, 6 million people gathered at the Luneta for the Mass offered by Pope Francis. In spite of the bad weather, so many people came and the gathering broke the record of the World Youth Day with Pope John Paul II in the same place 20 years ago. This huge gathering is itself a manifestation of the Kingdom of God on earth and in today’s gospel, we are shown where it all began. It began when Jesus walked by the shores of the Sea of Galilee and invited Peter, Andrew, James and John: “Come after me, I will make you fishers of men.” The Lord Jesus began building his Kingdom on earth by calling 4 men to follow him, that is, to be his disciples.

Jesus began by preaching: “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand.” In fact, these words summarize the entire Gospel that the Lord was sent to preach to the poor. He was sent to proclaim the Kingdom of God. What is the Kingdom of God? The Catechism tells us:  “”To carry out the will of the Father, Christ inaugurated the kingdom of heaven on earth. Now the Father’s will is to ‘raise up men to share in his own divine life.’ He does this by gathering men around his Son Jesus Christ. This gathering is the Church, ‘on earth, the seed and beginning of that Kingdom.’” (CCC, 541.) When the 4 men heard the summons of Christ and left everything to follow him, they were actually gathered by the Father around Jesus…for the Lord himself said, “No one can come to me unless the Father draws him.” Here we see the beginnings of the Church, the beginnings of the Kingdom of God on earth. And looking back at that immense crowd that gathered in the Luneta, we have witnessed how the Kingdom of God, the Church, has indeed grown. From an initial calling of 4 men, the Father has gathered around his Son billions of people. The Kingdom of God is indeed like a mustard seed that is the smallest of all seeds and yet, it grows to be the biggest of plants and is able to provide shelter to all creatures.

What happened last Sunday was not simply a huge gathering around the Pope. In reality, it was an immense gathering of people around Jesus. Some people may have missed it but it was Jesus, and not the Pope, who was at the center of the gathering. The Pope and all of us were all gathered around the Altar upon which the Body and Blood of Jesus was offered to the Father.  Indeed, Jesus was at the center of that gathering: “Christ stands at the heart of this gathering of men into the ‘family of God.’” (CCC, 542.) And that was what we were last Sunday, and that is what we are now as we gather around the Altar of the Lord. Our gathering is the “family of God.” The Church is the Family of God. Let us not forget this: the Church is the Family of God…the Family to which we belong. “Jesus calls all people to come together around him…Into this union with Christ all men are called.” (CCC, 542.)

Sunday after Sunday, the Lord Jesus calls all men, all of us, to gather together around him. He summons us, as he did to Peter and Andrew, to James and John. And imitating the 1^st disciples, upon hearing his summons, we must leave everything to follow him. “To gain his Kingdom, one must give everything. Words are not enough, deeds are required.” (CCC, 546.) To be part of this gathering, we have to leave behind our usual preoccupations, our usual concerns. We have to drop everything in order to be with the Lord. We leave everything behind to come here and gather around Jesus because we recognize that only in him is found life everlasting. As St. Paul says in the 2^nd reading: “The world in its present form is passing away.” And St. Peter tells our Lord: “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life…and we have come to believe that you are the Holy One of God.”

Jesus, I trust in you! O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

Dayuhan sa mga Makamundong Bagay

PURIHIN SINA HESUS, MARIA AT JOSE!

Isang pagpapatala ng buong mundo ang iniutos ng Emperador Augusto kaya naglakbay si Jose, kasama ang kanyang maybahay na si Maria, patungong Bethlehem dahil si Jose ay mula sa lipi ni Haring David. Dahil sa pagpapatalang nagaganap, lubhang napakaraming tao noon sa bayan kaya nga walang lugar para sa mag-asawa sa panuluyang bayan. Wala nang lugar para sa kanila sa panuluyang bayan: makahulugan ito dahil ito’y lalong naglarawan ng sinabi ni San Juan sa pasimula ng kanyang sinulat na Mabuting Balita: Nasa sanlibutan ang Salita. Nilikha ang sanlibutan sa pamamagitan niya ngunit hindi siya nakilala ng sanlibutan. Naparito siya sa kanyang bayan ngunit hindi siya tinanggap ng kanyang mga kababayan (Jn. 1:11). Walang lugar para sa Manunubos ng sanlibutan. Ang lahat ng bagay ay nilikha sa kanya (Col 1:16), ngunit walang lugar para sa kanya. “May lungga ang asong gubat, may pugad ang mga ibon, subalit ang Anak ng tao ay wala man lamang mapagpahigaan at mapagpahingahan.” (Mt. 8:20) Siya ay sumilang sa labas ng lunsod at ipinako rin siya sa krus sa labas ng lunsod (Heb 13:12). 

Itinuring siyang tagalabas, isang dayuhan sa sanlibutan. Mula pa sa kanyang pagsilang, naging dayuhan siya, tagalabas sa larangan ng mga itinuturing na mahalaga at makapangyarihan sa pamatayan ng sanlibutan. Subalit ang tila walang halaga at hindi makapangyarihang sanggol na ito ay mapatutunayang siyang nagtataglay ng tunay na kapangyarihan, nakasalalay sa kanya ang lahat ng bagay. Ang santinakpan ay nilikha sa pamamagitan niya at para sa kanya. Niloob niyang sumilang sa labas ng lunsod dahil ang lahat ng mga itinuturo niya ay sumasalungat sa mga pinahahalagahan ng sanlibutan. Sa pagparito niya sa ating kasaysayan, iniwaksi niya ang lahat ng makamundong kayamanan at kapangyarihan. Sumilang siyang wala ni anuman maliban sa lamping ipinambalot sa kanya ng kanyang ina. Hindi siya humiga sa malambot na kama. Bagkus ang dayami ng isang sabsaban ang naging pahingahan niya. Hindi siya sumilang sa isang sikat na angkan ng mga maykapangyarihan sa panahong iyon. Bagkus, sumilang siya sa isang angkan na pinaglipasan na ng panahon, ang lipi ni David. Dati, sila ang makapangyarihan, ngunit hindi na ngayon. Ang naghahari ay isang dayuhang emperador na nagtalaga ng isang tau-tauhan sa pagkatao ni Herodes. Ginawa ito ng Panginoon upang ipakita na ang lahat ng mga pinahahalagahan ng mundo ay mga huwad na kayamanan at huwad na kapangyarihan. Siya ang tunay na liwanag ng mundo at pinapasok niya ang sanlibutan upang punitin ang kadilimang nagkukunwaring liwanag.  

Kaya nga ang sinumang nagnanais na sumampalataya at sumunod sa kanya ay kailangang tumalikod at iwanan ang lahat ng mga bagay na inaakala ng sanlibutan na mahalaga upang makilala niya ang katotohanan ng ating pagkatao at sa liwanag niya ay matagpuan natin ang tamang landas.

Upang makita natin siya, kailangang lumabas tayo sa lunsod. Kailangang sadyain natin siya na sumilang sa labas ng bayan. Hindi natin siya makikita sa gitna ng mga nagniningning at kumukutitap na ilaw ng lunsod. Hindi natin siya mapapansin hanggat hindi natin inilalayo ang ating sarili sa mga mapanlinlang at pansamantalang mga kaligayahan ng mundong ito. Hanggat hindi natin tinatalikuran ang lahat, hindi tayo magiging karapat dapat sa kanya. Kaya nga sa gabing ito, magtungo tayo sa Belen. Huwag tayong palilinlang sa mga huwad na liwanag. Ang gabing ito ay pinagningning ng liwanag ng mga anghel. Pakinggan natin ang kanilang sinasabi: Sa gabing ito sumilang sa inyo ang inyong Tagapagligtas, si Kristong Panginoon. Ito ang Mabuting Balitang magdudulot ng kagalakan sa lahat ng tao. Ito ang Mabuting Balitang magdudulot ng tunay na kagalakan. Wala ito sa kayamanan. Wala ito sa kapangyarihan. Wala ito sa makamundong kaaliwan. Bagkus, ito’y matatagpuan lamang sa kanya na sumilang ngayon bilang isang abang sanggol. Naparito siya upang bigyan tayo ng buhay, ng tunay na buhay, ng buhay na walang hanggan. Halina sa Belen. Halina at siya’y ating sambahin. 

Hesus, nananalig ako sa iyo. Ave Maria purisima, sin pecado consebida. 

The Temple of God is Holy

Praised be Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

The Lord Jesus was greatly displeased when he saw the merchants who sold animals for sacrifice and the money changers in the temple area. So displeased was he that he made a whip out of cords and drove away the merchants with their animals and overturned the tables of the money changers. This part of the life of Christ is called the cleansing of the temple. The Lord cleansed the temple of everything which does not belong to it. Consumed by zeal for the house of God, Jesus cleansed the temple of the things that hid its real identity. For many people, the temple was the place they fulfilled their religious obligations. For others, it was a venue for trade and profit, literally a marketplace. But for Christ, the temple was the House of his Father: “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” Jesus loved the temple on account of the One who dwelt there: his heavenly Father. When he was a young 12 year old boy, unknown to Mary and Joseph, Jesus remained in the temple because “I have to go about doing my Father’s business.” Thus, by cleansing the temple of the merchants and moneychangers, Jesus showed all people that the real splendor of the temple is not in the precious stones that adorned its walls. The real splendor of the temple is its holiness which is derived from the One who dwells in it: God himself. “The temple of God is holy,” said St. Paul in the 2^nd reading.

This is what it means when we celebrate the consecration of a temple. When a temple is consecrated, it becomes a building set apart exclusively for divine service. To consecrate a temple is to offer a building to the Lord. Thus, the temple becomes holy because the God who dwells in it is holy. When we say that God is holy, we mean that God is unlike any of his creatures. Thus, when we say that the temple of God is holy, we mean that this building is unlike any other buildings. This is not a place for socials. We do not come here to meet people. We do not come here to meet the priest. We come here to meet the Lord and to enter into communion with him. Thus, at the beginning of the Mass, we are greeted with: the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you!

In this temple, the center of everybody’s attention is the Lord. The object of worship done in this place is the Lord. The orientation of this building and everyone who enters here is the presence of the Lord. Here, we cease looking at ourselves. Here, we cease looking at one another. Here, we look at the Lord who in turn, looks at us. Here, we do not talk to ourselves. Here, we do not converse with each other. Here, we engage in a loving conversation with the Lord. This loving conversation is called “prayer.” Thus, as the Lord Jesus purified the temple of everything that does not belong to God, so also we must purify this temple of everything that hinders us from being absolutely oriented to the presence of God. We must rid ourselves of everything that defiles the holiness of this house of God: all thoughts, conversations, and behaviors that do not speak of God nor reflect the holiness of the Lord. Unfortunately, we behave only between the start of the Mass and its end. Outside the Mass, we move about in this church as if it were an ordinary building. If the priest is not looking, we act as if we ignore the abiding presence of the Lord in this place. We talk and talk and talk as if the owner of this house were not here. And remember, the owner of this house is not the priest. Nor are the people who built this temple. Because this place is consecrated to the Lord, it now belongs to the Lord. Let us keep it this way. Perhaps, we should always listen to the word of the Lord as being addressed to us: “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” Let us be consumed by zeal for the house of the Lord. The temple of God us holy! 

Jesus, I trust in you! O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

The True Religion

PRAISED BE JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH!

Caesarea Philippi was a forested area where pagan worship of the spirits abound. Numerous shrines were built to honor the false gods. It was there where Jesus posted the question to the disciples: Who do people say that I am? The many answers given were all wrong. And so, Jesus asked them: Who do you say that I am? Simon Peter, having received the revelation from the Father who alone knows the Son, responded: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. This declaration of faith was made amidst the idols that were worshipped in that forest. Simon Peter gave witness to the one true God and by doing so, he declared all the others as false. There is only One and that is you, O Jesus the Christ. All the rest are false gods that have eyes but do not see, have ears but do not hear, have nostrils that have no life in them.

Because Peter glorified Jesus by declaring the truth of his divinity, the Lord in return declared the new identity of Simon: He is Peter upon which Christ builds his Church. The Lord once said that the wise man build his house upon solid rock so that even if the winds blew and torrents fall, the house would stand for ever. More than a wise man, Jesus is himself the Wisdom of God. So he established his house upon solid rock and that rock is Peter. His Church will withstand not only wind and hale. The Gate of hell will not prevail against it!

At Caesarea Philippi, Peter singles out Jesus as the true God from amongst the false gods. At Caesarea Philippi, Jesus singles out the true religion from amongst the others. He clearly said that he was establishing only one religion…only one Church: On this Rock, I will build my Church. Notice that he said Church, not churches. The Only Begotten Son of God established only one Church. Jesus is the Only Begotten Son of God, he and no other. He established only One Church, that and no other. But as we see, there are many who make claims that they are the one. But if there can only be one Church that he founded, it would mean that the rest are false. Because there is only one God, the rest are false deities. In like manner, if there is only one Church established by the only Begotten of the Father, then the rest are false churches, false religions. Now, which one of them would be the true Church established by Jesus? Jesus said to Simon: You are Peter (Rock) and upon this Rock I will build my Church. The one true Church, the one true religion was established by Jesus upon St. Peter. Therefore, which Church can present evidence of an unbreakable chain of leaders from St. Peter to the present Pope? It has to be the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church! Which Church could present the bones of St. Peter? Still, it would be the Holy Catholic Church. The bones of St. Peter rest underneath the Papal altar of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Rome, where the seat of the true Church is, is home to the bones of both Peter and Paul. Some “churches” take pride in their centennial anniversary. However, the true Church will be 2,000 years old on the year 2033 AD. The Catholic Church in the Philippines is even older than the Iglesia because while they celebrate their 100 years of existence this year, we in the Philippines are on our way to our 500^th year in 2021.

Many people dismiss the need for religion: We do not need religion so long as we have a relationship with some gods. Well, we cannot call simply on any god and hope to be saved because if we call on a false god, that is, a god that does not exist, we cannot expect to be helped by someone who does not exist. Our relationship with a deity is called “religion”. Therefore, if the god we relate to does not exist, how can a so-called relationship with someone who does not exist prosper? We cannot say that all religions are the same because the true religion is not the same as the false religions. Even in human courts of law, the truth and only the truth is worth considering and lies cannot be evaluated as equal to the truth. How you be saved by something that is not true? Because we need to be saved, we need to call on God. But we cannot call on just any god…only the true and living God can deliver his promised salvation: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. It cannot be just any religion, it had to be the True Religion: You are Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church.

Jesus, I trust in you! O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Sent to Gather What was Scattered

Praised be Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

People oftentimes wonder why Jesus bid his disciples to go from town to town on a mission. Why can’t his disciples stay put like everybody else? The key to the understanding of the itinerant character of the work of the disciples is the message that they bring: “The Kingdom of God is at hand!”  What is the Kingdom of God? The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us: “God created the world for the sake of communion with his divine life, a communion brought about by the ‘convocation’ of all men in Christ, and this ‘convocation’ is the Church. The Church is the goal of all things.” (CCC, 760). Communion in order to share in the divine life – this is the will of the Father for the world which he created. This communion with the Divine life is the Kingdom of God. Unfortunately, sin destroyed the harmony in which human beings were created: “the control of the soul’s spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions…Harmony with creation is broken…” (CCC, 400). In other words, sin scattered the children of God.

And this is why God sent his Son into the world. “To carry out the will of the Father, Christ inaugurated the kingdom of heaven on earth. Now the Father’s will is ‘to raise up men to share in his own divine life.’ He does this by gathering men around his Son Jesus Christ. This gathering is the Church, ‘on earth, the seed and beginning of that Kingdom.’” (CCC, 541.) Christ came to gather into unity the scattered children of God. He was raised upon the Cross to gather all people to himself. It is for the sake of gathering the scattered children of God that the disciples are sent from town to town with the message that “the Kingdom of God is at hand.” The work of the disciples, our work is that of gathering. Thus, we have the image of the harvest: “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.” The fruits of the death of Jesus must be gathered by the workers – and we are the workers. We go from town to town in search for the children of God. The message that we bring is actually an invitation to draw near to the Lord Jesus so that they may gain access to the Divine Life. We cannot share in the Divine life apart from communion with Jesus. We have to gather around Jesus. And this gathering around Jesus is the Church. We go from town to town to collect people for Jesus. We go from town to town to gather the harvest. We go from town to town to bring people to the Kingdom of God, which is the Church.

We are part of this gathering of people around Jesus. For this reason, we rejoice that our names are written in heaven. And we should share this joy. We should share the blessing that we received. We should go from town to town. We should go from house to house with the invitation to come and join this gathering of people around Jesus. We should seek those who stay away from the Lord. Pope Francis keeps on saying: The Church must not wait for people to come to her. She should go and search for the lost. Let it be our mission to win people for Jesus. We are workers in the Lord’s harvest. Let it be our task to gather and not scatter.

Jesus, I trust in you. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

St. Joseph Novena for the Church

As the Conclave opens soon, let us pray to St. Joseph, Patron of the Catholic Church, for the Church and the Cardinal - electors. St. Joseph's Feast will be on March 19. March is the month of St. Joseph!

O glorious St. Joseph, chosen by God to be the foster father of Jesus, the chaste spouse of Mary ever Virgin, and the head of the Holy Family and then appointed by the Vicar of Christ to be the heavenly patron and defender of the Church founded by Jesus, most confidently do I implore at this moment your powerful aid for all the Church militant on earth. Shield with your truly paternal love especially the (future) Supreme Pontiff and all the bishops and priests who are in union with the Holy See of Peter. Be the defender of all who labor for souls amidst the trials and tribulations of this life, and cause all the peoples of the earth to submit themselves in a docile spirit to that Church which is the ark of salvation for all men.

Be pleased also, dear St. Joseph, to accept this dedication of myself which I now make to you. I dedicate myself wholly to you, that you may ever be my father, my patron, and my guide in the way of salvation. Obtain for me great purity of heart and a fervent devotion to the interior life. Grant that following your example, I may direct all my actions to the greater glory of God , in union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary and in union with you. Finally, pray for me that I may be a partaker in the peace and joy which were yours in the hour of your holy death. Amen.

BEHOLD a faithful and wise servant, whom the Lord has set over His household.

V. Glory and riches shall be in his house.
R. And his justice shall endure forever and ever.

Let us pray:
O God, who by Your unspeakable Providence did vouchsafe to choose Blessed Joseph to be the Spouse of Your most holy Mother: mercifully grant that as we venerate him for our Protector on earth, we may be found worthy to be aided by his intercession in heaven. You who live and reign forever and ever. Amen.

Liturgy is the Place where the Church is Fully Experienced

Liturgy is a going out of being closed in on ourselves...

The Holy Father, in the General Audience (October 3, 2012), gave a catechism on the Ecclesial Nature of Liturgical Prayer. The highlights would be the following:

"In the Catechism of the Catholic Church we read: “In the liturgy of the New Covenant every liturgical action, especially the celebration of the Eucharist and the sacraments, is an encounter between Christ and the Church” (n. 1097); therefore, it is the “whole Christ”, the whole Community, the Body of Christ united with her Head who celebrates. The liturgy then is not a kind of “self-manifestation” of a community; instead, it is a going out of simply “being ourselves” -- of being closed in on ourselves -- and the portal to the great banquet, the entrance into the great living community, in which God himself nourishes us. The liturgy involves universality, and this universal character must enter ever anew into everyone’s awareness. The Christian liturgy is the worship of the universal temple, which is the Risen Christ. His arms are extended on the Cross in order to draw all men into the embrace of God’s eternal love. It is the worship of heaven opened wide. It is never merely the event of a single community, with its own position in time and space. It is important that every Christian feel and really be inserted into this universal “we”, which provides the foundation and refuge for the “I” in the Body of the Christ, which is the Church.

"In this, we must always be mindful of and accept the logic of the Incarnation of God: He has drawn close, become present, by entering into history and into human nature, by becoming one of us. And this presence continues in the Church, his Body. The liturgy then is not the memory of past events, but rather the living presence of Christ’s Paschal Mystery, which transcends and unites both time and space. If the centrality of Christ does not emerge at the forefront in the celebration, we will not have Christian liturgy, which is totally dependent upon the Lord and sustained by his creative presence. God acts by means of Christ and we cannot act except through him and in him. Every day, the conviction must grow in us that the liturgy is not ours, my own “doing”; rather, it is God’s action in us and with us.

"Therefore, it is neither the individual – priest or faithful – nor the group who celebrates the liturgy; rather, it is primarily God’s action through the Church, who has her own history, her own rich tradition and her own creativity. This universality and fundamental openness, which is proper to the liturgy as a whole, is one of the reasons why it cannot be designed or modified by individual communities or by experts, but must be faithful to the forms of the universal Church.

Even in the liturgy of the smallest communities, the entire Church is always present. For this reason, there are no “strangers” in the liturgical community. In every liturgical celebration the whole Church participates together, heaven and earth, God and men. The Christian liturgy, although it is celebrated in a concrete place and space and expresses the “yes” of a particular community, is by its very nature catholic; it comes from the whole and leads to the whole, in unity with the Pope, with the Bishops, with believers of all times and ages and from all places. The more a celebration is animated by this awareness, the more fruitfully will the authentic meaning of the liturgy there be realized.

"Dear friends, the Church is made visible in many ways: in charitable works, in missionary endeavors, in the personal apostolate that every Christian should carry out in his own environment. But the place where she is fully experienced as the Church is in the liturgy: it is the act, we believe, whereby God enters into our reality and we can encounter him, we can touch him. It is the act whereby we enter into contact with God: He comes to us, and we are enlightened by him. Therefore, when in our reflections we focus our attention only on how we may render it attractive, interesting, beautiful, we risk forgetting the essential: the liturgy is celebrated for God and not for us; it is his work; he is the subject; and we should open ourselves to him and allow ourselves to be guided by him and by his Body, which is the Church."

The Link: ZENIT - On the Ecclesial Nature of Liturgical Prayer

The Church is the Kingdom of God

Praised be Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

The parables today speak of the Kingdom of God. It would be good to make clear at the beginning what this kingdom really is. Many people have strange ideas of what the “kingdom” refers to. The catechism of the Church says that the Kingdom of God is the “gathering” of men around Jesus so that they may share in his own Divine life. “This gathering is the Church, ‘on earth, the seed and beginning of that Kingdom.’” (CCC, 541) We can only understand the parables if we keep in mind that Christ was talking about the Church which he established on earth as the beginning of the Kingdom of God. Looking at the history of the Church, we begin to see how, like a mustard seed, she began as a small community of disciples and later on grew into an immense family made up of people coming from the 4 corners of the world. Indeed, what once was the smallest of seeds is now “the largest of plants that puts forth large branches, so that birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.” This is why the Church of Christ is called “Catholic”. The Catechism says: “The word ‘catholic’ means ‘universal’, in the sense of ‘according to the totality’ or ‘in keeping with the whole’. 

The Church is catholic in a double sense: 1^st, the Church is catholic because Christ is present in her. ‘Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the Catholic Church.’ In her subsists the fullness of Christ’s Body united with its head; this implies that she receives from him ‘the fullness of the means of salvation’ which he has willed: correct and complete confession of faith, full sacramental life, and ordained ministry in apostolic succession. The Church was, in this fundamental sense, catholic on the day of Pentecost, and will always be so until the day of the Parousia.” (CCC, 830)

“Secondly, the Church is catholic because she has been sent out by Christ on a mission to the whole of the human race: all men are called to belong to the new People of God. This People, therefore, while remaining one and only one, is to be spread throughout the whole world and to all ages in order that the design of God’s will may be fulfilled: he made human nature one in the beginning and has decreed that all his children who were scattered should be finally gathered as one…The characteristic of universality which adorns the People of God is a gift from the Lord himself whereby the Catholic Church ceaselessly and efficaciously seeks for the return of all humanity and all its goods, under Christ the Head in the unity of his Spirit.” (CCC, 831)

Apparently, the world is hungry for unity. Speaking of “one world” is fashionable today. But it must be said that the unity of “one world” can only be possible under Christ who draws all people to himself. Any unity without him is artificial and cannot last. The true unification of all creation will be made in and only in Christ. “Christ stands at the heart of this gathering of men into the ‘family of God.’” (CCC, 542) And he has begun gathering the scattered children of God.  That gathering is called the “Catholic Church.” One world…One Catholic Church.

Jesus, I trust in you. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!