Easter is a call to new life

Easter is a call to new life! Jesus rose from the dead and destroyed the darkness of sin that have shackled us for so long.

His resurrection brings hope into our hearts, firmly believing that even in the midst of sufferings and utter hopelessness, the light of his resurrection will guide us and pull us through the tunnel of darkness.

Speak the truth without fear—CBCP head

The triumphant joy of the Resurrection should challenge every Christian to preach the truths of faith without fear in the face of ongoing attacks on the dignity of life, a high-ranking Catholic prelate said.

CBCP president and Tandag Bishop Nereo Odchimar, in an Easter message, called on the faithful anew to safeguard the dignity of life and counteract “every form of attack against the dignity and welfare of humankind.”

“Let us not be selfish as to deprive others of their right to live,” Odchimar said in his message.

The Catholic Church has been staunchly opposing the reproductive health bill being deliberated in Congress, citing the proposed measure as anti-life and anti-family.

Odchimar urged the people to contribute in building a transformed society, encouraging everyone to “work for peace that lasts and justice that enhances human condition.”

He said the rising of Jesus from the dead makes us the “victorious children of the resurrection,” and it would be “unjust of us not to proclaim the triumphant joy of Easter to those who are seeking for light and life.”

The prelate exhorted the faithful to remain steadfast in preaching the truth of the gospel even amidst opposition of “those whose hearts are hardened by pride and humanly motivated principles.”

He said that there are people who even now remained firm in their unbelief either because they have not heard the gospel or simply trapped in atheistic values.

But Jesus’ resurrection has conquered death, he said, and “once and for all crippled the fortress of darkness.

“This incorruptible remembrance of God putting an end to the definitiveness of death is a strong message of hope—that in all of this, every work of evil shivers before the power of goodness,” he said.

End apathy and get involved, prelate urges faithful

A young prelate called on the faithful to put an end to cold apathy, insensitivity and callousness, and get involved in the various issues the country is facing.

Lingayen Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, in an Easter Message, said that Easter is a feast of love, and that love made possible by Jesus’ resurrection should move us to action and get involved in all societal concerns.

He said that “we must prove that [Jesus] has indeed risen from the dead not by wise argumentations but showing that our lives have been changed by Jesus Christ.”

As Easter people, we must allow love to rule our life and say “goodbye to indifference and apathy, insensitivity and heartlessness, callousness and audacity,” Villegas said.

“The victory of Easter is the victory of the Greatest Lover of all who died that we may have fullness of life. We who are an Easter people must pour love into our bleeding world, bind the wounds of our society and bring it back to life—through love,” he said.

Spread values of Christ

The young prelate said there is a need to evangelize the areas of politics and economics, even as he urged the faithful to spread the values of Christ in these fields.

“The risen Lord pricks us to get involved in politics and make it a liberating not a corrupting kind of politics. The risen Lord urges us to bring Christian ethics to economics and put charity not profit as its overriding principle,” he said.

Act now!

Villegas also said the love that comes from the resurrection should move us out of complacency and reach out to the poor.

“Love takes responsibility. Love is rich in mercy. Love is kind. We cannot continue with Easter and continue to ignore the poor. It is not hard to meet the poor if we are not playing blind to their presence,” he said.

Lamenting the rise of criminality, abortion and drug use, the prelate urged for swift action to curb if not stop the menace, saying that “we cannot claim to be Easter people” and “remain insensitive” to the crisis.

“We cannot claim to be an Easter people and yet not do anything about the silent moans of aborted babies. We cannot sing Alleluia and remain insensitive to rising criminality, the commercialization of sex and the unabated availability of shabu in the neighbourhood,” the archbishop further added.

Stand up for life

The young prelate slammed the reproductive health bill, reiterating that “contraception a corruption of love and life” and is never the solution to the problem the country is currently facing.

“Obedience to the Ten Commandments is normal. Let us not extol impurity and ridicule virtue,” he said.

“Polluting the minds of children by teaching them sex without God cries to heaven for divine justice,” he added.

The Suffering and Death of a Shepherd

Biblical Reflection for Good Friday by Father Thomas Rosica, CSB

For our Good Friday Reflection this year, and in preparation for the beatification of the Servant of God Pope John Paul II on Sunday May 1, I have chosen to share with you the this reflection on what Pope John Paul II taught us at the end of his life.

I cannot celebrate Good Friday without remembering Pope John Paul II, especially his final Good Friday on earth in 2005. This reflection is part of a major address I gave at the Knights of Columbus Museum in New Haven, Connecticut, for the opening of the special exhibit, "Blessed," that commemorates the life of this great man.

Human suffering

One of the beautiful and not frequently cited writings of John Paul II was his 1984 apostolic letter "Salvifici Doloris," (On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering). The late Pope, following the Apostle Paul and the entire Catholic Tradition, maintained throughout his life that it is precisely in suffering that Christ displayed his solidarity with humanity, and in which we can grow in solidarity with Christ, who is our life.

In "Salvifici Doloris," suffering is the consequence of sin, and Christ embraces that consequence, rather than repudiating it. By embracing suffering, he shares fully in it, he takes the consequence of sin into and onto himself. He does this out of love for us, not simply because he wants to redeem us, but because he wants to be with us, to share what we share, to experience what we experience. And it is this shared love, this shared suffering in love, which completes and perfects the relationship broken in sin, and so redeems us.

Pope John Paul II taught us that the meaning of suffering is fundamentally changed by the Incarnation. Apart from the Incarnation, suffering is the consequence of sin. It offers opportunities for insight into oneself, for personal growth, and for demonstrating practical love for others, but these are incidental. Because of the Incarnation, however, we become sharers in the Body of Christ. Our suffering becomes his suffering, and becomes an expression of redeeming love.

Because he was the leader of a billion Roman Catholics; because he was the first pontiff of the satellite and Internet age, reaching out to billions more, and because he was John Paul II, who has ruled the church for more than 26 years -- in that public experience of suffering was found enormous power. And that he certainly knew. In 1981, after recovering from the gunshot wound that almost took his life in St. Peter's Square, John Paul declared that suffering, as such, is one of the most powerful messages in Christianity.

During the final years of his pontificate, John Paul II brought suffering back into the realm of the expected in human life. Everyone could see that his spirituality gave him an inner strength -- a spirituality with which one can also overcome fear, even the fear of death. What an incredible lesson for the world! His struggle with the physical effects of aging was also a valuable lesson to a society that finds it hard to accept growing older, and a culture that sees no redemption in suffering.

In 1994, as age and infirmity began to incapacitate John Paul publicly, he told his followers he had heard God and was about to change the way he led the church. "I must lead her with suffering," he said. "The Pope must suffer so that every family and the world should see that there is, I would say, a higher gospel: the gospel of suffering, with which one must prepare the future."

A Consoling letter to his peers

In 1999, in preparation for the Great Jubilee, Pope John Paul II published his "Letter to the Elderly." Following his Letters to the young in 1985, to families in 1994, to children in 1994, to women in 1995 and to artists in 1999 year -- and not counting those letters that he wrote each year to priests on Holy Thursday, since the beginning of his pontificate, he wrote deeply moving and encouraging words to his peers in the "Letter to the Elderly."

He had no fear in placing before the eyes of the world the limits and frailties that the years placed upon him. He did nothing to disguise them. In speaking to young people, he has no difficulty in saying of himself: "I am an old priest." John Paul II continued to fulfill his mission as the Successor of Peter, looking far ahead with the enthusiasm of the only youth that does not deteriorate, that of the spirit, which this Pope maintains intact. The letter had a very personal, almost confidential, tone and was not an analysis of old age. Rather, it was a very intimate dialogue between people of the same generation.

"The passage of time," wrote the Pope in that memorable letter, "helps us to see our experiences in a clearer light and softens their painful side." Moreover, he says, the daily difficulties can be eased with God's help. In addition, "we are consoled by the thought that, by virtue of our spiritual souls, we will survive beyond death."

"Guardians of shared memory" was the title of the one part of the Pope's Letter. Pointing out that "in the past, great respect was shown to the elderly," the Pope remarks that this is still true in many cultures today, "while among others, this is much less the case, due to a mentality which gives priority to immediate human usefulness and productivity." He wrote: "It has come to the point where euthanasia is increasingly put forward as a solution for difficult situations. Unfortunately, in recent years the idea of euthanasia has lost for many people the sense of horror which it naturally awakens in those who have a sense of respect for life."

The Pope added: "Here it should be kept in mind that the moral law allows the rejection of 'aggressive medical treatment' and makes obligatory only those forms of treatment which fall within the normal requirements of medical care, which in the case of terminal illness seeks primarily to alleviate pain. But euthanasia, understood as directly causing death, is another thing entirely. Regardless of intentions and circumstances, euthanasia is always an intrinsically evil act, a violation of God's law and an offense against the dignity of the human person."

Pope John Paul II continued in that letter: "Man has been made for life, whereas death ... was not a part of God's original plan, but came about as a consequence of sin. [...] However rationally comprehensible death may be from a biological standpoint, it is not possible to experience it as something 'natural.'"

We ask ourselves, he says here, "What is on the other side of the shadowy wall of death?" The answer comes from faith "which illuminates the mystery of death and brings serenity to old age, now no longer lived passively as the expectation of a calamity, but rather as a promise-filled approach to the goal of full maturity."

Pope John Paul's "Letter to the Elderly" closed with a section entitled "An encouragement to live life to the full." He writes: "I feel a spontaneous desire to share fully with you my own feelings at this point of my life, after more than 20 years of ministry on the throne of Peter. [...] Despite the limitations brought on by age I continue to enjoy life. For this I thank the Lord. It is wonderful to be able to give oneself to the very end for the sake of the Kingdom of God!"

"At the same time," he concludes, "I find great peace in thinking about the time when the Lord will call me: from life to life! [...] 'Bid me to come to you': this is the deepest yearning of the human heart, even in those who are not conscious of it."

What a magnificent signature piece of Pope John Paul II! He not only wrote the letter, but enacted it in his own life. We were eyewitnesses.

Public suffering

Pope John Paul II taught us that life is sacred, no matter how painful his own life became for him. Rather than hide his infirmities, as most public figures do, Pope John Paul II let the whole world see what he went through. The suffering and dying of this Pope did not take place in private, but before television cameras and the whole world.

In the final act of his life, the athlete was immobilized, the distinctive, booming voice silenced, and the hand that produced voluminous encyclicals no longer able to write. John Paul II's final homily was an icon of his Galilean Master's final words to Simon Peter: "Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go." After this, he [Jesus] said to him, "Follow me" (John 21:18-19).

Many Catholics and non-Christians saw the Pope's suffering as something like the agony of Jesus himself, and neither John Paul nor those around him discourage such comparisons. When asked a few years before his death if he might consider resigning, John Paul reportedly asked, in reply, "Did Christ come down from the cross?" His close aides say that debate about his ability to administer the church, as if he were the CEO of a secular corporation, essentially missed the point. This pope is not doing a job, he is carrying out a divine mission, and his pain is at its core.

That final Good Friday evening

One of my most vivid memories from the last week of our late Holy Father Pope John Paul II's life was during the Way of the Cross on Good Friday evening in 2005, in which he participated by watching the service at the Coliseum in his chapel on television. The television camera in his chapel was behind him so that he would not be distracted from taking part in this ceremony in which he always took part personally. Then-Archbishop John Foley was doing the television commentary in English from Rome, reading the very provocative meditations prepared by a certain Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger.

At one point toward the end of the Way of the Cross, someone put a rather large crucifix on the knee of the Holy Father, and he was gazing lovingly at the figure of Jesus. At the words, "Jesus Dies on the Cross," Pope John Paul drew the crucifix to himself and embraced it. I will never forget that scene. What an incredibly powerful homily without words! Like Jesus, Pope John Paul II embraced the cross; in fact, he embraced the crucifix of Jesus Christ on Good Friday night.

The death of a patriarch

Several hours before his death, Pope John Paul's last audible words were: "Let me go to the house of the Father." In the intimate setting of prayer, as Mass was celebrated at the foot of his bed and the throngs of faithful sang below in St. Peter's Square, he died at 9:37 p.m. on April 2. Through his public passion, suffering and death, this holy priest, Successor of the Apostles, and Servant of God, showed us the suffering face of Jesus in a remarkable way.

Pope of holiness

Karol Wojtyla himself was an extraordinary witness who, through his devotion, heroic efforts, long suffering and death, communicated the powerful message of the Gospel to the men and women of our day. A great part of the success of his message is due to the fact that he has been surrounded by a tremendous cloud of witnesses who stood by him and strengthened him throughout his life. For John Paul II, the call to holiness excludes no one; it is not the privilege of a spiritual elite.

"Lumen Gentium," the dogmatic constitution on the Church of the Second Vatican Council, notes that the holiness of Christians flows from that of the Church and manifests it. It says that holiness "is expressed in many ways by the individuals who, each in his own state of life, tend to the perfection of love, thus sanctifying others" ("Lumen Gentium," No. 39). In this variety "one and the same holiness is cultivated by all, who are moved by the Spirit of God...and follow the poor Christ, the humble and cross bearing Christ in order to be worthy of being sharers in his glory" ("Lumen Gentium," No. 41).

When the throngs of people began chanting "Santo Subito" at the end of the Pope's funeral mass on April 8, 2005, what were they really chanting? They were crying out that in Karol Wojtyla, they saw someone who lived with God and lived with us. He was a sinner who experienced God's mercy and forgiveness. He was the prophetic teacher who preached the word in season and out of season. He looked at us, loved us, touched us, healed us and gave us hope. He taught us not to be afraid. He showed us how to live, how to love, how to forgive and how to die. He taught us how to embrace the cross in the most excruciating moments of life, knowing that the cross was not God's final answer.

That a person is declared blessed is not a statement about perfection. It does not mean that the person was without imperfection, blindness, deafness or sin. Nor is it a 360-degree evaluation of the Pontificate or of the Vatican. Beatification and canonization mean that a person lived his or her life with God, relying totally on God's infinite mercy, going forward with God's strength and power, believing in the impossible, loving one's enemies and persecutors, forgiving in the midst of evil and violence, hoping beyond all hope, and leaving the world a better place.

That person lets those around him know that there is a force or spirit animating his or her life that is not of this world, but the next. Such a person lets us catch a glimpse of the greatness and holiness to which we are all called, and shows us the face of God as we journey on our pilgrim way on earth.

In the life of Karol Wojtyla, the boy from Wadowice who would grow up to be a priest and Bishop of Krakow, the Bishop of Rome, and a hero for the ages, holiness was contagious. We have all been touched and changed by it. Pope John Paul II was not only "Holy Father," but "a father who was and is holy."

At his funeral Mass on April 8, 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger told the world that the Holy Father was watching us and blessing us "from the window of the Father's House."

As we prepare for the beatification of this great shepherd and holy priest and bishop on Sunday May 1, 2011, may we learn from "Papa Wojtyla" how to cross thresholds, open doors, build bridges, embrace the Cross of suffering and proclaim the Gospel of Life to the people of our time.

May we learn how to live, to suffer and die unto the Lord. Let us pray to have a small portion of the fidelity of Peter's witness and the boldness of Paul's proclamation that were so mightily present in Karol Wojtyla -- Blessed John Paul II. May he intercede for us and for all those who suffer in body and spirit, and give us the desire to help carry one another's crosses, to grow in holiness and to become saints. (Zenit.org).

Reflections for Holy Thursday

The Washing of the Feet

The beautiful liturgy of Holy Thursday leads us to reflect more profoundly on Jesus’ immense love for us. He has taken the posture of a slave, knelt before his apostles and washed their feet in a humble gesture of love and service. In doing so, he has given us an example to follow. He invites us to do the same, offer ourselves in humble and loving service to our fellow human beings.

Bread broken

During the last supper with his apostles he gave himself as bread to be broken and shared so that others may have life. The act of self-offering that will be culminated by his death on the cross on Good Friday. God’s unconditional love for humanity is so profound that our finite mind cannot comprehend its depth. We can only beat our breast in sorrow for our sins and in our failure to respond to such great love.

Pope Benedict’s Reflection on the Easter Triduum

"I Invite You to Seek in These Days Recollection and Prayer"

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We have already arrived at the heart of Holy Week, the fulfillment of the Lenten journey. Tomorrow we will enter the Easter Triduum, the three holy days in which the Church commemorates the mystery of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. After being made man in obedience to the Father, the Son of God, being in everything like us except for sin (cf. Hebrews 4:15), accepted fulfilling his will to the end, to face for love of us his Passion and Cross, to make us sharers in his Resurrection, so that in him and through him we can live forever, in consolation and peace. Hence, I exhort you to receive this mystery of salvation, to take part intensely in the Easter Triduum, the culmination of the whole liturgical year and a moment of particular grace for every Christian. I invite you to seek in these days recollection and prayer, to be able to accede more profoundly to this source of grace. In connection with this, given the imminent festivities, every Christian is invited to celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation, a moment of special adherence to the death and resurrection of Christ, to be able to participate with greater fruitfulness in Holy Easter.

Maundy Thursday is the day in which we recall the institution of the Eucharist and the ministerial priesthood. In the morning, each diocesan community, gathered in the cathedral church around the bishop, will celebrate the Chrism Mass in which the sacred chrism, the oil of the catechumens, and the oil of the sick are blessed. Beginning with the Easter Triduum and during the whole liturgical year, these oils will be used for the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and priestly and episcopal ordination and the anointing of the sick; in this is manifested how salvation, transmitted by the sacramental signs, springs precisely from the paschal mystery of Christ. In fact, we are redeemed by his death and resurrection and, through the sacraments, we go to that same salvific source. During the Chrism Mass tomorrow, the renewal of priestly promises takes place. Throughout the world, every priest renews the commitments he assumed on the day of ordination, to be totally consecrated to Christ in the exercise of the sacred ministry at the service of his brothers. Let us support our priests with our prayer.

On the afternoon of Maundy Thursday the Easter Triduum effectively begins, with the remembrance of the Last Supper, in which Jesus instituted the Memorial of his Pasch, fulfilling the Jewish paschal rite. According to tradition, every Jewish family, gathered at table on the feast of Passover eats the roasted lamb, recalling the Israelites' deliverance from the slavery of Egypt; thus in the Cenacle, conscious of his imminent death, Jesus, the true paschal Lamb, offered himself for our salvation (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:7). Pronouncing the blessing over the bread and wine, he anticipated the sacrifice of the cross and manifested the intention of perpetuating his presence amid the disciples: Under the species of bread and wine he makes himself present in a real way with his body given and his blood shed. During the Last Supper, the apostles were constituted ministers of this sacrament of salvation. Jesus washed their feet (cf. John 13:1-25), inviting them to love one another as he loved them, giving his life for them. Repeating this gesture in the liturgy, we are also called to give witness with the deeds of our Redeemer.

Maundy Thursday, finally, is closed with Eucharistic Adoration, in memory of the Lord's agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. Leaving the Cenacle, he withdrew to pray, alone, in the presence of his Father. At that moment of profound communion, the Gospels recount that Jesus experienced great anguish, such suffering that he sweat blood (cf. Matthew 26:38). Conscious of his imminent death on the cross, he felt great anguish and the closeness of death. In this situation an element is seen that is of great importance also for the whole Church. Jesus said to his own: Stay here and watch; and this call to vigilance refers in a precise way to this moment of anguish, of menace, in which the betrayer arrives, but it concerns the whole history of the Church. It is a permanent message for all times, because the somnolence of the disciples was not only the problem of that moment, but is the problem of the whole of history.

The question is what this somnolence consists of, and what is the vigilance to which the Lord invites us. I would say that the disciples' somnolence in the course of history is a certain insensitivity of soul to the power of evil, an insensitivity to all the evil of the world. We do not want to let ourselves be too disturbed by these things, we want to forget them: We think that perhaps it is not so grave, and we forget. And it is not only insensitivity to evil; instead, we should be watching to do good, to struggle for the force of good. It is insensitivity to God -- this is our real somnolence: this insensitivity to the presence of God that makes us insensitive also to evil. We do not listen to God -- it would bother us -- and so we do not listen, of course, to the force of evil either, and we stay on the path of our comfort.

The nocturnal adoration on Maundy Thursday, our being vigilant with the Lord, should be precisely the moment to make us reflect on the somnolence of the disciples, of Jesus' defenders, of the apostles, of ourselves, who do not see, we do not want to see all the force of evil, and we do not want to enter into his passion for the good, for the presence of God in the world, for the love of neighbor and of God.

Then the Lord began to pray. The three apostles -- Peter, James and John -- slept, but then they woke up and heard the phrase of this prayer of the Lord: "Not my will but thine be done." What is this will of mine, what is this will of yours, of which the Lord speaks? My will is that I "should not die," that he be spared this chalice of suffering: It is the human will, of human nature, and Christ feels, with all the consciousness of his being, life, the abyss of death, the terror of nothingness, this menace of suffering.

And he more than us, who have this natural aversion to death, this natural fear of death, even more than us, he felt the abyss of evil. He also felt, with death, all the suffering of humanity. He felt that all this was the chalice he must drink, that he must make himself drink, accept the evil of the world, everything that is terrible, the aversion to God, the whole of sin. And we can understand that Jesus, with his human soul, was terrified before this reality, which he perceived in all its cruelty: My will would be not to drink the chalice, but my will is subordinated to your will, to the will of God, to the will of the Father, which is also the real will of the Son. And thus Jesus transformed, in this prayer, the natural aversion, the aversion to the chalice, to his mission to die for us. He transformed this natural will of his into the will of God, in a "yes" to the will of God.

On his own man is tempted to oppose the will of God, to have the intention to follow his own will, to feel free only if he is autonomous; he opposes his own autonomy against the heteronomy of following the will of God. This is the whole drama of humanity. But in truth this autonomy is erroneous and this entering into God's will is not an opposition to oneself, it is not a slavery that violates my will, but it is to enter into truth and love, into the good. And Jesus attracts our will, which is opposed to the will of God, which seeks its autonomy. He attracts this will of ours on high, to the will of God. This is the drama of our redemption, that Jesus attracts our will on high, all our aversion to the will of God and our aversion to death and sin, and unites it to the will of the Father: "Not my will but thine be done." In this transformation of the "no" into "yes," in this insertion of the will of the creature in the will of the Father, he transforms humanity and redeems us. And he invites us to enter into this movement of his: To come out of our "no" and enter into the "yes" of the Son. My will exists, but the decisive will is the will of the Father, because the will of the Father is truth and love.

A further element of this prayer seems important to me. The three witnesses have kept -- as it appears in sacred Scripture -- the Hebrew or Aramaic word with which the Lord spoke to the Father, he called him: "Abba," father. But this formula, "Abba," is a familiar form of the term father, a form that is used only in the family, which has never been used toward God. Here we see in the intimacy of Jesus how he speaks in the family, he speaks truly as Son with his Father. We see the Trinitarian mystery: The Son who speaks with the Father and redeems humanity.

One more observation. The Letter to the Hebrews gives us a profound interpretation of this prayer of the Lord, of this drama of Gethsemane. It says: these tears of Jesus, this prayer, these cries of Jesus, this anguish -- is not all this simply a concession to the weakness of the flesh, as could be said. But precisely in this way he realizes the task of High Priest, because the High Priest must lead the human being, with all his problems and sufferings, to the height of God. And the Letter to the Hebrews says: with all these cries, tears, sufferings, prayers, the Lord took our reality to God (cf. Hebrews 5:7ff). And it uses this Greek word "prosferein," which is the technical term for what the High Priest must do to offer, to raise his hand on high. Precisely in this drama of Gethsemane, where it seems that God's strength is no longer present, Jesus realizes the function of High Priest. And it says, moreover, that in this act of obedience, namely, of conformity of the natural human will to the will of God, he is perfected as priest. And it uses again the technical word to ordain a priest. Precisely in this way he becomes the High Priest of humanity and thus opens heaven and the door to resurrection.

If we reflect on this drama of Gethsemane, we can also see the great contrast between Jesus, with his anguish, with his suffering, in comparison with the great philosopher Socrates, who remains peaceful, imperturbable in the face of death. And this seems to be the ideal. We can admire this philosopher, but Jesus' mission is another. His mission was not this total indifference and liberty; his mission was to bear in himself all the suffering, all the human drama. And because of this, precisely this humiliation of Gethsemane is essential for the mission of the Man-God. He bears in himself our suffering, our poverty and transforms them according to the will of God. And thus opens the doors of heaven, he opens heaven: This curtain of the Most Holy, which up to now man closed against God, is opened by his suffering and obedience. These are some observations for Maundy Thursday, for our celebration of the night of Maundy Thursday.

On Good Friday we will recall the passion and death of the Lord; we will adore Christ Crucified, we will share in his sufferings with penance and fasting. Looking "on him whom they have pierced" (cf. John 19:37), we will be able to drink from his broken heart that gushes blood and water as a fountain; of that heart from which springs the love of God for every man, we receive his Spirit. Hence, on Good Friday we will also accompany Jesus as he goes up to Calvary; let us be guided by him to the cross, let us receive the offering of his immaculate body.

Finally, on the night of Holy Saturday, we will celebrate the Easter Vigil, in which the resurrection of Christ will be proclaimed to us, his definitive victory over death which calls us to be, in him, new men. Participating in this holy vigil, the central night of the whole liturgical year, we will recall our baptism, in which we were buried with Christ, to be able to resurrect with him and take part in the banquet of heaven (cf. Revelation 19:7-9).

Dear friends, we have tried to understand the state of spirit with which Jesus lived the moment of extreme trial, to understand what guided his action. The criterion that guided all of Jesus' choices during his whole life was the firm will to love the Father, to be one with the Father, and to be faithful to him. This decision to correspond to his love impelled him to embrace the Father's plan in every circumstance, to make his own the design of love that was entrusted to him to recapitulate everything in him, to lead everything back to him.

On reliving the Holy Triduum, let us dispose ourselves to receive also in our lives the will of God, conscious that in the will of God, though it seems hard, in contrast to our intentions, is found our true good, the path of life.

May the Virgin Mother guide us on this journey and obtain for us from her divine Son the grace to be able to use our life for love of Jesus at the service of brothers. Thank you. [Translation by ZENIT]

Pope calls for Church's greater presence in cyberspace

ACKNOWLEDGING the great potential of the new media in the proclamation of the Gospel, Pope Benedict XVI has urged for a greater presence of the Church in cyberspace.

In his 2011 message for World Communications Day, the pope said the digital era offers an arena that every Christian should take advantage of to make the presence of Christ known in a truthful way.

"I would like then to invite Christians, confidently and with an informed and responsible creativity, to join the network of relationships which the digital era has made possible," the pontiff said.

The pope noted that the internet has allowed "people to meet each other beyond the confines of space and of their own culture, creating in this way an entirely new world of potential friendships."

The Vatican has, of late, strengthened its presence in the internet by making use of the social networks in its attempt to reach out to the younger generation who are internet savvy.

Aside from its presence in Youtube, Facebook and Twitter, the Vatican also maintains Pope2you.net, a web portal launched in 2009 during the 43rd World Communications Day.

Visita Iglesia online

Mindful of the pope’s call to use the internet responsibly for evangelization, the media office of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), in time for the Holy Week observance, has launched a website that caters to overseas Filipino workers and physically impaired to join the celebration of Holy Week and Easter.

Dubbed Visita Iglesia Online, the Lenten site which can be accessed at http://visitaiglesia.net offers a virtual experience of celebrating Lent, Holy Week and Easter at the comfort of one’s room—in front of a multimedia laptop or desktop which somehow becomes a virtual chapel for those who will not make it to churches.

But CBCP Media Director Msgr. Pedro Quitorio, said the site should not be used as a substitute to the liturgical celebrations done in parishes.

He said those who have the capability to celebrate liturgical services in their parish churches should do so.

“The liturgy is a community act and being so it is most meaningfully celebrated in the context of the community or the parish,” he stressed.

The website features various resources for spiritual growth and deepening of one’s faith.

It also includes catechesis and reflections for Lent, Holy Week and Easter preached by bishops and priests.

The “online church-goer” (OCG) will have the traditional Visita Iglesia in a multimedia presentation that features 14 shrines and pilgrimage churches to correspond with the 14 Stations of the Cross with reflections given by priests.

It also features the traditional Seven Last Words and the Pasyon.

The site likewise highlights the architectural marvel of centuries-old baroque churches in the country.

Social networks

Visita iglesia online is only one and the latest among the list of media platforms the CBCP media office maintains to intensify its work of evangelization via the internet.

Aside from its regular websites: www.cbcpnews.com; www.cbcponline.net; www.cbcponlineradio.com; www.cbcpworld.net; the media office has also brought its evangelization efforts into the arena of social networking through Facebook and Twitter.

The sites of Good Morning CBCP and CBCPNews on Facebook currently have a registered likes of 3,121 and 2,437 respectively, while CBCPNews in Twitter has 1,876 followers.

The office also keeps a Youtube account at www.youtube.com/cbcpmedia and blogs of bishops and priests at www.cbcponline.net.

Internet bloggers

Although the Vatican has solidified its presence in various social networks, setting up Youtube and Facebook accounts for the pope, its’ “relationship with blogs, however, has been a little more prickly,” according to a CNA report.

In an unparalleled move, the Vatican has issued an invitation for a meeting among internet bloggers in May, in time for the beatification of Pope John Paul II and the expected influx of international bloggers in Rome.

The first ever meeting is seen as an effort on the part of the Church “to give bloggers and Church representatives a chance to move beyond the relatively impersonal medium of the Internet and establish a more personal connection.”

Authentic presence

Although lauding the great potential of digital technology, the pope nonetheless called for a more authentic presence, especially in social networks, where there is the danger to create a "parallel existence."

"Entering cyberspace can be a sign of an authentic search for personal encounters with others, provided that attention is paid to avoiding dangers such as enclosing oneself in a sort of parallel existence, or excessive exposure to the virtual world. In the search for sharing, for “friends”, there is the challenge to be authentic and faithful, and not give in to the illusion of constructing an artificial public profile for oneself," he said.

He said that the presence of Christian believers in cyberspace help bear witness to the truth of Christ.

“In this field too we are called to proclaim our faith that Christ is God, the Saviour of humanity and of history, the one in whom all things find their fulfillment” (cf. Eph 1:10), said the pope.

“Believers who bear witness to their most profound convictions greatly help prevent the web from becoming an instrument which depersonalizes people, attempts to manipulate them emotionally or allows those who are powerful to monopolize the opinions of others,” the pope further said.

Recognizing the expertise of young people in digital technology and their ubiquitous presence in social networking sites, the pontiff urged them to “make good use of their presence in the digital world”, even as he noted that new technologies play a great part in the preparations being done for the upcoming World Youth Day in Madrid.

Pauline sisters hold media assembly

PAULINE sisters directly involved in the media apostolate held their annual media practitioners’ assembly and workshop at the Paulines Communication Center in Pasay City on April 5-7.

Twenty one sisters of the Daughters of St. Paul from across the country and Malaysia gathered to share on their apostolic initiatives and map out a more effective response to the challenges they encounter in their respective ministries.

Themed “Truth, Proclamation and Authenticity of Life in the Digital Age”, the seminar touched on the challenges of the media apostolate in the digital age.

Resource speaker during the seminar was Sr. Consolata Manding, FSP, directress of Paulines Institute of Communication in Asia (PICA). She spoke on the culture of communication and expounded on Pope Benedict XVI’s message for 2011 World Communications Day.

Communication is in a flux, Manding said. The radical development of digital technology has altered the way people communicate with one another and so our way of doing the apostolate, she added.

She asked participants of the changes they observed in their practice of communication… among themselves, community, family, friends, and in the apostolate.

Manding dared participants to respond aggressively on the challenges posed by the Holy Father in his message, especially that of using more effectively the new media in the proclamation of the Gospel.

Participants in the assembly were sisters working in ministries that include media literacy education, radio, TV, audio-visual, information technology and pastoral involvement in arch/diocesan commission on social communications and the media office of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.