Transformation in Christ

I awoke this morning with the thought that Christ was dwelling within me. With the sense of challenge, I understood it was our responsibility as the Mystical Body of Christ to be the living presence of Christ in the world.
As we pray in adoration of Blessed Sacrament, "O Sacrament most Holy, O Sacrament Divine, All Praise and All Thanksgiving, be every moment Thine".

When Christ becomes a person to us--- an active living presence in our lives, this changes things. Just as we are shaped, for better or worse, by our parents, so too are we shaped by this inter-personal relationship with Jesus.

Yet, the distinction is that Christ is all-love, all-mercy and all goodness. He is not flawed as our parents are, as the whole world is. He transforms us to be more like himself, because He needs us to be pure and holy, as God the Father is pure and holy.

How do we get there? How do we begin this journey? Silence. We need to shut up and let God talk to us. This is not a dead-silence, a but a silence which is infused in Truth.

As Thomas Merton says:

A false and illusory "experience" of what appears to be God's action in the should may bring with it, for a moment, a kind of interior silence: the silence of a soul that rests in an illusion...The tension of a should trying to hold itself in silence, when it has not truth to appease it with a superior silence, is louder than the noise of big cities and more disturbing than the movement of an army.

No Saint is an Island

I have been engrossed with the work of Thomas Merton as of late. His writing speaks to this generation; with a blend of the eastern and Christian mysticism, he is able to communicate the transcendent nature of God's love.

This passage, taken from "No Man is an Island", sums up the vocation of every man and woman:

"The saint is one so attuned to the spirit and heart of Christ that he is compelled to answer the demands of love by a love that matches that of Christ. This is from him a need so deep and so personal and so exacting that it becomes his whole destiny. The more he answers the secret action of Christ's love in his own heart, the more he come to know that love's inexorable demands."

Jesuits "Secret Terrorists"?

Though many people question the Jesuits current state of "orthodoxy", none would be so bold to call them "Terrorists".
I stand corrected.
Published in the United and distributed all over the world "The Secret Terrorists" is created by a very ambiguous fundamentalist organization called the PACIFIC INSTITUTE.
This group blames the Jesuits for everything from the sinking of the Titanic to the Waco massacre .
I quote:
"The United States is in more danger today than she has ever been. A secret terrorist organization has been working within to destroy America, its Constitution, and everything for which she stands. This book gives all the details, and shows how far this terrorist organization has been able to progress in the destruction of America."

I ran across this nonsense the other day while perusing Gary Smith, SJ's new book "They Come Back Singing". In a chapter entitled "Those Damn Jesuits", Smith recounts his arrival in Uganda being met with a member of the Pacific Institute handing him a copy of "The Secret Terrorist". He said how upset he was at a book that portrayed the Jesuit as a super-secretive organization that served only its own interests, when he had arrived in this foreign land to work with those who needed him the most.

The book details Smith's missionary experience in Uganda and is an intriguing perspective on the "Emerging Church". In a

Order your own copy TODAY.
Or don't.

Letter to a Young Church

Reading George Weigel's "Letters to a Young
Catholic", I am further drawn into the ideas of
the "Emerging Church". He sites a book by Philip Jenkins called "The Next Christendom".
In this book, Weigel points out, in Africa in the 1950's there were 16 million Catholics and currently there are 120 million. These numbers are astounding, especially when considering the numbers of dwindling faithful in areas like Belgium, Germany and Italy.
Weigel speculates what the future will look like when the Global South becomes the strong-hold of moral and spiritual thought: "Might you see the day, sometime in the mid to late twenty-first century, when African missionaries reevangelize the old Catholic heartland of western Europe?"

Good stuff. Read Weigel's whole book here.

The Global Church Welcomes Qatar

The first Catholic Church in the mostly Islamic nation of Qatar.
The Church, named Our Lady of the Rosary, was funded largely by an Al Jazeera founder.
The only restriction made by the ruling government was there would be no religious symbols or bells.
Read the whole story here.

More Iraqi News

This piece was taken from Zenit.Org
----------------------
Pope Laments Death of Syro-Orthodox Priest

Says Iraq Needs Peace and Tolerance

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 6, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI said he was "profoundly saddened" by the death of Syro-Orthodox Father Youssef Adel Abudi, who was murdered in his home in Baghdad.


Father Adel was killed Saturday by a group of armed men at the entrance to his house in Karrada, an area in central Baghdad.

The Pope sent a message of condolence to Mar Saverius Jamil Hawa, the Syro-Orthodox bishop of Baghdad, to offer to Father Adel's wife and family his "deepest sympathy." The note was signed by the Pope's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

In his message the Holy Father assured the local Church of his "nearness in prayer [], entrusting the soul of this devoted servant to the infinite mercy of God."Benedict XVI urged prayers so "that the whole nation follow the ways of peace to build a just and tolerant society in the beloved land of Iraq."

Speculation surrounding the murder links it to Father Adel's involvement in interreligious dialogue. The priest was the director of an integrated school attended by Christians and Muslims of both sexes.

The Emerging Church

I am continually fascinated with the Emerging Church of Iraq, Africa, China and Brazil. In a series of posts, I will be exploring the unique experience of these people.

I want to share with you a very
important endeavor currently being undertaken by the USCCB and World Youth Day.

There is a group of Iraqi Catholics who are trying to pay their way to World Youth Day. They have been working hard to make this trip a
reality and now they are seeking the help of the American Church.

This group, 3 of whom are seminarians who were kidnapped by
insurgency, are suffering the loss of their Shepard. The Archbishop
was abducted and killed, a powerful statement to the Universal Church,
which has seen more martyrs in this century than in any other.

I encourage you to pray for this group, as they are going through so
much as Church. I also encourage anyone who can afford to assist
financially, or know someone who would be willing, to go to the USCCB
website and make your donation.
http://www.usccb.org/laity/youth/wyd.shtml

The image at the right is an icon of Our Lady of Iraq. May she watch over all of us, especially our brothers and sisters in Iraq.