Thursday 30 September 2021
The Vatican State in LEGO
Wednesday 29 September 2021
The Archangels
Tuesday 28 September 2021
A prayer by Pope Francis on Nature
Monday 27 September 2021
A famous Julian
Sunday 26 September 2021
Red Arrows
Saturday 25 September 2021
Bea Johnson’s 5 R’s
Friday 24 September 2021
Marble
Thursday 23 September 2021
St Pio of Pietrelcina
Wednesday 22 September 2021
24 Converts
Tuesday 21 September 2021
Independence Day for Malta
Monday 20 September 2021
Remembering Jimmy Greaves
Sunday 19 September 2021
Never give up!
Saturday 18 September 2021
How 9-11 led to Pope Francis
Friday 17 September 2021
St Robert Bellarmine
This year we commemorate the 400th anniversary of Bellarmine’s death in 1621. Born at Montepulciano, Italy, October 4, 1542, St. Robert Bellarmine was the third of ten children. His mother, Cinzia Cervini, a niece of Pope Marcellus II, was dedicated to almsgiving, prayer, meditation, fasting, and mortification of the body. Robert entered the newly formed Society of Jesus in 1560 and after his ordination went on to teach at Louvain (1570-1576) where he became famous for his Latin sermons. In 1576, he was appointed to the chair of controversial theology at the Roman College, becoming Rector in 1592; he went on to become Provincial of Naples in 1594 and Cardinal in 1598. This outstanding scholar and devoted servant of God defended the Apostolic See against the anti-clericals in Venice and against the political tenets of James I of England. He composed an exhaustive apologetic work against the prevailing heretics of his day. In the field of church-state relations, he was also very effective in a time of major upheaval all over Europe. Remember that these were the days of the Protestant Reformation, with various leaders starting their own religion, King Henry VIII and the Anglican/Episcopalian religion, Luther with Lutheranism, Calvin and Zwingli in central Europe, and others. And like other well-know priest saints of this era, Robert was able to defend the church with the likes of St Vincent de Paul, St Ignatius of Loyola, St Francis Xavier, St Julian Peter Eymard, St Francis De Sales, St John Baptist Vianney, St Charles Borromeo and many others. Robert Bellarmine was the spiritual father of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, a Jesuit novice. He has left us a host of important writings, including works of devotion and instruction, as well as controversy. He died in on September 17,1621, this year being his 400th anniversary, and was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1930; the following year he was declared a Doctor of the Church. His remains, in a cardinal's red robes, are displayed behind glass under a side altar in the Church of Saint Ignatius, the chapel of the Roman College, next to the body of his student, St. Aloysius Gonzaga, as he himself had wished.
Thursday 16 September 2021
Going into space?
The Director of the Vatican Observatory, the Jesuit
priest Fr Guy Consolmagno, a well-known planetary astronomer, was asked
recently if he would love to go into space, just as Jeff Bezos did recently. He
answered in this way: “Obviously I would never say No if the opportunity is
there. If God opens a door, He would want me to go through it. 25 years ago I
had the chance to go to Antarctica to collect some meteorites. It wasn’t an
easy trip, but I was happy I experienced it. Presently every human being has the
possibility to reflect on the cosmos and admire its beauty and magnificence.
Whether you go into a space shuttle or a space capsule, we all have the
opportunity at night to go outside and behold the million stars above us, and
there reflect that the entire universe is bigger than any problem we may
encounter.” St. Ignatius of Loyola, when he was an administrator in Rome, used
to go outside in the evening and look at the stars. And he would end up with
tears in his eyes seeing the beauty of the universe and God’s love towards us. Let us protect our universe and appreciate all we have around us.
Wednesday 15 September 2021
Our Lady of Sorrows
The liturgical feast of Our Lady of Sorrows is celebrated a day after the feast of the Cross, and even though we are far from the Lenten season, the church asks us to reflect on the 7 sorrows that Mary experienced, as beautifully depicted in this image by Adriaen Isenbrant from the 16th century, a panel visible in Bruges, Belgium.
The 7 sorrows that Mary had to face were these, as described in each of the
panels surrounding the image of the Sorrowful Mother:
1. Jesus’ circumcision.
2. The escape into Egypt.
3. Jesus lost and found in the temple.
4. Seeing Jesus carrying the cross and meeting him on the way to Calvary.
5. The crucifixion of Jesus.
6. The Pieta, as the dead body of Jesus is laid on her lap.
7. The burial of Jesus.
St Bernard had a beautiful
analogy of the transformation that happened to the Blessed Mother when Jesus
died. One of the last 7 words was addressed to Mary and John, beneath the
cross...’Behold your Mother’ to John, and ‘Behold your son,’ to Mary.
What a change! John was given to her instead of Jesus. The servant
instead of the Master. The disciple
instead of the Teacher. Son of Zebedee instead of Son of God. A simple man
instead of the true God. At that moment Mary also became our own mother, since
John was representing each and every one of us, throughout history.
The beautiful
hymn Stabat Mater Dolorosa is sung frequently during Lent,
especially during the Stations of the Cross. The first three words mean Stood
the mournful Mother weeping, and the poem was written by Jacopone de Todi
in the 13th century, and was set to music by various composers including
Palestrina, Pergolesi, Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Haydn, Rossini, Dvorák and Arvo Part. Here are the first 2 verses:
At the Cross her station keeping,
stood the mournful Mother weeping,
close to her Son to the last.
Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,
all His bitter anguish bearing,
now at length the sword has passed.
Tuesday 14 September 2021
5 sisters – 5 nuns
Monday 13 September 2021
The church in Mongolia
When we think of the country of Mongolia, we think of desolation, a far away country up there somewhere beyond Russia, also close to China. It has a population of 3.2 million and the temperature can dip to -40 degrees Celsius. The Catholic Cathedral in 2003 was dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. The faith actually arrived in Mongolia in the 14th century, but it never grew. It re-surfaced in 1992, but the Russian Communists suffocated it again. After the Mongolian Revolution of 1990, when Communism was stopped, some missionaries went back to re-start the Catholic faith. But there were no Mongolian Catholics and no prayer books in their language. Even though the missionaries could not speak Mongolian, yet the church continued to sprout. Today there are 1200 Catholics, 33 priests, 44 sisters and many foreign Catholics, especially from the Philippines and South Korea. There are also some lay missionaries from Poland and Scotland. In 2003, they had their first Bishop, Fr. Wenceslaus Padilla.
In 2016, Fr. Enkh Joseph was ordained its first native priest with the support of Korean Catholics on August 28 at Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Ulaanbaatar. The Salesians also arrived to evangelize. Half of Mongolia is Buddhist and the other half are atheists. The young Catholics are often persecuted and have to be careful what to post on Facebook, especially Catholic images, but we are grateful for the Catholic presence which helps in charitable and social services to the natives.
Sunday 12 September 2021
Me and Him – alone
During our prayer time, we have to minimize ourselves and let God grow within us. We’ll tell Him: ‘Lord God, my friend, so that I can spend some good quality time with You, I am removing the shoes of my ambitions; I will also remove the watch, of which I have become a slave; I will also remove my glasses with which I can see clearly my own opinions; I will drop my pen and paper and stop my work; I will also hide the keys of my own security. And now, that I have spent this good time with You, I will put on my shoes so that I can walk through the streets where You guide me. I will wear my watch so that I can spend more time with You. I will wear my glasses so that I can see what You see. I will also pick up my pen, to write on paper Your thoughts and share them with others. And I will search for the keys, so that I can open wide open Your door to true happiness.
Saturday 11 September 2021
20 years ago - part 3
The photo shows a part of a large tarpaulin on which people wrote messages and prayers. I wrote mine in Maltese, on the right side: 'Il-Bambin jiftakar fikom, u l-Maltin jitolbu għalikom.' (God will keep you in His arms, and the Maltese will pray for you.) I share with you today an article I wrote 20 years ago in my parish Bulletin, back at St Stanislaus Kostka parish in Pleasant Valley, NY:
It is truly heart-breaking following the events of September
11, 2001! All we can do right now is pray, as we follow the aftermath of the
catastrophic tragedy on TV. People have been crowding to our Churches, as
Friday the 14th is a National Day of Prayer and Mourning for the victims. The
rest of the world joined in solidarity and prayer, and the whole of the United
States is grateful for the world-wide support that we're receiving right now.
The heart-breaking stories we're hearing are truly incredible....like the man
from Fishkill who was buried but was able to get out alive, with minor
scratches. Or the young woman who called her husband in California frantically
just before she died, leaving simply a message "They bombed us. I'm going
to die. I love you always." Or the Fire Department Chaplain Fr Mychal
Judge OFM, who was administering last rites when he was hit by a falling body
and other debris. Or so many others who were writing E-mails or sending Instant
Messages while the planes crashed into their buildings.
Or the people who died on the planes, like the Priest from Massachusetts, who just
found a last-minute seat to go and see his sister in Los Angeles, only to die
half-an hour later. Or the three children with their teachers who had won a
National Geographic Competition and were experiencing part of their reward on
the plane.
The feelings of people here had changed from disbelief to shock on the first
day, from anger to numbness on Wednesday, from patriotism and prayer to unity
and collaboration today and in the weeks to come. In the midst of all this
chaos and darkness, we cannot give up hope. As the motto of the Christophers
says, "we have to light one candle instead of cursing the darkness."
We have to look for something positive, instead of criticizing how terrible
everything around us is. We have to look forward to continue to unite the
country and the world, not be divisive by searching for opportunity for
revenge.
May God continues to bless the generous and hardworking firefighters,
police-officers, volunteers and medical teams who are helping with the recovery
process, which could be very long, tiring and extremely discouraging.
May God give eternal rest to all the victims, and strength to their families
and loved ones. These are the new American Martyrs, or better yet, the New York
Martyrs, whose feast should be inserted in the Liturgical Calendar for
September 11th.
This link takes you to an article I wrote today in the Times of Malta, placed on line just a few minutes ago: https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/i-served-in-new-york-in-2001-this-is-how-i-remember-911.899137
Friday 10 September 2021
20 years ago - part 2
We saw them disappear 12 years in a ruthless terrorist attack. But the Twin Towers live on in my memory, as I see the Two Spiritual Towers take their place. I created this reflection back then as I saw the image of Jesus and Mary replacing the two landmark skyscrapers that disappeared for the iconic New York skyline forever. The metal and beams and glass were gone, but the spirit of what they represented will live on in the spirit of the people, as well as the 3,000 who lost their lives that day 20 years ago. Let us pray and remember.
“When damaged, those buildings eventually plummeted to the
ground, imploding in a moment's time. Yet underneath the debris is a foundation
that was not destroyed. We have a choice, whether to implode and disintegrate
emotionally and spiritually as a people and a nation, or to become stronger
through all of this struggle to rebuild on a solid foundation. And I believe
that we're in the process of starting to rebuild on that foundation. That
foundation is our trust in God. And in that faith we have the strength to
endure something as difficult and horrendous as what we have experienced this
week.”- Rev Billy Graham speaking after the
tragedy in September 2001.
We pray today that from the ashes will rise a
new spirit of beauty and unity in America.
Already, all across this nation our hearts have
been knit together into a new tapestry of one America.
Because of this tragedy, we have been bound
together by a silver chord of hope and brotherhood and sisterhood.
What was meant to drive us apart has really drawn
us together. May we always remember.
And so today we ask, God, that you would wipe the
tears of all in need of comfort.
That you would warm the heart of one who would
grow cold from bitterness.
That you would lift the head of that one who is
bowed down in sadness.
That you would touch the discouraged and remind
them that love will always conquer hate.
We thank you, God, for making us such a resilient
people. We know that we are.
And we pray now for the strength to rise again, to
build again, and to live free from fear.
We pray that you will help us rebuild our broken
lives and mend our broken hearts.
We pray that you will give us the courage to face
evil and the faith to believe that good will never be defeated. Hold us close
to your heart.
And through our tears, and through our sorrow, may
we all see a new vision of a new tomorrow.
Bless us all and God bless America.
Thursday 9 September 2021
20 years ago – part 1
Over the next 3 days, I will share various reflections and photos of my experience of September 11, 2001, from my own perspective since I was close to the action, as you will see as you read on. Incidentally, 2 days after the tragedy, I wrote an article entitled ‘A Priest’s 5-day Diary in New York,’ for the Times of Malta and was quickly included a few days later. A Company called BookSurge noticed it and asked me if they could re-print it in a book they were publishing with various memoirs. Of course I said Yes and my entries were printed in the book called ’09/11 8:48 AM.’ Another article will appear this week, and I will send you its link as soon as it appears over the next 3 days.
This is a day when we remember the three thousand victims of the most senseless tragedy in human history. At least those who are in their upper 20s and older will surely remember where they were when the events of September 11, 2001 unfolded. I personally was preparing and celebrating Mass at my church in Pleasant Valley, NY, and believe it or not, I heard about the attack on America from my mother, who was of course here in Malta. When I got to my room after Mass, I found a message on my phone, and as soon as I was retrieving the message, the phone rings again, and it was my mother frantically screaming "Julian, are you all right ?" "yes, of course I'm all right" I answered, wondering why was she panicking. Then she told me to open the TV and relayed to me quickly what was happening. At first I thought that the TV was showing a Schwarzenegger movie, but quickly I realized that this was no science-fiction movie.
We all know the rest of the story, and for the
next month or so, I was in touch with the Klein family of Pleasant Valley who
had lost their son Peter, in his twenties, and married only a year. Of course I
had to do the funeral, with no body, but a large picture of Peter, lots of
flowers and a nice quilt which his mother had crafted with friends, showing the various talents
Peter had, from being an altar-boy to a boy scout. 20 years have passed
since that day, and the pain for so many families is still there. The blemish
that terrorism had inflicted on the USA and the rest of the world is still
around us. We just hope and pray that similar horrific tragedies will never
occur again. I took these photos in 1988, while on a school trip to the Statue
of Liberty with our school children.
Let us pray and remember.
Wednesday 8 September 2021
Nativity of Mary
Today we celebrate the feast of the birthday of
the Blessed Mother. She was conceived in St Anne’s womb on December 8th, the
feast of the Immaculate Conception, and to follow the duration of a human
pregnancy, the church celebrates her birth date today. Many countries,
including Italy and Spain as well as Malta celebrate this holy day with images
and statues of the baby Mary, although the statues venerated in Malta are that
of a young girl, all of which known as Maria Bambina (the little child Mary.) Th image of the statue shown above is
the one at Naxxar parish, where I serve Mass regularly, and the other photo
shows the church decorated at its finest today. The feast
of the Nativity of Mry started in the 5th century when a basilica was built in
Jerusalem where St Anne and St
Joachim lived and where Mary was born, traditionally
around 12 BC. Saints Joachim and Anne have their own feast on July 26, but
today we honor Mary’s birthday. Imagine the joy to see this little girl being
born, in the obscurity of her town, with no Angels, no shepherds, no Kings, but
that’s because she didn’t want to take the attention from her Son, who would be
born 16 years later.
In Malta we also commemorate the occasion of
two major victories at war. The first one was the victory of the Maltese and
the Knights of Malta against the Turks, the Ottoman Empire in 1565, and the
second one was the end of Fascism and Nazism at the height of World War II, a
time of terrible suffering for the Maltese people. Unfortunately, because of Covid, no processions
will be held today in the 4 parishes that celebrate the Nativity of Mary,
Naxxar, Mellieħa, Senglea and Xagħra in Gozo, but celebrations inside the churches
are held with the usual pomp and reverence.
Tuesday 7 September 2021
Legion of Mary
We celebrate today the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Legion of Mary, a spiritual organization that is known all over the world. It was on September 7th, 1921, that Frank Duff (1889-1980), together with a group of women, formed the first Praesidium in the Dublin Archdiocese, precisely at Myra House, Francis Street, Dublin, Ireland. When Frank was 24, he had joined the St. Vincent de Paul Society to help the poor in Dublin. He encouraged many others to give of their time in voluntary work to help the poor, but also to teach about the Catholic faith and spread the devotion to the Blessed Mother. One of his closest associates was Edel Quinn, an Irish girl, and the members had to focus on 3 main areas: spirituality, work and discipline. They also followed the principles devised by St. Louis de Montfort, and Frank demanded they would have to do practical work in their community, mostly by contacts and visiting families. Frank was invited by Pope St. Paul VI to attend the Second Vatican Council, and even received a standing ovation towards the end of the Council. The Legion of Mary is structured like a Roman Legion, with various terms like Catena, Curia, Comitium, Regia, Senatus and Acies, sections of the organization that is still going strong for 100 years. There are presently over 10 million members world-wide, and the biggest number of members are in South Korea, the Philippines, Brazil, Argentina and Congo.
Monday 6 September 2021
Ivona and Art Chaves
On July 7, 2007 the
date could be written as 07-07-07, and of course at 7 minutes and 7 seconds
past 7 it can be written as 7:07:07 07-07-07 and many people think it can
be a lucky day for them. On that day in my parish at the
Cathedral in Baker City, Oregon, we buried Ivona Chaves who was Bishop
Connolly’s cook and housekeeper for 15 years. Her husband Art took care of the bishop’s horses, and died in 1998. Among the many
anecdotes I heard about Ivona, the most incredible
one was what happened back in 1912, a few days before the Titanic sank. Her
husband Art was of a Portuguese descent, and his family grew up in the Azores
Islands. But back in 1912, Art’s mother and father got tickets to travel on the
Titanic, the same trip that eventually sank on that infamous April date in
1912. But Art’s mother felt that she did not have enough clothes to travel with
the likes of the Astors, Strausses, Molly Brown and so many other wealthy
people. So just before they boarded the ship, they sold their tickets, and
decided to wait for another less luxurious ship. We all know what happened with
the Titanic, and the strange thing is that Mrs. Chaves was at that time pregnant
with Art, who eventually was born, attended our St. Francis Academy and married Ivona, and had 6 children. We buried her on July 7, 2007, aged 94.
Sunday 5 September 2021
Be born in us
This a beautiful yet simple prayer by Caryll Houselander:
Be born in us, Incarnate Love
Take our flesh and blood, and give us Your humanity.
Take our eyes and give us Your vision.
Take our minds and give us Your pure thought.
Take our feet and set them in Your path.
Take our hands and fold them in Your prayer.
Take our hearts and give them Your will to Love.
Saturday 4 September 2021
Charging
Have you noticed that lately one of the things we do so often, and without which we cannot survive, is the charging we do in our lives. Charging I phones, I pads, I pods, Lap-Tops, electric cars, transformers, portable video-games, remote controls, and everything that needs batteries...charging, charging, and making sure we don’t run out of charge – otherwise we’re in trouble! How often we ran out of charge in the middle of an important phone call. This mentality teaches us a big lesson about our lives and our faith. We need to recharge our human batteries to survive in this day and age. With the heat-waves we’re experiencing, we need to be healthy to face the unknown future. With our sedentary lives we are leading, sitting in front of computers and clicking on the I phones, we need to re-charge our motivation and strive to remain focused on our priorities. Moreover, we need to update our knowledge about all we’ve learned in our catechism classes as children. We certainly need that spiritual re-charging of our faith, and keep ourselves up to date with the teachings of the church, the beautiful letters and encyclicals of our Popes, the messages of our Bishops and the homilies of our pastors. We do this by attending meetings and talks organized in parishes and communities. We do this by reading Catholic magazines and newspapers, and jump into the immense realm of cyberspace that is there at our fingerprints, at the touch of a button, at the swipe of an image. Let’s not fall behind, but stayed charged up.
Friday 3 September 2021
St Gregory the Great
St. Gregory, born at Rome about the year 540, was the son of Silvia, herself a saint, and Gordianus, a wealthy senator, who later renounced the world and became one of the seven deacons of Rome. After he had acquired the usual thorough education, Emperor Justin the Younger appointed Gregory, in 574, Chief Magistrate of Rome, though he was only thirty-four years of age. After the death of his father, he built six monasteries in Sicily and founded a seventh in his own house in Rome, which became the Benedictine Monastery of St. Andrew. Here, he himself assumed the monastic habit in 575, at the age of thirty-five. After the death of Pelagius, St. Gregory was chosen Pope by the unanimous consent of priests and people. Now began those labors which merited for him the title of Great. His zeal extended over the entire known world, he was in contact with all the Churches of Christendom and, in spite of his bodily sufferings, and innumerable labors, he found time to compose a great number of works. Gregory was a great reformer and encouraged his priests to be kind to the poor, himself inviting a group of them daily to eat with them. He is known above all for his magnificent contributions to the Liturgy of the Mass and Office. The mainstream form of Western plainchant, standardized in the late 9th century, was attributed to Pope Gregory I and so took the name of Gregorian chant. Gregory wrote over 850 letters in the last 13 years of his life (590–604) that give us an accurate picture of his work. He is one of the four great Doctors of the Latin Church. He died March 12, 604. St Gregory is the patron saint of musicians, singers, students, and teachers.
Thursday 2 September 2021
Great victory for Malta
The Maltese soccer team yesterday accomplished something extraordinary and unique. They beat Cyprus 3-0 in a World Cup qualifying match. The match played in Malta was completely dominated by the Maltese. And the players surely did that yesterday with a brilliant display of possession and attacking football, never seen before by the Malta national team. The result was the natural consequence of such a display as Malta now joins Slovenia and the same Cyprus with four points in the group. Of course they still have a way to go to advance to the finals to be held in Qatar next year. In a group with Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Cyprus, it is very hard for the small countries to ever advance to the final stage of such a competition. But even getting a tie or a draw and then winning a game is a superlative accomplishment on any day. But yesterday’s victory shows that Malta is certainly improving, under Italian coach Devis Mangia who has instilled a superhuman power in the Malta team ever since he took over a year ago. Congratulations Malta!
Wednesday 1 September 2021
A prayer for our children
Father hear us, we are praying,
Hear the words our hearts are saying,
We are praying for our children.
Keep them from the powers of evil,
From the secret, hidden peril,
From the whirlpool that would suck them,
From the treacherous quicksand pluck them.
From this world’s deep hollow gladness,
From the sting of faithless sadness,
Holy Father, save our children.
Through life’s troubled waters steer them,
Through life’s bitter battle cheer them,
Father, Father please be near them.
Read the language of our longing
Read the wordless pleadings thronging,
Holy Father, for our children do we pray.
And wherever they may be,
Always keep the close to Thee.