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 A Life of prayer
by
Father Roy Cimagala
THIS is serious business for all of us, and in fact it admits of no
exception. Prayer is the lifeline of our soul, just as eating and
breathing are for our body. We need to do it not only to survive,
but more to keep us spiritually vibrant and productive everyday.
Life should be a flow of prayer. Prayer should stream the whole of
our life!
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We therefore have to feel the constantly
urgent task of improving the
way we pray. We cannot allow it to be
held hostage by the fluctuations of
our moods and the ebb and flow of
our human conditions, physical, social,
psychological, etc.
Even in the worst scenario when we
feel impeded to pray, or we find ourselves
completely without energy, or like a dry
and dead fossil uninspired, we simply
have to find a way to do it. And there are
always ways available.
St. John Mary Vianney, a simple
but very holy priest, gives us an idea.
“My God, if my tongue cannot say in
every moment that I love you, I want
my heart to repeat it to you as often
as I draw breath,” he once said in his
pious reasoning.
Let’s remember what St. Augustine
once said: “Lord, you have
made us for yourself, and our heart
is restless until it rests in you.”
Those, who by reason of
health, handicap or any problem
are unable to consciously pray,
can always be helped by others.
What are we social beings for if
we cannot also help others to
pray? Our sociability can also
extend to our spiritual duties,
you know!
We have to be more aware of
our vast powers and infinite ways
to pray. What the body is unable and
our feelings cannot cope, our spirit always can.
And in our spirit, what our
mind cannot penetrate because of
the mysteries, our heart always
can. The heart does not seek to understand
these mysteries. It simply
enjoys them and gives witness
to them.
This is our challenge. Especially
these days when we can get harassed
by many pressures, or drowned by information
overdrive, or led to blind activism,
it’s good to be reminded that the
possibility to pray is always there.
Obviously, our usual concern
in this regard should be that we
manage to do some personal mental
prayer, at least for a few minutes
everyday. If we want to convert
our whole life into prayer, this
task is a must.
We have to see it as something
indispensable. We should stop treating
it as if it competes with our other activities.
We don’t allow our work to compete
with our meals, do we? We somehow
manage to make them go together.
The same should be true with our prayer
and our other activities.
Growing deep in our prayer
means a persistent desire to know
and love our Lord better. Christ
should not just be an idea, a slogan,
a historical figure. He is a living
person in the Holy Spirit. We
have to be aware of this reality always,
so we can behave accordingly.
We need to make many acts of the
will and of the heart, that is, acts of faith
and love, to sustain our mental prayer
and engage our Lord in a loving conversation,
or at least to simply feel and
rejoice in his presence.
It’s when we pray in this way
that we enter deeper into reality,
actually a richer reality, since it will
be a reality that goes beyond what
simply are sensible or even intelligible.
It’s the reality of the spiritual
and the supernatural.
This is when we become spiritual,
and not just material and carnal. This is
when we acquire a supernatural outlook,
and not just having some human
attitudes.
This is when we behave according
to faith, hope and charity,
and actively enjoy and exercise
the gifts of the Holy Spirit like wisdom,
understanding, knowledge,
piety, counsel, fortitude, fear of the
Lord.
This is when we become
contemplatives even if we are in the
middle of the world.
We have to frequently ask ourselves
whether we are praying and
whether we are praying well. Are
we growing in our identification
with Christ?
We have to ask ourselves these
questions because we can always deceive
ourselves. With our capacity for
plasticity, we can appear like praying,
but really not praying.
 Restoring CFC to its original charism
by
Father Gammy Tulabing
JCD, VG
Couples for Christ is Couples for Christ. Gawad-Kalinga is
Gawad-Kalinga. Gawad-Kalinga is not Couples for Christ,
and Couples for Christ should not be Gawad-Kalinga. If
only the CFC-Global Mission Foundation Incorporated
heeded the spiritual advice of Bishop Socrates Villegas who
is one of CFC’s spiritual guides, then possibly the Couples
for Christ would have not been separated into two these
days. Of course there’s nothing wrong with Gawad-
Kalinga. It is a very noble Social Apostolate for the poor.
But fusing Gawad-Kalinga with Couples for Christ, or vice
versa, has caused many troubles which eventually resulted
to two Couples for Christ. There are now two Couples for
Christ because of the very noble cause of Couples for Christ
Foundation for Family and Life to RESTORE CFC to its original
vision-mission which is Family Evangelization, Family
Spirituality, and Family Renewal.
Couples for Christ cannot and
should not put all its efforts to
Gawad-Kalinga, otherwise it overemphasizes
social apostolate to the
detriment of Family Evangelization
which should be the main concern
of CFC. In fusing CFC and Gawad-
Kalinga, there is always that tendency
to over-stress one while undermining
the other. And that’s
what actually happened. In the
case of CFC-GK, Gawad-Kalinga
has been over-emphasized, putting
aside Family Evangelization, Spirituality,
and Renewal. Of course the
CFC-IC (International Council)
would not admit this but these have
been the observations of many
members of Couples for Christ
themselves, leading to many complaints
raised by many of the members
of Couples for Christ who
were engaged in the Gawad-
Kalinga programs. So, as recommended
by Bishop Socrates
Villegas, Couples for Christ need
not engage in Gawad-Kalinga anymore,
just as Gawad Kalinga should
concentrate on GK and leave
Couples for Christ to do what it is
expected to do- the renewal of the
family which is one of the nine (9)
pastoral priorities of the Church in
the Philippines . If possible, Gawad-
Kalinga should refrain from using
the name Couples for Christ to
avoid confusion, and members of
Couples for Christ should instead
go back and focus on CFC’s original
purpose.
“You cannot serve both
God and money… you will either
love one and despise the
other”… It is Tony Meloto himself
who declared and was
quoted many times as saying
that if members of Couples for
Christ do not support and work
for Gawad-Kalinga then they
should look for another community.
Well, the members of
CFC-Foundation for Family and
Life did just what Tony Meloto
recommended, giving birth to
another child of Couples for
Christ which is now CFC-FFL
(Couples for Christ Foundation
for Family and Life). This is
indeed a very noble task which
the reluctant founder of Couples
for Christ Frank Padilla
started with the honest intentions
of RESTORING Couples
for Christ to its original meaning
and purpose.
I believe it is just a matter of
delicadeza that Gawad-Kalinga
should not use the name Couples
for Christ anymore, concentrate
on its Social Apostolate, and leave
CFC in peace. CFC-FFL has all
the rights to use the name Couples
for Christ because Frank
Padilla is its founder and FFL is
consistent with the vision-mission
of the true and genuine Couples
for Christ which has never veered
away from its original purpose while
remaining faithful and loyal to the
Catholic Church authorities whose
recognition of Couples for Christ is
still much needed. In other words,
Gawad-Kalinga is by itself a very
successful mission among the
poorest of the poor (I would like to
believe so) and it should not use
anymore Couples for Christ and
the Church at large to advance its
own objectives. The members of
the Couples for Christ should listen
and follow their original, though
reluctant founder, Frank Padilla,
who remains faithful to the original
vision of Couples for Christ. The
members should likewise listen to
the directives of the Catholic
Church Hierarchy.
That is why CFC-FFL is
now giving itself a very good
name and they are now in very
good standing in the Church.
The Catholic Church and our
society in general need people
who will work for the renewal of
the family. Thanks to CFCFFL.
Whoever brought Couples for
Christ to Negros Oriental and
Siquijor which comprise the Diocese
of Dumaguete matters. But
what matters most is the proper direction
of Couples for Christ. Human
dad-a ang Couples for Christ
dinhi sa Negros Oriental ug
Siquijor, asa man kini karon
paingon? Ug asa man nato kini
dad-on? I believe all the members
of Couples for Christ should allow
themselves to be guided by the
Church authorities who can guide
them better in terms of Faith and
Morals.
AND JESUS SAID...
“Healthy people don’t need a doctor –-sick
people do …..Now go, and learn the meaning
of this Scripture; I want you to be merciful;
I don’t want your sacrifices. For I have
come to call sinners, not those who think
they are already good enough.” Matthew 9:12-123
Those who are sure that they
are good enough can’t be
saved because the first step
in following Jesus is acknowledging
our sins and admitting that
we don’t have
all the answers.
 Sunday
Thoughts
I BELIEVE IN LIFE
EVERLASTING (part II)
by Proceso Udarbe
“If in this life only you have hope in
Christ, you are of all human beings
most miserable.” I Corinthians
15:19
Another truth that we can affirm
that gives credence to our belief
in eternal life is the consistency
of the goodness of
God. In other religions of the
world, when they think of God,
they think of him mainly in
terms of power—power that is absolute, unlimited, overarching—but for us, when we speak
of God, we think of him more in terms of his being good. This
is what we Christians affirm in any circumstance, in any situation
in life.
The Scriptures put it plainly: The Lord is good; his steadfast
love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations.
Against this radiant
background, my friends,
even the darkest objects in
the foreground take on borrowed
light, even suffering,
even tears, even loneliness
and pain. All of these lose
their power in the radiant
light of the goodness of God.
Because God is so good,
he has planted in our hearts a
restless yearning to be with him
forever. Because God is so
good, our Christian faith cannot
think of him permitting us to be
snuffed out like a brief burning
candle. And so, we have intimations
of immortality. We believe
that we go on from this life to
more life. For to us heaven,
which opens up beyond the
doors of death, is of one piece
with our life on this side of life.
So “wait on the Lord, be of good
courage, and he will strengthen
your heart; wait, I say on the
Lord.”
Today's
Gospel
Matthew 16:13-19
When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea
Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do
people say that the Son of Man is?” They
replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others
Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the
prophets. He said to them, “But who do you
say that I am? Simon Peter said in reply,
“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you,
Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed
this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I
say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will
build my church, and the gates of the netherworld
shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys
to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on
earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you
loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
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Here is one of the texts
that unequivocally supports
the structure of the
Church. Jesus chose men
and formed them as leaders
to take over His mission
when He departed. It is
clear that Peter had a leadership
role in this group.
Jesus intended this structure
to continue beyond
the apostles’ lives and provide
the foundation for the
Church as we know it today.
Historical
Notes
Archbishop Lagdameo speaks
by Rev. Fr. Roman C. Sagun, Jr.
Just a year ago, on July 27, 2007, Archbishop Angel N. Lagdameo of Jaro delivered a
talk on the occasion of the 6th Gathering of Theology Seminarians in the Visayas held
in Iloilo. We are giving way to his talk entitled “Church and Politics: A Historical Perspective.”
Starting with a big bang, he rhetorically asked the question: “A Political
Church?”
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Lagdameo continued: “Church in Politics!
This is what people sometimes exclaim when
they hear of bishops and priests, issuing pastoral
letters, intervening (so to speak), or participating
in political affairs. I do not have to paint
the scenarios. You know them quite well, I guess,
I need only to mention here that questions have
been raised about a bishop allegedly “endorsing”
a political candidate (did he?) about the Bishops
Conference issuing Pastoral Letters on
strictly political matters (like the conduct of the
1986 Snap Election), about some priests running
for government positions, even about priests
using the pulpit to preach about the elections.
Through the last 50 years the CBCP has issued
some 22 Pastoral Statements/Exhortations on
elections, including presidential elections, within
that period. Our understanding of the situation
and our answer to the question are somehow
affected or colored by our ecclesiology or by our
understanding of what the Church is or should
be. May the Church be involved in politics? Each
of the three answers that I will offer has an
ecclesiology justifying it.
“The model or image of the Church prevailing
at a given period of Church History is
the key to our understanding of the attitude
and actuation of the Church at that period.
“There was a time (unfortunately it is still
so for many people today) when the church was
understood to be composed only of the Pope,
the Bishops, Priests and Religious. When they
spoke of the Church, they usually meant either
the hierarchy or the clergy. Alongside with this
limited definition of church is the image of the
Church being hierarchico-monarchical. This institutional
model of the Church was developed by those who
considered the Church to be
equally a perfect society like the
State. This Church is subordinate
to no one but God. It has its own
set of rules (code or constitution)
and its own governing body (the
hierarchy) and set of actual members,
the lay faithful, who accept the
rules from above. In this Church
the function of the hierarchy is to
govern, to sanctify and to teach; the
faithful are those governed, sanctified
and taught. The strict dichotomy
resulted in clericalism,
juridicism and triumphalism.
“The concept of the separation
of the two perfect societies,
of the Church and the
State, was not yet fully pronounced
or developed. There
was in fact a crisscrossing of
influence and power between
the two. Both the Church and
the State were regarded as expressions
of the reign of God:
theocracy. Although apparently
perfect and independent, neither
was seen as really autonomous.
To exercise its spiritual
powers, the Church needed the
support of the State. To exercise
its political powers, the State
needed the anointing of the
Church. They became instrument
of each other. And so it
came to be that kings and emperors
(e.g. Emperor Justinian
I) were anointed by the Bishop
of Rome, the Pope (e.g. Pope
Felix III). The Popes and Bishops
in turn received their investiture
or at least their tiara or biretta
from the King or Emperor. It was
not surprising in those days for
the Pope, like Gregory the
Great, to lead an army against
the Lombards as did Pope Leo
the Great against the Vandals.
It was not surprising either for
bishops in those days to have
private armies. It cannot be denied
that to some extent the
Church was wielding not only
spiritual but also political and
military powers. Church in Politics!
A political Church! At the
same time the State was claiming
to have a Divine Right also
over the spiritual and political.
For the peaceful co-existence of
the two superpowers, imperfect
concordats had to be signed.
(More next week)
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