Whit Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Courage plants a garden from a pinch of seeds...it may be a future forest, salad or a blaze of flowers
Matthew, Chapter 10, verse 26
Matthew, Chapter 10, verse 26
26 “Therefore do
not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed,
nor secret that will not be known.
Christ’s
message here is to have courage under persecution. Yes, if they killed Christ
what will they do to us. Look at what is going on in the Middle East, there is
no doubt it will be here but Christ reassures us to do not be afraid.
In
Acts 8:1-8 we see that there was a severe persecution of the followers of
Christ in Jerusalem promulgated by Saul; who by the grace of God was converted
and became the apostle to the gentiles Paul. We must not give up hope and we
must pray for our persecutors; perhaps Christ will send us another Paul.
Therefore
do not be afraid for
everyone who believes in the Son has eternal life, and Christ has told us the
He will raise us on the last day. (John 6:40)
Pope Francis asks us to pray that our brothers and sisters who are being
persecuted may feel the consoling presence of the Risen Lord. Though physically
distant from us, they are spiritually close. Suffering because they are
Christians, they have a special place in the Heart of Jesus, and, if we are
united to that Heart, they will have a special place in our hearts as well.
Pope Francis believes persecution should bring Christians of all
denominations together. “The blood of Jesus,” he said, “poured out by many
Christian martyrs in various parts of the world, calls us and compels us
towards the goal of unity. For persecutors, we are not divided. We are one in
their eyes! For persecutors we are Christians! This is the ecumenism of blood
that we experience today.”
May our prayerful solidarity with persecuted Christians help them know
they are not alone nor abandoned. May it help to bring us together as the One
Body of Christ.[1]
The Sacrament of Confirmation[2]
The Samaritans
had been converted and baptized by Philip the Deacon. Peter and John administered
to them, by the imposition of hands and prayer, the Sacrament of Confirmation.
Is
Confirmation a sacrament? Yes, for Jesus Christ has promised the Holy Ghost not
only to the apostles, but also to all the faithful, to confirm them fully in
faith and charity.
What
is the outward sign of this sacrament? The imposition of the bishop s hands,
the anointing with the chrism, and the words of the bishop.
What
grace is conveyed through this sacrament? Through holy Confirmation, God confirms
and completes in the Christian the grace of Baptism, and strengthens him for the
combat with his spiritual enemies. Confirmation, like Baptism, cannot be received
more than once, because the grace received in these sacraments is always efficacious
if we only cooperate with it; and because in these sacraments we receive also an
indelible character, which forever distinguishes the souls of those who have
been baptized and confirmed from those who have not.
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