Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Luke 5:5


‘If you say so, I will let down the nets’ (Lk. 5:5).


The crowd had gathered around Jesus to hear His word. The disciples were in the boat from where the Master spoke; after a night of wasted effort, they experienced, in obeying His Word, the abundance of fruit. The fatigue and the amazement of Peter and his companions for that invitation so unexpected, gave way to trust and surrender to Jesus, and from that moment on they became fishers of men, that is, called to continue His mission.


In this passage Jesus calls every believer, precisely when the faith is put to the test in many ways. To follow Jesus means decision, commitment, perseverance, while in this world, everything seems to invite us to relax, to mediocrity, to 'let go'. The task seems too big, impossible to achieve or seen as a failure beforehand. But, like Peter, it is precisely the fruitlessness, sin itself acknowledged and confessed to Jesus, which becomes the place not of failure but of the call.


On your word, O Lord ... I get back to continuing that task half done, I try to restore that broken relationship, I get out of myself to help ... It is necessary to have trust in His Word, never doubting about what He asks of us. On the contrary, basing every moment of our life on His Word.


We will base, in this way, our existence on what is more solid and safe, and we will contemplate in amazement that precisely there, where every human resource fails, He intervenes and that there, where it is humanly impossible, we will gather the fruits of life.


Alberto P.

 
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An Experience of Life:

It had been a few months since the day I had embraced, full of hope, the new job in Belgium among the Flemish. But now a sense of fear and loneliness gripped my soul. It seemed that between me and the girls with whom I was working and living, there was erected an insurmountable mountain. I felt isolated, foreign among the people that I only wanted to serve with love. Everything depended on having to speak a language that was neither mine, nor of those who listened. I was told that in Belgium people speak French and I had learned it, but in direct contact with the people I realized that the Flemish study French only in school, and generally speak it reluctantly. So many times I tried to move that wall of exclusion that kept me away from the others, but in vain. What could I do for them?


I still saw before me the face of my companion Godelieve, full of sadness. That evening she had gone to her room without food. I had tried to follow her, but I had stopped at the door of her room, shy and hesitant. I wanted to knock ... but what words to use to make oneself understood? I remained there for a few seconds, then I gave up once again.


The next morning I went to church and sat down in the back, with my face in my hands so as not to show my tears. That was the only place where there was no need to speak another language and where it was not even necessary to explain oneself. I looked down on the Gospel of that day and found: "Have faith, I have overcome the world." These words descended like oil into the soul and I felt a great peace. Returning for breakfast, I noticed that the first to come down from the rooms upstairs was Godeliève, who was looking for a coffee in a hurry, in order not to see anyone. But there she stopped; perhaps my peace had touched her heart in a stronger way than any words.


That evening, on the way back home, Godeliève joined me with the bike and trying to speak in a way understandable to me, whispered to me: "Your words are not necessary; today your life told me: love, also you!" . The mountain had moved aside.


Lella


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In this Word of Life we read:
“After a fruitless night, Peter, who was an expert at fishing, could have just smiled and refused Jesus’ invitation to let down the nets during the day, which was a less favorable moment. Instead, going beyond his own reasoning, he trusted in Jesus.”

How many “Catholics” “just smiled and refused” Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae and did not “go beyond their own reasoning in order to trust in Jesus” and now we see the prophecies of this encyclical being fulfilled in the destruction of the fundamental cells of our society, the family?

POPE PAUL VI PROPHESIED TO US ABOUT THE “GRAVE CONSEQUENCES OF ARTIFICIAL METHODS OF REGULATING BIRTHS” IN HIS ENCYCLICAL: HUMANAE VITAE:
Consequences of Artificial Methods
“Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings - and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation - need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.” (Humanae Vitae, no. 17; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html).

WHEN SO MANY COUNTRIES FOUND THEMSELVES WITH MORE WELLBEING AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR, as well as with the discovery of the “pill” (1960), many Catholics (and non-Catholics) were expecting the Church, guided by the “ROCK” (Mt 16:18), to update itself according to the mentality of the world. And so when Pope Paul VI issued his prophetic encyclical, “HUMANAE VITAE” (1968), there was an incredible negative reaction not only on the part of lay men and women but also on the part of numerous so-called “theologians”, priests and bishops, even entire Episcopal conferences (e.g., the ‘Winnipeg Statement’ of the Canadian Bishops)! We cannot imagine what darkness this brings down on earth this radical egoism in the heart of the fundamental cell of society, THE FAMILY! And then we ask why the world is in such bad shape and the economy is coming down!?! For the first time in the history of the world, there are more grandparents than children who work to pay for the pensions of the grandparents!

IT WAS EVEN AGAINST THE CIVIL LAW IN MOST COUNTRIES 60 YEARS AGO TO SELL OR BUY BIRTH CONTROL DEVICES precisely because they understood 60 years ago in a culture of life how much damage is done by these things to the marital relationship and thus to the family. Sixty years ago in a more wholesome environment, it was instinctively understood that each person had to make little sacrifices for the common good. Today there is virtually no concern for the common good unless if effects directly the egotistical desires of the individuals. This has everything to do with all that we are seeing today. The basic decomposition of our beloved country and the whole western world, the meltdown of western civilization, is tied into this.

WHEN THE ANGLICAN CHURCH FIRST APPROVED THE USE OF CONTRACEPTION IN 1930 IT WAS ONLY FOR SERIOUS REASONS and only for married people who have been generous for life. However, by providing an opening for contraception, the qualifying phrase “for serious reason” was quickly ignored. Subsequently the use of contraception was viewed as virtuous behavior, and even the silent holocaust of abortion has become a private ethical choice of birth control. The unborn, unwanted babies no longer have any legal protection; they are now ripped to pieces after they are brutally murdered. What nice words! “Freedom of choice” of the woman! This is “freedom” to kill for our conveniences and our comfort?!? This is a fundamental example of how modern and egotistical men have detached freedom from the truth as Pope John Paul II indicated in “Evangelium Vitae”. BABIES DO NOT CHOOSE TO DIE!

AS SOON AS ONE DOES NOT SEE LIFE AS A PRECIOUS GIFT BUT ONLY AS A COMMODITY OF CONVENIENCE, OUR SOCIETY DESCENDS INTO THE CHAOS OF HELL IN THE CULTURE OF DEATH!

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How many Bishops and priests “just smiled and refused” to obey the “Instruction on the Manner of Distributing Holy Communion”, “MEMORIALE DOMINI” and did not “go beyond their own reasoning in order to trust in Jesus”?

WHEN THERE IS LACKING FAITH AND HUMILITY BEFORE THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT THE GRACES RECEIVED PERSONALLY AND FOR THE WHOLE CHURCH AND FOR THE WHOLE WORLD ARE GREATLY DIMINISHED! Our nuclear spiritual bomb to be able to support the world in this “cosmic struggle” (John Paul II) is reduced to a fire cracker, or worse, a punishment! When Catholics slid into this subtle defect which seems to many insignificant, the whole world suffers more than we can imagine. Even the Satanists believe in the Eucharist; they seek to acquire the consecrated Hosts in order to profane them at their black masses; at the major basilicas of Rome and in many other churches, there is a guard next to the priest who distributes Holy Communion to make sure that the people put the Body of Christ in their mouth and do not take It out of their mouth.

Bishops and priests who have not obeyed the living Pope will have to answer for all of the souls under their care at the moment of death. A subtle mistake of a jet pilot can kill all the passengers; a passenger changing his seat to the other side of the plane affects the flight very little. On May 29, 1969 the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship issued “MEMORIALE DOMINI”, containing the Instruction on the Manner of Distributing Holy Communion, which is still in vigor and could be summarized as follows: the prohibition of receiving Holy Communion in the hand remains in vigor in the universal mode and the bishops, priests and faithful are heartily exhorted to diligently follow this law newly reasserted. Nonetheless, WHERE THIS USE MAY HAVE BEEN ENTRENCHED AND INTRODUCED IN AN ILLICIT MANNER, there is provided the possibility to concede to those sectors which are NOT DISPOSED TO OBEY THIS EXHORTATION. (http://www.rinascimentosacro.com/2008/11/itinerario-verso-il-fatto-compiuto.html; http://www.ewtn.com/library/curia/cdwmemor.htm).

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The children of parents who did not obey Holy Mother Church have taken this logic of veiled egoism and lack of respect and humility before the infinite God in the Eucharist among so many church-going Catholics even further.

Visit: “An Open Letter To A Fellow Priest” (http://testimony-polo.blogspot.com/2009/11/open-letter-to-fellow-priest.html).