‘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.
- - - - - - -
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
- - - - - - -
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!
- - -
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).
- - -
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.
