Nostra Fides Vol 4 2008

Nostra Fides Our Faith A Publication of SMU Fides Catholic Community For Internal Ciruclation Only Vol 4 2008 In communion with the Catholic Church headed by the Pope and in conformity with the teachings handed down to us from the Apostles, Nostra Fides aims to cover Catholic events on campus as well as other events that members of the community are involved in. Recent developments within the Church will also be covered.

First Friday Devotion to the Sacred Heart Standing as we do on Calvary, we now look into the secret depths of that Heart, “wounded by our sins” far more than by the soldier’s lance. We see therein the very source of all the “infinite treasures of love” that His “mercy deigns to lavish upon us.” Then we survey the present world, so indifferent, so utterly unresponsive to that strong instinct in man which naturally prompts him to return love for love. Thereupon we realize that we have the responsibility of making up to Christ for all the ingratitude and outrage offered Him by our thankless race. This is why we ask God to help us “offer him devout homage (and), loving service,” so that this Sacrifice may be a “fitting reparation” and thus heal the wound in His mystic side, which bleeds afresh with every sin today. - Sister M. Cecilia, O.S.B., Companion to the Missal (1954), p. 284. The heart stands for love. The human heart of Jesus stands both for His human love and for the infinite love of His divine Person. His love was not just a shimmering, dreamy softness; it was wisely strong and true to its eternal purposes. Despite the anguish of Gethsemani, His love yielded His human life to crucifixion. His love had all the majesty and fullness of God, a height and a depth that make paltry the wisdom of men. Every mystery of His life, every miracle, sermon, and kindness, was a new revelation of divine love that enlightens and warms mankind. - Rev Charles J. Callan, O.P., Daily Missal of the Mystical Body (1960), p. 498

Who am I? by Karen Chong I am the steady hands steering my ship to where I know I need to go, Yet, I am a million wandering souls. Mitch Albom was one of the best sports journalists around and working more than twelve hour shifts when he received news that Morrie Schwartz, the dearest professor he met in university years ago, was dying. The verse above describe what he felt- aware of his ambitions, yet unsure of his real purpose in life when he received the news. In his best-seller, Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch recounts the time spent with Morrie, and how he embarks on a journey of self-discovery. He re-discovers his role as a student, patiently listening to Morrie’s lessons on life. He finds the courage to re-assume the role of a brother to an estranged sibling. He re-learns how to be a child again, with the child-like capacity to love freely. And yet, at the end of the book, when Morrie passes away, we sense that Mitch has not really discovered who he is. However, he has regained a sense of direction that he did not possess before Morrie’s illness. I was reminded of Mitch Albom’s story during the midterm retreat, especially because as an SMU student, I find myself in similar circumstances. Like Mitch, we work more than half our days away. Some of us know where we want to go, and some of us are unsure of ourselves. Or maybe we think we know what we should do, without knowing that we are still confused. And this

happens to us all, especially when we forget God’s place in our lives. During the retreat, it would be a stretch to say I found myself and God. The sessions, such as the Enneagram, helped me learn more about myself and God. When Jarvis, an external speaker, touched on the topic “Who is God?”, I reflected on my relationship with God. Who do I see Him as? What are the spiritual anchors that God has given me to tide me through trying times? Jarvis himself had wonderful experiences with God, which made me search myself for the times God had been there, but I had been too careless to notice. As a young Catholic, my identity with the faith can get pretty shaky, especially when I realised that I did not have spiritual anchors like my friends. I was lost, unsure and questioning my identity as a Christian. This brings me back to my analogy of Mitch’s story. Mitch found a saving grace in his life-Morrie. Morrie was someone that Mitch relied on for help and advice. Unlike him, I did not have a Morrie, someone who would teach me how to live my life. But this isn’t true, because I do have a Morrie; in fact Morrie exists for every one of us. He is God. He can teach us who we are, and he comes into our lives at the right times and places. I was not a Christian once, but now I am, because, I guess, He simply knows when to come. In the quiet time that I spent with Jesus during the retreat, I can’t say that I managed to find myself. Perhaps we see ourselves acting as different roles; a friend, a daughter, or a student. But now I do go around with this awareness of self-discovery, and for the search of His calling.

Pope’s Address to Young People outside Notre Dame, 12 Sept 2008 (Extract) ...Many of you wear a cross on a chain around your neck. It is not a mere decoration or a piece of jewelry. It is the precious symbol of our faith, the visible and material sign that we belong to Christ. Saint Paul explains the meaning of the Cross at the beginning of his First Letter to the Corinthians. The Christian community in Corinth was going through a turbulent period, exposed to the corrupting influences of the surrounding culture. Those dangers are similar to the ones we encounter today. Saint Paul begins his Letter by writing: “The word of the Cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18). Then, the Apostle shows the clear contrast between wisdom and folly, in God’s way of thinking and in our own. He ends by stressing the beauty of God’s wisdom, which Christ and, in his footsteps, the Apostles, have come to impart to the world and to Christians. This wisdom, mysterious and hidden (cf. 1 Cor 2:7), has been revealed by the Spirit, because “those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are folly to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor 2:14). The Spirit opens to human intelligence new horizons which transcend it and enable to perceive that the only true wisdom is found in the grandeur of Christ. For Christians, the Cross signifies God’s wisdom and his infinite love revealed in the saving gift of Christ, crucified and risen for the life of the world, and in particular for the life of each and every one of you. It is not only the symbol of your life in God and your salvation, but also – as you will understand – the silent witness of human suffering and the unique and priceless expression of all our hopes. The Cross in some way seems to threaten our human security, yet above all else, it also proclaims God’s grace and confirms our salvation. The Holy Spirit will enable you to understand its mysteries of love. Then you will exclaim with Saint Paul: “May I never boast of anything, except the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal 6:14). Paul had understood the seemingly paradoxical words of Jesus, who taught that it is only by giving (“losing”) ones life that one finds it (cf. Mk 8:35; Jn 12:24), and Paul concluded from this that the Cross expresses the fundamental law of love, the perfect formula for real life.

the lynching of African Americans from our own racism, or the Holocaust, or the countless other genocides of the 20th century. Whenever we treat another human being as an object, a thing, that we may do with as we please, rather than as a human person made in the image and likeness of God, we diminish, and inevitably destroy that being, and ourselves. It is also paradoxical to suggest that by throwing the cloak of “privacy” over the act of abortion, that individual choice can transform an evil act into something that is good, or even tolerable. If, as Sen. Biden believes, human life begins at conception, it is difficult to see how that view can be reconciled with the position that we, as a society, should legally allow individual persons to decide on their own if murder is wrong.

On Human Life (Extract) by Edward J Slattery Bishop of Tulsa, Oklahoma Modern science clearly proves that human life begins at conception. At the moment when DNA from the mother and the father combine, a new, unique human being, who will develop continuously until death, is created. From then on, the early zygote functions as a human being. It has specifically human enzymes and proteins, and, over time, it develops complex human tissues and organs. After this genetic transfer, it can never develop into any other kind of being. Even as it develops through the process of pregnancy, the human nature of the zygote, embryo, fetus, or baby never changes. It is this nature that directs and causes the miraculous physical transformation that takes place during the pregnancy. In fact, the desire of some persons to destroy embryos in order to harvest stem cells is dependent upon the reality that they are already biologically human. Contrary to some misconceptions, the early human embryo is not a vague collection of tissues without specificity. In fact the exact opposite is true. The first cells of this new human being contain all of the information that will guide its development throughout life. The process of embryonic and fetal development involves “switching off” the complete power of the early cells so that they only take on one function, like being a heart cell. While there are some members of our society who would like to define this biological human being as someone who does not share our basic human rights, such as the right to its own existence, this is a dangerous path. We, as a human society, have gone this way before, with disastrous results. Inevitably, it ends with the act of murdering those whom we objectify, as we have seen with

The modern day notion of “privacy” assumes that there is a neat division between the individual who makes a decision, and the rest of the human community. A “private” decision is one that is limited to the individual. However, in the case of abortion, this decision has implications not only for the mother, but also for the father, both of their immediate families, and, in fact, for all of our society. The mother and the father lose a child, the family a niece or nephew, or grandchild, and the rest of us, a companion in life. How we protect, or ignore, these smallest members of our human community defines who we are as human persons. A democracy, in order to flourish, must attend to the defense of the values that are essential to the human community. Ignoring this hard work and simply relegating abortion to the sphere of individual choice allows a cancer to eat at our very core, as we permit some human persons to sacrifice the lives of others for their own personal reasons. As Catholics, we cannot accept the premise that in the name of “privacy” all choices are equally right. Once an evil is truly seen for what it is, neither can an emphasis on “privacy” excuse one’s moral responsibility to act to stop it, nor can defining murder as a “right to choose” change what it is that is actually chosen.

The Meaning of Advent Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J. The word “Advent,” of course, means “coming.” So in Advent we celebrate the various comings of Jesus, the Word incarnate and God on earth. We commemorate his coming at Bethlehem two thousand years ago, his Second Coming at the end of the world, and his coming to us in time in our baptism and in the reception of his sacraments, such as the Holy Eucharist. The Church urges us to open our hearts to receive him with faith, hope and love. Coming results in a certain presence—a more intimate presence, since he is already present in our hearts, or should be, by his grace. Just as we prepare for guests who come for dinner, so also the Church bids us prepare in a special way for the coming of Christ at Christmas time. By doing this, we prepare ourselves for his final coming—first at our death and then at his Second Coming at the end of the world. The Old Testament prophets looked forward to the coming of the Messiah, the Anointed of the Lord, the Great King.

not according to groups. “Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken and one will be left,” that is, one will be taken into the Church and saved, and the other will be lost. “Stay awake, therefore! You cannot know the day your Lord is coming.” The future coming of the Lord will slip quietly into the present, undetected—like a thief in the night. So we must always be ready for him. This means following Christ and living the Christian life seriously, according to the measure of God’s grace given to each one of us. Everything said in the Gospel about the Second Coming also applies to us. Any day we can meet a sudden death on a highway—and that is the final coming of Jesus as far as we personally are concerned. So, be prepared, be watchful! Finally, Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of the Lord. How do we prepare ourselves? By fervent and daily prayer, by being faithful to our commitments and state in life, by practicing acts of self-denial, by carrying our cross daily, by kindness towards others (especially members of our family), by avoiding all sarcasm and unjust criticism of others.

Isaiah prophesies that the Lord will impose peace on many peoples. There shall be no more war and preparing for war: “Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!”; that is, we must obey the Lord, believe in him and practice virtue. This applies first of all to the faithful who have the peace of Christ in their hearts. It does not refer to any historical time, to any earthly utopia. Because of original sin and man’s inclination to evil, there will always be wars and rumors of wars until the final coming of Jesus on the last day. The Second Coming of the Lord will be sudden and unexpected, like the flood in the time of Noah. Many people ignored the warnings, ridiculed Noah for building a big boat on dry land, far from the sea. How ridiculous! But the flood came and destroyed them, while Noah survived with his family and animals. The same thing will happen to all who do not heed the words of the Lord. But God’s judgment is individual,

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