SEPTEMBER 17 - STIGMATA OF SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

17 ta' Settembru
Festa tal-għoti tal-Pjagi ta Missierna San Franġisk.

                    "Bħal Ġesù mislub għalina,
                      Niżel darbek Serafin,
                      Juri dan kemm Alla ħabbek,
                      Fost l-eluf tal-Qaddisin.

                      Int fil-pjagi fis fakkarna,
                      Ta’ Ġesù, li b’demmu fdiena,
                      Biex b’imħabbtu dlonk ninxtegħlu,
                      U nedmin insibu ħniena" 

 

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September 17 - PROPER GOSPEL on the feast of the Stigmata of St Francis of Assisi. Feast -- San Franġisk fl-għoti tal-pjagi 

Lk 9:23-26 -- "Whoever wants to be my disciple... - "Jekk xi ħadd irid jiġi warajja...

Evanġelju Luqa 9, 23-26

Qari mill-Evanġelju skont San Luqa

[Lq:9:23] Darba Ġesù qal lil kulħadd: "Jekk xi ħadd irid jiġi warajja, għandu jiċħad lilu nnifsu, jerfa' salibu kuljum, u jimxi warajja. [Lq:9:24] Għax min irid isalva ħajtu, jitlifha; imma min jitlef ħajtu għall-imħabba tiegħi, isalvaha. [Lq:9:25] Għax x'jiswielu l-bniedem li jikseb id-dinja kollha u mbagħad jintilef jew jinqered? [Lq:9:26] Għax jekk xi ħadd jistħi minni u minn kliemi, Bin il-bniedem ukoll jistħi minnu meta jiġi fil-glorja tiegħu u tal-Missier u ta' l-anġli mqaddsa. 

Il-Kelma tal-Mulej 

R/. Tifħir lilek Kristu

 

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The Feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi: September 17th

https://sacredheartfla.org/about-us/being-franciscan/fraciscan-feast-days/the-feast-of-the-stigmata-of-st-francis-of-assisi/

Authorized by Pope Paul V, September 17^th is the Feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi, a feast day celebrated within the Franciscan communities.

Stigmata, from the Greek word, generically points to a “brand” or a “mark.” It is the common word to describing branding of cattle. In the Christian context it refers to the bodily marks resembling the wounds of the crucified Christ. St. Francis was the first person, historically recorded, who bore the marks of the crucified Christ in his hands, his feet, and in his side.

The feast is a reminder of the power of love, as seen in the opening prayer for the festal Mass:

“Lord Jesus Christ, who reproduced in the flesh of the most blessed Francis, the sacred marks of your own sufferings, so that in a world grown cold our hearts might be filled with burning love of you, graciously enable us by his merits and prayers to bear the cross without faltering and to bring forth worthy fruits of penitence: You who are God, living and reigning with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.”

 

Receiving the Stigmata
On the day after Francis died, October 3, 1226, the Minister General of the Franciscan Order, Brother Elias, released a letter to all the friars informing them of Francis’ passing. In the letter he wrote: “I announce to you a great joy and a new miracle. It is a sign, which has been unheard of from the very beginning of time except in the Son of God, Christ the Lord. Not long before his death, our brother and our father was seen to resemble the crucified Lord, bearing in his body the five wounds which are the marks of Christ.”

Yet these were not marks that Francis received on his body while at death’s door. He received the marks some two-years prior while in prayer on the remote mountaintop of Mt. Alverna (also known as La Verna). Francis had gone there with two other friars, Brother Leo being one. While deep in prayer on a day near the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, a seraph (angel) appeared. The seraph was seemingly crucified on a cross. Thomas of Celano, writing within a few years of Francis’ death (ca. 1229), described what happened as Francis contemplated the possible meaning of the vision:

“…the marks of nails began to appear in his hands and feet, just as he had seen them slightly earlier in the crucified man above him. His wrists and feet seemed to be pierced by nails, with the heads of the nails appearing on his wrists and on the upper sides of his feet, the points appearing on the other side. The marks were round on the palm of each hand but elongated on the other side, and small pieces of flesh jutting out from the rest took on the appearance of the nail-ends, bent and driven back. In the same way the marks of nails were impressed on his feet and projected beyond the rest of the flesh. Moreover, his right side had a large wound as if it had been pierced with a spear, and it often bled so that his tunic and trousers were soaked with his sacred blood.”

St. Bonaventure later wrote: “The sight of it amazed Francis and his  soul experienced joy mingled with pain. He was delighted with the sight of Christ appearing to him so graciously and intimately and yet the awe-inspiring vision of Christ nailed to the cross aroused in his soul a joy of compassionate love.”

The Question of the Stigmata
What was one to make of this vision and miraculous event? As Bonaventure wrote, “Because of this new and astounding miracle unheard of in times past, Francis came down from the mountain a new man adorned with the sacred stigmata, bearing in his body the image of the Crucified not made by a craftsman in wood or stone, but fashioned in his members by the hand of the living God.”

One issue is that the reception of the stigmata seems to possibly be an event unheard of in Christian history. There are some who argue that St. Paul was the first, as the Greek word stigmata is used in a verse at the end of the Letter to the Galatians, where he writes, “I bear on my body the marks (stigmata) of Jesus.” There were Dominicans who claimed that Blessed Walter of Strasbourg was also granted the same privilege. And there were some – and many since – who have doubted the historicity of the account, claiming fraud or later embellishment by the Franciscans themselves. One argument is that Francis himself never mentions the event or the stigmata.

Given it occurred at a point in Francis’ life when he had withdrawn from leadership of the Order, was in terrible health, and had entered a very reflective phase of this life, his lack of mention should not be  surprising. Perhaps, too, he took his own counsel from Admonition 19: for what a person is before God, that he is and no more. Who can say?

We can say that Brother Leo, the only witness to the account, testified to the stigmata’s presence on Francis’ body. So too, witnesses included Brothers Rufino and Elias, Pope Alexander IV (when he was a young cardinal), and several prominent lay people of Francis’ time.

St. Bonaventure places the stigmata within a framework that emphasizes that the stigmata only appeared at the conclusion of the vision. This made them a response of divine love to human love through the intermediary of the Christ-seraph, who transformed the friend of Christ that was Francis into the likeness of the one whom he loved.  As a result the flesh of the stigmatized was presented as the exterior manifestation of a mystical relationship between the human person and God – proof of the transformative power of love.

 

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17 ta’ Settembru Festa ta’

MISSIERNA SAN FRANĠISK

FIL-GĦOTI TAL-PJAGI MQADDSA

Għodwa waħda, qrib il-festa ta’ l-Ezaltazzjoni tas-Salib Imqaddes (14 ta’ Settembru 1224), waqt li kien qed jitlob mal-ġenb tal-Muntanja (La Verna), Franġisku ra Serafin b’sitt iġwienah, bħal donnhom ittajjru xrar tan-nar u jleqqu sbieħ, nieżel mill-għoli tas-smewwiet. U meta b’titjira mgħaġġla għall-aħħar wasal fl-arja qrib dak il-post fejn kien il-bniedem ta’ Alla, fil-ġwienaħ dehret ix-xbieha ta’ raġel imsallab, b’idejh u riġlejh mifruxa f’għamla ta’ salib u mwaħħlin mas-salib. Żewġt iġwienah kienu merfugħa fuq rasu, tnejn kienu mifruxa bħallikieku biex itir, u t-tnejn l-oħra jgħattulu ġismu kollu. Stagħgeb mhux ftit meta ra dik id-dehra, u qalbu mtliet b’taħlita ta’ niket u hena fl-istess ħin. Feraħ meta ra taħt ix-xbieha ta’ Serafin lil Kristu jħares lejh b’ħarsa kollha ħlewwa, iżda d-dehra Tiegħu mwaħħal ma’ salib, nifditlu qalbu bis-sejf tad-dulur (Lq 2:35), daqskemm ħass għalih…

Meta l-vizjoni għabet ħallietlu f’qalbu ħeġġa li l-kliem ma jasalx ifisser, u fuq ġismu stampatlu xbieha ta’ marki li m’hi xejn inqas tal-għaġeb. Fil-fatt ġara li minnufih, f’idejh u f’riġlejh bdew jidhru s-sinjali ta’ l-imsiemer, l-istess bħal dawk li qabel kien ra fix-xbieha tar-raġel imsallab. Idejh u riġlejh dehru mtaqqbin fin-nofs bil-musmar, Ir-ras ta’ l-imsiermer dehret fuq in-naħa ta’ ġewwa ta’ l-idejn u l-parti ta’ fuq tar-riġlejn, waqt li l-ponot tagħhom dehru fuq in-naħa l-oħra. Ir-ras ta’ l-imsiemer fl-idejn u r-riġlejn kienet tonda u sewda, waqt li l-ponta mtawwla, milwija lura u bħallikieku rbattuta, ħierga mil-laħam u mqabbza ‘l barra. In-naħa lemin ta’ ġenbu wkoll kienet bħal qisha minfuda b’lanza, u dehret ġerha ħamra li spiss kienet tnixxi demm qaddis li jxarrab it-tonka u l-ħwejjeg minn taħt.

Il-Hajja ta’ San Frangisk (Legenda Maior),

ta’ San Bonaventura, XIII,3

Parroċċa Marija Addolorata, San Pawl il-Baħar | Facebook

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OCT 3 Transitus; Oct 4 - SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI --- Sept 17, Stigmata

https://medjugorjemalta.blogspot.com/2015/10/october-4-saint-francis-of-assisi-san.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Pope gets first copy of Italian Missal translation - Il-Papa Franġisku jingħata l-ewwel kopja tal-Missal il-ġdid bit-Taljan

Il-Papa Franġisku jingħata l-ewwel kopja tal-Missal il-ġdid bit-Taljan

https://laikosblog.org/2020/09/01/il-papa-frangisku-jinghata-l-ewwel-kopja-tal-missal-il-gdid-bit-taljan/

Bidliet sinjifikanti fit-talba tal-Missierna, fil-Glorja fit-Talba Ewkaristika.

Nhar il-Ġimgħa 28 t’Awwissu l-Papa Franġisku ngħata l-ewwel kopja tat-talb tal-Quddiesa kif rivedut bit-Taljan. Il-Missal se jkun fis-seħħ fl-Italja fl-Għid tas-sena 2021, għalkemm is-saċerdoti jistgħu jibdew jużawh hekk kif ikollhom kopja tiegħu.

Il-Konferenza tal-Isqfijiet Taljani ilha taħdem fuq it-traduzzjoni tal-Missal għal kważi 20 sena. Ġie rivedut kollu kemm hu, fuq dak li sar bil-Latin fis-sena 2000 mill-Papa Ġwanni Pawlu II.

Żewġ bidliet sinjifikanti huma fit-talba tal-Missierna u fil-Glorja. Fil-Missierna, il-kliem “La ddaħħalniex fit-tiġrib” inbidel għal “Tħalliniex nidħlu fit-tiġrib” u l-Glorja, minflok ma se tibda “Glorja ‘l Alla fil-għoli tas-smewwiet u paċi fl-art lill-bnedmin ta’ rieda tajba”, hi “Glorja ‘l Alla fil-għoli tas-smewwiet u paċi fl-art lill-bnedmin li jogħġbu lilu”, kif qiegħda fil-Vanġelu ta’ San Luqa 2, 14.

Fit-talba Ewkaristika, fil-verżjoni Taljana  hemm li d-demm ta’ Kristu xtered “għal kulħadd” minflok kif kienet li xtered “għal ħafna”.

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Pope gets first copy of Italian Missal translation

https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2020/08/pope-gets-first-copy-of-italian-missal-translation/

 

ROME — The Italian bishops finally have printed their new Missal, and they gave the symbolic first copy to Pope Francis, who usually celebrates Mass in Italian.

The Italian bishops’ conference worked for almost 20 years translating the texts of all the prayers used at Mass by the celebrants and the faithful and then discussing proposed changes with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.

The use of the new Missal is obligatory throughout Italy as of Easter, April 4, 2021, but priests can begin using the translation as soon as they get a copy of the Missal. Local bishops can set an earlier date for its mandated use in their dioceses.

With the presentation to the pope, the headlines in Italy were about the changed translations of the Lord’s Prayer and of the Gloria, both which now match the Bible translation the bishops approved in 2002 for use in the liturgy.

The Our Father, matching the translation of Matthew 6:9-13, now includes the line, “Do not abandon us to temptation but deliver us from evil” instead of “Do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil.”

With the Gloria, instead of beginning with “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of goodwill,” the new version is the Italian equivalent of “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to people, beloved by the Lord.” The line comes from Luke 2:14.

“To reduce such a complex work to two or three passages that were retouched signifies a lack of understanding about its importance,” Bishop Claudio Maniago of Castellaneti, president of the bishops’ liturgy commission, told Avvenire, the Catholic newspaper.

“The book was revised in its totality” following the promulgation of the Missal in 2000 by St. John Paul II and its actual release in Latin two years later, he said.

In addition to fidelity to the Latin text, the bishop said, there was “also, and most of all, an effort to render the text as usable as possible and, so, also make it an instrument of growth for the Italian church.”

The bishops, he said, worked hard to keep changes to the people’s prayers to a minimum.

One thing English speakers noticed was that in the Eucharistic prayer, the new Italian edition continues to say Jesus’ blood was poured out “per tutti” — “for all” — and not “per molti,” meaning “for many.”

The phrase, spoken by the priest as he raises the chalice and quotes Jesus at the Last Supper, is an example of where the new Italian Missal translation does not match the Italian bishops’ most recent Bible translation, which says, “per molti,” nor does it match exactly the original Latin, which says “pro multis.”

The translation of the phrase was strongly debated as bishops’ conferences around the world were making their translations. The English, Spanish and French translations of the missal use the equivalent of “for many.”

In 2001, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments published “Liturgiam Authenticam” (“The Authentic Liturgy”), which insisted on translations that were as close to literal translations of the Latin as possible. But in 2017, Pope Francis published “Magnum Principium” (“The Great Principle”), emphasizing the role of local bishops’ conferences in determining the best translations.

The document’s title refers to what Pope Francis called the “great principle” of the Second Vatican Council that the liturgy should be understood by the people at prayer, and therefore bishops were asked to prepare and approve translations of the texts.

 

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