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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JULY 9 - Saint Augustine Zhao Rong, Priest and Companions - MARTYRS

http://www.catholicnewsworld.com/2019/07/saint-july-9-st-augustine-zhao-rong-and.html

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HOMILY in Maltese from the Archbishop of Malta, Charles J. Scicluna. July 9th, 2020
 

OMELIJA - 9 ta' Lulju - San Wistin Zhao Rong u l-120 sħabu MARTRI. Ev: Mt 10:7-15 - Quddiesa u Rużarju

Quddiesa u Rużarju mmexxija mill-Arċisqof Charles J. Scicluna - 9 ta' Lulju, 2020, 9:30am --- https://youtu.be/OWku7GVkRW8 JULY 9th - St Augustine Zhao Rong, Priest and Companions, MARTYRS Xhieda ta’ Ġesù sal-aħħar qatra demm – L-Arċisqof Quddiesa offruta sabiex nilqgħu lill-barrani għaliex b'hekk inkunu qed nilqgħu lil Ġesù https://knisja.mt/xhieda-ta-gesu-sal-ahhar-qatra-demm-l-arcisqof/

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https://voiceofthesouthwest.org/saints-for-today-augustine-zhao-rong-companions-martyrs-17th-20th-c/

Feast Day: July 09.
Christianity arrived in China by way of Syria in the 600’s. Depending on China’s relations with the outside world. Christianity over the centuries was free to grow or was forced to operate secretly.
120 martyrs remembered on this day were killed during various periods of persecution in China between the beginning of the Manchu (Qing) dynasty in the mid-17th century and 1930. Most of them (87) were born in China and were children, parents, catechists or laborers, ranging from nine years of age to 72. This group includes four Chinese diocesan priests. The 33 foreign-born martyrs were mostly priests or women religious, especially from the Order of Preachers, the Paris Foreign Mission Society, the Friars Minor, Jesuits, Salesians, and Franciscan Missionaries of Mary.
The Christian persecutions before the Boxer Rebellion (an inti-imperialist uprising which took place in China) were largely the result of imperial edicts, which normally granted clemency if the accused apostatized, but few agreed to do so. Some were simply ferocious attacks on Christians during recurrent periods of Sino-Western tension.
Augustine Zhao Rong was a Chinese soldier who accompanied Bishop John Gabriel Taurin Dufresse (Parish Foreign Mission Society) on the way to his martyrdom in Beijing. Augustine became so impressed by the bishop’s saintliness that he asked to be baptized. He went on to continue missionary work, but was arrested in Chengdu in central China, and starved to death in prison in 1815. Beatified in groups at various times, these 120 martyrs were canonized by Pope Saint John Paul II in Rome on October 1, 2000.
The People’s Republic of China and the Roman Catholic Church each have well over a billion members. There are over 12 million Catholics in China. The reason why there are not more are better explained by historical conflicts than by a wholesale rejection of the Good News of Jesus Christ. The Chinese-born martyrs honored by today’s feast were regarded by their persecutors as dangerous because they were considered allies of enemy Catholic countries. The martyrs born outside China often tried to distance themselves from European political struggles relating to China, but their persecutors saw them as Westerners and therefore, by definition, anti-Chinese. The Good News of Jesus Christ is intended to benefit all peoples; these martyrs knew that. 21st-century Christians try to live in such a way that Chinese women and men will be attracted to hear that Good News and embrace it.








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JUNE 25, 2020 - Vatican publishes new guidelines for teaching catechism --- Conferenza Stampa di presentazione del Direttorio per la Catechesi

New Directory for Catechesis is “a joyful event in the life of the Church"
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2020-06/archbishop-fisichella-new-directory-for-catechesis-is-a-joyful.html

The Pontifical Council for Promotion of the New Evangelization presents the new Directory for Catechesis during a press conference held in the Vatican on Thursday.

By Vatican News
“The publication of a Directory for Catechesis is a joyful event in the life of the Church.” These were the opening words of Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promotion of the New Evangelization, during a press conference in the Vatican organized on the occasion of the release of a new Directory for Catechesis on Thursday.
Presenting the Directory, Archbishop Fisichella said the new edition, the third since the Second Vatican Council, is the result of a wide international consultation. 
The new Directory for Catechesis was released in Italian on Thursday. It will be also published in other major languages.
Other speakers at the press conference included Archbishop Octavio Ruiz Arenas and Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, Delegate for Catechesis and Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promotion of the New Evangelization respectively.

     Read also

 New Directory for Catechesis released

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2020-06/vatican-publishes-new-directory-for-catechesis.html

25/06/2020

Background

Archbishop Fisichella notes that “the need for a new Directory was born of the process of inculturation which characterizes catechesis in a particular way and which, especially today, demands a special focus.”
He cites the example of the global phenomenon of the digital culture, pointing out that the instruments created in the last decade manifest a “radical transformation of behaviors” that influence “the formation of personal identity and interpersonal relations.” This new model of communication and formation “also affects the Church in the complex world of education.”
Theological and ecclesial reasons have also contributed to the preparation of the new Directory. Fisichella recalls that several recent synods have consistently treated the theme of evangelization and catechesis. Pope Francis also picked up the theme in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium during the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
“Catechesis, therefore, must be united intimately with the work of evangelization and cannot be separated from it,” Fisichella affirms. This is because “Evangelization is the task that the Risen Lord has entrusted His Church in order to be, in the time of every age, the faithful announcement of his Gospel.”

“Kerygmatic Catechesis”

“The heart of catechesis is the proclamation of the person of Jesus Christ,” Fisichella said. Jesus “surpasses the limits of space and time to present Himself to each generation as the good news offered to reach the meaning of life,” he added.
Fisichella points out that in light of Evangelii gaudium, the Directory supports a “kerygmatic catechesis” because “primacy belongs to evangelization, not to catechesis.” 
Therefore, the proclamation of the person of Jesus (the kerygma) is also an proclamation of the mercy of God directed at the sinner, who is no longer excluded, but rather a privileged guest at the banquet of salvation.

Varying themes

Fisichella explains that the Directory unfolds by touching on various themes.
The first — mystagogy­ — is presented through two elements: a renewed appraisal of the liturgical signs of Christian initiation, and the progressive maturation of the formation process, which involves the whole community. 
Another theme is the link between evangelization and the catechumenate. This highlights the urgency of a “pastoral conversion” to free catechesis from elements that prevent its effectiveness. 
Reiterating Pope Francis’s words in Evangelii gaudium, when he encouraged formation using in the “way of beauty” (via pulchritudinis), Fisichella points out that the Directory “has placed the way of beauty as one of the ‘sources’ of catechesis.”
The Archbishop also highlights that the Directory strives to “insert us progressively into the mystery of the faith.” He points out that this characteristic cannot be limited to a single dimension; rather catechesis can guide us to accept and live the mystery “completely in our daily existence.”
In his intervention, Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst said that the Directory is attentive to the signs of the times and interprets them in the light of the Gospel. He pointed out that it gives courage to the content of faith and underlines the importance of catechesis in the wider process of evangelization. He also hopes that many local churches would be inspired to develop their own diocesan directories based on this new Directory.
Concluding, Archbishop Fisichella said he hopes the new Directory will be of assistance for the “renewal of catechesis in the process of evangelization that the Church has not tired of carrying out.”

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Vatican publishes new guidelines for teaching catechism

Giovedì 25 giugno 2020, alle ore 11.30 Conferenza Stampa di presentazione del Direttorio per la Catechesi redatto dal Pontificio Consiglio per la Promozione della Nuova Evangelizzazione


Conferenza Stampa di presentazione del Direttorio per la Catechesi

ALSO:
New Directory for Catechesis released
http://www.pcpne.va/content/pcpne/en/news/2020-06-25.html









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