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Pope reminisces on fruits of papal visit to India and Georgia

    In his most recent regular weekly Wednesday Papal Audience, and first from St. Peter's in three weeks, Pope John Paul II paused to reflect on his recent trip East to India and to Georgia , extolling great hope for what is on the horizon for Asia, including India and Georgia. He pinpointed the enthusiasm and faith of the people who are at the crossroads on the eve of a new millennium. For the Pope's words on his talk, "Crossroads on the eve of the new millennium," click on THE VICAR OF CHRIST SPEAKS.

Crossroads on the eve of the new millennium

Papal Audience Address from Wednesday, October 17, 1999

    On this past Wednesday, the Holy Father addressed over 12,000 in St. Peter's Square in recalling the fruits of his trip last week to India to officially close the Asian Synod and then to Georgia where he met with the Orthodox Patriarch in efforts to reconcile between East and West in the country that stands at the crossroads between East and West.

    Dear Brothers and Sisters,

    I would like today to pause over my recent visit to India and Georgia. Recalling this trip offers me the opportunity to thank first of all the Heavenly Father, "for whom and through whom all things exist" (Hebrews 2:10). With his help, I was able to accomplish this task of my service to the Gospel and to the cause of Christian unity.

    The first stop on my spiritual pilgrimage was the city of New Delhi in India, for the signing and promulgation of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, "Ecclesia in Asia". In this document I harvested the fruit of the study and proposals of the Special Assembly for the Synod of Bishops for Asia, which took place in Rome in 1998. India is the cradle of ancient cultures, religions and spiritual traditions, that are continuing to mold the lives of millions of people, in a social context characterized by centuries of a notable degree of reciprocal tolerance. Christianity, which accounts for a considerable part of this history of peaceful relations, has been there since the preaching of the apostle Thomas, according to the Christians of Southern India.

    Today this spirit of reciprocal respect has for some become difficult. It was therefore important to reaffirm the lively desire of the Church for a fruitful dialogue among the followers of all religions, that they may bring renewed relations of understanding and of solidarity to the service of the entire human family.

2. The synodal document "Ecclesia in Asia" helps us to understand that this interreligious dialogue and the mandate of the Church to spread the Gospel unto the ends of the earth are not mutually exclusive, but on the contrary, complementary. On the one hand, the proclamation of the Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ must always be deeply respectful of the consciences of those hearing it, and respectful of all that is good and holy in the culture and religious tradition to which they belong (cf "Nostra Aetate", 2). On the other hand, freedom of conscience and the free exercise of religion in society are fundamental human rights, rooted in the innate value and dignity of every person. This is recognized in many international documents and accords, including the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man.

    I warmly recall the Mass that I concelebrated with numerous Bishops of India and of many countries of Asia in the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Sunday, November 7th. Once again I thank Archbishop Alan de Lastic and the Archdiocese of Delhi for their organization of the solemn liturgy, marked by lively and devout participation, and vivified by carefully chosen songs and multicolored traditional, local dances. The theme of the Mass was: "Jesus Christ, True Light of the World, Made Flesh on Asian Soil". In this Eucharistic celebration the Catholic community of India represented, in a certain sense, all Asian Catholics, to whom I have entrusted the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation "Ecclesia in Asia" as a guide for their spiritual growth, on the threshold of the new millennium. I am certain that, with the grace of God, they will know how to be strong and faithful!

3. The second stop on my journey was Georgia, in order to return the visit that President Shevardnadze and His Holiness Ilia II, Patriarch-Catholicos of Georgia, had made earlier to Rome. It was my ardent desire to honor the witness of the Georgian Church over the centuries, and to make new points of contact among the Christians so that, as we begin the third Christian millennium, they will be able to strive together to proclaim the Gospel with one heart and one soul to the world.

    Georgia is going through a very important period. While it is preparing to celebrate 3,000 years of its history in a context of refound independence, it is facing great economical and social challenges. However, it is determined to confront these challenges with courage, and to become a reliable member of a united Europe. Christian Georgia has a millenarian and glorious history. It began in the fourth century when the witness of a woman, Saint Nino, converted King Mirian and the entire nation to Christ. From that time on, a flowering monastic tradition gave to this land lasting monuments of culture, civilization and religious architecture. An example is the Cathedral of Mtsketa, which I was able to visit in the company of the Patriarch-Catholicos after our warm, personal meeting.

4. And now, after seventy years of communist repression during which many Orthodox and Catholic martyrs gave heroic witness to their faith, the little but fervent Catholic community of Caucasus is progressively strengthening its life and structure. The joy that I observed among the priests, religious and laity, who gathered in unexpected numbers for the Mass in Tbilisi Stadium, is a sign of sure hope for the Church's future throughout the region. Our meeting in the Church of SS. Peter and Paul in Tbilisi, the only Catholic church which remained open during the time of totalitarianism, was a particularly joyous occasion. I pray that the Catholics of Georgia may always be able to offer their specific contribution to the building up of their homeland.

    An intense moment of reflection was the meeting with men and women of the worlds of the culture, science and art, presided over by President Shevardnadze and deepened by the presence of the Patriarch-Catholicos, to reflect on the specific vocation of Georgia, at the crossroads of East and West. As I recalled during this meeting, the century that is about to conclude, marked by many shadows but also characterized by light, bears witness to the indomitable strength of the human spirit, which is able to triumph over those who would suffocate the irrevocable aspiration of man toward truth and liberty.

5. I thank the civil authorities and those in both countries who worked to make this a profitable and peaceful visit. With a moved and grateful heart I think of the bishops, priests, religious and laity of India and Georgia, and I keep an unforgettable memory of them all.

    To Mary, Mother of the Church, I entrust those whom I met; to Her I recommend the Church in Asia and in Caucasus, "confiding fully in her ear that always hears, in her heart that always accepts, in her prayer that never fails" ("Ecclesia in Asia", 51).

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Appreciation of the Last Judgment

"We believe...in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting"
(7th and 12th Articles of the Apostles' Creed).

    Today we continue with our new series in the search to uncover the wonderful treasures of the Church contained in the great Deposit of Faith. We begin today a short two-parter on the Last or General Judgment when the Almighty Judge Jesus Christ will mete out His Mercy and Justice for the final time and our bodies will be reunited with our souls either in Heavenly bliss or eternal damnation. The choice of where we spend eternity is totally up to us. For the fifty-seventh installment, click on APPRECIATING THE PRECIOUS GIFT OF OUR FAITH

THE LAST JUDGMENT

    The Last or General Judgment will take place at the end of the world. It is a public repetition of the particular judgment. Then all that each has thought, said, done, or omitted will be known to everybody. The just will receive their reward, and the wicked will be punished. At the General Judgment Jesus Christ, the King of kings will be the Judge. Then complete justice will be meted out to all, to the souls united with the bodies.

    The judgment which will be passed on all men immediately after the general resurrection is called the General Judgment or the Last Judgment.

    The Last or General Judgment will take place at the end of the world, but when that will be, no man knows. "But of that day and hour n one knows not even the angels of Heaven, but the Father only" (Matthew 24:36). After the Asacension angels told the Apostles that Christ will come again as Judge: "This Jesus Who has been taken up from you into Heaven willl come in the same way, as you have seen Him going up to Heaven" (Acts 1:11).

    Our Lord predicted that sign will precede the Last Judgment, which He Himself described; He will be the Judge.

(a)The Gospel will be preached in the whole world. "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world, for a witness to all nations; and then will come the end" (Matthew 24:14).

(b) There will be a great apostasy from faith; people will lose themselves in evil. "Yet when the Son of Man comes, will He find, do you think, faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8). "And as it came to pass in the days of Noah, even so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. In the same wise will it be on the day that the Son of Man is revealed" (Luke 17:26-27, 30).

(c) The antichrist will appear and work false miracles. St. Paul speaks of "the man of sin - the son of perdition, who opposes and is exalted above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sits in the temple of God, and gives himself out as if he were God" (2 Thessalonians 2:4).

    On the last day these events will take place:
The earth and the Heavens will show signs: the stars will fall. In the Heavens the sign of the Son of Man will appear. It is believed that this sign is the Cross. "…And then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven" (Matthew 24:30).

    Jesus Christ, in great power and majesty, accompanied by the angels, will come in the clouds of Heaven. "For as the lightning comes forth from the east and shines even to the west, so also will the coming of the Sonof Man be...And they will see the Son of Man coming upon the clouds of Heaven with great power and majesty" (Matthew 24:27, 30).

    The trumpet will sound, and all the dead will spring to life in a moment; they will be instantly reuinted to their souls, and come to judgment. "Behold, I come quickly - to render to each one according to his works" (Apocalypse/Revelation 22:12). "And He will send forth His angels with a trumpet and a great sound, and they will gather His elect from the four winds" (Matthew 24:31).

    From these statements we are not to conclude that everybody will perceive the Divine essence at the day of judgment. This cannot happen without completeness of joy; and the wicked can never see God.

    The lost souls will "see God" behind some kind of veil so that they do not delight in His divinity; they will have some kind of perception of His Majesty, and recognize His justice.

    Although every one is judged immediately after death, it is fitting that there be a general judgment, in order that the justice, wisdom, and mercy of God may be glorified in the presence of all.

Tomorrow: The Last Judgement - part two

    Today is the 36th anniversary of the death of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the first Catholic president of the United States, who was shot by snipers during his motorcade in Dallas on this date. Kennedy met with Monsignor Wolf of the Fort Worth Diocese during a prayer breakfast that same fateful morning hours before he was shot. For more on Kennedy, see 63rd selection of the TOP 100 CATHOLICS OF THE CENTURY. For other time capsule events that happened in Church history on this date, click on MILLENNIUM MILESTONES AND MEMORIES

Historical Events in Church Annals for November 22:

Feast of Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr

365 A.D.


Death of Saint Felix II the antipope who was a good and holy man and history shows he was a staunch supporter of the Nicene Creed and opposed Arianism, even though it was the Arians who put him on the throne. He is the only antipope who was declared a saint in the Roman martyrology.

498 A.D.


Pope Saint Symmachus begins his reign as the 51st successor of Peter. During his sixteen year pontificate he would consolidate Church property refering to it as permanent benefices for the use of the clergy. He also was known for ransoming all the slaves and giving them their freedom. It is Symmachus who is attributed with the first construction of the Vatican Palace.

1221 A.D.


Pope Honorius III crowns Frederick II of Hohenstaufen Holy Roman Emperor. This would come back to haunt not just the Pope but all of Holy Mother Church in the great struggles between the Guelphs who represented the pro-papal party and the Ghibbelines who were pro-imperial and against the Church.

1963 A.D.


Death of the John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the first Catholic president of the United States. He was shot while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas.

1987 A.D.


Pope John Paul II beatifies 85 martyrs who died for their faith during the persecution of Catholics in the British Isles between 1584 and 1689.

1992 A.D.


Pope John Paul II beatifies Blessed Cristobal Magellanes and his 24 companion Mexican martyrs along with Blessed Maria de Jesus Sacramentado Venegas.

   Today is the Feast of Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr and acknowledged patron saint of musicians and singers. Tomorrow we commemorate the thirty-fourth and final Tuesday in Ordinary Time along with the triad feasts of Pope Saint Clement I and Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro, Martyrs, and Saint Columban, Abbot and Missionary. For the readings, liturgies, meditations, and vignette on these feasts, click on DAILY LITURGY.

Monday, November 22, 1999

Monday November 22: Feast of Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr

Red vestments

First Reading: Daniel 1: 1-6, 8-20
Psalms: Daniel 3: 52-56
Gospel Reading: Luke 21: 1-4

Feast of Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr

    Born into a Patrician family in Rome and raised a Christian, Saint Cecilia still was afforded all the luxury of a family of wealth in pagan Rome. Though she had disgarded this way of life,l vowing herself to virginity, her father thought otherwise and forced her to marry a young pagan man by the name of Valerian. During the pagan nuptial ceremony songs of merriment and sensuality were played, but Cecilia didn't hear it for her heart was dedicated to God alone and that was her song as the Acts of of St. Cecilia proclaim, "While instruments were playing (at her wedding feast) profane music, Cecilia sang rather to God in her heart." Because of this she has been chosen patron saint of music and musicians. On their wedding night Cecilia disclosed her vow to her new husband and rather than going into a rage, Valerian, who loved her dearly, was converted by a vision of St. Cecilia's guardian angel and forever honored her vow of virginity, not consummating their marriage. He became so enraptured with Christianity that he converted his brother Tiburtius. Both dedicated their lives to carrying for the survivors of loved ones who had been martyred as well as burying the martyrs. Caught by the Roman guards burying the martyrs they were arrested by the prefect Almachius who ordered them to sacrifice to the gods. When they refused both Valerian and Tiburtius were beheaded along with Saint Maximus who was converted on the spot, so impressed by their faith and determination. When Cecilia brought the three bodies back to her villa along the Appian Way to be buried there, she, too, was arrested. The guards tried to suffocate her in her room, but she miraculously survived. When brought before the prefect, Almachius tried to dissuade her from her ideals as he did with her husband, but Cecilia would have nothing to do with the world, the flesh and the devil. He then ordered that she also be decapitated, but the executioner bungled the job and Cecilia was not killed instantly, but rather lingered in pain for three days before expiring around September 16, 235. Dates vary among historians, some placing it as early as 230, others 250 but research shows Valerian, Tiburtius, and Maximus died during the end of the reign of the Roman Emperor Alexander who ruled between 222 and 235. Therefore the most accurate date would be 235. Commemoration of St. Cecilia began in the 600's after they discovered facts about her inscribed on the walls of the catacomb of Saint Callistus. Pope Paschal I dedicated the basilica of St. Cecilia in Trastevere in Rome in 824 where he transfered her relics and commissioned a mosaic depicting Cecilia standing between Valerian and Tiburtius.

Tuesday November 23:
Thirty-fourth Tuesday in Ordinary Time and
Feast of Pope Saint Clement I, Martyr and
Feast of Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro, Priest and Martyr and
Feast of Saint Columban, Abbot and Missionary

Green, red or white vestments

First Reading: Daniel 2: 31-45
Psalms: Daniel 3: 57-61
Gospel Reading: Luke 21: 5-11

November 23: SAINT CLEMENT I, Pope and Martyr

The third successor of Saint Peter, and fourth pope Pope Saint Clement I was elected pontiff in 88 AD. He ruled the See of Rome for most of the last decade of the First Century. During that time he restored the Sacrament of Confirmation as St. Peter had instructed. He also is the one who assigned the popular phrase "Amen" which means "so be it" at the end of all prayers. Clement authored many letters, specifically to the Corinthians in which he capsulized the role of the Church in rebuking schism, "They who are great," he wrote, "cannot yet subsist without those that are little, nor the little without the great. In our body, the head without the feet is nothing, neither the feet without the head. And the smallest members of our body are useful and necessary to the whole." Fearing his influence, the Roman Emperor Trajan had Cement exiled to the Crimea. There the Holy Father converted so many that the enraged Emperor had him carted out to sea and there, with an anchor tied around his neck, cast into the depths of the Mediterranean. He has been venerated ever since the end of the 4th Century in the basilica of St. Clement in Rome.

November 23: BLESSED MIGUEL AGUSTIN PRO, Presbyter and Martyr

Venerated throughout Mexico, Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro was a Jesuit priest who was martyred during the Church persecutions early in this century. Born in the shadow of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1891, Miguel entered the Jesuit seminary. Throughout his life Miguel was a victim soul, suffering much in reparation for others. He suffered particularly severe stomach ailments. While in the Mexican novitiate in 1911, revolution broke out and by 1914 the Jesuits feared for their lives. Miguel, along with many of his colleagues, were sent first to Laredo, Texas to continue their studies, then to California. They were then sent by the Provincial to Nicaragua, but were soon called to Spain. In his final year of studies, as a deacon, Miguel was assigned to Belgium where he was ordained in 1925. He was reassigned to his beloved Mexico City but within a month the Mexican regime banned all public worship. In secret Father Pro ministered to the faithful, always staying a step ahead of the government spies. However, in November 1927 a car which had been previously owned by one of Miguel's brothers was seen tossing a bomb toward Mexican President Calles' car along Paseo de la Reforma. Needless to say all the Pro brothers were arrested and a kangaroo court condemned them to a firing squad. The youngest brother, at the eleventh hour, was granted a reprieve and exiled to the U.S. Miguel and his other brother were not so fortunate and they were both marched into the courtyard on November 23, 1927. There, as the government rifles were aimed at the two men, Father Miguel stretched out his arms wide proclaiming in a loud, clear voice: "Viva Cristo Rey!" which in English means "Long live Christ the King!" Shots rang out and within seconds Miguel had joined the long list of martyrs. Three years later a campaign for his beatification was begun. He is still waiting canonization. With his devotion to "Cristo Rey" it is fitting that he is honored right around the Solemnity of Christ the King. For more on Blessed Miguel, see Blessed Miguel Pro - one of the Top 100 Catholics of the Century

November 23: SAINT COLUMBAN, Abbot and Missionary

Born in West Leinster, Ireland around 540, Saint Columban was a product of the fruits of Saint Patrick's missionary efforts. Though Columban's mother objected to his entering the monastery at Bango, he did, becoming a monk. With 12 other monks he was sent to evangelize France in 585, then still called Gaul. Five years later Columban was given land to contruct a monastery at Annegray and followed that with two more houses in Luxeuil and Fontaines. Soon after he had followers through most of Western Europe who built like monasteries in upper France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. With the number of monks swelling to well over 250, St. Columban penned a Rule for the monks in addition to a guide for confessors called a Penitentiary. Because of his origins, Columban installed Celtic usages in the monastery which he defended as exempt from the bishop's jurisdiction. Angered by this, the bishops expelled him from France in 603 after Columban had written Pope Saint Gregory the Great defending his position against the impositions placed on him by the Gallican bishops. He settled in Burgundy in the south part of France but was soon banished from there along with all his monks because he refused to act as celebrant for King Theodoric II who would not give up his concubines. Returning to Ireland by sea, Columban was shipwrecked and was offered refuge by King Theodebert II of Neustria, where he went to Metz, east of Paris in Northern France evangelizing the Alemanni around the area of Bregenz. All was going well until his old nemesis Theodoric waged war on Theodebert and captured the land. Columban again had to flee, this time going east through Switzerland and south through the Italian Alps where he was welcomed by Milanese King Agilulf who was an Arian Lombard. Soon after Columban founded the monastery of Bobbio in the Lombard mountains south of Milan and just north of Genoa near the Mediterranean. There he wrote the Monastic Rule, and many treatises against the Arian heresy. Bobbio became one of the great monasteries of that time period, a center of culture for learning and spirituality. Columban died on November 23, 615 at the age of 72. In 1969, Pope Paul VI proclaimed his feast be celebrated in the Roman Calendar on November 23rd.

SIMPLY SHEEN:No material possession can replace the Infinite

      They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but the words of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen have been known to launch a thousand images in one's mind, one of the ways this late luminary did so much to evangelize the faith. Because of the urgency of the times and because few there are today who possess the wisdom, simplicity and insight than the late Archbishop who touched millions, we are bringing you daily gems from his writings. The good bishop makes it so simple that we have dubbed this daily series: "SIMPLY SHEEN".

"The more people own beyond the limit of things they can personalize and love, the more they will suffer boredom, ennui and satiety. Yet men and women are forever trying to add to their possessions far beyond the limit of enjoyment. This is because of their mistaken belief that their hunger for the Infinity can be satisfied by an infinity of material things: what they really wish for is the Infinity of Divine Love."

     With the messages completed, you can now order the book that contains ALL the messages. This much-anticipated 224-page book of ALL the messages to the world imparted to the Hidden Flower of the Immaculate Heart from the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a lasting gift to inspire you in your faith, and all God asks of us. You can acquire your own handsome, coffee-table top copy of "I SOLEMNLY TELL YOU..." containing all 632 messages or the THE HIDDEN WAY with 100 inspirational Meditative Lessons on Church Doctrine by clicking on "I SOLEMNLY TELL YOU..."

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November 22, 1999 volume 10, no. 221  DAILY CATHOLIC