On Missions, Missionary Saints, and Martyrs
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Last week’s post had a variety of topics with
a focus on information on saints and the process
of naming them. A news item from Zenit featured
the program of the holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI,
on his schedule of celebrating 506 beatifications
these months of October to November. This gave us
the opportunity to give you also information on
the process of naming saints: beatification and
canonization. There was also a page which featured
the study of saints’ lives, more particularly
called hagiography. We had also created a page
with an email form so that you can submit suggestions
for topics that we can develop as content in the
web site. This can help you if you need information
on something specific to what you are looking for,
or if you have a web log or a web site, it can be
a source of ideas for your site. To review the
information from last week’s post, you can click
here.
This week’s post focuses on mission, as World
Mission Sunday was celebrated last October 21,
2007. There are three items on mission in today’s
post: a news item from Zenit, an article on the
courageous example of five missionary saints to
the New World [Americas], and a page featuring
the very rare bravery of three missionary martyrs:
Charles Lwanga, Peter Mary Chanel, and Paul Miki.
Aside from these items on mission, we also have
two items on World Youth Day: one is a link to
the Vatican web site that gives information on
the XXIII World Youth Day which will be held next
July 2008 at Sydney, Australia; another is an
item that relates how this Catholic international
event was started by John Paul II. These and other
items are given in the list below:
This post features:
- XXIII World Youth Day
July 15-20, 2008, Sydney - Page for Information
from the Vatican web site - An International Catholic
event Organized by John Paul II - On Mission, Peace and
Justice - Zenit News - Lectionary Readings for
the 30th Sunday of the Year, Year C - Five Missionary Saints
to the Americas - Ideas for Optimizing
Your Time and Resources - Three Missionary Martyrs
and Their Stories of Rare Courage
XXIII World Youth Day
Given on this feed item is a link to the Vatican’s
page on the coming XXIII World Youth Day in Sydney,
Australia next year, July 15-20, 2008. In the page
is a link to an information sheet that is given in
the English, French, Italian and Spanish languages.
The theme for next year’s World Youth Day is: “You
will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come
upon you; and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8).
The message for this international event is given in
20 languages: Albanian, Burmese, Cambodian, Chinese,
Czech, English, Filipino, French, German, Greek,
Italian, Macedonian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian,
Serbian, Spanish, Thai, Ukrainian, Vietnamese.
These international events were made very popular by
the late John Paul II, who is very popular among the
youth of the world.
An International Event
World Youth Day is a new tradition in the Catholic
Church that has its origins in 1984 when Pope John
Paul called the youth to a gathering in Rome during
the International Jubilee of Youth. This gathering
inspired him to call the first official World Youth
Day that was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the
year 1987. Since then, ‘World Youth Days’ were held
in different parts of the world with the next one
scheduled to be held in Sydney, Australia in July
2008. World Youth Days are meant for the Church to
gather the youths from all parts of the world so that
they can share their Catholic faith with other youths
of their generation but of other cultures. It is an
opportunity for them to create ties of friendship
and peace between them and their families.
On Missions, Peace and Justice
This news line from Zenit tells us of the message
of the holy father for World Mission Sunday. His
message touched on many things: spiritual and
material support for those in the frontline of
missions; on the subject of peace as he addressed
the Community of Sant’Egidio who are organizing
their meeting with the theme: “Toward a World
Without Violence - Religions and Cultures in
Dialogue”; and an invocation of prayer to the
Blessed Virgin Mother who this October is especially
venerated not only by Catholics all over the world
but also particularly by pilgrims who have travelled
from Caserta to honor her at the shrine of Pompeii
as the “Queen of the Rosary”.
Lectionary Readings
The Sunday just passed, the 29th Sunday of the Year,
had told us of the story of Moses, Joshua, and their
battle with Amalek and his soldiers. It told us
also of how Paul taught Timothy of the usefulness
of scriptures for training in holiness. Then in
the gospel reading, it showed us that our prayers
must be like the persistence of the widow who wanted
a hearing before a corrupt judge. Next Sunday, the
30th sunday of the Year, Year C, the lectionary
readings are taken from the book of Sirach, from
the second letter to Timothy [once more], and
still continuing on with the gospel of Luke. In
the book of Sirach, we find this wisdom book tell
us that the Lord listens very well to the prayer
of a lowly and humble man. Then in the second letter
of Paul to Timothy, we are shown how Paul expresses
the strength of his faith in God, who, despite being
abandoned, felt still so much that God is on his
side and continues to strengthen him. Lastly,
in the gospel of Luke, we have the popular story
of two men constrasted: the pharisee and the publican.
Five Missionary Saints
There were many missionary saints to the New World.
In this page are a selection of five of them - a
majority of whom were born in the European mainland
but were sent to the Americas to Christianize the
colonies and the natives. The five missionary and
pioneering saints in this selection are: St. Martin
de Porres and St. Turibius de Mogrovejo to Lima,
Peru; St. Peter Claver to Cartagena, Colombia;
St. Marguerite Bourgeoys to Montreal, Canada; and
St. John Neumann to New York, USA. Great acts of
charity and accomplishments accompany the work of
these men and one valiant woman. It was their
work that laid some of the groundwork and the
foundation for the Christianization of the New
World.
Ideas For Optimization
Whether you are using the Net just to obtain
information or if you have started already a web
log, here are three simple ideas that can help in
optimizing your time and resources. One is the
planning and organization of your files in your
web hosting account. Another is defragmenting
your computer’s main hard disk so that it works
faster and more efficiently. And lastly, we can
also schedule our time for work and relaxation
so as to devote time for prayer so that our
presence on the Net - whether in forums or in
our web log, can reflect the spirit of a
well-managed prayer life.
Three Missionary Martyrs
Tertullian, who died in 240 A.D., was quoted as saying
to the persecutors of Christianity: “We multiply whenever
we are mown down by you; the blood of Christians is seed.”
What Tertullian said is true and has become a reality
in the missionary lives of three martyrs: St. Charles
Lwanga, St. Peter Mary Chanel, and St. Paul Miki. These
missionaries lived in lands that were not yet Christianized
and whose kings and rulers were against the spreading of
this religion. Just as Christ sacrificed His life for
the life of the Church, so did these three martyrs
sacrificed their lives so that the Christian faith may
flourish in the lands they preached the gospel.
