Immaculate Conception of Mary

We celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception on 8 December. What does the Church teaching say about Immaculate Conception? The Church teaches us that from the very moment of her conception, the Blessed Virgin Mary was free from all stain of original sin. Mary was in a state of grace whilst she was conceived in the womb of her mother, St. Anne. In our case, original sin is removed from our soul by baptism but in the case of Mary, this sin wasn’t there at all, rather she was in the state of original sanctity, innocence, and justice, as opposed to original sin.

The primary understanding of Immaculate Conception comes from two scriptural references, namely, 1. In the book of Genesis 3:15, we see the parallel between Mary and Eve. “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed: he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” If there was an enmity between the woman and the serpent, she never should have been in any way subject to him even briefly, this implies an Immaculate Conception.

2 In the Gospel of Luke 1:28, the angel calls her ‘full of grace’. Mary was full of grace, which means she must not have not submitted to evil one. Hence, she must have been conceived immaculate.

In 1854, Pope Pius IX in his Bull Ineffabilis Deus proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception: “we declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which asserts that the Blessed Virgin Mary, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God, and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from every stain of original sin is a doctrine revealed by God and, for this reason, must be firmly and constantly believed by all the faithful.” (DS 2803). This constitution affirmed Immaculate Conception of Mary on 8 December 1854. Therefore, we celebrate this feast on 8 December. This day also is the feast of the Cathedral of our Diocese.

Mary was sanctified in her mother’s womb because Word had to make flesh, in other words, Son of God had to be born in the womb of Mary. The Mother of the Redeemer had to be free from the power of sin and God gave her this privilege to the God-Bearer.

Immaculate Mary is our model in the Church. Let us take her example of immaculate in our own ways in this life. We are called to be immaculate, free of sin, pure and without blemish. We are also called to live a life worthy of God. If God has to make his home in us, we have to be sinless as Mary was by being faithful to God’s call to each one of us.

I would like to encourage all of us to be God-bearers for which we need to immaculate or pure. We are God-bearers when we receive Holy Eucharist, for which we need to prepare ourselves and be clean of every stain. We shall ask our Lady to pray for us with her Son to consolidate us in our faith in the Holy Communion and that we might become truly carriers of Christ in our lives. This way, let our life be perpetually and intimately related to God, and thus remains holy.

The Assumption of Mary: Certain Hope of resurrection

The fourth Glorious Mystery of the Rosary is The Assumption. This week, let us reflect on the dogma (teaching) about the Assumption. We have reflected on other three dogmas on Mother Mary in the last three weeks. Pope Pius XII proclaimed this Marian dogma on November 1, 1950 in his encyclical called Munificentissimus Deus.

The dogma states "Mary, Immaculate Mother of God ever Virgin, after finishing the course of her life on earth, was taken up in body and soul to heavenly glory." This definition as well as that of the Immaculate Conception makes not only reference to the universal, certain and firm consent of the Magisterium but makes allusion to the concordant belief of the faithful. The Assumption had been a part of the Church's spiritual and doctrinal patrimony for centuries. It had been part of theological reflection but also of the liturgy and was part of the sense of the faithful.

God has willed that the Blessed Virgin Mary should be exempted from this general rule which is, God does not will to grant to the just the full effect of the victory over death until the end of time has come. And so it is that the bodies of even the just are corrupted after death, and only on the last day will they be joined, each to its own glorious soul. She, by an entirely unique privilege, completely overcame sin by her Immaculate Conception, and as a result she was not subject to the law of remaining in the corruption of the grave, and she did not have to wait until the end of time for the redemption of her body.

After the apostles had dispersed, the Blessed Mother goes to live with John, the beloved disciple of Jesus. She becomes a source of comfort, consolation and strength to the apostles; hence, she nourishes the Church through her unceasing intercession. We have known that Mother Mary was without sin through her immaculate conception; hence, corruption of the body of Mary is exempted because she was free of original sin.

A distinction needs to be made between Ascension and Assumption. Jesus Christ, Son of God and Risen Lord, ascended into heaven, a sign of divine power. Mary, on the contrary, was elevated or assumed into heaven by the power and grace of God.

She is taken up into heaven and she fulfills her salvific duties by interceding for us in the Church. By her maternal love she cares for the brothers and sisters of her Son who still journey on earth. Mary is the “eschatological icon of the Church” (CCC 972), meaning the Church contemplates in Mary her won end of times, that is to encourage the children of God that we have hope of the resurrection after we have completed our journey on earth.

The Holy Trinity: A family of Love

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Trinity which is a mystery difficult to comprehend.  In our daily life we begin every one of our prayers, activities, programmes or works with the sign of the cross and call upon God, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Even though we remember the Trinity several times a day, it is difficult to comprehend the full meaning because the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit we invoke constitute a great Mystery.  The Mystery of the Most Holy Trinity consists of this: the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are not three Gods, but only one God with three attributes.  We have Father who is the creator, Son, the redeemer and Holy Spirit the sanctifier and the counselor. This is the Mystery of the Trinity of Persons in the one God. If one were to seek for a comparison in order to try to grasp a little of this mystery, the only one that is completely adequate is that which Jesus himself gave us, when he said that just as the living Father has sent him, he is sending out his disciples.  They have to go and baptize all in the name of the Trinity.  He also tells us that he and the father are one and he will send the Spirit on the Apostles who will counsel and guide them in the mission.

The feast of the Holy Trinity reminds us that God is a family of love. We are dealing here not just with some terribly abstract theological doctrine, still less with a mathematical contradiction but that we proclaim our firm belief that in one God there are three Persons. What Scripture reveals to us is a unity of three real persons. Of course, to try to understand fully how one God can be three Persons is not really possible for us. We need our faith and our trust in the word of God that this Trinitarian God is always in our life who guides us protects us and makes our being a reality. Therefore St Paul tells us that the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us. The Paraclete will do in them two things: first he will guide the disciples to all truth and second, he will declare to the disciples the things that are to come.  The Holy Spirit will not predict the future; but he will proclaim the teachings of Jesus in the new and changing circumstances in the lives of the disciples.  Through the presence and teaching of the Holy Spirit, the teachings of Jesus will always be fresh and new to every generation of believers.  This is how the Paraclete will glorify Jesus.

Trinity reminds us of relationship, relationship between Father son and Holy Spirit. This relationship is bonded with love. It is the Trinity of love. This same love of the trinity created this universe and created you and me because we are created in the image and likeness of God. Hence we too take part in the Trinity. The trinity ordained that you and me remain with him always. The love of the Trinity created each one of us as the children of God. God expects us to continue that relationship with each other always without any distinction because God didn't make distinctions for everyone was created in the image and likeness of God. Then why do we as humans make distinction? Are we gods to make distinctions? In the eyes of God we are all children and we do share in the Trinity. We share the responsibility of the Trinity to remain faithful to each other. But sometimes we like to make and break relationships, we break relationship of love with our self vested interest or for selfish motives. God wants us to keep the relationship with each other always. In this way we share in Gods plan for his creation or we cooperate in Gods plan for the humanity. Some times we hear husbands giving hard time for their wives or vice versa because of bad habits or infidelity and so on. Children break relationship with their parents for various reasons which brings sadness and ill feeling in the family. 

As we celebrate the jubilee of the nation we ask Lord give us the strength to remain in relationship and keep our family bonds stronger. May the Trinity help us to be strong in our faith. This way we build the kingdom of God here on earth by loving each other. 

Mary, Mother of God

Month of May brings us closer to God through our Lady, Mother of God. I would like to enshrine a few aspects of Mother Mary as taught by the Church. This week, let us look at our Lady as the Mother of God, Theotokos. Why do we call her Mother of God?

From the early Church (A.D. 189) St. Irenaeus attributes this title of Mother of God in these words, “The Virgin Mary, being obedient to his word, received from an angel the glad tidings that she would bear God.” Mary has been called Theotokos, or ‘God-Bearer” (Mother of God). The word in Greek is Theotokos. This tittle was given to Mary as a response to early threats to ‘orthodoxy’, the preservation of authentic Christian teaching.

These threats included Bishop of Constantinople named Nestorius and his followers who insisted on calling Mary only the Mother of the Christ, which undermined that Christ is both divine and human. Therefore, Christ’s two natures of divine and human were threatened. To overrule this understanding, the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD declared that everyone must confess that God is truly Emmanuel, and that on this account the holy virgin is the Theotokos, for according to the flesh she gave birth to the word of God become flesh by birth. The Council declared this in order to safeguard the Christological understanding that Christ is both divine and human.

Cyril of Alexandria in the early 5^th Century was amazed at some of the persons who opposed this idea of Mary, Mother of God. He expressed, “I have been amazed that some are utterly in doubt as to whether or not the holy Virgin is able to be called the Mother of God. For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, how should the holy Virgin who bore him not be the Mother of God.”

This title of Mother of God, shows us the importance of the role our Lady played in the life of Jesus Christ as a mother. Her Fiat, her Yes to God’s will has left an example of readiness to serve the Lord despite the imminent challenges. The gift of Mary as Mother must remind of our call to bear Jesus for the world as she did. We accept this call through our own worthy lives and a deeper understanding of the mysteries of Christ. We are invited into the very relationship that Mary had with her Son. We can become “God-Bearers” and bring God to all those whom we encounter in our lifetime.

We are encouraged to embrace this call to be God-bearers in our parishes, our families, our work places and in our nation. Mysteries of the Rosary will remind us of Christ’s life, suffering, death and glorious resurrection for the Salvation of the World.

Cardinal Spoke: Later is too late

It is always a joy to listen to a person like Cardinal Cluadio Hummes who speaks with a language that appeals to everyone especially the poor. His contribution to the Church in Brazil is really noteworthy and this has given Pope Francis courage to appoint Cardinal Hummes as the director of REPAM (Pan Amazon Network) even after his retirement. I had the privilege of interviewing him for the Catholic Media in Guyana and when asked, how is this movement or initiative possible when as we talk here, the amazon is being mutilated, he said, “we need courage with a prophetic voice and listen to the cry of the people and cry of the earth”. This is the motto of any charitable institution. I would like to point out three important aspects of his visit to Guyana.

In his opening address to the Clergy, religious and lay leaders, Cardinal Hummes presented the call of Pope Francis to care for our common home. It is the duty of each one of us. As usual, many times, documents and statements by the Church fall on deaf ears. This must not happen now because as the French official said at the Climate Change Conference in Parish, ‘Later will be too late.” Time is here for us to stop and retrospect our own behavior towards our mother nature or else we will be doomed by our own mother earth. The age of doom is here with Tsunami, Earthquake and other natural calamities.

Nature is voiceless, so we as Church as to be the voice. This voice has to be prophetic because it can cut like the two edged sword and its repercussion could be experienced throughout the world. Someone has to tell anyone who is up in arms to destroy our mother nature. The Cardinal spoke the vision of the Holy Father for the Church as regards to the nature. He emphasized that we need to be courageous to speak up against injustices done to our mother earth and its indigenous people who keep our rivers and forests alive.

The Cardinal’s primary focus is Amazon reserves and its preservation. As Pope Francis told the Bishops conference of Brazil at the world youth day in Rio, Amazon is a test for the Church in Brazil. Guyana makes 2.8% of the Amazon Basin so we cannot stay away from the discussion that are already in place. As Cardinal said, some of the government and NGO’s are already on the job, so the Church needs to join them in caring for our Amazon reserves, which produces nearly 20% of the Oxygen on the planet. The Climate Change Conference in Paris said, ‘we need to change completely how we treat the planet. We cannot layback to watch our planet becoming shapeless and formless. The Cardinal expressed that we need to change to other forms of energy and cleaner energy. He said this by articulating our difficulties if we have to change from Petrol energy to other forms of energy. Can we really think of life without petrol? That is a million dollar question we need to answer.  

As Guyanese, we can also bring our experiences of heat and flooding to the discussion. This is a crucial moment for the planet. We have to safeguard our planet because we have borrowed this earth from our future generations. 

Amoris Laetitia: divorced and cohabited

The Catholic Church has been waiting for the post Synodal exhortation on family after an extensive consultation and reflection across the globe. We do have this exhortation called "Amoris Laetitia" which means, "the joy of love." The Holy Father, a friend and a promoter of families, has exhorted every family irrespective of their situation. This is document is a little cumbersome with nine chapter inked across 263 pages. Every chapter is significant because of its information, reflection, experience, tradition, and most importantly revelation of the truth for the changing times. It is an easy read document with a pragmatic approach to life of the families. Hence, it must have involved families and married couples to draft this document as well. It has brought out a best end result of the Synod on Family. It treats scripture and traditions as key for its drafting, hence you will come across myriad citations from the scripture and the doctors of the Church. As I said it is a little cumbersome so you can read as and when you can, but make it a point to read so that we know the results of our discussion that our diocese undertook two years ago.

I would like to specifically concentrate and bring you a short synopsis of the eighth chapter, namely, "Accompanying, Discerning, and Integrating weakness." This I do for two reasons, firstly, it affects my ministry as priest and secondly, it affects every person who is struggling to keep up marriage and family.

The Jesuit Pope Francis is asking the Church to employ a familiar methodology of "discernment" that every Jesuit would have employed in their mission. Discernment requires God's aid with hardheaded human approach to life. Primarily, this chapter discusses a Christian marriage with an idealistic approach and the current situation affecting the institution of marriage. This discussion is done with an utmost care for the broken hearted.  This chapter opens by acknowledging the ideal of marriage and its fall, "although the Church realizes that any breach of the marriage bond “is against the will of God”, she is also “conscious of the frailty of many of her children” (AL 291). This is a profound starting point to this noble exhortation because it seems to bring forth two aspects of human nature of being created in the image of God yet we are so human.

A Physician Pastor for wounded couples

Holy Father urges every pastor to be sensitive in dealing with the issues of marriage and family. The Church must be like a hospital where the wounded gets treatment with a consoling balm for the wounds and not wound further by being judgmental. “The Church must accompany with attention and care the weakest of her children, who show signs of a wounded and troubled love, by restoring in them hope and confidence, like the beacon of a lighthouse in a port or a torch carried among the people to enlighten those who have lost their way or who are caught up in a storm" (AL 291).

Pastoral care is required for every family. It wouldn't be charitable to treat civilly married persons or even simple cohabitation as something outside the Church. St. John Paul II proposed, 'law of gradualness' to show affection to these kinds families, in other words, encouraging them by training them to embrace the Sacrament of Matrimony. In situation such as civil marriage or cohabitation, respect also can be shown for those signs of love which in some way reflect God's own love" (AL 293).

The Church has been merciful and charitable to weak and marginalized, "the true charity is always unmerited, unconditional and gratuitous”. Consequently, there is a need “to avoid judgements which do not take into account the complexity of various situations” and “to be attentive, by necessity, to how people experience distress because of their condition” (AL 296). Pastors are to be sensitive and not judgmental rather pastors are to understand the situation and its complexity. The persons who are divorced and remarried need not be condemned to separation from the community rather they need to be listened. They are to be allowed to take part in the community, "whether in social service, prayer meetings or another way that his or her own initiative, together with the discernment of the parish priest, may suggest" (AL 296).

The document cites the example of someone going into second marriage after divorce for the sake of upbringing children; this situation needs to be discerned well. The Synod Fathers stated that the discernment of pastors must always take place “by adequately distinguishing”, with an approach which “care- fully discerns situations”. We know that no “easy recipes” exist (AL 298).

The baptized that are divorced and civilly remarried need to be integrated into Christian communities in the variety of ways possible, while avoiding any occasion of scandal. The Church is like the mother who welcomes every child into her without any distinction. This integration is required for the sake of upbringing the children in the Christian faith.

Discernment is key to arrive at a proper consensus. The Holy Father instructed the pastors to be trained to discern so that pastors show upmost care keeping the Gospel value in the fore. The paragraph 304 lays a foundation to discernment in regards to the aforementioned aspects of family. It states, "It is reductive simply to consider whether or not an individual’s actions correspond to a general law or rule, because that is not enough to discern and ensure full fidelity to God in the concrete life of a human being. I earnestly ask that we always recall a teaching of Saint Thomas Aquinas and learn to incorporate it in our pastoral discernment: “Although there is necessity in the general principles, the more we descend to matters of detail, the more frequently we encounter defects... In matters of action, truth or practical rectitude is not the same for all, as to matters of detail, but only as to the general principles; and where there is the same rectitude in matters of detail, it is not equally known to all... The principle will be found to fail, according as we descend further into detail."

That is why it is not fair for a pastor to sit on the chair of Moses to judge 'irregular' situations as morally wrong, this would be as Pope cites the throwing stones of moral law at someone who is already wounded. "By thinking that everything is black and white, we sometimes close off the way of grace and of growth, and discourage paths of sanctification which give glory to God. Let us re- member that “a small step, in the midst of great human limitations, can be more pleasing to God than a life which appears outwardly in order, but moves through the day without confronting great difficulties ”. The practical pastoral care of ministers and of communities must not fail to embrace this reality" (AL 304).

To do this we need that Amoris Laetitia, joy of love, which is enshrined in Galatians 5:14 "fraternal charity is the first law of Christians". We need a Church which is like a mother and this aspect of motherly love in the Church comes across strongly in the apostolic exhortation, "I sincerely believe that Jesus wants a Church attentive to the good- ness which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness, a Mother who, while clearly expressing her objective teaching, always does what good she can, even if in the process, her shoes get soiled by the mud of the streets." (AL 308).

Our God is a merciful God and so does the Church. This allows us to love each other by showing mercy to everyone because our Church has place for everyone.  It is true that at times “we act as arbiters of grace rather than its facilitators. But the Church is not a tollhouse; it is the house of the Father, where there is a place for everyone, with all their problems”  (AL 310). Therefore, this exhortation has a perspective of theology of mercy. The Pope emphasizes the theology of mercy with confidence and compassion for weak and wounded. I suggest that we read the whole document before we come to deductions and reproaches based on our own emotions. This will help us to understand what is truly expressed in the Amoris Laetitia and to avoid postulations.

Divine Mercy Sunday: Are you serious?

The Divine Mercy Sunday is central to the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. Mercy is God is present in our lives and in turn God expects us to be merciful to others. This could be done through the corporal works of Mercy and the Spiritual works of Mercy. In this way we adhere to the Scriptural words of the last judgment. The English word, ‘mercy’ has its reference in Hebrew word ‘hesed’ which means ‘loving kindness’, ‘love’. The word mercy has its roots in the Latin word, ‘misercordia’, miser = wretched, cor = heart or in other words, pity and mercy. Therefore, it simply means, heart of a sinner, the heart that seeks God’s pity or mercy.

St. Faustina calls this heart as soul. She writes in her diary the following words revealed by Christ to her, “My daughter, tell the whole world about My Inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet.”

Christ the merciful is depicted through the image of Christ as described by St. Faustina. This image of mercy shows a tender loving care of Christ to the humanity. It is an image that shows love and kindness. A tender look of Christ is relevant as we are in the second Sunday in Easter. In her diary, St. Faustina describes in detail the image of Mercy that Christ instructed her to have painted.  “The two rays denote Blood and Water. the pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood, which is the life of souls. These two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized heart was opened by a lance on the Cross. These rays shield souls from the wrath of My Father. Happy is the one who dwells in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him.”

Pope Saint John Paul II was very passionate about the mission of revealing the mercy of Jesus to the world. In the year 2000, at the canonization Mass for St. Faustina, he announced that the Second Sunday of Easter would now be known as Divine Mercy Sunday.  It must be made clear that this was not done in order to establish a way of honoring St. Faustina, but to emphasize the meaning of the Resurrection and the depths of God’s great mercy and love that is made available to all of His creation.

We can possibly do a few things on the Divine Mercy Sunday such as: 

1  Celebrate the Feast on the Sunday after Easter;

2  Sincerely repent of all our sins;

3  Place our complete trust in Jesus;

4  Go to Confession, preferably before that Sunday;

5  Receive Holy Communion on the day of the Feast;

6  Venerate the Image of The Divine Mercy;

7. Be merciful to others, through our actions, words, and prayers on their behalf.

In conclusion, let us remember the words on the image of the divine mercy, ‘Jesus, I trust in you.’ Let this image guide us through our difficult times and turmoil of life. Let us be that image of merciful Christ to each other, specifically who are longing to see that image in us. This way, we can be merciful like the Father.