Homily For The Solemnity Of Our Lady Of The Holy Rosary

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, the seventh day in the month of October we annually celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, which began with the devotion to Our Lady of Victory, in commemoration of the great victory of the forces of the Christian faithful in the great battle of Lepanto against the forces of the infidels and those who persecuted the faithful and threatened Christendom at that time.

At that time, Christendom was threatened from all sides, from external forces and enemy as mentioned, as well as from internal disputes and divisions, heresies and lack of faith. But there were those who strived to put the effort to bring the Church back on its feet, as part of the Counter Reformation movement, renewing the zeal of many of the faithful and many heeded God’s call to serve Him in purifying His Church.

And when faced with the great external threat in the form of the mighty Ottoman Empire, which then was the superpower of the known world, and threatened much of Christendom, it was several brave leaders who took up the Cross and endeavoured to fight back against those who sought the destruction of the faithful. And thus, under the leadership of Pope St. Pius V and other leaders like Don Juan of Austria and many others, the Christian forces rallied itself and sought for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin for victory against their enemies through the devotion of the Rosary.

In the end, despite the great odds and supremacy of the enemy, the Christian forces prevailed in the end, and the faithful dealt a major blow on their enemies. It was also told that a great miracle occurred during the battle, as it appeared that the Blessed Mother of God was there guiding the faithful as they struggled against their enemies and helped through her intercession to bring them to a great victory.

In thanksgiving for the great victory, the day of the triumphant Battle has ever since been declared by Pope St. Pius V as a day of great celebration, initially attributed to Our Lady of Victory, but eventually developed into the celebration of Our Lady of the Rosary as how it happens today.

Nonetheless, the key message of the celebration remains, in how the faithful managed to overcome their great oppressor and enemy through the help and intercession of Mary, by the devotion of the Rosary.

Now, let us all look at the Rosary itself. The rosary is a form of prayer in which a series of prayers of Ave Maria or ‘Hail Mary’ as we all know it, are prayed together in a chain, forming a chain of prayers which we use the rosary chain as a guide as we pray. The word rosary itself came from the root word ‘rosa’ meaning rose in Latin, that is a symbolic representation of how we actually offer a bouquet of lovely roses to our loving mother Mary as we pray the rosary.

The rosary is shown to us by Mary herself as she appeared to St. Dominic, the founder of the Order of Preachers, many centuries ago, and centuries before the fateful battle in Lepanto. She asked St. Dominic to propagate the use of the rosary as a devotion to help in the salvation of souls. For through the prayers of the rosary, the faithful can become closer to their loving mother through their prayers, and in turn, Mary will intercede for their sake before her Son in heaven.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, Mary loves us just as much as she loves her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and that is because she had been entrusted to us by the Lord Himself from His Cross to be our mother, as He entrusted her to St. John, His disciple, representing the whole body of the Church. And vice versa therefore, we have also been made to be her adopted sons and daughters. Which mother then does not love her own children?

She does not want us to fall into sin that eventually lead us into damnation and separation from her Son, Our Lord and God. That is why through the Rosary, our blessed mother wants to help us to reconnect spiritually to God through her. She wants us to deepen our relationship with God through prayer and through contemplation. Through better relationship with God we can develop stronger faith and be more resistant to the temptations of the world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Lord’s call through His blessed mother calling us to a greater devotion and closer relationship with Him through His mother. On this day we are called to remember how through our close interaction and relationship with God through Mary we can be brought into a new existence in God and also receive His grace and blessings as those who won at Lepanto by the grace of God has shown us all. And we ourselves are in constant spiritual struggle and warfare, against the devil and the fallen angels who are trying to drag us into sin and hell with them.

Therefore in this month of October, the Marian month of the Rosary, let us all spend the time to pray more fervently especially that of the devotion of the rosary, so that we may grow to love God more and attune ourselves to Him more, and be more capable of resisting the temptations to sin in our daily living. And let us all trust in God more deeply for everything, knowing that He has loved us all these while and will not let us all to fall into eternal damnation through sin.

May the Lord, through His blessed mother Mary, who is also our loving mother, continue to love us all dearly and guide us to Himself in our journey of faith throughout life. Let us all deepen our spirituality and connection to God through His mother Mary by our devotion of the holy rosary daily that we may be triumphant in this constant struggle for our souls in the constant and daily spiritual warfare. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

Marian Pilgrims Urged To Evangelize In Vietnam

Church leaders in Vietnam have asked crowds of pilgrims to follow martyrs to bring God's love to others in celebration of the Assumption at a national Marian shrine.

Thousands of Marian devotees gathered to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary on Aug. 14-15 at the 220-year-old national shrine of Our Lady of La Vang in Quang Tri province in central Vietnam. Four bishops and hundreds of priests concelebrated special Masses and other services during the annual gathering.

Bishop Peter Nguyen Van De of Thai Binh told the congregation that Mother Mary and their ancestors enjoyed the Divine Mercy and brought it into action. "Vietnamese martyrs bravely bore witness to the Divine Mercy at the cost of their own lives so that we can enjoy eternal life," he said. An estimated 300,000 Catholics suffered and were killed for their faith during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

Among them, 117 martyrs were canonized on June 19, 1988, by Pope St. John Paul II. The national shrine is one of the major venues for Catholics across Vietnam to go to on pilgrimages during a jubilee year to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the canonization that ends on Nov. 24, the martyrs' feast day.

"We should not keep eternal life for ourselves but bring it to other people because it is the mandate of Jesus," Bishop De said in his homily. The Salesian bishop said his diocese covering the provinces of Thai Binh and Hung Yen has only 145,000 Catholics out of a total population of 5.2 million. The church in Vietnam serves 7 million Catholics among a population of 95 million.

"It is because few of us do evangelization work, not because people hate Jesus. I am a bishop and preach the Word of God in churches. I have never talked about Jesus to followers of other faiths,"

Bishop De admitted, adding that the local church has no concrete plans to evangelize non-Catholics.

Emeritus Archbishop Francis Xavier Le Van Hong of Hue said Our Lady of La Vang is the mother of those who suffer hardships. During the two-day pilgrimage, Marian devotees attended Masses, recited rosaries, offered flowers to Mother Mary, went to confession, watched prayer dances and marched in procession behind a Marian statue decorated with flowers and candles.

Archbishop Joseph Nguyen Chi Linh of Hue led a service to offer incense in front of martyrs' relics and reflect on martyrdom in today's society. They also prayed to Mary to heal patients and those wounded in accidents and to give peace to victims of injustice, displaced and homeless people.

Credits : UCA News 

Our Lady Of Mokama Beckons You

You will be captivated by the beauty of Our Lady of Divine Grace at Mokama, 90 km east of Patna, capital of the eastern Indian state of Bihar, on the southern banks of the great river Ganges, the lifeline of Bihar.

Built in 1947, this beautiful house of the Mother of Nazareth had been inviting her children to her in thousands from all over the Hindi-belt – Allahabad, Varanasi, Calcutta, Ranchi, Delhi and other far-flung regions of Northern India. Now it has become the most visited Marian pilgrim centre of the north, perceptibly emerging as the Velankanni of Northern India.

On the first Sunday of February people of all faiths flock to this graceful mother invoking her name for the pressing needs and touching moments of their life believing in her just like the waiters at the wedding feast of Cana – “Do whatever he tells you”. Most powerful command from a mother ever pronounced in human history.

February is an ideal month for the feast of Mokama as it is the last phase of a severe winter and all around it is a spread of yellow mustard flowers as the region is predominantly agricultural one and the shrine is surrounded by farmlands. When you see the simple people flocking to this mother, your own faith gets rejuvenated.

At the end of nine days of novena and prayers when the final day arrives on the first Sunday of February the crowd increases to attend the Mass and prayers which start at six in the morning and goes on till four when the much awaited annual procession bearing statue of Mother Mary begins and concludes with a solemn Mass usually celebrated by the Archbishop of Patna or other ecclesiastical dignitary.

On 10 September 1919 when Pope Benedict XV established the Patna diocese, he might not have foreseen that the mission established in the nativity of the month of Mother Mary will have such a hailed pilgrimage spot in her name. Nor the first five Jesuits from Missouri, USA, who landed in Bihar in 1921 ever envisaged it.

But beyond human calculations Mother Mary has her own way of establishing her reign in the hearts of simple people as we can see from Fatima, Lourdes or Guadalupe. Mokama is an eloquent witness to it.

But this hallowed spot had its own sad moments too when two gentle Catholic priests died here shedding their blood – American Jesuit Father Francis Martinsek in 1979 and Father Mathew Uzhuthal in 2005.

Yet, they too have made this a historically significant pilgrimage spot. Every Christian mission is inevitably connected to Calvary, and Mokama is also a veritable proof. Remembering these priests could be part of this pilgrimage as well.

The Nazareth hospital in the same campus reminds you of the healing touch of this loving mother, a significant attribute of every Marian pilgrimage centre. Lourdes or Velankanni, it is very much there.

In Velankani Mary is addressed as Our Lady of Health. During the feast days there are special prayers and Mass for the healing of the sick in Mokama and this is one occasion people pray very fervently than any other time.

In 2019 when the diocese of Patna celebrated its centenary, Mokama will be telling the living history of a Catholic faith planted and nurtured by so many missionaries from USA and other parts of India and the prayerful contributions from their hearts by many Catholics from the land of freedom.

Bishop Anastasius Hartmann, Patna’s First Catholic Missionary

Bishop Anastasius Hartmann was born February 24, 1803 in the Swiss town of Altwis. Having felt the call of God to serve as a religious, he joined the Capuchin Order and was ordained priest on September 24, 1825 at Friburg in Switzerland.

From his novitiate he nourished an ardent desire to go to the foreign missions of the Order and frequently asked his superiors, permission for the same. But his superiors felt that his service was needed in his home country, and so he continued to work there for about 16 years, as master of novices, spiritual director of nuns, and professor of philosophy and theology.

A very endearing personality, he won the love and admiration of his fellow priests and the people at large. Perceiving his missionary qualities and unquenchable desire to go to the missions, his superiors, at last, granted him permission to go the missions.

Though he set out for Rome as the first stage of his missionary journey to India, he was assigned jobs in Rome, for another four years: as acting-director and professor of the missionary College of St. Fidelis. Finally he was allowed to proceed to the missions in India and in 1844; he reached Agra, headquarters of the Capuchin Mission in India.

In September 1845, he was appointed Titular Bishop of Derbe and first Vicar Apostolic of Patna, which was separated from the jurisdiction of the Hindustan–Tibet mission.

On March 15, 1846, he was consecrated Bishop of Patna Vicariate and worked hard in founding a strong local Church in North India. Patna Vicariate, spread over 150,000 square miles, had a population of 20-30 millions, of whom only 2,700 were Catholics, under the care of only four priests.

Having established in 1849, an orphanage for girls at Bankipur, Patna, he handed it over to the management of the Sisters of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (now called Congregation of Jesus-CJ), in 1852. They are still doing yeoman service in Patna Archdiocese.

Before he was to fulfill his mission in Patna, he was transferred in December 1849 to the Vicariate of Bombay while remaining the Vicar Apostolic of Patna. The Church in Bombay was beset with Church’s jurisdictional problems created by the Portuguese Padroado which continued to control the Church without obeying the authority of the Pope.

Reaching Bombay in 1850, he took several steps to reconcile the people and clergy who were torn between the authorities of the Padroado and the Pope. Slander, threats, apostasies filled the Bishop’s cup of sorrow to the brim. He was partially successful in bringing the faithful of the Portuguese Padroado under the authority of the Pope.

Despite problems, he was able to do much for the Church. He founded the “The Catholic Standard” a periodical to meet the need of communication among the Catholic communities. But in six months it was catering for his enemies. Undaunted, he founded another diocesan newspaper “The Bombay Catholic Examiner,” which he kept supplied with editorials and articles.

“The Examiner” is still in existence and is perhaps the second oldest English-language paper in India. He also wrote a Catechism of Christian Doctrine, and made plans for the establishment of a mission in Nepal. He was responsible for creating Poona as a separate Vicariate, of which he became the first Vicar Apostolic, and entrusting the Bombay Vicariate to the Jesuit Missionaries from Germany, who founded the St. Xavier’s College in Bombay.

Probably problematic pastoral work exhausted him and an intestinal disease nearly incapacitated him. On July July 29, 1856, he was forced to return to Rome to recuperate, but was later appointed Assistant to the Papal Throne and a Roman Count. While in Rome, he was appointed Director of the Foreign Missions of the Capuchin Order.

On January 2, 1860, he was re-appointed Vicar Apostolic of Patna where he re-started his pastoral works: establishing many church institutions, founding Christian communities and so on, till his death on April 24, 1866.

A scholar in Hindi, he translated the Gospels into Hindi, and even influenced the British colonial government in India to legislate the Christian Marriage Act.

Today, Bishop Hartmann is venerated as a “Servant of God”. Though nearly 150 years have passed since this heroic missionary-bishop left for his abode in Heaven, his indefatigable zeal for souls continues to inspire missionaries in North India, to work for the creation of a just and humane society.

Vietnamese Catholics Marrying into Ethnic Minorities

Mary Luu Thi Na and her husband Joseph Tran Van Nang wept with happiness at the Dec. 1 wedding of their son Tran Van Bao.

He married Ban Mai Phuong, a Dao ethnic woman, at Vinh Quang Church in mountainous Yen Bai province in the northern part of central Vietnam. About half of the 500 or so guests were members of the local Tay, Thai and Muong ethnic minorities. "We are very happy that my son has brought Phuong to the church," Na said with a smile. "God blesses our family.

The 50-year-old mother of four said she appreciated her son's decision to marry a non-Catholic ethnic woman and saw it as helping to evangelize among minority groups.

She said Phuong, 21, is good at catechism and was one of 10 non-Catholics to recently finish a three-month course on marriage preparations. Now she has two daughters-in-law who have embraced Catholicism.

The first was from the Thai ethnic group and she converted in 2015. "We live together in perfect harmony in our home," Na said of her farming family. "We recite the Rosary in the evening to maintain our faith." Phuong, who has four sisters and one brother, said she is the first person from her village to adopt Catholicism.

 "I agreed to follow the religion because my husband's family and other Catholics love and help me, and Catholicism teaches people to worship one God and love and respect other people," she said. In doing so, she had been supported by her own parents. 

 Na, whose mother is also Tay, accepted Catholicism before her marriage. She now believes that such wedlock plays an important part in spreading the faith. 

Thomas Tran Van Tra, 38, who married a local ethnic Thai woman 15 years ago, said at first his parents strongly opposed his decision.  Local ethnic people can be looked down on and some Catholics believe marriages should be between members of established Catholic families.

But Tra said his wife accepted Catholicism and he was glad that their marriage rituals were conducted at the Vinh Quang Church. "We now have a happy marriage and two good daughters," said Tra, who serves as a council member in a subparish and earns a living by trading as well as repairing televisions and other electronic appliances. 

Tra said he sets a good example by treating his family kindly and not committing adultery or getting drunk. His wife, a dressmaker, avoided going to church for about five years after getting married, but that changed when she learned more about its teachings, including fasting and the marking of holy days. He attends wedding celebrations and funerals of his wife's relatives and his wife regularly attends Mass. His parents have dropped their earlier concerns. 

Now they love both his wife and their children. Tra's two brothers are happily married to members of the Thai and Tay minorities. He said it is important for Catholics to act as missionaries and carry their faith forward. . 

94 Year Old Nhu, a Lay Catholic Missionary said mixed marriages were effective ways of evangelizing in the area where local Catholics suffered religious restrictions and had no resident priests for half a century. The government could not prevent Catholics from wedding members of ethnic minorities or followers of other faiths.

 However, Nhu said, there is a need for awareness of potential personal problems. "It is important that the church holds pastoral plans to lead mixed couples to live good marriages and strengthen their faith in the early stages of their married life."  

Vinh Quang parish, established in 1909, has 3,600 Catholics, including about 1,300 members of ethnic minorities.

Credits : UCA News , December 2018

The Life Of A Veteran Capuchin Missionary in North - West India

The death of 88-year-old Capuchin Father Ignatius Fevrier at a Catholic hospital in Ajmer in 1991 marked the end of a chapter in the Church history of northwestern India.

The Church´s mission in this arid and backward region began with the arrival from Paris in 1890 of three Capuchin priests and two brothers, who settled at Mhow in the then Central Province, now called Madhya Pradesh.

The Capuchins later broadened their activities to Rajputana, now Rajasthan. Their work in the Rajaputana mission under Agra archdiocese bore fruit and the mission was made an apostolic prefecture in 1891 and a diocese -- Ajmer -- in 1913. In 1935, the diocese was divided.

Most of its area in Madhya Pradesh was handed over to Divine Word missioners to form the new Indore diocese. Rajasthan now has two dioceses, Ajmer-Jaipur and Udaipur.

In 1949, the French Capuchins, who continued to work in Rajasthan, handed over the diocese´s administration to diocesan clergy. Many Capuchins then left for Ethiopia to start a new mission, but some opted to stay in India.

Among them was Father Fevrier, who came to India in 1931 and never left it even for a holiday in France. Father Fevrier worked in Saint Anselm´s School, Ajmer, and at the catechist training center at Suket, before being appointed parish priest in Jaipur, Rajasthan state capital. 

There, he started a school, which was later given to the Patna Province Jesuits. It is one of the leading schools in the state. Father Fevrier then moved to Ambapada, a mission among the Bhil tribals. 

He sought new areas to evangelize the poor tribals with disregard for his own comfort and failing health. Having established Ambapada mission, the French Capuchin moved to a new area further north and founded the Dungarpur mission. Father Fevrier´s mission work made him travel 6,644 kilometers. 

When the Dungarpur mission was viable, the indefatigable missioner established another mission at Rakhabdev Kesaroaki, a town midway between Dungarpur and Udaipur. 

When that got going he went off to break new ground in Jhadol and Pai. Two vibrant missions now exist in these places. After an enforced retirement, the missioner said that his greatest penance was not being able to work any longer. 

Father Fevrier spent his last days praying for seminarians so that his successors can continue his work with fewer difficulties in a region, where Christians form only 0.11 percent of 43.8 million people.

Credits : UCA News 

Saint Augustine Zhao Rong -- An Eminent Chinese Catholic Martyr

Thursday, July 9, marks the anniversary of the death of a not very well known Christian martyr, Augustine Zhao Rong, who was executed on or about this date in the year 1815.

But, while his death was certainly heroic, he represents a much larger trail of blood in the empire and now People’s Republic of China.

Zhao Rong was born in 1746 and as a young man rose to be a captain in the imperial Chinese army.

One of his last assignments was to escort the arrested French missionary Bishop John Gabriel Taurin Dufresse from the place of his arrest to Beijing.

The older bishop suffered much and bore his trials with patience as he was brought to his trial.

Impressed with the old Christian’s courage, Zhao Rong asked to learn more about the foreigner’s religion and he was soon baptized.

While still in the army, he saw the old French bishop die for his faith. Bishop John’s head was severed and placed on a pole as a discouragement to the further spread of Christianity.

In fact, as is often the case with martyrs, the exact opposite occurred. The old bishop’s body was stolen by Christians three days later and given a reverent burial, and the faith began to spread.

This brave witness may have been part of his inspiration for Zhao Rong to leave the army, to enter theological study and be ordained as a priest. Not long after his ordination Zhao Rong was arrested, put to torture and executed in 1815.

At Rong’s murder, a number of other Christians were also put to death by the imperial authorities, including an 18-year-old man who was flayed to death. The younger martyr, Chi Zhuzi, cried out to his torturers in his agony, “Every piece of my flesh, every drop of my blood will tell you that I am Christian.”

The reason why the Christians were persecuted by the emperors of China was that the rulers feared that “foreign rites” were harmful to the state, perhaps because they would upset the balance and harmony so devoutly sought by the ancient cults of China.

More obviously, they did not want foreigners meddling in their territory, and the fact that most of the missions were sent from Europeans in potentially hostile Japan did not help matters.

In point of fact, Christianity in China was far older than the missionary movements of modern times. One legend say that the apostle St. Bartholomew first took the Gospel to China.

It is known that there were Christians missionaries in China as early as the fifth century A.D. and the first known church building was erected in the seventh century A.D.

In the time of the Tang Dynasty in the seventh through 10th centuries there was a flourishing Christian community in China, and by the 13th century there was a an Italian bishop in Beijing.

The early Christians did not challenge many of the traditions of ancient China, and for many faithful the veneration of ancestors and Catholic honor to the saints seemed somehow compatible. This relatively peaceful situation was not to last.

A pivotal figure in Chinese history is the Emperor Kang His, who ruled from 1654 to 1722. This emperor on one hand encouraged the Jesuit missionaries and was particularly interested in their scientific research. However he was uncomfortable with any ceremonial rite which was not of pure Chinese heritage.

His successors, following this view, would openly persecute the Christian community. Christians had been killed from time to time in the civil disorders which often plagued China. But in 1715 and again in 1729 and 1746 imperial authorities increasingly turned on the missionaries and native Chinese believers.

It was the Emperor Kia-Kin, who ruled from 1796 to 1821, who issued a series of decrees forbidding Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular from his empire, and specific decrees were issued against anyone studying theology. Kia-Kin promised toleration to those who freely renounced their faith, but decreed a nasty end to anyone who did not.

It was in this period that Zhao Rong was killed, nor was he alone. About the same time Peter Wu, a lay teacher, was strangled, as were Joseph Zhang Dapeng a layman and a merchant, Father Thaddeus Liu and a lay teacher named Joachim Ho. These few names represent a larger number whose names are known but to God.

Note : It is important to Pray For Chinese Catholics in the Underground Catholic Church as they are Living Martyrs and True Witnesses of Christ's Unadulterated Gospel.