Tag: Christianity

In an endless cycle of violence, the bishop of Orizaba, traveling with a group of priests, suffered an assault on a highway in the border area between Puebla and Veracruz, the Mexican bishops’ conference said April 6. The group was robbed but unharmed.

The incident comes however in the middle of what is shaping up to be the deadliest election cycle in Mexico’s history, with 29 political candidates killed in the run-up to the June 2 elections.

Gisela Gaytán Gutiérrez aspired to become mayor of a violent Mexican municipality, where drug cartels dispute the stolen gasoline trade.

But the mayoral candidate for the ruling Morena party was shot dead as she prepared for one of her first campaign events near the central city of Celaya.

Gaytán’s death shocked Mexico, where drug cartel violence has wracked swaths of the country for more than 15 years. It shocked Celaya, too, where more than 30 police officers have been murdered over the past three years and the bodies of five medical students were found stuffed into a car at the end of 2023.

“Not only did they kill a candidate, they killed a host of possibilities for good, which were taken from this city by criminals,” Father Padre César Cadavieco said at Gaytán’s emotional funeral Mass, according to Imagen Noticias.

“Hear it well, you cruel individuals. We people of good are far more than you, and Gisela’s blood will fall upon your heads and your children for seven generations,” the priest said.

At least 29 political candidates and potential candidates — representing all of the country’s registered political parties — have been killed in Mexico, according to Integralia Consultores, a consulting firm. Mexico holds elections June 2 for president, congress and more than 19,000 positions at the state and local level.

Integralia has counted at least 300 incidents of political violence since Sept. 1, 2023, the news magazine Proceso reported. Public security secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez put the number of political aspirants killed at 15.

The attacks — which often go unsolved and unpunished — offered a rude reminder of the threats posed by drug cartels to Mexico’s democracy as illegal actors push into the political process and attempt to put their own people into public office.

Church leaders have been sounding the alarm on the consequences of politicians becoming beholden to drug cartels — a phenomenon they warn is becoming commonplace in parts of the country.

“We have never seen an electoral period so full of murders. This is something that should move us and shake our hearts,” retired Bishop José Raúl Vera López of Saltillo said in a March 24 homily. “They are fighting to obtain political power. What kind of rulers are we going to have if political parties are winning public positions through assassinations?”

The Mexican bishops’ conference has called on people to vote. It also has backed pro-democracy protests by civil society groups and warned that criminal groups meddling in politics jeopardizes the rule of law.

The bishops released a proposal for pacifying the country called National Agenda for Peace and invited all the three presidential candidates to sign it — which they did March 11 — though Morena candidate Claudia Sheinbaum described the document’s diagnosis as “pessimistic.” Sheinbaum leads all polls and has repeatedly insisted the country has become less violent under her political mentor, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

“We believe that the worst scenario, the one that we must avoid, is one in which organized crime and other criminal groups intervene in the electoral process,” the bishops said in a March 3 statement. “Electoral democracy mixed with crime is a totally unacceptable combination; it is a sign of the most deplorable corruption that must be avoided at all costs. For no reason can it be justified, much less entered into complicity.”

Drug cartels increasingly covet municipal governments in an attempt to control territory, according to analysts. Such control allows them to access local treasuries, have police turn a blind eye to illegal activities and steer public works contracts to friendly firms.

“Elections are a golden opportunity for criminal groups to gain access to state institutions and augment their sway over how the state acts and against whom,” Falko Ernst, senior Mexico analyst for the International Crisis Group, told OSV News.

“(For) candidates this often means that they find themselves between a rock and a hard place,” he explained. “If you collaborate with one group, you’ll face the wrath of others; you also do when you dare to do things correctly. Either way, the result is too often threat and violence.”

The four bishops of Guerrero state to the south of Mexico City recently helped broker a truce between drug cartels in February — an accord that Bishop José de Jesús González of Chilpancingo-Chilapa recently prayed would become “infinite.”

Retired Bishop Salvador Rangel of Chilpancingo-Chilapa told OSV News that he previously negotiated a deal with drug cartels to stop the killing of candidates prior to the 2021 midterm and state elections. There wasn’t a single political slaying in his diocese afterward, he said.

But the interference from drug cartels in campaigns continues to worsen, he said.

“Many drug traffickers take over political positions and that is how they have been working,” Bishop Rangel explained. “But in 2024, I believe that the majority of political positions are now being held by drug traffickers and it’s a big problem that is going to happen to us.”

In an April 6 statement, the president of Mexico’s bishops’ conference, Archbishop Rogelio Cabrera López of Monterrey and secretary-general Bishop Ramón Castro Castro of Cuernavaca, lamented the attack on Bishop Eduardo Cervantes Merino of Orizaba, “who on Wednesday, April 3, suffered an assault along with a group of priests who accompanied him on a highway in the border area between Puebla and Veracruz.”

The priests “were violently robbed of their belongings, but by the grace of God were not harmed.”

The bishops said in a statement they are “deeply hurt by this situation of insecurity that is experienced every day,” and asked the authorities to pay “more attention and care to a free and safe transit on the highways of the country.

“We ask God to touch the hearts of all the people who cause suffering, that the Lord may give them the gift of conversion and that as a society we may continue working in the reconstruction of the Peace we so long for.”

Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, issued a video statement April 8 arguing abortion should be left to individual states to legislate and declining to back federal restrictions sought by pro-life activists.

In a video posted to his social media platform Truth Social, Trump took credit for the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned its previous abortion precedent since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. But Trump said that “my view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land. In this case, the law of the state.”

Throughout his third bid for the White House, Trump has been reluctant to take a firm position on abortion. He previously blamed the issue of abortion and pro-life voters for the Republican Party’s underperformance in the 2022 midterm election cycle, prompting criticism from even some of his supporters. Analysts, by contrast, blamed in part quality issues with Republican campaigns in that cycle and Trump’s repeated, unproven claims of a stolen 2020 election for the party’s underperformance.

Trump’s statement, in effect, dodges calls from pro-life groups who sought a pledge from the candidate to support federal restrictions, and repudiates reports that he would embrace a national abortion ban at 15 or 16 weeks of pregnancy.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which works to elect pro-life candidates to public office, previously called on candidates for national office to support restrictions on elective abortion after 15 weeks gestation. Dannenfelser said in a statement April 8, “We are deeply disappointed in President Trump’s position.”

“Unborn children and their mothers deserve national protections and national advocacy from the brutality of the abortion industry,” Dannenfelser said. “The Dobbs decision clearly allows both states and Congress to act.”

“Saying the issue is ‘back to the states’ cedes the national debate to the Democrats who are working relentlessly to enact legislation mandating abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy,” she added. “If successful, they will wipe out states’ rights.”

But Dannenfelser said, “With lives on the line, SBA Pro-Life America and the pro-life grassroots will work tirelessly to defeat President Biden and extreme congressional Democrats.”

Former Vice President Mike Pence, who was Trump’s running mate in the 2016 and 2020 elections but broke with Trump in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and by rejecting Trump’s unfounded claims of a stolen election, wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that Trump’s “retreat on the Right to Life is a slap in the face to the millions of pro-life Americans who voted for him in 2016 and 2020.”

“By nominating and standing by the confirmation of conservative justices, the Trump-Pence Administration helped send Roe v. Wade to the ash heap of history where it belongs and gave the pro-life movement the opportunity to compassionately support women and unborn children,” Pence said. “In the landmark Dobbs decision, the Supreme Court returned the question of abortion to the states and the American people. The American people elect presidents, senators and congressmen, and a majority of Americans long to see minimum national protections for the unborn in federal law.”

Pence added, “But today, too many Republican politicians are all too ready to wash their hands of the battle for life. Republicans win on life when we speak the truth boldly and stand on the principle that we all know to be true — human life begins at conception and should be defended from womb to tomb. However much our Republican nominee or other candidates seek to marginalize the cause of life, I know pro-life Americans will never relent until we see the sanctity of life restored to the center of American law in every state in this country.”

In comments provided to OSV News by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro Life Activities, said that “with the Supreme Court’s decision in the Dobbs case that returned the issue of abortion to the people and their elected officials, legislators have a responsibility to protect vulnerable preborn life not only at the state level, but also at the federal level.”

“The federal effort must include undoing the current Administration’s aggressive abortion-promoting regulations, preventing taxpayers from subsidizing abortion, and pursuing nationwide standards,” Bishop Burbidge said. “Life-affirming and moral alternatives to infertility are necessary but we oppose methods such as IVF, which, among other problems, results in the death or abandonment of more children than are created through it.”

Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins struck a different tone from Dannenfelser, saying in a statement, “Unlike President Biden, President Trump begins his remarks on abortion celebrating ‘the ultimate joy in life’ — children and family.”

“That kind of love and support for the bedrock of society, the family, will be a welcome change in the White House,” Hawkins said. “We clearly have some work to do to educate the Trump Administration to come on the many ways that abortion has been made federal. But with the mutual goals of supporting families and welcoming young children, we can work together to restore the culture of life stripped away by the national Democratic Party and their leadership.”

The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred and must be respected from conception to natural death, opposing direct abortion as an act of violence that takes the life of the unborn child.

After the Dobbs decision, church officials in the U.S. have reiterated the church’s concern for both mother and child, and called to bolster streams of support addressing causes that push women toward having an abortion.

Elsewhere in the video, Trump said that he supports access to in vitro fertilization in every state after a ruling by Alabama’s Supreme Court found that frozen embryos qualify as children under the state law’s wrongful death law. The state subsequently enacted legislation granting legal protection to IVF clinics.

The 1987 document from the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith known as “Donum Vitae” or “The Gift of Life,” states the church opposes IVF and related practices, including gestational surrogacy, in part because “the connection between in vitro fertilization and the voluntary destruction of human embryos occurs too often.”

The root of virtuous life lies in the unceasing
study of the Word of God. His Word compels
us to acknowledge our objectives, choose
His holy life as an example, and follow Him.

St. Paisios the Athonite

Fulfilling the commandments as the foundation of spiritual life

Let us begin the all-holy season of fasting with joy; Let us shine with the bright radiance of the holy commandments of Christ our God: With the brightness of love and the splendor of prayer, The strength of good courage and the purity of holiness! Thus, clothed in garments of light, Let us hasten to the Holy Resurrection on the third day

Lenten Triodion

Photo: Pinterest The fulfillment of the commandments forms the foundation of a sound spiritual life. We know it well. We remember: He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him (Jn. 14:21). A spiritual building erected not on the foundation of the Gospel commandments will inevitably collapse. We know this as well.

Well… But let’s face it, we all too often perceive the commandments mainly as a guide to repentance. We read them before confession to understand what we need to confess. We didn’t do this or that. We come to confession, receive absolution, and again leave everything as it is. Until the next confession.

But right now, at the beginning of the fourth week of Lent, it is the most convenient, the most suitable, and the easiest time to try and lay the foundation of life according to the commandments. During the first week of Lent, most of us have come to the Sacrament of Confession and received the Holy Communion, refreshed the fountains of Life within ourselves, and experienced blessed lightness. The main thing right now is to not stop and decide that our job is done.

A spiritual building erected not on the foundation of the Gospel commandments will inevitably crumble

“Think that you are as like a broken machine, finally fixed just now. The time is ripe to do the work, not to end it,” Holy Hierarch Theophan the Recluse

“>Theophan the Recluse counsels.

The work of salvation is the fulfillment of the commandments. Here’s when another “but” comes up.

In order to fulfill the commandments, and not just to fulfill, but also to “be illumined” with them; that is, to find joy (“bliss”), comfort, and inspiration in this work, we need to at least know them.

Do all of us at least know the Homilies on the BeatitudesSo, where can we seek the true way to beatitude? What guidance and which commandments should we observe to achieve it?

“>Beatitudes by heart? But we hear them at every Liturgy. What about the other commandments of Christ? Don’t they often remain unfulfilled simply because we don’t remember them or fail to keep them in our minds? And once we come across them, we may even make up our minds to adopt them, but then we will sadly forget about them again? It is not in vain that ignorance and forgetfulness are called the dread enemies of salvation.

That’s why I would suggest trying to wrestle with these “leviathans” as follows:

Thirty-three days according to the commandments

Fr. Konstantin Bely in his book Getting to Sretenka tells us that first-year seminarians once received an assignment from then Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov)Tikhon (Shevkunov), Metropolitan

“>Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov): to read the fifth, sixth and seventh chapters of the Gospel of Matthew every day for a week and then try to live the whole day by correlating everything they did, thought and said with what was set forth in these chapters.

What if we extend this exercise to Lent? For each day of the Forty-Day Fast, let’s take a Gospel text containing a commandment and practice to fulfill that commandment.

The first week of Lent is so eventful that I suggest that we begin this exercise on the second week (the article was written in the second week of Lent.—Ed.). In this case, there are thirty-three days left until the end of the Forty-Day Fast.

Let’s dedicate the first nine days to the Beatitudes, and for the remaining twenty-four days we will select the readings from the Gospel containing the commandments. A rough outline for the thirty-three days is presented below.¹

Of course, this does not mean that by choosing one commandment for today, we will ignore all the others. But, as one priest said, “Just go and try to fulfill a single commandment as you should. Put it to practice from early morning. Acquire the taste of it. And it will slowly become obvious that, as you fulfill it, you observe other commandments as well!”

All virtues, according to the Optina elders, are linked by a joint golden chain

Because all virtues, according to the The Holy Elders of OptinaThrough God’s mercy, in spite of seventy years of Communist enslavement, ”prima vitae” of many of the Elders have been preserved. Written by their immediate disciples, these rare biographies contain a multitude of priceless details and anecdotes that shed light into the secret corners of lives totally dedicated to Jesus Christ.

“>Optina elders, are connected by a joint golden chain. Decide to show mercy and you will overcome anger. Decide to watch your tongue and you will stop condemning others, and along with condemnation, spitefulness will vanish, as well. And so on.

“It’s like in linguistics,” notes Archpriest Vasily GelevanGelevan, Vasily, Archpriest

“>Archpriest Vasily Gelevan. “You learn one language and now you can easily master another one, followed by more and more languages. It is the same with our spiritual life. Once you have tasted victory over sin, you continue and fight the next one. The sweet feeling of victory and the joyful sense of freedom—it is so worth it!”

Some practical advice

It is a good idea to write down the Gospel text chosen for the day by hand in a special notebook. In the process of writing it, you will connect with the text as closely as possible, while doing it won’t take much of your time.

And it would be simply wonderful if such an exercise could bring the whole family together.

You may proceed as follows

In the evening or in the morning, as time permits, we write out the daily Gospel reading in a notebook purchased specifically for this purpose (we can appoint a person on duty for every day).

Throughout your day, try to hold the memory of it and direct all your activities, visible and invisible, according to what you have read (St. Ignatius of the Caucasus). In this way, we enter into the fulfillment of the Word of God as a family, and become, even if in a very small way, the disciples of Christ.

In the evening it would be good to summarize the results and reflect aloud as to what we have succeeded in today and what we have not. Talk about the reasons why we did not succeed or what stood in the way.

It is very important at this point not to turn such discussions into “blamestorming.” We need to contemplate in the spirit of peace and love, mutual help and advice. If you have children in the family, this becomes particularly important! “Do not be a father, but a mother,” one abbot was instructed by St. Seraphim of Sarov. If mercifulness and meekness is important for adults seemingly disciplined by suffering, it is all the more important for children. And not only the children.

But if we talk about them, it is very important that the commandments are not conveyed to the child in the attitude of servile obligation, but as a source of happiness. After all, it is not by chance that the commandments are called the Beatitudes (of blissfulness).

If a child feels that for us the commandments are simply a formidable, but often annoying set of taboos, he will also perceive them the same way.

But if he feels that we perceive the words of Christ with love, that we joyfully contemplate ways to fulfill them more properly, completely, and diligently (even if it is hard!), they will then become for your child a way of life in Christ.

• Peace be to those who love thy law.

• I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.

• And I will delight in thy commandments, which I have loved.

• My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate on thy statutes (Psalm 118: 48).

The greatest good already lies in the fulfillment of the Gospel. Yes, following it involves the labor of compelling yourself to do this—but this is happiness. This is what we need to pass on to others and to cultivate in ourselves.²

To be continued…

Twenty-two years ago, Maria Perez Cardenas’ 16-year-old son set out from their hometown in Jalisco, Mexico, to find work in the United States. 

His quest was successful, and over the years he got married, had children, and carved out a life for himself in a new country. 

Cardenas kept in touch with him as best as she could through phone calls and video chats. But seeing him in person was out of the question: she lacked the legal documents to visit him in California, and he lacked legal documents to return to Mexico. 

After several failed attempts, she recently secured a visa through a special program that helps seniors from Jalisco reconnect with their families in the U.S.

The heart-stirring moment finally came on March 30, Holy Saturday, at a special reunification ceremony at St. Frances Cabrini Church in South Los Angeles.

“We tried so many times but were unsuccessful,” she said, her eyes brimming with tears. “Thanks to God and to these people who have helped us, we are here today.”

Cardenas was among 33 seniors who received visas through the program — led by the Asociación de Clubes Jalisciences de California (California’s Association of Jalisco Clubs) — and made the 2,500-mile trek on Good Friday so that they would arrive in time to celebrate Easter Sunday alongside their families. Participants were expected to stay with their loved ones for three weeks before returning home.

The reunion — nearly two years in the making — was the fruit of efforts from community and church leaders on both sides of the border. Organizers said that they felt compelled to assist the visitors as a way to answer Christ’s calls to unity, compassion, and service, and to help them share in the joy of Christ’s resurrection by reuniting with their long-lost relatives for Easter. 

After landing at LAX early on Holy Saturday, participants were shuttled to the church hall, where about 20 parishioners had spent several hours preparing for their arrival by cleaning, decorating, cooking breakfast, and praying for all involved. 

The seniors were reunited with their kin during a 10 a.m. ceremony in the hall, which began with remarks from organizers and a welcome from Auxiliary Bishop Matthew Elshoff, on behalf of Archbishop José H. Gomez.

“Your presence with us is a privilege as we start the Easter season,” Elshoff told the crowd. “It’s a time of joy and hope, and we are experiencing the resurrection of the Lord in this moment as you are here with us and with your families once again.”

Javier Wenceslao, the association’s president, took to the mic to thank the church community for its hospitality, drawing a parallel to its namesake. 

Traveling to a new country can be scary for some, he said, but the hospitality the group received from the parish and the archdiocese made them feel right at home. 

“It’s a great honor for us to be welcomed into this church named for the missionary saint St. Cabrini who, like us, also came here as an immigrant,” he said. 

Then, finally, the moment everyone was waiting for: One by one, the travelers walked up to the front of the hall, where they were received by multiple generations of relatives carrying balloons, flowers, and other gifts. 

The families spent a few tear-filled minutes embracing in front of a crowd of about 150, then made their way together to their seats. 

Jose Toscano was among those who reconnected with their parents during the event. He’d been separated from his mom, Alicia Rafael Bernabe, for decades, and although the two communicated regularly through Facebook, he still couldn’t wait to see her. 

“Seeing her on a video call is not the same as being able to hug her in person,” he said, with his arm around his mom’s shoulder. “We’ve been waiting for 20 years for this moment.”

Like Cardenas and Bernabe, many of the participants’ children made the trek to the U.S. 15, 20, or nearly 30 years ago, but for various reasons were not able to return home to their parents. 

For Antonia Bernardino Toscano, it had been 23 years since she’d seen her daughter and 20 years since she’d seen her son. The native of San Andres, Jalisco, said she found out about the program through Facebook and spent nearly two years completing the steps to obtain her visa.   

She said she was so excited to see her adult children again that she stayed awake all night on the plane ride, and hoped to spend the next few weeks reminiscing with them and making up for lost time.

“I am so thankful to my God in heaven for getting us to this step,” she said.

For some participants, the years spent apart from their children also brought chronic illnesses, the death of a spouse, and other unexpected situations. 

For Juana Seda Vazquez, 27 years had passed since she last saw her oldest son, who came to the U.S. at age 13. Although her vision is nearly gone now, the thought of seeing her four children in person — instead of on a phone screen — was almost too much. 

“I give thanks to God for allowing me to come and see them,” said Vazquez, who had never been on an airplane before. “I feel like maybe I’m not going to be able to handle it.”

Gladys Oliver, who led the ceremony and reception planning, said she and other parishioners got involved to help unify families across borders, evangelize through hospitality, and heed Christ’s call to put themselves at the service of others. 

“As long as we have life and Christ lives in us, we will be able to serve our brothers,” she said. “Just as the gospel tells us, we need to become one.”  

Looking to the future, Wenceslao told the crowd that his group will work to reunite more families going forward. 

“There is much need and many more people to help,” he said. “We will continue doing what we can to make a little bit of a difference so that others like you can be reunited with their parents, so that there is hope for families.” 

Celije, Rasina District, Serbia, April 8, 2024

Photo: eparhijavaljevska.rs     

The Serbian Orthodox Church celebrated a triple anniversary of St. Justin (Popović) yesterday, coinciding with the feast of the Annunciation.

The great 20th-century ascetic and theologian was born 130 years ago on April 7, 1894, and reposed on the same day 45 years ago in 1979. His relics were then transferred on the same day in 2014.

The celebration was led by His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije, together with 11 other hierarchs of the Serbian Church, and His Eminence Metropolitan Mark of Berlin of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, reports the Diocese of Valjevo.

Photo: eparhijavaljevska.rs     

Noting that the celebration of St. Justin coincided with the feast of the Annunciation, Pat. Porfirije recalled that in Baptism he was named Blagoje in honor of the feast.

The Serbian primate continued:

In the most difficult times for our people, [Fr. Justin] preached and was simultaneously crucified. Not by force, although he was persecuted by the powers of this world, but from within, he voluntarily crucified his mind, his heart, his will on the Cross of Christ so that Christ might live in him and the good news of salvation in Christ might be spoken through him. In the darkest and most difficult times, from this place flowed rivers of the good news about Christ the Savior, watering every inch of our land. They nourished many souls among our people, who wandered on pathless ways. At this place, many gathered and found Christ. Therefore, brothers and sisters, the seed from this place has sprouted and gives gracious fruits.

Photo: eparhijavaljevska.rs     

Following the blessing of the slava bread, the local hierarch, His Grace Bishop Isichije of Valjevo presented Pat. Porfirije with the Order of St. Justin, which was established in 2019, saying:

We are convinced that with [Fr. Justin’s] blessing, you received the holy Mysteries of monasticism, the priesthood, the episcopacy, and the duty, dignity, and obedience of the first hierarch in which you visit us today. As the Serbian Patriarch, today you tirelessly and devotedly strive to lead us in the spirit of St. Sava and St. Justin, as his distinguished disciple and successor, into the blessed Kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and to manifest that Kingdom in our lives. You take pastoral care of the Church, leaving no one outside of Your love and care. We pray to Him to strengthen and bless you.

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Photo: aria-art.ru     

These are the words of the ancient, great Prophet IsaiahThe Holy Prophet Isaiah lived 700 years before the birth of Christ, and was of royal lineage.

“>prophet Isaiah. These words are directed to us, your pastors, for upon us lies the duty of teaching you. Not only of showing you the path of Christ, but of showing our heartfelt love and care for you.

And I love you, the flock that God has given me, as my own close family. Don’t I know what sorrows you have, how many tears, and aren’t I obligated to comfort you?

I am trying to fulfill this obligation on this day, the great day of the The Third Sunday of Great Lent. The Veneration of the Cross

“>Veneration of the Cross of Christ.

When we teach you the way of Christ, we always urge you to remember His words about how the narrow are gates and the straight is path which lead to the Kingdom of God; that in the world, you will have sorrows.

St. Macarius of Optina: On SorrowsKnow that God is taking care of you when He sends sorrows and grief, and wants through them to teach you and make you wise in spiritual reason.

“>Sorrows are the lot of all Christians.

You ask, do only Christians sorrow? Don’t people who have rejected the way of Christ also endure various sorrows, misfortunes, and bitterness? Don’t they also shed tears?

Yes, of course, sorrows are unavoidable for them also. But in God’s eyes there is a great difference in value between our sorrows and tears, and the sorrows and tears of those who live without God. They do not endure their sorrows voluntarily, but only because they can’t get rid of them in any way. They often endure sorrows with curses and murmuring, but we Christians should bear our sorrows—which are connected with the name of Christ—in a completely different way, with utter submission to God’s will, and with gratitude to God for everything that happens to us. Gratitude for the good, the difficult, the bitter, and for all our sorrows.

We bear our sorrows voluntarily, for if we were to renounce Christ, we would be free of the majority of our sorrows. But since we do not renounce Him, we bear them voluntarily, and God blesses us for our suffering. For great is the value of our suffering and tears in God’s eyes.

You know how worldly people strive to be rid of sorrows: They drown their grief and sorrows in wine and vodka, or stupefy themselves with tobacco and even drugs.

But is this worthy of us Christians? Isn’t the voice of our conscience lulled to the greatest degree by wine and tobacco? Oh, this is deeply, deeply unworthy, and God forbid that anyone of you ever sink to using these means of silencing the conscience that are so repugnant to God.

Worldly people seek consolation in their sorrows, and when they find it, they try to forget about them. They seek entertainment, go to parties, visit each other’s homes, and engage in empty chatter.

Let that never be so with us, for a Christian should not stifle the voice of his conscience, but to the contrary should carefully heed it.

They seek to stifle their sorrows by friendships; in the ancient world, friendship was highly valued. But don’t you know how unreliable human support is as opposed to God’s?

People of higher spiritual status seek to forget their sorrows and sufferings in intense labor, in their work. This means of easing sorrows is of course immeasurably higher than muffling them with wine, entertainment, dances, and parties. Labor muffles sorrow for a time, but you cannot work without interruptions, because once the work is done the voice of the conscience will reproach you once more, and heavy sorrows rise up again. You won’t achieve the desired effect through labors.

The highest thing in which people find relief is mutual love—love of spouses, love of parents for children, love of people who are worthy of love.

All love is blessed, and this love is also blessed. But this is the beginning, lowest form of love. From marital love, by learning through it, we must rise to a much higher love for all people, for all the misfortunate, all the suffering. From this love we rise to a third level of love—divine love, love of God Himself. You see, until people have reached love for all, divine love, their love for only their family and friends is not of great significance.

Those who seek consolation in sorrows in the wrong places will never find it in anything.

Where then can we find consolation in sorrows? The prophet David talks about this: In God alone does my soul find rest. In God, in God, in God’s law did he find consolation. And he is not alone in this—all the righteous ones of the Old Testament found it in this, for then people who did not know Christ (for He had not yet come into the world), found deep comfort in their grief from a heart that ran to prayer, in this spiritual communion with God.

Blessed are they, blessed are these Old Testament righteous ones, but immeasurably more blessed are those who have come to know Christ, who are learned in Christ’s law, who have chosen the path of Christ. Blessed are they to whom the highest form of consolation is accessible—consolation by Christ Himself. For isn’t this consolation hidden in the cross of Christ the most profound and eternal consolation?

Tell me—if you bear in your heart the Our Cross, and the Cross of ChristOur cross is vain and barren, no matter how heavy it may be, if it is not transformed into the Cross of Christ by our following Christ.

“>cross of Christ, if you often gaze at least with the eye of your mind at Him Crucified on the Cross, doesn’t it produce a very deep impression, a profound movement in your heart? For, what do we see when we gaze upon the Cross of Christ?

We see the Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, God made man, the Holy of Holies, the Great Righteous One, the Benefactor of the human race, far surpassing anything the world has ever seen or ever will see. We see Him nailed with iron nails to the Cross. We see Him suffering terribly—Him, Who with but the wave of His hand, with one word commanded the waves and the wind to cease; Him, Who in the course of His brief life on earth worked amazing miracles—miracles required by His love, His pity for people. We see hanging on the Cross Him, Who healed all diseases, who opened the eyes of the blind, raised the paralytics from their beds; Who fed thousands of people with a but a few loaves of bread; Who raised the dead. We see a great Benefactor, Savior, and Deliverer from the power of the devil. The Cross of Christ is terrible, for Christ’s ensign casts out demons, which flee in terror and confusion, because from the Cross of Christ an immeasurable stream of love has poured forth—love that destroys the evil and enmity of the devil and his demons.

So, if we see on the Cross the Deliverer of the world Who takes away our sins, having become a sacrifice for all of us the wicked, then what are our sorrows, no matter how many, no matter how heavy? What are they compared to the teardrops that streamed down His divine cheeks, or the stream of blood that flowed from His side pierced by the spear and reddened His Cross? What are all our sorrows, compared to this?

And when you are penetrated with these thoughts and feelings, when you look upon the Cross of Christ with all your trembling heart, only then will you receive true—the only true— consolation.

Why then do we need any other consolation, if we have been given this greatest of all consolations! After all, we have been given the Cross, which you now see raised up before you, and which we give you to kiss. Isn’t this the highest form of consolation? Don’t we continually draw enormous strength from this source of consolation? Holy Scripture is full of this consolation—only draw from it, only turn to Holy Scripture, to the Cross of Christ; and then you will receive the only true and eternal consolation.

Read carefully the words of the apostle Paul and remember them: Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God (2 Cor. 1:3–4).

I can testify to this. I testify with all my heart to you the profound truth of St. Paul’s words, I testify from my own experience, for the Lord comforted me in my great sorrow.

I can say that to the measure of the multiplication of your sorrows in Christ, will your consolation in Christ multiply. Remember, please remember: The greater your sorrows, the greater will be you consolation.

Only Christ can console us, we will seek consolation only in Him, only in the Cross of Christ will we route out faintheartedness, sorrow, and murmuring.

This is why the Cross of Christ is brought out for you on this holy day, in order to draw you all to Him, to the One Who was crucified on the Cross. With great joy we see how crowd after crowd of people hasten to see the exalted cross and hear the hymn, “Before Thy Cross, we bow down, O Master.”

What power draws us here? Why are there so many people in God’s church? The invisible power of God draws you, the power of Christ draws you in order to console you, to wipe away your tears. And if this is so, then who are we, weak and sinful, to try to add anything to this consolation? Not unto us, not unto us… But may God Himself direct your hearts in divine love and Christlike patience.

Amen.

St. John Baptist de la Salle was born in Rheims, France, to a noble family, on April 30, 1651. He was one of 10 children. 

John studied in Paris, and was ordained in 1678. He was one of the first to emphasize classroom teaching in the vernacular instead of in Latin. John founded three teachers’ colleges and established a reform school for boys at Dijon in 1705. 

John was also the founder of the Institute of the Brothers of Christian Schools, which now teaches around the world. He promoted and reformed Christian education, especially among the poor. 

On Good Friday, April 7, 1751, John died at St. Yon, Roeun. He was canonized in 1900 by Pope Leo XIII and named patron of teachers by Pope Pius XII in 1950.

The feast of the Annunciation is one of the twelve great feasts of the Church. It commemorates and celebrates the event described in the Gospel according to St. Luke (1:26-38):

    

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

The services for the feast of the Annunciation present a broad and profound exegesis of the Gospel reading on the annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary before she conceived the incarnate Logos in her most pure womb. The stichera and canon for the feast explain the Archangel’s greeting to the Most Holy Theotokos and her answer to this greeting (Lk. 1:26-38). Thanks to this exegesis the entire mystery and meaning of this event is presented to the faithful in all its universal significance.

For ancient Christians this feast had various names: The Conception of Christ, the Annunciation of Christ, the Beginning of Redemption, or the Annunciation of the Angel to Mary. Only in the seventh century, in both the East and the West, the name, Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, became generally accepted.

This feast was established in deep antiquity. We know of its celebration from as early as the third century (see the homily by St. Gregory the Wonderworker on that day). In his conversations, St. John Chrysostom and Blessed Augustine mentioned this feast as being an ancient and customary celebration. During the course of the fifth to eighth centuries, after the appearance of heresies that degraded the person of the Mother of God, the feast was especially rendered honor in the Church. In the eighth century, St. John Damascene and St. Theophan, Metropolitan of Nicea, composed the festal canon that is now sung in the Church.

St. Vincent Ferrer was born in Valencia, Spain, in 1357. His parents raised him in the faith, and ensured that he always cared for the poor. When he was 18, Vincent joined the Dominicans. 

As a member of the Order of Preachers, Vincent committed much of the Bible to memory, and studied the Church Fathers and philosophy. By the age of 28, he was well-known for his preaching and his gift of prophecy. A representative of Pope Clement VII chose Vincent to accompany him to France and preach. 

Although his focus was spreading the Gospel, Vincent became involved in the political intrigues in France, when two rival claimants to the papacy emerged, one in Rome, and one in Avignon. Vincent tried to convince the pope in Avignon to end the schism. The pope in Rome, Benedict, who was considered pope in Spain and France, sought to honor Vincent by making him a bishop. Vincent rejected this, having no wish to advance, and seeing many corrupt bishops, distracted from their work by luxury. 

Vincent committed to missionary work, preaching in the town between Avignon and his hometown. He denounced greed, blasphemy, sexual immorality, and disregard for faith, drawing crowds of thousands, and converting many. Vincent lived simply, abstaining from meat, sleeping on straw, and accepting no help except what he needed for basic survival. 

For 20 years, Vincent and his group of friars preached across Italy, Spain, and France. When they went into other parts of Europe, including Germany and the Mediterranean, those who heard Vincent testified that they understood every word, even though they had no common language. 

St. Vincent died on April 5, 1419, at age 62. He was canonized in 1455, and has become the namesake of a traditional Catholic community, the Fraternity of St. Vincent Ferrer.