YEAR OF VOCATION BEGINS
His Grace Diarmuid Martin, the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Dublin led the launching of the Year of Vocation for the Catholic Church in Ireland. It was held during the 6.30 p.m. Mass at the Saint Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, Dublin City. Previous to it, a press conference was held which was attended by different religious groups in Ireland. The Catholics bishops of Ireland has declared 13th April 2008 to 3rd May 2009 as the Year of Vocation. Several activities that will be highlighted during the Year of Vocation such as a national prayer campaign for students at examination time; a rally for World Youth Day to coincide with the events in Sydney on 15-20 July; and, collaboration with the national pilgrimage centres to reflect on the theme of vocation during their seasons. Last Vocation Sunday, April 13, 2008, a series...
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BROTHERHOOD: A REFLECTION
The religious brother has a unique vocation, he is a Christian responding to a call from God to deepen his baptismal consecration by professing public vows of chastity, poverty and obedience within a community setting; doing so he expresses more fully/concretely what it means to be baptised[1]: Person consecrated to God Follower of Christ Life lived in communion with others. VOWS : what are their purposes? They are a positive response to a call from God and help us demonstrate that the relationship we have with God is to be paramount. These freely entered into commitments don’t make us ‘superior’ Christians, rather they reinforce the original relationship made at Baptism and express this by assuming new obligations from which others are free. The religious’ relationship with Christ and his involvement with the kingdom Christ came to establish are primary...
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FRATERNAL RELATIONSHIPS IN RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES
We are gathered here to study fraternal relationships in our Religious Communities and I have been asked for some insights arising from the Word of God. For these insights, I want to focus on the spirituality of St. John. For fifteen years I taught the Gospel of St. John at the Jesuit University in Bilbao. There, I shared my knowledge in a technical manner. This will not be the case to-day. I would like to share with you a Johannine synthesis which will help us in our fraternal relationships. St. John conveys to us a very important and solid message so that fraternal relationships may be authentic. To better understand the atmosphere in which St. John breathes, it must be put in context, and so a short introduction is necessary. Introduction We all know that once Jesus, the Saviour,...
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New SSS Priest
The Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament is blessed with one more priest, Rev. Fr. Nelson de Jesus Roque SSS, who was received into the order of presbyters in a gracious liturgical rite of ordination presided over by the ordaining prelate, His Excellency Bp. Jose F. Oliveros, D.D., bishop of Malolos, on the morning of February 4, 2008 in St. Peter the Apostle Parish Church in Balagtas, Bulacan. Fr. Nelson was born on the 13th of March 1970, the 5th of the seven children of Mr. Luis Roque and Mrs. Conception de Jesus. He took his elementary education at Burol Elementary School and his secondary education at St. Laurence Academy, both in his native town of Balagtas. He earned his Degree in Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education major in Bio-Chemistry at Mecauyan College in Mecauyan, Bulacan. He was a...
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New Icon of St. Eymart
This is the new icon of Saint Peter Julian Eymard the founder of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. According to Fr. Tom Weise, the new icon of Saint Eymard “was commissioned by the Provincial Administration of Saint Anne Province. The Russian iconographer Alexander Stoljarov took much time and asked many questions before he began his work which took him nearly two...
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