South Sudan's Challenge

South Sudan's Challenge
Healing & Reconciliation

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Pentecost Sunday


Readings:  Acts 2: 1-11; 1 Corinthians 12: 3-7. 12-13; John 20: 19-23

Selected Passage: (Jesus) said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." (John 20: 21-23)

Meditation: Jesus breathed on all of us the Holy Spirit at Baptism. The marks of the Spirit in us and in our community are peace and the forgiveness of sins.  Yes, each one and each community born of the Spirit are empowered to forgive sins.

With the Holy Spirit in us, we can unlock the doors that imprison us and break free to share his/her gifts with everyone.  We pray to the Holy Spirit to enkindle our hearts the fire of divine love and wisdom that open all horizons and break all borders and frontiers the separate peoples and nations.

DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD

1st step: Write the text or Dhikr (the Arabic word for REMEMBRANCE) in your heart.
2nd step: Let the text remain always in on your lips and mind - RECITING the text silently as often as possible...
3rd step:  Be attentive to the disclosure of the meaning/s of the text in your life.


Sunday, May 24, 2020

Good Bye and Ascension

PAINFUL GOODBYES AND THE ASCENSION


Historically, the ascension was an event within the life of Jesus and the early church and is now a feast day for Christians, one that links Easter to Pentecost. But it is more than an historical event, it is at the same time a theology, a spirituality, and an insight into life that we need to understand to better sort out the paradoxical interplay between life and death, presence and absence, love and loss.

Here’s an example: I was 22 years old when in the space of four months both of my parents, still young, died. For my siblings and me the pain was searing. Initially we were nearly overwhelmed with a sense of being orphaned, abandoned, of losing a vital life-connection (that, ironically, we had mostly taken for granted until then). And our feelings were mainly cold. There’s little that’s warm in death.

After several years, the coldness disappeared, and my parents’ deaths were no longer a painful thing. I felt again their presence, and now as a warm, nurturing spirit that was with me all time. The coldness of death turned into a warmth. They had gone away but now they could give me their love and blessing in a way that they never could fully while they were alive. Their going away eventually created a deeper and purer presence.

And this is even true, perhaps particularly so, in cases where our loved ones were difficult characters who struggled for peace or to bless anyone in this life. Death washes clean and releases the spirit and, even in the case of people who struggled to love, we can after their deaths receive their blessing in way we never could while they were alive. Like Jesus, they could only give us their real presence by going away.

Separation hurts, goodbyes bring painful tears, and death of every kind wrenches the heart. But that is part of the mystery of love. Eventually we all reach a point where what is best for everyone is that we go away so that we can give our spirit. The gift that our lives are can only be fully received after we ascend.

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

The Ascension of the Lord




Readings: Acts 1: 1-11; Ephesians 1: 17-23; Matthew 28: 16-20

Selected Passage: "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." (Mt. 28: 18b-20)

Meditation: Jesus sends the apostles with a mandate to make disciples of all nations.  And they have nothing to fear, because He assured them of his presence in their midst until the end of time. 

All the Baptized share in the Mission of the Apostles to proclaim the Good News and make disciples of all nations and baptize them in the name of the father, Son and Holy Spirit and teach them to observe what Jesus has commanded- the Love of God and the Love of neighbor, especially those in need!

DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD

1st step: Write the text or Dhikr (the Arabic word for REMEMBRANCE) in your heart.
2nd step: Let the text remain always in on your lips and mind - RECITING the text silently as often as possible...
3rd step:  Be attentive to the disclosure of the meaning/s of the text in your life.

Friday, May 15, 2020

6th Sunday of Easter 2020


Readings: Acts 8: 5-8. 14-17; 1 Peter 3: 15-18; John 14: 15-21

Selected Passage: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you.” (John 14: 16-17)

Meditation: Jesus does not leave as orphans. He sends the Spirit, our Advocate, to be with us always until the end of time. The Holy Spirit, the Advocate, will remind us of Jesus’ teaching and command – the Love of God and the Love of neighbor.  www.badaliyya.blogspot.com

DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD

1st step: Write the text or Dhikr (the Arabic word for REMEMBRANCE) in your heart.
2nd step: Let the text remain always in on your lips and mind - RECITING the text silently as often as possible...
3rd step:  Be attentive to the disclosure of the meaning/s of the text in your life.


Tuesday, May 12, 2020

On Hearing the Voice that Soothes...

ON HEARING THE VOICE THAT SOOTHES


We are always a bit dissatisfied. Like Rahner, Henri Nouwen, too says that in this life, it seems that there is no such a thing as a clear-cut, pure joy, but that even our happiest moments come with a shadow, a fear, a jealousy, a restlessness. Inside us, no matter what our age, we are always somewhat lost and full of a sadness that we don’t quite know what to do with.

We reach a point in life when there is an ache and a sadness inside us that no one can still and comfort, other than the one who ultimately brought us to birth.

The Gospel of John opens very differently than the other Gospels. There are no infancy narratives. Right at the beginning, we already meet the adult Christ and the first words he speaks are a question: “What are you searching for?” John’s whole Gospel tries to answer that, but the full answer is given only at the very end, by Jesus himself.

What are we ultimately searching for? On the morning of the resurrection, Mary Magdala meets the newly risen Jesus, but she doesn’t recognize him. He approaches her and asks (in words that repeat his question at the opening of the Gospel): “What are you searching for?” She explains that she is searching for the body, the dead body, of Jesus. He says just one word to her in response: “Mary”. He calls her by her name and, in that, she recognizes him.

In Jesus’ response to Mary Magdala, we learn the answer to life’s most fundamental question: What do we ache for? Ultimately all our aching is for one thing: to hear God, lovingly and individually, call us by name.

There comes a moment in the night for each of us when nothing will console us other than this, hearing our names pronounced by the mouth of God.

Sunday, May 3, 2020

PCID Message in the Month of Ramadan

Christians and Muslims: Protecting together the places of worship

Dear Muslim brothers and sisters,

The month of Ramadan is so central in your religion and therefore dear to you at personal, familial and social levels. lt is a time for spiritual healing and growth, of sharing with the poor, of strengthening bonds with relatives and friends.

For us, your Christian friends, it is a propitious time to further strengthen our relationships with you, by greeting you, meeting you on this occasion and, where possible, by sharing in an iftar with you. Ramadan and 'Jd al-Fitr thus are special occasions to foster fraternity between Christians and Muslims. It is in this spirit that the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue offers its prayerful best wishes and hearty congratulations to you all.

The thoughts we like to share with you this year following our cherished tradition are about the protection of the places of worship.

As we all know, the places of worship occupy an important place in Christianity and Islam, and in other religions as well. For both Christians and Muslims, churches and mosques are spaces reserved for prayer, personal and communitarian alike. They are constructed and furnished in a way that favours silence, reflection and meditation. They are spaces where one can go deep in himself/herself, so favouring for God-experience in silence. A place of worship of any religion therefore is "a house of prayer" (Isaiah, 56, 7).

Places of worship are also spaces for spiritual hospitality, where believers of other religions also join for some special ceremonies like weddings, funerals, feasts of the community etc. While they participate in the events in silence and with due respect to the religious observances of the believers of that particular religion, they also savour the hospitality accorded to them. Such practice is a privileged witness to what unites believers, without diminishing or denying what distinguishes them.

In this regard, it is worthwhile to recall what Pope Francis said when he made a visit to the Heydar Aliyev Mosque, in Baku (Azerbaijan) on Sunday, 2 October 2016: "Meeting one another in fraternal friendship in this place of prayer is a powerful sign, one that shows the harmony which religions can build together, based on personal relations and on the good will of those responsible".

In the context of recent attacks on churches, mosques and synagogues by wicked persons who seem to perceive the places of worship as a privileged target for their blind and senseless violence, it is worth noting what the Document on "Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together", signed by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Dr. Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, in Abu Dhabi, on 4 February 2019, said: "The protection of places of worship - synagogues, churches and mosques - is a duty guaranteed by religions, human values, laws and international agreements. Every attempt to attack places of worship or threaten them by violent assaults, bombings or destruction, is a deviation from the teachings of religions as well as a clear violation of international law".

While appreciating the efforts done by the international community at different levels for the protection of the places of worship worldwide, it is our hope that our mutual esteem, respect and cooperation will help strengthen the bonds of sincere friendship, and enable our communities to safeguard the places of worship to assure for coming generations the fundamental freedom to profess one's own beliefs.

With renewed esteem and fraternal greetings, in the name of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, we convey friendly wishes for a fruitful month of Ramadan and a joyous 'Id al-Fitr.
From the Vatican, 17 April 2020

Miguel Angel Cardinal Ayuso Guixot, MCCJ
President

Rev. Msgr. Indunil Kodithuwakku Janakaratne Kankanamalage
Secretar