O LE UPU NEI I FAITAUGA TELE
mo Ianuari 17th, 2014
Faamanatuga o Abbot St. Anthony
Tusitusiga faʻa Liturgical iinei
FAIGALUEGA talaʻaga o le faʻaolaina, o le mea e tosoina ai le faʻasalaga a le Tama e le o se agasala, ae a musu e liliu ese ai.
O le manatu la-afai e te laa ese mai le laina, tautevateva ma agasala - o le a tosoina i lalo le toasa o le Atua… ia, o le manatu lena o le tiapolo. O lana meafaigaluega muamua ma sili lea ona aoga ile tuʻuaʻiga ma le soliina o le fiafia o le au kerisiano, i le taofia o le tasi faʻanoanoaga, ita ia te ia lava, ma le mataʻu i le Atua
The truth is that God is “slow to anger and abounding in mercy. " [1]Salamo 145: 8 When we sin, Jesus does not condemn but welcomes the sinner to begin again. And the sinner who does, finds forgiveness and renewed freedom. So what of your daily faults, those venial sins?
… Agasala agasala e le solia le feagaiga ma le Atua. Faatasi ai ma le alofa tunoa o le Atua e toe suia tagata. "Venial agasala e le taofia le tagata agasala o le faʻapaʻiaina le alofa tunoa, faauooga ma le Atua, alofa mama, ma mulimuli ane fiafia faavavau." -Catechism o le Katoliko Ekalesia, l. 1863
So don’t let the accuser steal joy from you, because Jesus paid a price for it!
But there is another kind of sinner, one who closes his heart to his conscience, to the Gospel, and faaauau pea in pursuing evil—like the Israelites in the first reading. Stubbornness and pride are what brought grief upon them. “Grant the people’s request,” the Lord told Samuel. “It is not you they reject, they are rejecting me as their king. "
We need to remember those words when we are snubbed by others for doing good or sharing the Gospel with them. Don’t take it personal, Jesus said in so many words:
Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man… (Lk 6:22)
…because “it is not you they reject, they are rejecting Me as their king. "
We are living in a world that is stubborn today… much like the prodigal son. As the Israelites, we have all kinds of arguments to justify our “rights.”
Abortion is a clear-cut evil… The fact that some people controvert a position does not in itself make that position intrinsically controversial. People argued for both sides about slavery, racism and genocide too, but that did not make them complex and difficult issues. Moral issues are always terribly complex, said Chesterton — for someone without principles. — Dr. Peter Kreeft, Tagata Taʻitaʻi Amata ile Fuafuaina, www.catholiced Education.org
So we must be realists. Even though Pope Francis is calling the Church to a “new phase of evangelization,” [2]ff. Evangelii Gaudium, l. 17 it does not mean that we should expect mass conversions in the māsani ai course of things. In fact, it is likely this new phase that will cause the world to ultimately revile the Church once and for all, shouting “Crucify her! Crucify her!” (cf. Francis, and the Coming Passion of the Church, Vaega I ma vaega II).
In today’s Gospel, Jesus forgave and healed a leper—and the Scribes hated him for it! Such are the signs of the times, the Zeitgeist all around us today:
O le tausaga ua lata mai le iʻuga, e le gata i le faʻaiuga o se seneturi ofoofogia ae o le iʻuga o le sefulu fitu selau tausaga o Kerisinetoma. O le liliuese silisili talu mai le fanau mai o le Ekalesia ua matua alualu i luma alualu i luma i tatou uma. —Dr. Ralph Martin, Faufautua i le Fono Faʻatonu mo le Faʻalauiloaina o le Faʻaevagelia Fou; Le Ekalesia Katoliko i le iʻuga o tausaga: O le a le Tala a le Agaga? i. 292
But like the prodigal son, it was precisely his stubborness that God used to eventually “illumine” his conscience to the true state of his soul… and lea, he decided to come home.
So don’t give up on the stubborn! Be the crucified face of Christ to them, the face of patience and forgiveness that converted the Centurion and melted the heart of the thief. Let us pray more fervently that God will send the light of truth upon this generation to awaken them to the joy of knowing and following so loving a king as Jesus.
Blessed the people who know the joyful shout; in the light of your countenance, O LORD, they walk… For to the LORD belongs our shield, and to the Holy One of Israel, our King. (Today’s Psalm, 89)
New evangelization cannot mean: immediately attracting the large masses that have distanced themselves from the Church, by using new and more refined methods. No—this is not what new evangelization promises. New evangelization means: never being satisfied with the fact that from the grain of mustard seed, the great tree of the Universal Church grew… it means to dare, once again and with the humility of the small grain, to leave up to God the when and how it will grow (Mark 4:26-29). —Cardinal Ratzinger (BENEDICT XVI), Address to Catechesists and Religion Teachers, Dec. 12th, 2000; ewtn.com
Did you know that Mark writes a weekly reflection on the “signs of the times”? I lesitala, kiliki iinei.
Read Mark’s latest writing iinei.
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