Archbishop Stephen Brislin offers his prayer and reflection for the people of the Archdiocese of Cape Town for today, Wednesday 23 September 2020, during this time of the coronavirus pandemic. It is also available on the Archdiocese of Cape Town’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. Please also see below the text of his reflection, primarily for the deaf.

Peace and blessings to you. May this day be a day of closeness to God, as we celebrate the feast of St Padre Pio, St Pio of Pietrelcina. We recall one of his most famous sayings, pray, hope and don’t get upset. Anxiety serves no purpose. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.

Let is begin, as usual, with a verse or two from the Readings of today’s Mass. The First Reading is from the Book of Proverbs (30:5-9), and we hear these words from the prayer of Agur, probably referring to King Solomon:

Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die; Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full, and deny you, and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor, and steal, and profane the name of my God.

Let us pray:

Merciful Father, may we always pray to you, as did St Padre Pio, that you will be close to us. Without your love and strength we easily become overwhelmed by the uncertainties, anxieties and disappointments of life. And so Lord, we pray with all our hearts, be close to us to lead, guide and enlighten us, that we may see our way, and come eventually to the fullness of life and light that is only found in you. We make our prayer through Our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever, amen.

In this short, and to the point part of the prayer from the Book of Proverbs, the author pleads with God not to put him in a situation that might cause him to sin. If he has “riches” and more than he needs, he might think himself self-sufficient and not in need of God.  If he is in poverty and does not have enough, he might give in to crime and steal. So, he prays that he will be given just enough in case having too little or too much may cause him to sin.

 At every Mass, and frequently in our private prayers, we pray the words of the Lord’s Prayer,  lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. There is certainly doubt as to whether the Lord would ever lead us into temptation, but certainly we are praying that he does not allow us to fall into temptation. We know that the Lord never allows us to be tempted beyond our capacity to resist. St Paul writes in his First Letter to the Corinthians (10:13), No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. We have the strength to put up with temptation but, in our weakness, we do not always have the will to resist. And so it is right and important that we do pray that we will not fall into temptation, but the prayer itself must be accompanied by action to avoid temptation;  such avoidance is not running away from reality, but rather a wise and prudent decision. And so, we must always be aware of the need to avoid the occasion of sin. One form of an act of contrition commits us to that by ending with the words: I resolve, with the help of your grace, to sin no more and to avoid the occasions of sin.

What does it mean to avoid the occasions of sin? There are two types of occasions of sin – remote and proximate. Remote occasions of sin are those things we encounter, together with other people, that could potentially lead us to sin but while the possibility is there for sin, it is not that likely. We are not obliged to avoid remote occasions of sin and it is probably not possible to do so because we always exposed to such temptations. But the proximate occasions are different. These are the occasions that, if we think about it for a moment, we know that such situations could well lead us to sin against God and neighbour. Most often our experience has taught us what the proximate occasions of sin are for ourselves – and they differ from person to person. So, for example, one person can easily have a few drinks with his buddies and have a pleasant evening. For another, having that drink may lead him to all kinds of bad behaviour, such as violence against one he loves. It is incumbent on every Christian to avoid those occasions that he or she knows may weaken their defenses against sin and where there is an increased likelihood to sin.

To be able to avoid the occasions of sin can only be achieved through prayer, the Sacraments, examination of conscience and vigilance. Through prayer and the Sacraments we are strengthened by God’s grace and so we can follow the advice of St James (4:7):   Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. In all our prayers we commit ourselves to doing God’s will and so commit ourselves to resisting those occasions that can lure us away from God. Examination of conscience enables us to look honestly at ourselves, and to search deep within ourselves, to identify the occasions that play on our particular weaknesses and that are the forerunner to us giving in to sin. Through vigilance we put all this into practice and, before we give in to our weakness, we take ourselves out of the situation before things go any further.

Let us now pray for God’s blessing:

The Lord be with you                                                              And with your spirit

May God, who has given us the saints as an example of Christian life, through the intercession of St Padre Pio, strengthen us to be constant in prayer, and faithful in our service to you, Lord, and to our neighbour. We make this prayer through Christ our Lord, amen.

May Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

In line with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s request, Archbishop Stephen Brislin has requested all Catholics to download the COVID Alert South Africa app on their smartphones – from the Play Store if you have an Android phone, and Apple’s App Store if you have an iPhone – and to spread this as widely as possible.

Prophetic voices for climate action. Find out what young people of faith are doing for Water Justice, Divesting from Fossil Fuels, Fighting Plastic and Protecting the Amazon – with Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican Speakers. Moderated by Catholic Youth’s Dominique Yon. Register at this link https://lutheranworld-org.zoom.us/…/WN_vZCNg…

Auxiliary Bishop Sylvester David offers his prayer and reflection for the people of the Archdiocese of Cape Town for today, Friday 18 September 2020, during this time of the coronavirus pandemic. It is also available on the Archdiocese of Cape Town’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. Please also see below the text of his reflection, primarily for the deaf.

Reflection for 18 September 2020

An aspect of the liturgy of the word is done silently by the ordained minister reading the Gospel. Those who are not familiar with the Church’s liturgical practice may not realise what is said albeit quietly: “Through the words of the Gospel may our sins be wiped away”. In a recent reflection (two weeks ago) I pointed out that Christ is present in the proclamation – and wherever Christ is, there is the forgiveness of sins. Still, can the mere words of the Gospel bring about the wiping away of sin without any action on my part? Well, listening is not passive. Listening attentively is in fact quite active and quite deliberate and that action of receiving the word with well prepared hearts brings blessings. Remember the teaching of Jesus when he spoke the parable of the sower in Mark 4. The seed that fell into good soil produced much fruit.

Perhaps some biblical background will be helpful. When God speaks the word for “speak” in the Hebrew bible it is always a strong verb. Hebrew verbs show the quality and strength of the action being described. God’s word is always deliberate and always intentional and one of these intentions is that we be converted. Read Ezekiel 18:23 for example. The letter to the Hebrews tells us that God’s word is a two edged sword, living and active (Hebrews 4:12) and Isaiah 55:10-11 tells us that the word will not return to God until its purpose is accomplished.

There is a strong thread in the Bible that shows the power of God’s word but I want to focus on the “wiping away” of sins. This notion comes from the Old Testament. A prime example is Isaiah 25:6-9, which is recommended for funeral liturgies. This reading tells us that God will wipe away our tears. Hebrew words are like a story and need to be unpacked. The word translated “wipe” means more than merely clearing a chalkboard with a duster. It means to remove the stain in such a way that there will be no more evidence that it was there in the first place. It also has another deeper meaning and here we need an analogy from family life to illustrate the point. Suppose a child is scolded and embarrassed and starts to cry. Perhaps s/he was not at fault, was scolded and now feels hurt. After a few minutes the tears subside and the child runs around again. A few minutes later the child lets out a deep sigh – the emotional pain is now gone. That’s how God deals with us when we are hurt. The context of this passage from Isaiah is important. It starts with “On this mountain…” On which mountain? A study of the passage shows that it was the mountain where they suffered severe pain and degradation. The point is that in the very theatre of their misery, God acted to take away their shame and their pain. Yes indeed, the theatre of our misery e.g. the pandemic, an unhappy home or family, an unhappy marriage, a poor work context, the neighbourhood, etc. can actually become the theatre of our redemption – for nothing is impossible to God (Luke 1:37).

Let us pray: Father through the words of the Gospel may our sins be wiped away. Help us to receive  your word as gift each day. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.

[Blessing].

Bishop Sylvester David OMI
VG: Archdiocese of Cape Town

Archbishop Stephen Brislin offers his prayer and reflection for the people of the Archdiocese of Cape Town for today, Wednesday 16 September 2020, during this time of the coronavirus pandemic. It is also available on the Archdiocese of Cape Town’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. Please also see below the text of his reflection, primarily for the deaf.

Welcome once more to this weekly reflection. During the past week it has been wonderful to enjoy the warmer weather and to feel the warmth of the sun. We give thanks to God for all things, the rain, the cold, the sun and the warmth. All come from God and all are necessary.

In todays’s Gospel Reading from St Luke (7:31-35) we hear these words of Jesus:

To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the market place and calling to one another, “We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not weep”.

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the blessings we have received from you. Give us grateful hearts, Lord, that we will always be able to recognize your presence in our lives and the good things you have given us. Preserve us from negativity, ungratefulness and from despair. Give us hearts that always seek the good and the courage to meet the difficulties of life with faith, hope and love. We make this prayer through Our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever, amen.

Whenever we sing or pray the Gloria at Mass, we begin with the words, Glory to God in the highest, and peace to people of goodwill.  The generation that Jesus spoke about in the Gospel could not be satisfied by anything. They were like children who would not dance to the pipes, nor weep to when there was wailing – there was simply no pleasing them. They lacked goodwill. If we lack goodwill, we will find fault in anything and everything, there will be no pleasing us. If you are intent on finding fault you will find it. You could give me any of the greatest speeches of all time and, if I set my mind to it, I would find something wrong – too long, too short, too complicated, too repetitive, whatever. On the other hand, if you have goodwill, you will be able to find something helpful and something positive in just about anything. It’s a bit like the “half glass full, half glass empty” idea. We have a choice as to how we look on life and with what attitude we have towards life. It is true even of something as simple as a priest’s homily on Sunday. No matter how brilliant it may be, if we want to find fault we will. If we have goodwill, even if it is the most awful homily, we will be able to salvage something from it that is helpful, uplifting or thought provoking.

We live in an age of deep discontent. The many problems that we face as families, society, the country or the world, often hang over us like a deep cloud of depression. But it goes much deeper than that. There are forces within society today that instil discontent. For example, the powerful aim of advertising is to make us unhappy with what we have and to desire what is advertised. Competing ideologies, the to-ing and fro-ing and spin of a democratic society, aim to draw us into different camps by often promising us something better than what we have. None of this is wrong as such, but it does impact  on us in very subtle ways and may result in a restlessness within ourselves.  

It is true that in every age there has been discontent, in a way it is part of the human spirit because we are searching for something more authentic, more perfect and more satisfying. Like St Augustine, we must come to the realisation that, Our heart is restless until it rests in you. True peace and acceptance will only happen if we find communion with God and our hearts rest in him. To be in communion with him means to share in God’s love.  And to love is only possible if we strive to be people of goodwill who seek to find and build on what is positive and not to be weighed down and submerged by what is negative. Goodwill is very much part of the transformation to be people of love.

And St Paul tells us what true love is in the First Reading of today’s Mass (1Cor 12:31-13:13). This is not the soppy, sentimental love that we often fantasize about. This is the hard, practical, sacrificial love supremely demonstrated on the Cross as Jesus abandoned the last breath of his life for the sake of others. St Paul tells us that Christian love is not jealous, boastful, arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way, it is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice in wrong. Rather it is patient, kind, rejoices in right, it bears all things, believes all things, hopes and endures all things. It never ends and unless we have love, we are nothing he says. Let us pray and work on ourselves so that we may have the goodwill to grow inlove.

Let us now pray for God’s blessing.

The Lord be with you                                                                          R/ And with your spirit

May the effects of your sacred blessing, O Lord, make themselves felt among your faithful, to prepare with spiritual sustenance the minds of all, that they may be strengthened by the power of your love to carry out works of charity, through Christ our Lord, amen.

May Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

May God bless you and keep you.    

Auxiliary Bishop Sylvester David offers his prayer and reflection for the people of the Archdiocese of Cape Town for today, Friday 11 September 2020, during this time of the coronavirus pandemic. It is also available on the Archdiocese of Cape Town’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. Please also see below the text of his reflection, primarily for the deaf.

Reflection for Friday 11 September 2020

In our first reading for today’s Mass Paul speaks about the urgency of preaching the Gospel saying in effect that he would perish if he did not preach it. The word used indicates that he is under compulsion to preach and will be distressed and incomplete if he does not. This sounds like an echo of the prophet Jeremiah who got into trouble whenever he preached and became a laughing stock. He announces that he will not preach again – but with the next breath declares that he cannot not preach the word because it is like a fire burning in his very bones (Jeremiah 20:9).

Fire is an important symbol of Divine presence in the Bible. Moses met God in the burning bush and Elijah was taken up in a chariot of fire. When John the Baptist introduces Jesus in Luke’s gospel he refers to someone coming after him who will baptise “with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Luke 3:15-18). Jesus in the same Gospel declares that he came to cast fire upon the earth and he wished that it was blazing already (Luke 12:49). Later on in the Gospel the fire had taken at last – in the hearts of the disciples as they declared: “were not our hearts burning within us?” (Luke 24:32). Luke, in writing the Acts of the Apostles, describes the Holy Spirit as tongues of fire (Acts 2:3).

This symbol of fire is something the Oblate Congregation is used to. St Eugene de Mazenod, like St Paul, said that if he did not preach the Gospel he should perish. When looking at what type of man he wanted for his Congregation he declared that he wanted men who were on fire with love for Christ. Once a formator in the Congregation reported to him that the novices were good men, but lacked fire. They did have some flickering embers. De Mazenod’s response was: “let them burn brightly or get out. We have no use for smouldering wicks”. This notion of fire has been strong with him. Writing to the Oblates he said: “Your destiny is to be apostles, and so tend within your hearts the sacred fire that the Holy Spirit lights there…” (Eugene de Mazenod, Nov 17, 1851).

For those who are not Oblates you probably wonder what the Oblate preoccupation with fire has to do with you. Well on 3 December 1995 when Pope John Paul II canonized St Eugene de Mazenod he became a model not only for the Oblates but for the whole Church. And that being the case, we might well ask: “what type of men, women and children do we need in the Church of today?” The answer is the same – we need men, women and children whose hearts are on fire with love for Christ. Nothing else will matter, and nothing else will empower us to preach the Gospel in word and in deed.

Hint: You might want to check the internet for the hymn “Are not our hearts burning with us” by the liturgical music composer Carey Landry.

Let us pray: God our Father, at our baptism and at other strategic moments of our lives you placed within our hearts the fire that was lit by your own divine spark. Like the Emmaus disciples we too want to feel our hearts burning within us. Give us the grace to fan the flames of faith which you have placed within us so that we can make the most meaningful responses possible in our homes, our families, and our communities. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

[Blessing]

 

New directives for further participation in our worship life have been published by the Archdiocese of Cape Town. Please see the attached letter from Bishop Sylvester David OMI, Auxiliary Bishop of Cape Town.

Please join us as we celebrate the Season of Creation this year, amid crises that have shaken our world, we’re awakened to the urgent need to heal our relationships with creation and each other. This is a time of restoration and hope, a jubilee for our Earth, that requires radically new ways of living with creation. 

Simply link onto the Stellenbosch Catholic Church Facebook page

STARTS ON Saturday, September 12, 2020 at 3:00 PM

ENDS ON Saturday, September 12, 2020 at 4:30 PM

Please find your invitation attached and feel free to share this invitation with your network.

Peace and blessings

Fr Wim Lindeque
Justice and Peace Commission Chairman
Archdiocese of Cape Town
Tel: 021 4622417 
Email:  ajusticeandpeace@gmail.com / wlindeque@gmail.com

Archbishop Stephen Brislin offers his prayer and reflection for the people of the Archdiocese of Cape Town for today, Wednesday 9 September 2020, during this time of the coronavirus pandemic. It is also available on the Archdiocese of Cape Town’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. Please also see below the text of his reflection, primarily for the deaf.

Welcome to my home and to my chapel. In today’s Gospel from St Luke (6:20-26) we are given the “roadmap” of Christian living, the Beatitudes, the Blessings. Prior to his teaching on the beatitudes, according to Luke’s Gospel, Jesus had gone up the mountain to pray. He then summoned his disciples and, from among them, chose his twelve apostles. Together with them he then descended from the mountain and went on level ground where a large crowd had gathered to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. We hear that people with unclean spirits were also cured. This is what happened next:

Jesus lifted his eyes on his disciples and said, “Blessed are you poor for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold your reward is great in heaven.

Let us pray:

O God, who chose the Blessed Virgin Mary from among the poor and humble, to be the Mother of the Saviour, grant we pray, that following her example and acknowledging our littleness, we may offer to you sincere hearts and place in you all our hope for salvation. We make this prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever, amen.

We are well accustomed to hear the Gospel reading of the Beatitudes. We know they are “counter cultural” values, going in a different direction from how most of us would like our lives to be. Who, after all, wishes to be poor, to hunger, to weep or to be hated by others. We aspire, at the very least, to have sufficient to sustain our lives and to enjoy life as much we can with laughter, rather than sorrow. We desire to love and to be loved by others. But, of course, the Beatitudes do not refer to the material aspects of life, but refer to the attitudes and virtues that are meant to inspire and guide us in living a Christian life.

Let us briefly have a look at the different beatitudes. We are the blessed poor because we recognize our inner insufficiency. We are not perfect, we are very often blind to knowing right and wrong. We are poor because we get our values mixed up and follow false paths. We are poor because, while we can acknowledge that others are different to us, we battle to accept difference. Pride, fundamentalism and arrogance all militate against this type of poverty, this recognition of true self. Similarly, we hunger always, because we have tasted that the Lord is good, in the words of St Peter (1 Peter 2:3). We hunger to know God and to know truth, and we thirst to drink from the wells of God, the wells of grace and love. But those wells are deep and so we always thirst for more – more depth within ourselves, more authenticity more sincerity. We hunger because often we are only drawing from the surface of God’s depth in our prayer life, in our appreciation of God’s Word and the sacraments and in the way in which we express true and sacrificial love to those who suffer. And we weep. We weep for our own mistakes of the past and present, for our sinfulness, for the sinfulness of a world that is often uncaring, unjust, violent, cruel and oppressive of people. We may well be hated by others on account of Jesus, but not because we seek hatred. It is a hatred that arises because there are those who hate truth. The true disciple will always be firm in standing for the truth and for justice, but will always do so humbly and without any sense of self-righteousness or superiority. It is a hatred that arises because some perceive truth to be a threat to them. After all, to take a topical example, among the corrupt who will be hated the most, a fellow corrupt person or an honest person? Clearly, it will be the honest person because he is a threat to the corrupt. We will be hated for the prophetic nature of Christianity that calls people back to the goodness of creation, the meaning of our existence and to a culture of life – that calls us to an abandonment of selfishness, domination, greed and violence. It is a path of respect for all life from womb to tomb.

Jesus preached this profound homily after healing many people of their ailments and casting out evil. The sermon is a logical continuation of showing the way for a much deeper and more whole personal healing but also a deep healing of humankind, of relationships and of society. While it is a way of poverty, hunger, weeping and rejection, it is in fact, in a much more profound sense, the way of richness, of joy, of peace and satisfaction. Above all, it is the way of love as we go deeper into the mystery of God’s unfathomable love and mercy and, through our commitment to follow him, we seek ways to image his love and grace to a world that hungers to find light, rest and peace.

Let us now pray for God’s blessing:

The Lord be with you R/ And with your spirit

Grant that the hearts of your faithful may submit to your merciful love, that we may always seek your help knowing that without your guidance we can do nothing that is just so that strengthened by our faith we may know what is right and receive all the help we need for our good. We make this prayer through Christ Our Lord, amen.

And may Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. 

Auxiliary Bishop Sylvester David offers his prayer and reflection for the people of the Archdiocese of Cape Town for today, Friday 4 September 2020, during this time of the coronavirus pandemic. It is also available on the Archdiocese of Cape Town’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. Please also see below the text of his reflection, primarily for the deaf. 

Reflection for Friday 4^th September 2020.

Our first reading for Mass today is from 1 Corinthians 4:1-5. I want to look at the first verse – in fact at just three words, because they inform us of what our attitude to the liturgy should be. We are told exactly what the role of a minister is. Paul asks us to “carefully calculate” (translated as “regard”) what we are all about. In other words we need to develop an awareness of what we do and why we do it. We do not simply roll out of bed and into the church. We do it knowingly and deliberately.

While the translation says that we are first of all servants of Christ, the original text informs us that we are attendants of Christ. This is a position of subservience. No one can be an attendant of someone who is absent. 

The Church guides us well with the notion of Real Presence. At our Eucharistic celebrations for example, Christ is present in four ways: (i) in the body assembled for worship – remember where two or three are gathered in my name I am there (Matthew 18:20); (ii) in the minister – who acts in persona Christi; (iii) in the proclamation of the Gospel; and (iv) pre-eminently in the Eucharistic species. When we gather for worship the place is super-saturated with the presence of Christ. That is why the longing for a return to Mass is so important. This longing is a viable stage in the spiritual lives of the Faithful during this pandemic – let us keep it and nurture it. 

But sometimes the opposite is shown. Recently I heard someone say that one does not have to go to Church in order to be a Christian. During the pandemic that becomes necessary – but ordinarily that argument makes no sense. Luke 4:16 tells us that Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath “as was his custom”. If attendance at liturgical worship with the gathered assembly was good enough for Jesus, it ought to be good enough for his disciples. We are after all attendants of Christ – not merely his fan club – and he seeks our table companionship.

The last word I want to refer to is “steward” – used twice in our first reading. The word used is the one from which we get the English word “economy”. It has to do with house keeping. Those entrusted with this task had to be trustworthy. House keeping had to follow certain rules as set down by the Master of the house. In the text St Paul says that we are stewards of the “mysteries of God”. These mysteries put us in touch with the divine and in our time we need to re-learn how to approach the Holy. 

Perhaps a good way to spend our time as we prepare for further integration into the worshipping community is to read the General Instruction on the Roman Missal that forms the introduction to our Sunday missals, or perhaps download it from the Vatican website (http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20030317_ordinamento-messale_en.html). Locally we have the Pastoral Introduction to the Order of the Mass – PIOM. I wish you joy as you discover the depth of the Church’s worship tradition.

Let us pray: Father, just like your Son’s apostles we too say: “Teach us to pray”. Teach us how to prepare for prayer and to honour the sacred traditions handed on to us by our Mothers and Fathers in the faith. Ultimately teach us how to have union with you through our worship. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.

[Blessing]