Asian Youth Day participants commit to wisely use social media

Participants of the 7th Asian Youth Day during the conclusion of the festivities in Yogyakarta Aug. 6. (ucanews.com photo)

They promise to use this modern tool to share the Word of God and inspire others

UCAN  Katharina R. Lestari and Konradus Epa, Yogyakarta 
Indonesia   August 7, 2017

More than 2,000 young people from 21 Asian countries have committed to use social media to spread positivity and share the Word of God to inspire others.

Their commitment was read out by two representatives of the young people during a closing ceremony of the 7th Asian Youth Day festivities in Yogyakarta Aug. 6. It included a three-day live-in program in 11 Indonesian dioceses as well as a three-day celebration and a one-day meeting of youth ministers.

“Technology and social media have become social part of our life as young people. We will use these tools responsibly to spread positivity and goodness rather than negativity and hatred, to share the Word of God and to inspire others,” they said.

“Through these, we can keep the fire within us alive and light the hearts of those around us,” they said.

“When we go home, we will inspire our families and friends to join us in our journey and experience to Gospel,” they said.

Deril De Melo, a 25-year-old participant from India, committed to focus on social media for the next three years.

“I will start a youth ministry and actively spread the Gospel message through social media. I will also ask my friends to have Facebook and Twitter accounts so that I can share the Gospel message with them,” he told ucanews.com.

For Saharon Padilla from the Philippines, the internet is the main challenge faced by young people in her country.

“Youth are very much interested in social media. But with my participation in the Asian Youth Day festivities, I will spread the Good News through my Facebook account,” she said, believing that it will bring young people closer to God.

Bishop Joel Zamudio Baylon, who heads the youth desk at the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences’ Office of Laity and Family, hoped that young people will be able to learn from their experience in Yogyakarta.

“It is not just telling stories but also inviting the young to journey with other youth to appreciate precisely the gift of God,” he said.

The Youth Desk of the FABC-Office of Laity and Family stages Asian Youth Day in cooperation with the Youth Commissions of the respective national bishop’s conferences. The event is held every three years.

“Joyful Asian Youth! Living the Gospel in Multicultural Asia,” was the theme for the 7th Asian Youth Day to be held in Yogyakarta in Semarang Diocese.

The 6th Asian Youth Day with the theme “Asian Youth! Wake Up!” was held in Korea in 2014.

Pope Francis’s Angelus Address On the Feast of the Transfiguration

‘The Event Offers Us a Message of Hope: It Invites Us to Encounter Jesus, to Be at the Service of Brethren’

Here is a ZENIT translation of the address Pope Francis gave today before and after praying the midday Angelus with those gathered in St. Peter’s Square:

* * *

Before the Angelus 

Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning!

This Sunday the liturgy celebrates the feast of the Lord’s Transfiguration. Today’s Gospel tells us that the Apostles Peter, James and John were witnesses of this extraordinary event. Jesus took them with Him “and led them up a high mountain by themselves” (Matthew 17:1) and, while He was praying, His face changed in aspect, shining like the sun, and His garments became white as light. Then Moses and Elijah appeared, talking with Him. At this point, Peter said to Jesus: “Lord, it is well that we are here; if you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah” (v. 4). He hadn’t finished speaking when a bright cloud overshadowed them.

The event of the Lord’s Transfiguration offers us a message of hope – we will be like this, with Him –: it invites us to encounter Jesus, to be at the service of brethren.

The disciples’ ascent of Mount Tabor induces us to reflect on the importance of being detached from worldly things, to undertake the way on high and contemplate Jesus. It’s about disposing ourselves to an attentive and prayerful listening of Christ, the Beloved Son of the Father, seeking intimate moments of prayer, which make possible the docile and joyful reception of the Word of God. In this spiritual ascent, in this detachment from worldly things, we are called to rediscover the peaceful and regenerating silence of meditation of the Gospel, of the reading of the Gospel, which leads to a rich goal of beauty, splendor and joy. And when we do this, with the bible in hand, in silence, we begin to feel this inner beauty, this joy that the Word of God generates in us. In this perspective, summertime is a providential moment to grow in our commitment to seek and encounter the Lord. In this period, students are free from school commitments and many families take their vacations; it is important that, during the period of rest and detachment from daily occupations, the strength of body and soul can be restored, deepening the spiritual journey.

At the end of the wonderful experience of the Transfiguration, the disciples came down from the mountain (Cf. v. 9) with transfigured eyes and heart from the encounter with the Lord. It is the way that we can also undertake. The ever more alive rediscovery of Jesus is not an end in itself but induces us to “come down from the mountain,” recharged with the strength of the Divine Spirit, to take new steps of genuine conversion and to witness charity constantly, as law of daily life. Transformed by the presence of Christ and the ardour of His word, we will be a concrete sign of the vivifying love of God for all our brethren, especially those that suffer, all those that find themselves in solitude and abandonment, the sick and the multitude of men and women that, in various parts of the world, are humiliated by injustice, arrogance and violence.

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CBCP Circular on the Causes of Beatification and Canonization of Mother Francisca del Espiritu Santo

MOTHER FRANCISCA DEL ESPIRITU SANTO DE FUENTES (1647- 711)
(Foundress of the Beaterio de Santa Catalina de Manila now the Congregation of Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena Philippines)

In the diocese of Manila, in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Holy Spirit, the Lord and life-giver , inspired some forms of community life among women, that were connected with the spirituality of the religious Orders who were the evangelizers of the Philippine Islands from the end of the 16th century.

Experiences of this type were the foundations of some “Beaterios” which in more recent times opened up and become religious congregations. Such are the foundations of Servant of God Ignacia del Espiritu Santo (1663-1748) and of the Servants of God Cecilia Rosa Talangpaz and Dionisia MitasTalangpaz (1731-1732).

The older among them, was Francisca, daughter of Simon de Fuentes and Ana del Castillo y Tamayo, born in Manila in 1647, which became a Dominican Tertiary in 1682 with the name of Francisca del Espiritu Santo. In 1686, she together with 3 companions, opted to a form of Christian community life, under the Rule of the Third Order of St. Dominic and with the approval granted in 1688 by the Master General of the Friars Preacher, Antonino Cloche.

The Beaterio, dedicated to the great teacher, St. Catherine of Siena, was definitively established on July 26, 1696 with the profession of Mother Francisca and 7 other beatas, among them was her blood sister Ana Maria. They benefitted from the guidance of the Dominican Friars, among whom was Fr. Juan de Santo Domingo, author of a 50pp manuscript completed on October 28, 1711, “Breve Relacion de la fundacion del Beaterio de Santa Catalina de esta ciudad de Manila” published posthumuosly in 1911.

The institution endured difficult trials in its first years, even with the expulsion of its members from the place for 2 years. But the difficulties were largely external, arising from conflict of jurisdiction between the Dominican Order and the Archbishop of Manila. The Beaterio resumed its life and activity from 1706 opening its door to a large group of native girls to educate them in the faith and perfection of Christian of life. The personality of Mother Francisca was the unifying element and promoter of much Christian vitality. As foundress, she brought forth exemplary strength and virtues: Eucharistic and Marian devotion, compassionate charity of neighbor, strength in trials, penance, love of community and observance of the Rule.

 

Mother Francisca died in the peace of the saints on the 24th of August 1711 and was buried in the Church of the Colegio de San Juan de Letran. Her tomb was over the steps of the main altar on the gospel side. She left a memory of virtue and still lives today.

For this, the Congregation that reveres her as Mother, on the occasion of celebrating the 3rd centenary of the Foundation in 1996 felt inspired to deepen its knowledge and veneration of the life and charism of Francisca, the sisters felt the desire to promote her Cause for Beatification.

(Supplex Libellus, Copia Publica, pp. 11-12)

 

His Eminence Jaime L. Cardinal Sin on the 25th of July, 2000 decreed the acceptance of the “Supplex Libellus” in accord with the guidelines of the Apostolic Constitution “Divinus perfectionis Magister.”

On December 20, 2002, His Eminence Jaime L. Cardinal Sin, Archbishop of Manila, sent a letter to His Eminence Jose Cardinal Saraiva Martins to recommend the formal introduction of the Cause for Canonization of Mother Francisca. On March 11, 2003, The Prefect of the Congregation of the Causes of Saints, Joseph Cardinal Saraiva Martins granted the NIHIL OBSTAT of the Causes of Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of God Francisca del Espiritu Santo de Fuentes.

On July 8, 2003, The Archbishop of Manila, instructed all the Members of the Tribunal, the Members of the Historical Commission and the Members of the Theological Commission to appear at nine o’clock in the morning at the Sto. Domingo Church, Quezon City, for them to accept their respective designation, to make their oath and take active part in the first session of the Process.

On the 6th day of December 2003, the Judge Delegate convoked the board of inquiry at 9:00 in the morning in the presence of the Promoter of Justice and the Notary presented the original acts and two authentic copies of the process by the Judge Delegate on the life, virtues and on-cult of the Servant of God, Mother Francisca del Espiritu Santo. He ordered that the original acts be deposed in the archives of the Archdiocese of Manila and that the copies be sent to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints by the Chairperson of the Mother Francisca Commission.

(Copia Publica, pp 14-21)

The Decree of Validity on the Diocesan Inquiry was granted in June 2007 which allowed the writing of the POSITIO on the Life, Virtues and Fame of Sanctity of Mother Francisca. The completion of the POSITIO was in 2012. The Mother Francisca Commission received a copy of the POSITIO in December 2014 with the favorable evaluation from the Historical Experts of the Vatican.

The translated letter of the Cardinal, Angelo Amato, the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints informed Mo. Ma. Jesusa Enginco, OP, former Prioress General of the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena: “I am happy to inform you that nevertheless the long list of Positio waiting for their turn, the Cause of the abovementioned Servant of God is proposed to the study by the Theological Consultors of the Dicastery within the first half of 2018. Once the result is positive, it will be followed with the Ordinary Session of Cardinals and Bishops.

However, for the Beatification, a need for a recognized miracle happened through the intercession of the Servant of God. As of the moment no case has been reported here.

Therefore, you invite your co-sisters and the faithful to spread the knowledge of Mother Francisca and to invoke her intercession in their needs with the trust of obtaining a miraculous intervention … .”

State of Nature Assessment (SONA) 2017

Dear Friends, 

We are pleased to invite you to the

State of Nature Assessment 2017 (Green SONA)
on August 11, 2017
at the
Little Theater, Miriam College
Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City. 

Theme: Our Land, Our Life

The Green SONA is an annual event of Green Convergence for Safe Food, Healthy Environment and \Sustainable Economy, a coalition of networks, organizations and individuals working for a development paradigm that addresses the need for social and economic upliftment while preserving life-support water, air and land for generations to come.

Using a particular lens most relevant to the current national and/or global context, the SONA gathers environmentalists and invites the general public to listen to resource persons and join the discussion on the chosen perspective. Attendees come from all sectors – academe, business, grassroots communities, religious, indigenous peoples, etc. Government officials, especially those tasked to work on matters related to the topic, are likewise invited to attend the event and contribute to the discussions.

Green SONA 2017 covers issues that should be of concern to all Filipinos who want to preserve the quantity and quality of our land.

Attached is the draft program.

Sincerely yours,

Angelina P. Galang
President
Green Convergence for Safe Food, Healthy Environment
and Sustainable Economy