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Blog Topic: The Surge of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery today

Human Trafficking 2

This year, the Day for Life has been assisted by the work of the Santa Marta Group. As an initiative of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, the Santa Marta Group was set up in 2014 and brings the church, the police and local community together to combat human trafficking globally. Through a series of conferences, the Santa Marta Group has become an international alliance of leaders in Law Enforcement and the Church from around the world. The work of these 30 members has been endorsed by Pope Francis, who speaks of human trafficking as “an open wound on the body of contemporary society”.

“Organized crime and the illegal trafficking of human beings choose their victims among people who today have little means of subsistence and even less hope for the future… The basic response lies in creating opportunities for integral human development” Pope Francis

The Santa Marta Group engage with local groups, the Caritas network, and other charities. You can find more about their interactions through their twitter feed at @santamartagroup. One particular partnership is with the Diocese of Westminster who run a safe house for women survivors of human trafficking. Their website hosts a range of useful resources to download. Here you can download a poster, prayer card and some simple resources for parishes. Your involvement does not have to end with the Day for Life; you can access the Bakhita Day Resources, which include information on human trafficking, suggested social media posts, bidding prayers and other key factors to help you engage with awareness building. Find this and more at Website: Santa Maria Group

The proceeds of the Day for Life collection to be held in parishes in England and Wales will assist projects working to fight human trafficking, as well as other life-related activities supported by the Church.

 

Testimony

Human Trafficking

“My name is Daia*. I’m from a small town in Edo State, Nigeria. My family were very poor and from a young age I was always chasing a ‘better life’. At 18 I met and fell in love with Victor*, from Lagos. I was so impressed by his fine clothes and his confidence. Victor suggested going together to London – he said he had friends there and a job for me, cleaning in a hair salon. I was so excited. Victor travelled ahead and I was to follow him. After a long journey I arrived in Dublin. I had never heard of this place but thought it was just another stop-over on my way to London. Victor had arranged for someone to meet me. This man took me in his car. But we did not go to Victor, or to the hair salon, or to London. He took me to a brothel. I have been here ever since.”

* This is a true story. Names have been changed to protect identities.

Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery

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Jesus tells us, “I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10 NJB).

But many people do not have life to the full. They have fallen victim to the scourge of human trafficking and modern slavery which are an assault on a person’s innate human dignity. People are not commodities to be traded ruthlessly for criminal profit. Indeed, this is something that is happening in communities across our country, not just in our big cities. It’s not only happening in brothels and nail bars, but on farms, building sites and factories as well. Nor is this a problem confined to immigrant communities, it is affecting our own citizens too.

Trafficking is a growing problem and the UN estimates that over 40 million people worldwide are in slavery. In the UK alone, it is estimated that every year there are over 13,000 victims of trafficking from all countries. Criminals exploit some of the most vulnerable and desperate people. We can act together to stop this. It is a crime hidden in plain sight, it’s difficult to investigate, and the police need our help to identify and stop the traffickers and rescue and support the victims.

How Can We Help?

Human Trafficking

The Catholic community can make a real difference to help solve this problem – to help them find freedom and live life to the full. There are many organisations working to put a stop to human trafficking and modern slavery. One of these, the Santa Marta Group, works internationally to bring the Catholic Church and law enforcement agencies together to eradicate slavery. To read more visit Website: Santa Maria Group

Locally, dioceses, Caritas and other church communities can effect real change for trafficked people living in these areas.

with best wishes Father Marcin Drabik

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Pope’s Video Calls for Action Against Slavery – ‘Slavery is not something from other times.’

MAY 07, 2018 16:07 ZENIT STAFF HUMAN RIGHTS AND JUSTICE Pope Francis on May 7, 2018, call for global action against slavery, reminding world leaders that “Slavery is not something from other times.”

His remarks came in a video message the Holy Father sent to participants in the II International Forum on modern slavery, on the theme “Old problems in a new world”. The Forum, promoted by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople, in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires and with the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute in Berkeley, California, is taking place from 5 to 8 May, at the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Text of the Video Message of the Holy Father

Dear brothers and sisters:

I have welcomed the invitation to send a greeting to you, participants in this Forum on modern forms of slavery, “Old problems in the new world”, organized by the Orthodox Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, guided by the beloved Metropolitan Tarasios , and by the Orthodox Patriarchate Athenagoras Institute of Berkeley in California with the patronage of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. First of all, I express my heartfelt gratitude to the Ecumenical Patriarch, His Holiness Bartholomew I, and to the Archbishop of Canterbury, His Grace Justin Welby, who last year inaugurated this Forum. It comforts me to know that we share the same concern for the victims of modern slavery.

Slavery is not something from other times. It is a practice that has deep roots and continues to manifest itself today and in many different ways: trafficking of human beings, exploitation of work through debt, exploitation of children, sexual exploitation and forced domestic work are some of the many forms. Each one is as serious and inhuman as the others. Despite the lack of information available to us from some regions of the world, the figures are dramatically high and, most likely, underestimated. According to some recent statistics, there would be more than 40 million people, men, but especially women and children, who suffer as a result of slavery. Just to give us an idea, imagine that if they lived in a single city, it would be the largest megalopolis on our planet and would have, more or less, four times the population of the entire urban area of Buenos Aires and Greater Buenos Aires.

Faced with this tragic reality, no one can wash their hands of it without being, in some way, an accomplice to this crime against humanity. A first task to be imposed is to put into effect a strategy for ensuring greater awareness of the subject, breaking the veil of indifference that seems to cover the fate of this portion of humanity that suffers, that is suffering. It seems that many do not want to understand the extent of the problem. There are some who, directly involved in criminal organizations, do not want it to be talked about, simply because they earn high profits as a result of the new forms of slavery. There are also some who, despite knowing about the problem, do not want to talk because they are there where the “chain of consumption” ends, as a consumer of the “services” offered by men, women, and children who have been turned into slaves. We can not become distracted: we are all called to leave behind any form of hypocrisy, facing the reality that we are part of the problem. The problem is not in the opposite lane: it involves us. We are not permitted to look elsewhere and declare our ignorance or our innocence.

A second great task is to act in favor of those who have been turned into slaves: to defend their rights, and to prevent the corrupt and criminals from escaping justice and having the final word on the exploited. It is not enough for some states and International Organizations to adopt a particularly harsh policy in order to punish the exploitation of human beings, if then the causes, the deepest roots of the problem, are not addressed. When countries suffer extreme poverty, violence, and corruption, neither the economy nor the legislative framework nor the basic infrastructures are effective; they fail to guarantee security or assets or essential rights. In this way, it is easier for the perpetrators of these crimes to continue acting with total impunity. In addition, there is a sociological fact: organized crime and the illegal trafficking of human beings choose their victims among people who today have little means of subsistence and even less hope for the future. To be clearer: among the poorest, among the most neglected, the most discarded. The basic response lies in creating opportunities for integral human development, starting with a quality education: this is the key point, quality education from early childhood, to continue generating new opportunities for growth through employment. Education and employment.

This immense task, which requires courage, patience and perseverance, demands a joint and global effort on the part of the different actors that make up society. The Churches must also play a role task in this. While individuals and groups speculate shamefully on slavery, we Christians, all together, are called to develop more and more collaboration, to overcome all kinds of inequality, all kinds of discrimination, which are precisely what makes it possible for a man to make another man a slave. A common commitment to facing this challenge will be a valuable aid for the construction of a renewed society oriented towards freedom, justice and peace.

I wish this Forum every success, and I ask the Lord to bless you and to bless your work. And, please, do not forget to pray for me. Thank you.

© Libreria Editrice Vatican

Blog Topic: Rosary on the Coast of the British Isles Report

“Blow the trumpet; gather the people; assemble the aged; gather the children; Let them say: Spare your people O Lord.” (Joel 2)

Dear Rosary on the Coast participants, Sunday 29 April was a great grace for our Church and Nations as Catholics turned out in force to pray the Rosary on the Coast for Faith, Life and Peace in the British Isles. Rosary on the Coast was a sign of hope for the spiritual renewal of our Isles and for supernatural solutions for the difficulties we face personally, in our families, as a Church, as the British Isles and globally as nations. We were caught up in something greater than ourselves as instruments in the hands of our Blessed Mother. It was exciting to know we were part of a mighty “assault of prayer”. We trust that, in God’s time, His powerful intervention will manifest itself in the people of our Isles, our Church and Governments.

Bishop John Keenan said: We gather here … conscious that we are united with tens of thousands of our fellow Catholics and friends in Christ, spread across 400 locations in every corner of our lands and in the far-off Islands. … We have gathered together sensing an inspiration from Our Lady herself, who reminds us that ‘more is obtained with one day of intense prayer that with years of continuous discussions’.

e had locations from Lerwick in the far Isles of Scotland to Land’s End, Jersey and Guernsey in the Channel Islands as well as locations around the Coasts of Scotland, England, Wales and all the Isles around. It was incredible to view the final Map of Locations! The British Isles was encircled by the Rosary, the Angelic Salutation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Beautiful footage both photographic and video showed the witness of men, women and children of all ages, backgrounds and nationalities, who turned out to pray in spite of the terrible weather conditions in England and Wales. Scotland was all blessed with glorious sunshine! We had 400 confirmed locations with others not declared and individuals and families praying wherever they happened to be.

A reasonable estimate from reports through email, web and social media suggests 45,000 took part, joined in prayer by peoples across the world, especially from Ireland, Poland, the USA and Australia.
All the Bishops supported the event while seventeen attended events as the rest joined in prayer. It was a great grace to have this and much appreciated. The Apostolic Blessing from Pope Francis through the Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Edward Adams was a crowning glory.

Rosary on The Coast SouthseaRosary on The Coast UK

Rosary on the Coast touched something deep in the hearts of the faithful around the world. Lebanon and the USA have announced their Rosary on the Coast will take place on 7 October. Poland, Ireland and Australia have already hosted theirs. Canada is pondering a date and so are other Nations. We had an episcopal leader in Bishop John Keenan of Paisley Diocese in Scotland. We also thank EWTN GB based in Walsingham and also EWTN Global, as well as Vatican Radio, who helped highlight Rosary on the Coast to a global audience. The Knights of St. Columba were a fantastic strength of support and organization at many locations.

We thank the Catholic Faithful, other Christians and people of goodwill who came out in force. They prepared their local venues for Rosary on the Coast with creativity, apostolic zeal and prayerfulness, aware of how the times we live in demand a great supernatural response in prayer, penance, fasting and sacrifice in order to face the challenges the world throws at us as individuals, families, as a Church, as communities and as nations.

Everyone bloomed where they were planted! Inland Parishes made contact with coastal parishes, people made new friends from other parishes. We connected as Catholics. Long may these friendships and spiritual support continue!

A lady sent in this beautiful prophecy: “As we started the Rosary, I sensed thousands of golden arrows, rather like long spears but with flattened shafts and arrow heads, forming a fence around the British Isles; a fence that reached up to the gates of Heaven from where Our Lady was looking down at us, spreading her mantle down to meet the arrow fence. Her mantle was silver-grey and was, in fact, formed by descending ranks of angels – so the cover went from Earth to Heaven and back forming a sort of tent. I had the further sense that, behind Our Lady, God the Father was looking down, smiling on us, but He was also saying: “Do not let this be the end, but the beginning. Go home and continue (this work) by becoming true witnesses to my Son and what He has done for the world.” … “The kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel!”

So what next?

1. We are asking for feedback as to what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Church at this time. Please email brief thoughts (100 words) to Antonia at admin@rosaryonthecoast.co.uk who will collate them. It would help if you state your Parish and Diocese.
2. Initial feedback indicates that many want something like Rosary on the Coast again! Perhaps Parishes might arrange this locally as Rosary around the Parish. All it takes is a local leader! Think about it!
3. Penance and Reparation are key to our follow up on Sunday October 7th 2018 when we will join with the rest of the world in British Isles under the Cross, a time for Repentance & Reparation? Listen to Frances Hogan, Scripture scholar’s A Path to Healing a Nation, an hour long, but every sentence a jewel.

4. Finally there is the International dimension and a global call to unite in spiritual warfare prayer on Sunday 7 October, the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary. The USA and Lebanon have declared this date for their National Rosary Coast to Coast with spiritual preparation beginning on 15th August, the Feast of the Assumption.
5. The Irish Rosary on the Coast Team is preparing its response following the catastrophic referendum result in which around two thirds of the Irish population voted in favour of abortion. What might we do in the British Isles to become part of this?
6. On 22 September in Westminster Cathedral, 9.30am-4.30pm there is a Divine Mercy Day of Prayer invoking the intercession of Our Lady of Walsingham with Mass at 10.30 am. Bishop John Keenan is the keynote speaker. Save the date! This Day of Prayer will have a Life theme with an intense time of Reparation.

St. Catherine of Siena once said: “Be who you were created to be and you will set the world on fire! We are full of gratitude to God and Our Lady of the Rosary and we await in hope the great revival of Faith, Life and Peace in these Isles. Ave Maria!”

Bishop John Keenan, Antonia Moffat, John Mallon, Brian Timmons and Anne Collins

May God bless this work and bring it to a good outcome. In Corde Iesu + Philip

roasary of the coast UkThe ‘Rosary on the Coast’ will mark 50 years since the Abortion Act came into effect
After similar events in Poland and Ireland, Catholics plan to pray the rosary around the coast on Great Britain in April this year.
The event, which is scheduled for Sunday, April 29, will mark 50 years since the Abortion Act coming into effect.
Organisers say the mass-rosary prayer will help combat the “present threats to faith, the dignity of the human person and to peace”, and encourage a “re-flourishing of our Faith”.

  Read the Catholic Hearald’s Story

Rosary on the Coast  Official Website

Blog Topic: Reflection on the Mysteries of Faith – Why Suffering

John Paul II and Suffering

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Dear Friends,

TODAY – we continue our reflections about the mysteries of the faith. We are still with such interesting and difficult subject – the suffering:

Today, In the last consideration, I tried to lead us to the main topic of today’s reflection. I wanted to draw our attention to two incorrect interpretations of the sense of suffering existing on earth. Some explain that it is a background on which one can see the value of good. Others say that individual suffering can be a way to progress, that is, it can serve the good of future generations. I emphasized that it is never possible to build the happiness of other people on the wrong done to the individual.
Today I would like to focus on the question: How to reconcile suffering, existing on earth, with God’s justice? God is a just Judge who rewards for good and punishes evil. How should one word be understood: God “punishes” man.

First of all, a distinction should be made between punishment in the strict sense and punishment as a consequence of the evil committed. For example, the son stole a mobile phone, and his father discovered the theft and told him to return the stolen thing to the owner, and then, because it was the third subsequent theft of his son, he forbade him to use his computer and his favourite games for three weeks. The father punished the son. This is an example of punishment in the strict sense. The son committed evil. By returning the item to the owner, this evil has been repaired. However, since the remarks made so far did not work, the father searched for a punishment. Someone standing by his side, seeing his father peeking at his computer and his son’s favourite games for three weeks, would say that his father does not love him, that he is abusing him. But everyone who knows that love relies on genuine concern for the well-being of a beloved person, understands that since it has exhausted all other possibilities, it must resort to extremely drastic measures. If there is still a chance to reach a human being with the help of even a kind of longing for something that is loved, seemingly necessary, then love in the interest of his good can apply such a measure. So does God give people suffering, as did the above-mentioned father?

We know from God’s revelation that God, treating us as His children, in the name of love uses a painful punishment when He exhausts all other possibilities. This punishment is in the mind of both the good of the punished and the good of other people. In Holy Scripture, we have two very shocking scenes of punishment, directed at God’s command, reminiscent of a public execution. These include the Flood and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. This is an extremely painful lesson given to all humanity. Everyone, for centuries, when they come back to these events, must think about them to say that we are not allowed to ignore God’s presence and the holiness, we are not allowed to play with Him. He is very consistent and always has good in mind. Significantly, the suffering, both due to the Flood, as well as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah., are closely related to the punishment for impure sins. Only these sins were punished by God in such a drastic way. The human body committed this sin, and God sentenced the body to suffering.

In our lives we can also meet with such responses of God. Sometimes people feel it as a clear admonition, or they are grateful to God for speaking in such a painful but effective way. Likewise, after many years, the child is grateful to his father for turning him away from the path of sin through his punishment. No one has any doubt that with this understanding of punishment, suffering is easy to reconcile with God’s justice. I will repeat it here again, during the 19 years of my priesthood, over 80% of the people I met, who turned back from the path of sin to the path of holiness, are people who had experience either by illness or near death, for various reasons.

We encounter such a punishment relatively rarely. We suffer much more often, bearing the consequences of sin. God’s justice is in this case closely related to the observance of His laws. Another example of life taken – Adam was 19 when he came to his friend and borrowed a motor from him. He went on the road and fell under the bus. In a very dangerous condition, he was transported to the hospital. After a few months of recovery, he left the hospital without an eye and an infected hand. He became a cripple for life. He was a very selfish and ruthless young man who was overcome by a morbid impurity towards his own body. After years of rebellion, Adam – today a thirty-eight-year-old adult thanks God for his disability, which he is convinced from the perspective of time that he would be completely lost in his young life without this accident.

In our sins, 95% of God’s justice is revealed in connection with violation of law, especially natural law. It is not God who punishes. Suffering is closely related to the act through which the man violated the law. So he is guilty and he must take full responsibility for the consequences of the violation of the law.

Mother Teresa

Most of the suffering on earth is closely related to our sins, that is, in violation of God’s law. Therefore, we cannot blame God for them, but we must address this pretension to ourselves. A man who pollutes water, air, surroundings through the desire for uncompromised profit, cannot blame God for the same dirty water, air, and polluted environment in him through various diseases, such as cancer. This is just one of many examples of the consequences of our evil, and these are just  consequences. God has clearly observed – ‘you can live in paradise, in a world without suffering, but if you violate my law, which is to safeguard your happiness, you will bring suffering and death upon yourself’. God is consistent. If a man violates the law, he decides on all its consequences. I recommend here a remarkable warning from the Holy Church, which always wants to remind us of God’s law that guards our happiness and was published 50 years ago The Encyclical Letter of Pope Paul VI ‘Humanae Vitae’ (‘Life of Man’).

The penalty of eternal damnation is also a just consequence of sin. God will not abuse anyone. And because after death it is too late for a decision, eternal punishment becomes only a consequence of the sin we committed, against which God has loyally warned us hundreds of times. The condemned man will be aware that God did not give him such a fate, but he himself led to it.

God, Just Judge punishes for evil. Because he loves us, he punishes us for evil still on earth, so that we would come our senses, change them, before it is too late. If we say to Him – ‘Our Father’, we confess in him a loving Dad who can punish us, that we may only be happy forever, and if we add with full consciousness – ‘Our Father, Thy will be done’, that we entrust to Him our path to eternity and we let Him lead us that way, even through the cross so that we can come back to Him like his only begotten Son Jesus Christ. Whoever thoroughly traces the history of our salvation will see that God is a true, loving Father who, having exhausted all other possibilities, reaches for radical means only to reach the child, speak, protect him from extermination (eg And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell. [Mt 9,47]) The vast majority of suffering on earth and all eternal suffering are the consequences of our sin, our disobedience to the Good Father who has always served us and continues to serve us with best advice that we may be happy not for a moment, but forever.

But not all the suffering can be explained by a just punishment. On the earth still suffer many innocent people, especially innocent children who never deserved to be punished. The question, therefore, about the meaning of suffering still remains unanswered. Let us get closer to this answer, in our next consideration. Thank You for all your prayers last week.

With love and prayers and asking for yours, Fr. Marcin

Suffering

 

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resources/sacraments/anointing-of-the-sick/st-paul-explains-the-meaning-of-suffering

 

 

Blog Topic: Reflection on the Mysteries of Faith – What is the meaning of suffering?

Why Suffering

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Dear Friends, TODAY – we continue our reflections about the mysteries of the faith. It is a time for: What is the meaning of suffering? 

Today, I would like to ask you for a moment of reflection, which will be the introduction to the answer to one of the most difficult questions – What is the meaning of suffering? This question bothers almost every person regardless of their religious affiliation; it even bothers the atheists.

We always ask ourselves this question, want to harmonize it with the justice of God and with His infinite love. As part of the introduction to the whole issue, I intend to stress here the two most frequently given answers.

The first one is: The suffering and evil that exist on earth, are used to discover happiness. What is the line of reasoning for those people who are trying to outline the matter this way? We would not understand the beauty of the day, they say, if we did not experience the darkness and horror of the night. We would not understand what human health really is if we did not experience the disease. We would not know the secret of life if we did not watch the ravages that bring death. Following this course of reasoning, some try to say: we would not know the secret of happiness if we could not experience misfortune.

They try to justify their position with the words of the Holy Bible. However, it is significant that in the biblical image of paradise there is only one gate leading man to taste suffering. People in paradise are happy, they only experience goodness and happiness, and the gate leading to the experience of suffering is the consumption of fruit from the tree of good and evil, or knowledge of good and evil. Man, picking the fruit of this tree, knows what evil is and only then discovers what he has lost. However, this answer is insufficient for a simple reason – the price we pay for this discovery is too great. The sea of suffering on earth is so huge that no happiness can balance it. No thinking person will satisfy this reasoning: to experience happiness, you must first be unhappy. Such an answer is absolutely insufficient and the Church does not give it.

The second answer, which has been extremely popular in the last two centuries, treats suffering as a path leading to the progress of humanity. A soldier suffers just to save the nation;

Scientists also suffer, sacrificing their lives for the sake of progress. The suffering of one man is to a degree, a step to others approaching happiness. At the expense of one unit, we can build the happiness of others. That is what Stalin and Hitler meant. Even in some Christian thinkers, there is a tendency to approach suffering like this, for example, Teilhard de Chardin, the French Jesuit priest, and even some saints. This approach comes to the fore in a picture of a soldier who will be truly happy despite his suffering when he sees the victory of his army. However, it must be clearly stated that this answer has nothing to do with the Gospel.

Mother Teresa

Christianity looks at suffering from the point of view of the suffering subject, and the good of future generations is insufficient to explain to him the meaning of his own suffering. In other words, one can never build the common good on the harm done to the individual. And all those systems that approach suffering in this way, believing that one can harm an individual to build a common good sooner or later will fail. The unhappiness of an individual cannot be the source of happiness of other people; the goal can never justify the means.

There is only one exception when this approach to suffering is possible and it harmonises with the Gospel; namely, when the individual’s suffering is a voluntary sacrifice made for the benefit of others. To the one who wants – no harm is happening. Man can devote himself voluntarily to suffer for the good of others. Let me give a specific example: An eighteen-year-old girl heard a conversation between her parents, which showed that her mother is pregnant with her future brother or sister.

The situation at home was so dramatic that there was virtually no space, literally in a physical sense, to welcome a new-born child. The daughter survived a nightmarish night. Early in the morning she left the house, and her parents found her letter on the table: ‘I am leaving the house forever, and I will not return. I will work and I will send half of my money every month to feed my little brother or sister when he or she is born’. She left, lived in a workers’ hotel, took a job, and worked. This story, which I once witnessed as a priest, was just such a voluntary sacrifice. How many weeks and months the girl survived, how much she missed home, and her family, for the smallest family member – only God and she knows, but to save the happiness of her family home, she could decide on such a sacrifice. She sacrificed herself of her own free will – so the possibility exists. Here we can see the sense of sacrifice and we must admire the heroism of this young girl. Following this line of reasoning, we consider the mystery of the death of Christ, who did the same, wanting to save us.

Nobody ever, in the name of the good of others, can do harm to another human being. Among other things, this is why the Holy Church stands as a ban on any experiments carried out on people. We must not inflict suffering, we must not make tests on a human even when we have allegedly lofty slogans before us: ‘We will destroy one, destroy one hundred, but save fifty million’. No one has the right to put a case like that. One cannot build the happiness of the community on the misfortune and harm of the individual.

We stand in the face of a great mystery. Maybe on another occasion I will ask a question about the suffering of animals. Does man have the right to conduct medical experiments on animals? Not only mankind suffers on the earth, but all nature is also suffering. In view of the ecological threat, one must realise that the dimension of the problem is very wide. We stand before the mystery and together we ask God to give us the light to understand as deeply as possible one of the most difficult problems of our existence. Next week, while hoping for your prayers, I will present the problem of suffering which is seen as a just punishment.

With love and prayers and asking for yours, Fr. Marcin

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resources/sacraments/anointing-of-the-sick/st-paul-explains-the-meaning-of-suffering

 

 

Blog Topic: Reflection on the Mysteries of Faith – Final Judgement

Final Judgement

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Dear Friends, TODAY – we continue our reflections about the mysteries of the faith. It is a time for: FINAL JUDGEMENT

We will all receive the body before the final judgement. In his beauty and wealth will be a reward for our actions, done by us on earth. And in the absence of beauty and riches, there will be a punishment for the sinful use of the body on earth. After the universal resurrection of our bodies, the culminating point of the end of history will take place. Christ will come to earth for the second time, this time for the revelation of His Divine glory. Christ is a True God and True Man. At His first coming, during His birth in Bethlehem, He hid the majesty of His Deity and revealed His humanity. No one has ever seen the majesty of His Divine glory. Even on Mount Tabor during the Transfiguration, even after the Resurrection, only His humanity was noticed. Glorified, glorious, but human. It was necessary to believe in the Deity. Only the one who faithfully looked at Christ could see God in Him. Jesus’ humanity was humiliated, trampled, destroyed on Good Friday, but He never lost His dignity.

During the second coming of Jesus Christ, we will see His Divine glory, His majesty. All the attributes of God I have written about in many newsletters before (see at www.stswithuns.org.uk for the last few months) will be manifested in Christ: His omnipotence, justice, omniscience, His Divine majesty. This will be the end of learning about God through faith. From that moment, all intelligent creatures will see Christ God visually; they will see Him no longer on the basis of faith. Whether we want or do not want to – we’ll stand before His Majesty. Then any form of atheism will end in the world. Each knee will bend before the majesty of God. Our knowledge will come through a direct meeting with Him.

At the same time, along with the majesty of Christ, the beauty and value of the teaching that Jesus preached on earth as the incarnate Son of God will be revealed. The saved will then see what they have gained; the damned will understand what they have lost. In addition to the Revelation of the Divine majesty of Christ, the second important event on the Day of Judgement will be the division into two groups. Christ, presenting this, uses the image of a shepherd who divided humans and puts one on the right and the other on the left. The basis of the division will be true love. Hearts that could really love (but not according to their definition of love – but according to God’s definition of love – ‘Love each other, as I have loved you’) will be at the right hand. Hearts that ran out of true love will be on the left. The Last Judgement will be the end of the suffering of people remaining in purgatory. The process of purification and the process of human perfection will then be completed. With one look we will cover the whole of human history, starting with ‘Adam’ and ending with the last man who will live on the earth.

We will get to know what is hidden from our eyes today: we will discover the social dimension of each of our actions. We most often only see a tiny part of the fruits of our deeds, both good and bad; and on a unit scale. Then we often see how happy they are after taking first place. They are no longer waiting for a medal, they are happy simply because they won. And when the redeemed will see the greatness of their work, they will also notice that they know how to love; and they will find great happiness in this. This will be the first element of the eternal reward. This award is worked out; it is a reward for man’s hardship, for his loyalty to God’s Love.

Then we will have to receive the reward that God will give. It will be a completely new world; God prepares those who remained faithful to Him. A new, perfect world of pure love. Here’s the next prize. But the most valuable reward is that we will meet God face to face. So in life, we have to take care of this one thing: we have to learn to love truly so that we can experience love in a perfect way, because it determines the maturity of a human being. In meeting with God in eternity, we will perfectly realize the first commandment. God’s love with all our hearts and with all our strength will reach its fullness. It is known that the one who truly loves does not wait for the beloved person to come to him, so all these gifts, even the entire unimaginable Heaven, will be secondary in comparison with this, that God loved us. God loved us as a Father. One more element will surprise us, namely it will be a meeting with everyone we loved. This will be the family dimension of Heaven. It will not be only God and us, it will be us and God who will have a meeting with us in the community, in the family.

What about a penalty – Punishment.

We won’t see here any flogging, because God will not hit anyone. Hell will be the awareness of the lost opportunity. For man will discover that he could easily have become a saint, that everything was at his disposal, that so little had to be done to participate in the joy of victory. Not much was needed to win the competition on the earth, and the man lost it through his own fault. It will hurt, it will become a real misfortune. We will see what we have enriched in humanity for. Not just our loved ones, but all of humanity.

And what if by these actions in our lives – we have done harm to all humanity. 

Each of our actions has a social character, it affects the entire human family. So, for example: Abraham, who lived thousands of years ago, still inspires others to trust in God with his faith, and so it will be until the end of time. This good example of great faith yields fruit in every generation. The patriarch will enjoy the final judgement of the work God has revealed through him. A similar situation occurred with the conversion of Saint Augustine, who for centuries through his “Confessions” helped others in finding the Creator. St. Augustine is dead for a long time, and constantly, through his work, calls others to meet with God.

But sometimes unfortunately there is the opposite situation. Someone wrote a bad, lying book, an article or made a scandalous movie, and it is really hard to count how many people have been scandalized and destroyed. The actor who appeared in the bad movie may not live long ago, but how many times is the film shown in which he played the scandalous role, the scandal is entered into his account. As good pays off in the next generations, so much is the burden on the one who is still inferior to others. This social dimension of our actions will be revealed. Many people who were rejected, underestimated, who occupied the last places on earth – at the final judgement will surprise by the length of their silence, unappreciated by people’s lives.

On the other hand, many of those who were favoured by public opinion will be overwhelmed with a sense of responsibility for quietly committed evil, hidden under many pretences of good. For example, a teacher who often struggles with many difficulties, raising generations of people, dies almost in oblivion, and on the final judgement will be recognized and appreciated for their efforts and creative contribution brought into the formation of thousands of people and amazed with the amount of their work. Many directors, applauded and rewarded for their works, will be horrified by the desolation that through them, their work has wounded the hearts of millions of viewers.

The Last Judgement will be the moment when God will publicly proclaim the eternal reward and eternal punishment. What will the reward be based on? It will be true happiness resulting from winning life. For example, we observe players during the Olympics or at the World Championships –

The second reason for suffering will be the awareness of the loss of this fantastic new world and the statement that he will not enter it, that Heaven will not be for him. The third reason for suffering is the crossed out chance of meeting God on the level of friendship, and this is a missed chance through self-blame. There will be a meeting with people who cannot love, because Hell is a community of egoists, and in such a community, man is only alone and is always unhappy. Dante, one of the most brilliant Christian writers, and at the same time one of the best theologians wrote about Hell, remarked that God only built the gate of Hell. In one of the last considerations, I emphasized that God did not create Hell. Dante also says that the gate of Hell is the work of all-powerful Love, but what is behind the gate of Hell is the work of a man who condemned himself. God does not create that reality. He had to give us a choice, but it will be our choice. Dante emphasized that the lack of love and hope is the source of suffering for those who are condemned. At the gate of Hell, Dante placed an inscription: “You who come in here, say goodbye to hope.” This is the prospect of eternal unhappiness: the impossibility of repeating life, the impossibility of using this opportunity for the second time.

I slowly end my reflection on the various stages of a man’s meeting with God as a Just Judge who rewards for good and punishes for evil. For the whole picture, we still have to stop and think about the mystery of suffering. We must ask the question: How to reconcile the suffering we face on earth with the justice of God, and especially how to reconcile the suffering of innocents, such as children, with the love of God? This question is extremely difficult, because we touch the secret, mystery in them, but it is necessary to put them in order that, to the extent permitted by God’s Revelation, this mystery can be approached, which I will try to do in subsequent newsletters. I am asking everyone for prayer.

With love and prayers and asking for yours, Fr. Marcin


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