Sown in the Earth

The letter to Diognetus (around 200)
§6 (trans.©Maxwell Staniforth; SC 33 bis, p.65)

As a reflection on the Gospel today, 29 January 2010, Mk 4:26-34

   The relation of Christians to the world is that of a soul to the body. As the soul is diffused through every part of the body, so are Christians through all the cities of the world. The soul, too, inhabits the body, while at the same time forming no part of it; and Christians inhabit the world, but they are not part of the world (Jn 17,16). The soul, invisible herself, is immured within a visible body; so Christians can be recognized in the world, but their Christianity itself remains hidden from the eye.

  The flesh hates the soul, and wars against her without any provocation, because she is an obstacle to its own self-indulgence; and the world similarly hates the Christians without provocation, because they ate opposed to its pleasures. All the same, the soul loves the flesh and all its members, despite their hatred for her; and Christians, too, love those who hate them. The soul, shut up inside the body, nevertheless holds the body together; and though they are confined within the world as in a dungeon, it is Christians who hold the world together. The soul, which is immortal, must dwell in a mortal tabernacle; and Christians, as they sojourn for a while in the midst of corruptibility here, look for incorruptibility in the heavens (cf.1Cor 15,50)… Such is the high post of duty in which God has placed them, and it is their moral duty not to shrink from it.
 

A Warning to All: Of Sin, Repentance and Forgiveness

PLEASE, I BEG OF YOU TO CHOOSE VERY WISELY WHAT YOU READ AND ON DWELLING ON SINFUL, IMPURE THOUGHTS AND UTTERING IMMODEST WORDS.

AN ANGEL OF GOD SAID TO DON BOSCO IN A DREAM, THAT IMMODESTY AND PRIDE ARE “THE TWO MAIN VICES THAT RUIN MOST SOULS NOT ONLY IN YOUR HOUSE BUT ALL OVER THE WORLD. IN DUE TIME, YOU WILL SEE HOW MANY WILL PLUNGE INTO HELL BECAUSE OF THEM.”

Alessandro Serenelli, the murderer of St. Maria Goretti, was “influenced by print, mass-media and bad examples which are followed by the majority of young people without even thinking.“

He left this letter behind as a testament, before he died;

I’m nearly 80 years old. I’m about to depart. Looking back at my past, I can see that in my early youth, I chose a bad path which led me to ruin myself. My behavior was influenced by print, mass-media and bad examples which are followed by the majority of young people without even thinking. And I did the same. I was not worried.
There were a lot of generous and devoted people who surrounded me, but I paid no attention to them because a violent force blinded me and pushed me toward a wrong way of life. When I was 20 years old, I committed a crime of passion. Now, that memory represents something horrible for me. Maria Goretti, now a Saint, was my good Angel, sent to me through Providence to guide and save me. I still have impressed upon my heart her words of rebuke and of pardon. She prayed for me, she interceded for her murderer. Thirty years of prison followed. If I had been of age, I would
have spent all my life in prison. I accepted to be condemned because it was my own fault. Little Maria was really my light, my protectress; with her help, I behaved well during the 27 years of prison and tried to live honestly when I was again accepted among the members of society.

The Brothers of St. Francis, Capuchins from Marche, welcomed me with angelic charity into their monastery as a brother, not as a servant. I’ve been living with their community for 24 years, and now I am serenely waiting to witness the vision of God, to hug my loved ones again, and to be next to my Guardian Angel and her dear mother, Assunta. I hope this letter that I wrote can teach others the happy lesson of avoiding evil and of always following the right path, like little children. I feel that religion with its precepts is not something we can live without, but rather it is the real comfort, the real
strength in life and the only safe way in every circumstance, even the most painful ones of life.”

Signed, Alessandro Serenelli

Follow Me.

As a reflection/insight for the Gospel today, January 16, Mark 2:13-17

John-Paul II, Pope from 1978 to 2005 
Osservatore Romano 

« Follow me» 

Each vocation is a personal and unique event but also a reality that is communal and ecclesial. No one is called to go forward on their own. Every vocation is raised up by the Lord as a gift for the whole Christian community, which is to be enabled to draw profit from it… 
It is especially to you, young people, that I should like to turn: Christ needs you if he is to accomplish his plan of salvation! Christ needs your youth and generous enthusiasm if the Gospel is to be proclaimed! Answer this call with the gift of your life to God and your brothers and sisters. 
Put your trust in Christ. He will not disappoint your desires and plans but will fill them with meaning and joy. He has said: «I am the Way, the Truth and the Life» (Jn 14,6). Open your hearts trustfully to Christ! Allow his presence to be confirmed within you through daily, reverent attention to Holy Scripture, which constitutes the book of life and of those vocations that have been fulfilled.