Man's Call To Salvation

As a child, Sofronio Roxas was inquisitive and intelligent but he had no chance to finish schooling. Despite his lack formal education, he was so keen in his observation and his sense of justice that he always stood for what he considered right. His spiritually was so deep, he consented to be the Social Action Coordinator for Kidapawan Diocese. His work sought to renew the Church's concrete responses to the need of the people. He worked to uplift the living conditions of the people and build Basic Christian Communities. Steeped in the traditional Philippine values of respect for authority, respect for property and for the rights of others, he tried to live out his convictions in the service of others.

Suspected to be an NPA member, he was placed under surveillance and harassed. Although he knew that his life was in danger, he was firm and ready to seek justice for the people in his community. But he was convinced in loving confrontation.

Through his statement, Jesus offers valuable guidance on how we can have full participation in the Christian life. Jesus tells the young man that he should love his neighbor as he loves himself. Thus, Jesus identifies love for all people as an important aspect of Christian living.

Jesus also invites the young man to experience voluntary, material poverty by selling all his property. This is not an invitation to reject material goods but an encouragement to think of material things as having very little importance when seen in the light of eternal light of eternal life.

Jesus concludes by urging the young man to follow him, that is, to join him in offering worship to the Father, in carrying on his mission, and in receiving a share of God's life.

All Christians are asked to imitate Jesus so that they can achieve total union with God.

Bend or Bump

A British pastor mentioned seeing this warning over an unusually low doorway of a church:

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The height of this door is somewhat less than the average height of the human person; if, therefore, you are up to average or above the height, be especially careful how you approach and pass through, lest an accident ensue.
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Beneath the warning, someone had placed a summary: BEND OR BUMP!

Selfish pride hurt us and prevents us from enjoying the blessing of God. The Apostle Peter urged, "Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time (1 Pet 5:6)." God rewards humility and judges pride.

As you go through life, bend and you'll avoid a bump.

A holy fear came over them all and they praised God saying," A great prophet has appeared among us; God has visited His people."

And throughout Judea and the surrounding lands, people talked about Jesus' deeds. The disciples of John gave Him all this news.

So John called two of the disciples and sent them to the Lord with this message: "Are you the one we are expecting, or should we wait for another?"

These men came to Jesus and said, "John the Baptist sent us to ask you: Are you the one we expect or should we wait for another?"

At that time, Jesus was healing many people of their sicknesses or diseases, and freeing them from evil spirits. He was also giving sight to the blind. He answered the messegers, "Go back and tell John what you saw and heard: the blind see again, the lame walk, lepers are made clean, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life and the poor are given the Good News. Now, listen: Fortunate are those who encounter Me and find no stumbling block in Me."

This is the Sacrament that makes people of God His co-creators or nurturers of life. This sacrament, "the marriage covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of their being of the spouses and to the procreation and upbringing of children, has, between the baptized, been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament."

This sacrament also reveals God's fidelity to His covenant of love, for, in marriage, there are two essential properties, distinctively made firm and strong, namely: unity and indissolubility.

In order to shepherds the People of God and to increase its number without cease, Christ the Lord set up in His Church a variety of offices which aim at the good of the whole body. The holders of office who are invested with a sacred power, are, in fact, dedicated to promoting the interests of their brethren.

Born' of a wealthy family in northern Italy In 1538, Charles had opened his heart on the service of the Lord in his youthful years, so that at the tender age of twenty-two he was summoned to Rome by Pope Pius IV who made him a Cardinal, and soon after, Archbishop of Milan.

Among Charles' blessings were being a good teacher and writer. He established schools for the poor,seminaries for the clerics, and trained priests of the oblates community to holiness of life.

His great concern for the poor and the sick made him build hospitals where he personally ministered to them. During a great plague he faithfully attended to the sick and the dying. He was said to have tried feeding some 60,000 poor people every day.

Charles also did penance. He was often seen taking part in public processions with a rope around his neck as a gesture of penance. He deprived himself of all earthly belongings and wore an old patched cloak.

In the year 1584, Charles died at the age of 46 and was canonized a saint in 1610. St. Charles Borromeo is a model of Christian virtue and concern for others.

St. Ignatius was born in 1491 of a noble family, in the castle of Loyola in Guipuscoa, Spain. He entered the army and distinguished himself by his bravery. His personal conversion started when he lay ill in a castle after the siege of Pamplona where he got seriously wounded. While recuperating in bed, he read Flowers of the Saints and The Life of Christ. The reading of these two books created in him the desire to follow the footsteps of the saints and become a knight of Christ. When he got fully recovered, he went to confession and for almost a year, he lived in a cave on the banks of a river. His renewed life consisted of fasting, praying, and taking care of the poor and the sick.

Finally, he entered a school in Barcelona, Spain. He continued serving the Lord after being ordained a priest when he founded the Society of Jesus in Paris. Teaching in schools, preaching, conducting retreats, and doing missionary work made up the bulk of involvement he and the priests in his congregation became devoted to. Many of his men trained to be missionaries, some even teaching the Indians in America.

Ignatius directed the work of the Society for fifteen years. He died at the age of sixty-five. The priests who belong to the religious order of the Society of Jesus are called Jesuits.