Bishop’s Monthly Letter

My Dear Rev. Fathers,
My dear Fathers, I am very pleased to learn that most of our parishes launched the Extra Ordinary Missionary Month with enthusiasm and zeal. Some of you informed me about some worthy initiatives such as Animation Programs, Mini-Pilgrimages and Hours of Adoration, and prayer-vigils, which have been organized in your parishes in accordance with the decisions we made. I understand that Vigil Services conducted in our parishes are very much appreciated and are bearing fruit among our faithful.  As you may know already, even though the Extra Ordinary Missionary Month is over with the Month of October, according to the mind of our Universal Shepherd, it is only the beginning of a most intense effort to make our diocese a truly missionary Church. Already many years ago our pastoral vision was defined as moving towards a participatory and an evangelizing Church. To be a Missionary Church we need a deep spirituality at every level beginning with ourselves as Shepherds and helping our faithful deepen the faith in the Lord Jesus and to bear witness to him and the Gospel. Once again it is Pope Francis who emphasizes in “Evangelii Gaudium” that the “Identity Card” of every Christian is living the values of the Sermon on the Mount.  If all of us the Clergy and the faithful strive to be humble and compassionate towards each other specially the poor, If we are truly agents of peace and if we become agents of reconciliation, as well as of forgiveness our witness will reveal Jesus the Lord, to those around us. That is the witness that the early Christian community gave. “They were united in mind and heart, in the Apostle’s teaching, in fellowship, and in the Breaking of Bread. (Acts 2: 42 – 47) Therefore, let us make the  Extra-Ordinary Missionary Month which we have just concluded the launching pad of a more profound renewal of our spirituality and commitment to share our faith with those around us. We need not be afraid to bear witness to goodness, truth and other Gospel values. All our celebrations and pastoral programs must have these objectives if they are to be meaningful and fruitful. The presidential election campaign is becoming intense with the candidates addressing rallies and making promises as usual prior to the elections. Our people are now politically mature enough to decide who will ultimately deliver the goods. Therefore, let us not make use of the pulpit to talk about politics. It is meant for the proclamation of the Holy Word of God and  to nourish our  people with God’s word.  Please avoid  blessing politicians inside the Church  with prayer-services. You can bless them, if they so request, in your mission house or in your office. We cannot permit ourselves to be dragged into party politics or to be politicized. It is however, the civic duty of all Catholics to exercise their franchise after due consideration given to all aspects. Those on transfer will take up their new responsibility before the 25th of November. Kindly do the handing over and the taking over according to the inventory available in every parish and institution.   I will be away in the first part of November from the Diocese. Very Rev. Fr. Milroy Fonseka,  the Vicar General, will be the Administrator in my absence. Wishing all of you God’s blessings and the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our  endeavors  to be a missionary Church,I remain.

Yours devotedly in the Lord,

Bishop Vianney Fernando,

Bishop of Kandy

 

Bishop’s Engagements in November

 

1st – 15th   – Away from the Diocese
19th – 21st   – Sessions of the CBCSL at Balcombe Place
23rd 10.00 am – Confirmation Service – Talawakelle
24th 10.00 am – Confirmation Service – Battalgala
4.00 pm  – Blessing of New Chapel at Newton Estate in the       Parish of Battalgala
25th  10.00 am – Presbyteral Council Meeting at Gatambe  03.00 pm – Episcopal Council Meeting at Gatambe
26th  10.00 am – Feast of St. Sylvester at Montefano
28th  07.00 pm  – Vespers at the Capuchin House at Ampitiya
30th  09.00 am – Confirmation Service – Wahacotte

 

MEDIA APOSTOLATE – PROGRAM FOR DECEMBER

Carol and Drama competition
7th December – Holy Cross Church, Hatton

11th December – St. Thomas’ Church, Matale

14th December – St. Anthony’s Cathedral, Kandy
Ecumenical Carol Service
19th December – St. Anthony’s Cathedral, Kandy at 5.30 pm
Sent By:-Rev. Fr.K.L. Leslie Perera,  Media Director

 

CATECHETICAL APOSTOLATE – PROGRAM FOR NOVEMBER

Bishop’s Test (Diocesan Programme)
24st November 2019
Sent By:-Rev. Fr. Camillus Jansz – Catechetical Director

 

TRANSFERS – 2019
Rev. Fr. Leslie Perera   – Parish Priest of St. Theresa’s Church, Peradeniya
Rev. Fr. Alvin Peter Fernando – Parish Priest of St. Mary’s Church, Ampitiya
Rev. Fr. Jesudasan    – Parish Priest of St. Mary’s Church, Tawalanthenne
Rev. Fr. Sudath Perera   – Parish Priest of St. Joseph’s Church, Maskeliya
Rev. Fr.  Cecil Xavier   – Parish Priest of St. Mary’s Church, Nawalapitiya
Rev. Fr. Roy Clarence    – Parish Priest of Holy Rosary Church, Ragala
Rev. Fr. Gunasekaran   – Parish Priest of Sacred Heart Church, Rattota
Rev. Fr. John Winston   –  Acting Parish Priest of St. Anne’s Church, Hewaheta
Rev. Fr. Satkunarajah   –  Acting Parish Priest of St. Anthony’s Church, Mattakelle
Rev. Fr. Mathew    –  Parish Priest of St. Patrick’s Church, Talawakelle
Rev. Fr. John Stephen    – Assistant Parish Priest of St. Joseph’s Church, Maskeliya
Rev. Fr. Locksley Peiris   –  Hospital Chaplain
Rev. Fr. Roshan Dilrukshan –  Catechetical Coordinator, Nuwara Eliya Deanery

THE HOLY FATHER’S INTENTION FOR NOVEMBER   UNIVERSAL : DIOLOGUE AND RECONCILIATION IN THE NEAR EAST
hat a spirit of dialogue, encounter, and reconciliation emerge in the Near east, where diverse religious communities share their lives together.

Dear Rev. Fathers,

I kindly request  you to send me a short description and  photos to be published in our monthly magazine, “AMONG OURSELVES” of the programs you conduct in your Parishes and Institutions.

It would be of great help and encouragement  for others to be enthusiastic and be enriched in  their mission.

I Shall also encourage you to write some articles and forward them to  me to be published in our monthly magazine. Please be kind enough to do so on or before 25th day of the  month.

You may send to :The Editor, “Among Ourselves”,

Bishop’s Office, 873, Peradeniya Road, Kandy.

Email: suren0716745102@gmail.com
Fr. Surendra Pragash – Bishop’s Secretary

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS THIRD WORLD DAY OF THE POOR 33th Sunday in Ordinary Time 17 November 2019
The hope of the poor shall not perish for ever
1. “The hope of the poor will not perish for ever” (Ps 9:19). These words of the Psalm remain timely. They express a profound truth that faith impresses above all on the hearts of the poor, restoring lost hope in the face of injustice, sufferings and the uncertainties of life. The Psalmist describes the condition of the poor and the arrogance of those who oppress them (cf. 10, 1-10). He invokes God’s judgment to restore justice and overcome evil (cf. 10, 14-15). In his words, we hear an echo of age-old questions. How can God tolerate this disparity? How can he let the poor be humiliated without coming to their aid? Why does he allow oppressors to prosper instead of condemning their conduct, especially in the light of the sufferings of the poor?
The Psalm was composed at a time of great economic development that, as often happens, also led to serious social imbalances. The inequitable distribution of wealth created a significant number of poor people, whose condition appeared all the more dramatic in comparison with the wealth attained by a privileged few. The Psalmist, observing the situation, paints a picture as realistic as it is true. It was a time when arrogant and ungodly people hounded the poor, seeking to take possession even of what little they had, and to reduce them to bondage. The situation is not much different today. The economic crisis has not prevented large groups of people from accumulating fortunes that often appear all the more incongruous when, in the streets of our cities, we daily encounter great numbers of the poor who lack the bare necessities of life and are at times harassed and exploited. The words of Book of Revelation come to mind: “You say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing. You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked” (Rev 3:17). The centuries pass, but the condition of rich and poor remains constant, as if history has taught us nothing. The words of the Psalm, then, are not about the past, but about our present, as it stands before God’s judgement.

2. Today too, we must acknowledge many new forms of bondage that enslave millions of men, women, young people and children.

Daily we encounter families forced to leave their homeland to seek a living elsewhere; orphans who have lost their parents or were violently torn from them by brutal means of exploitation; young people seeking professional fulfilment but prevented from employment by shortsighted economic policies; victims of different kinds of violence, ranging from prostitution to the narcotics trade, and profoundly demeaned. How can we overlook, too, the millions of immigrants who fall victim to any number of concealed interests, often exploited for political advantage, and are refused solidarity and equality? And all the homeless and ostracized persons who roam the streets of our cities?

How many times do we see poor people rummaging through garbage bins to retrieve what others have discarded as superfluous, in the hope of finding something to live on or to wear! They themselves become part of a human garbage bin; they are treated as refuse, without the slightest sense of guilt on the part of those who are complicit in this scandal. Frequently judged parasites on society, the poor are not even forgiven their poverty. Judgment is always around the corner. They are not allowed to be timid or discouraged; they are seen as a threat or simply useless, simply because they are poor.

To make matters worse, they can see no end to the tunnel of extreme poverty. We have come to the point of devising a hostile architecture aimed at ridding the streets of their presence, the last places left to them. They roam from one end of the city to the other in the hope of getting a job, a home, a sign of affection… The least offer becomes a ray of light; yet even where justice might be expected to prevail, they meet with violence and abuse. Forced to work endless hours under a burning sun to gather seasonal fruits, they receive ridiculously low pay. They labour in unsafe and inhuman conditions that prevent them from feeling on a par with others. They lack unemployment compensation, benefits, or even provision for sickness. The Psalmist describes with brutal realism the attitude of the rich who rob the poor: “They lie in wait that they may seize the poor… and drag them off in their net” (cf. Ps 10:9). As in a hunt, the poor are trapped, captured and enslaved. As a result, many of them become disheartened, hardened and anxious only to drop out of sight. In a word, we see before us a multitude of poor people often maligned and barely tolerated. They become for all effects invisible and their voice is no longer heard or heeded in society. Men and women who are increasingly strangers amid our houses and outcasts in our neighborhoods.

3. The setting of the Psalm is tinged with sadness at the injustice, the suffering and the disappointment endured by the poor. At the same time, it offers a touching definition of the poor: they are those who “put their trust in the Lord” (cf. v. 10), in the certainty that they will never be forsaken. In the Scriptures, the poor are those who trust! The Psalmist also gives the reason for this trust: they “know” the Lord (cf. ibid.). In the language of the Bible, such “knowledge” involves a personal relationship of affection and love. Impressive and completely unexpected as this description is, it simply expresses the grandeur of God, as shown in the way he relates to the poor. His creative power surpasses all human expectations and is shown in his being “mindful” of each individual (cf. v. 13). It is precisely this confidence in the Lord, this certainty of not being forsaken, that inculcates hope. The poor know that God cannot abandon them; hence, they live always in the presence of the God who is mindful of them. God’s help extends beyond their present state of suffering in order to point out a path of liberation that profoundly strengthens and transforms the heart.

4. Scripture constantly speaks of God acting on behalf of the poor. He is the one who “hears” their cry” and “comes to their aid”; he “protects” and “defends” them; he “rescues” and “saves” them… Indeed, the poor will never find God indifferent or silent in the face of their plea. God is the one who renders justice and does not forget (cf. Ps 40:18; 70:6); he is their refuge and he never fails to come to their assistance (cf. Ps 10:14). We can build any number of walls and close our doors in the vain effort to feel secure in our wealth, at the expense of those left outside. It will not be that way for ever. The “day of the Lord”, as described by the prophets (cf. Am 5:18; Is 2-5; Jl 1-3), will destroy the barriers created between nations and replace the arrogance of the few with the solidarity of many. The marginalization painfully experienced by millions of persons cannot go on for long. Their cry is growing louder and embraces the entire earth. In the words of Father Primo Mazzolari: “the poor are a constant protest against our injustices; the poor are a powder keg. If it is set on fire, the world will explode”.

5. We can never elude the urgent appeal that Scripture makes on behalf of the poor. Wherever we look, the word of God points to the poor, those who lack the necessities of life because they depend on others. They are the oppressed, the lowly and the downcast. Yet, faced with countless throngs of the poor, Jesus was not afraid to identify with each of them: “Whatever you did to one of the least of these my brethren, you did to me” (Mt 25:40). If we refuse to make this identification, we falsify the Gospel and water down God’s revelation. The God that Jesus came to reveal is a Father who is generous, merciful, unfailing in his goodness and grace. He gives hope especially to those who are disillusioned and lacking in hope for the future.

  How can we fail to note that the Beatitudes with which Jesus began his preaching of the kingdom of God open with the words: “Blessed are you who are poor” (Lk 6:20)? The meaning of this paradoxical message is that the kingdom of God belongs to the poor because they are in a position to receive it. How many poor people do we encounter each day! It seems that the passage of time and the advances of civilization increase their numbers rather than diminishing them. Centuries go by and the Beatitude appears even more paradoxical: the poor are always poorer, and today they are poorer than ever. Yet Jesus who inaugurated his kingdom by placing the poor at the centre, wanted to tell us precisely this: he inaugurated the kingdom, but he has entrusted to us, his disciples, the task of carrying it forward with responsibility for giving hope to the poor. Especially at times like our own, there is a need to revive hope and to restore confidence. This responsibility is not something that the Christian community may underestimate. The credibility of our proclamation and the witness of Christians depends on it.

6. In closeness to the poor, the Church comes to realize that she is one people, spread throughout many nations and called to ensure that no one feels a stranger or outcast, for she includes everyone in a shared journey of salvation. The situation of the poor obliges us not to keep our distance from the body of the Lord, who suffers in them. Instead, we are called to touch his flesh and to be personally committed in offering a service that is an authentic form of evangelization. Commitment to the promotion of the poor, including their social promotion, is not foreign to the proclamation of the Gospel. On the contrary, it manifests the realism of Christian faith and its historical validity. The love that gives life to faith in Jesus makes it impossible for his disciples to remain enclosed in a stifling individualism or withdrawn into small circles of spiritual intimacy, with no influence on social life (cf. Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 183).

Recently, we were saddened by the death of a great apostle of the poor, Jean Vanier, whose dedication opened up new ways of showing solidarity with the marginalized and working for their advancement. God gave Jean Vanier the gift of devoting his entire life to our brothers and sisters with grave disabilities, people whom society often tends to exclude. He was one of those saints “next door”; thanks to his enthusiasm, he gathered around himself great numbers of young people, men and women, who worked daily to give love and restore a smile to many vulnerable persons, offering them a true “ark” of salvation from marginalization and solitude. His witness changed the life of countless persons and helped the world to look differently at those less fortunate than ourselves. The cry of the poor was heard and produced an unwavering hope, creating visible and tangible signs of a concrete love that even today we can touch with our hands.
7. “The option for those who are least, those whom society discards” (Evangelii Gaudium, 195) is a priority that Christ’s followers are called to pursue, so as not to impugn the Church’s credibility but to give real hope to many of our vulnerable brothers and sisters. Christian charity finds concrete expression in them, for by their compassion and their willingness to share the love of Christ with those in need, they are themselves strengthened and confirm the preaching of the Gospel.
The involvement of Christians in this World Day of the Poor and especially in the events of everyday life, goes beyond initiatives of assistance. Praiseworthy and necessary as the latter may be, they should have the goal of encouraging in everyone a greater concern for individuals in any kind of distress. “Loving attentiveness is the beginning of true concern” (Evangelii Gaudium, 199) for the poor and the promotion of their genuine welfare. It is not easy to be witnesses of Christian hope in the context of a consumerist culture, a culture of waste concerned only for the spread of a shallow and ephemeral wellbeing. A change of mentality is needed, in order to rediscover what is essential and to give substance and verve to the preaching of the kingdom of God. Hope is also communicated by the sense of fulfilment born of accompanying the poor not for a brief moment of enthusiasm, but through a constant commitment over time. The poor acquire genuine hope, not from seeing us gratified by giving them a few moments of our time, but from recognizing in our sacrifice an act of gratuitous love that seeks no reward.
8. I ask the many volunteers, who merit recognition for being the first to see the importance of such concern for the poor, to persevere in their dedicated service. Dear brothers and sisters, I encourage you to seek, in every poor person whom you encounter, his or her true needs, not to stop at their most obvious material needs, but to discover their inner goodness, paying heed to their background and their way of expressing themselves, and in this way to initiate a true fraternal dialogue. Let us set aside the divisions born of ideological and political positions, and instead fix our gaze on what is essential, on what does not call for a flood of words, but a gaze of love and an outstretched hand. Never forget that “the worst discrimination which the poor suffer is the lack of spiritual care” (Evangelii Gaudium, 200).
Before all else, the poor need God and his love, made visible by “the saints next door”, people who by the simplicity of their lives express clearly the power of Christian love. God uses any number of ways and countless means to reach people’s hearts. Certainly, the poor come to us also because we give them food, but what they really need is more than our offer of a warm meal or a sandwich. The poor need our hands, to be lifted up; our hearts, to feel anew the warmth of affection; our presence, to overcome loneliness. In a word, they need love.
9. At times, very little is needed to restore hope. It is enough to stop for a moment, smile and listen. For once, let us set statistics aside: the poor are not statistics to cite when boasting of our works and projects. The poor are persons to be encountered; they are lonely, young and old, to be invited to our homes to share a meal; men women and children who look for a friendly word. The poor save us because they enable us to encounter the face of Jesus Christ.
In the eyes of the world, it seems illogical to think that poverty and need can possess saving power. Yet that is the teaching of the Apostle, who tells us: “Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God” (1 Cor 1:26-29). Looking at things from a human standpoint, we fail to see this saving power, but with the eyes of faith, we see it at work and experience it personally. In the heart of the pilgrim People of God there beats that saving power which excludes no one and involves everyone in a real journey pilgrimage of conversion, to recognize the poor and to love them.
10. The Lord does not abandon those who seek him and call upon his name: “He does not forget the cry of the poor” (Ps 9:12), for his ears are attentive to their voice. The hope of the poor defies deadly situations, for the poor know that they are especially loved by God, and this is stronger than any suffering or exclusion. Poverty does not deprive them of their God-given dignity; they live in the certainty that it will be fully restored to them by God himself, who is not indifferent to the lot of his lowliest sons and daughters. On the contrary, he sees their struggles and sorrows, he takes them by the hand, and he gives them strength and courage (cf. Ps 10:14). The hope of the poor is confirmed in the certainty that their voice is heard by the Lord, that in him they will find true justice, that their hearts will be strengthened and continue to love (cf. Ps 10:17).
If the disciples of the Lord Jesus wish to be genuine evangelizers, they must sow tangible seeds of hope. I ask all Christian communities, and all those who feel impelled to offer hope and consolation to the poor, to help ensure that this World Day of the Poor will encourage more and more people to cooperate effectively so that no one will feel deprived of closeness and solidarity. May you always treasure the words of the prophet who proclaims a different future: “For you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings” (Mal 3:20 [4:2]).
From the Vatican, 13 June 2019 Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua
Francis
Taken From : www. Vatican.va

 

 

 

THE SAINTS

“Anyone who welcomes a holy man because  he is a holy man will have a holy man’s reward (M10/41)

The saint is a saint, not because he is” good” but because he is transparent for something that is more than he himself is (Paul Tillich)

A vulgar man cannot be a saint (Rabbi Hillel)

Grace is indeed required to turn a man into a saint: and he who doubts this does not know what either a man or a saint is (Blaise Pascal)

The great painter boasted that he mixed all his colours with brains, and the great saint may be said to mix all his thoughts with thanks (G.K. Chesterton)

Nature requires the saint since he alone knows the miracle of transfiguration; growth and development, the very highest and most sustained incarnation, never weary him (Fredrick Wilhelm)

The only difference between a saint and a sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future (Oscar Wilde)

The power of the soul for good is in proportion to the strength of its passions. Sanctity is not the negation of passion but its order. Hence great saints have often been great sinners (Coventry Patmore)

What saint has ever won his crown without first contending for it? (St. Jerome) No devotion to the saints is more acceptable and more proper than if you strive to express their virtues (Erasmus)

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There used to be an Italian  went about Liverpool selling plaster statues of the saints. One day he was barged into a sailor who knocked St. Anthony out of his collection and broke off the arm with the Infant Jesus on it. The Italian was in the greatest distress. “I can never sell him now” he exclaimed. “Sell him? Of course you can sell him.” Said the sailor. “Stick a patch on one of his eyes and sell him as Lord Nelson (Douglas Woodruff)

Second Vatican Council – The Church: In the lives of those who shared in our humanity and yet were transformed into especially successful images of Christ, God vividly manifests to men His presence and His face. He speaks to us in them, and gives us a sign of His kingdom, to which we are powerfully drawn, surrounded as we are by so many witnesses and having such an argument for truth of the Gospel.

Sent by Fr. Bala Rajendram

 

 

Birthdays

01st  – Fri  – Rev. Fr. Anthony Cross Xavier

05th  – Tue  – Rev. Fr. Edwin Rodrigo

10th   – Sun  – Rev  Fr. Satkunarajah

18th  – Mon  – Rev. Fr. Surendra Pragash

20th  – Wed  – Rev. Fr. Emil Joseph, OSB

25th  – Fri  – Rev. Fr. Ivan Jayasundera

 

Ordinations

No Ordinations During this Month……..

 

Deaths

03rd  – Sun  – Rev. Fr. Denis Kulatillake

04th  – Mon  – Rev. Fr. T. D. Manuel

06th  – Wed  – Rev. Fr. Marius Fernandez, OSB

11th –   Mon  – Rev. Fr. Joseph Rodrigo

20th  – Wed  – Rev. Fr. Percy Lal Rodrigo

24th  – Sun  – Rev. Fr. D. N. Lima, OSB   – Rev. Fr. D. Heliams, OSB

 

 

 

DURING THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER………
Let us remember and pray for all the deceased Bishops, Priests and Religious who toiled hard for the growth of our Diocese, in our daily Prayers and Holy Masses. May their souls rest in peace……………… Amen!