CIS NEWSLETTER 
No. 62 - February  2009

God's Promise

AMaking a promise or giving our word is part of the fabric of our lives. Sometimes I think we make promises and give our word too quickly and too lightly. I do not have in mind serious, life changing promises like marriage or legal contracts and agreements, but rather simple every day sort of promises. Who of us has not ever been let down by a broken promise, or, on the other side of the fence, has not been frustrated because a promise made sincerely could not be kept due to some unforeseen circumstance? Do any of the following examples sound familiar?

Promising to meet someone at a given time and being late or not turning up.
Promising to deliver work by a date and missing the deadline.
Promising a sick relative that you will visit him/her and before you get round to it, death has knocked at the relative’s door.
Promising a child you will play with him and never getting down to it because you are too busy with household chores.

I came across a moving story in a book entitled ‘A Father who keeps his promises’ by Scott Hahn that tells of a promise kept against all odds, in a situation when most people would have given up. It tells of the experience a father and his son after the earthquake in Armenia in 1989 that flattened many buildings including a school full of children. Many times a man had promised his son ‘No matter what happens, Armand, I’ll always be there’ and yet when he arrived at the site where his son’s school had been, the real situation seemed pretty hopeless.

‘With nothing but his bare hands, he started to dig. He was desperately pulling up bricks and pieces of plaster while others stood by watching in forlorn disbelief. He heard someone growl, ‘Forget it, mister. They’re all dead.’ The man couldn’t stop thinking about his son. He kept digging and digging – for hours ….twelve hours ….. Eighteen hours …..Twenty four hours …..Thirty six hours…. Finally, into the thirty eight hour, he heard a muffled groan from under a piece of wallboard.
Other weak voices began calling out, as the young survivors stirred beneath the rubble. Gasps and shouts of bewildered relief came from the few onlookers and parents left. They found fourteen of the thirty three students still alive. Armand was one of the survivors. When he finally emerged he turned to his friends and said, ‘See, I told you my father wouldn’t forget us!’
This is the kind of faith we need, because that’s the kind of Father we have.’
God's promise to humanity is that He will never leave us on our own. He did not promise an easy life, good health or wellbeing, but He did promise He will be with us to the end of time and to flesh out His promise God became incarnate and Jesus became man. Surely hope can be found in trusting God that He will honour His promises. Scripture shows that, throughout the ages, God has kept each and every one of the promises He made concerning our redemption – at the cost of His only beloved Son. Thanks to God’s grace the gift of salvation is free, but it is not cheap. In reality nothing is ever ‘free’ it just means that someone else has paid.
We are someway between Christmas and Easter – between the sign of God’s promise and its fulfilment. Let us be glad and rejoice in the kind of Father we have!
 

Questions for reflection:
 

• Can I recall an experience when I felt hurt and let down because a promise made to me was not kept? How do I feel about this?

• Have I ever made a promise that I was not able to keep? How do I feel about this?

• Have I ever thought of Jesus’ nativity as a personal promise that God will be with me always?

• Do I trust God and that He will keep His promise to me?

• Do I live in hope?
   

Clare Camilleri
 

Book Review

Swor Elisabetta tat-Trinità - Beata Gdida
Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity – a new Blessed
By Anselmu Vella and Wistin Vella, OCD
Charvin Press, Malta, 1984, 70 pages.
 

This is but a small booklet, yet it has increased my interest in this new saint. The book is written in Maltese, and my hope is that it be an encouragement to further reading. Sister Elizabeth Catez lived but twenty six years, 1880 – 1906 (St. Theresa of Lisieux was born on 1873 and died in 1897 - at 24 years of age). When Elizabeth entered Carmel, at Dijon, France, in 1901, St. Theresa had been dead four years. Both Sisters lived their short lives in absolute dedication to God and both were tried severely in the school of suffering. As her name indicates, Sister Elizabeth centred all her life on God, Three Persons. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, were her great Friends, And she found them within her. On the day of her first Communion in 1891, a Sister had told her that her name meant “House of God”, and this had a profound influence on her. God lived within her and this was her vocation and mission.
Elizabeth never had a formal education, except that she learnt to play the piano very well. At thirteen years of age she came out first at the Dijon Conservatory. And yet she wrote hundreds of letters and many other writings (not really worrying about dates or orthography!). Her writings are full of enthusiasm for God, for her “Three Friends”. She wrote out of her experience with God. As she declared: In heaven she wanted to be continuous praise to the Holy Trinity.

Fr. Victor Degabriele SJ
 

Prayer
 

"O my God, Trinity whom I adore! Help me to become utterly forgetful of self, that I may bury myself in Thee, as changeless and as calm as though my soul were already in eternity . . . O my Three, my All, my Beatitude, Infinite Solitude, Immensity wherein I lose myself! I yield myself to Thee as Thy prey. Bury Thyself in me that I may be buried in Thee, until I depart to contemplate in Thy light the abyss of Thy greatness!"
 

Prayer of Oblation by Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity

CIS programme

 

Frar
 

Irtiri ta’ ‘Weekend’ għall-Miżżewġin

Il-Weekend huwa okkażjoni għall-dawk il-koppji miżżewġa li jixtiequ jġeddu u jiċċelebraw il-wegħediet taż-żwieġ tagħhom. Din hija esperjenza spiritwali b’differenza. Il-Weekend huwa mfassal li jkun kreattiv fejn il-partners jirriflettu u jitolbu flimkien. Ikun hemm ħin ta’ sharing fi grupp magħmul minn 8 koppji. Dan il-Weekend joffri opportunità lill-koppji parteċipanti sabiex jiskopru dejjem aktar l-imħabba li Alla għandu għall-miżżewġin u l-familji tagħhom.

Data:          Mill-Ġimgħa 13 ta’ Frar, 2009, fis-6.00 p.m sal-Ħadd 15 ta’ Frar, fil-5.00 p.m.
Jiffaċilitaw:   Il-Koppja Carmen u Karm Conti u Fr. Vince Magri S.J.
Post:           Mount St. Joseph Retreat House, Mosta
Parteċipanti: Mhux aktar minn 8 koppji.


San Pawl u San Injazju: Żewġ pellegrini fuq il-passi ta’ Ġesù
 

F’dan il-‘weekend’ nirriflettu u nitolbu fis-skiet fuq dawn iż-żewġ qaddisin li sabu triqthom fil-mixja taghhom wara Kristu. Fost affarijiet oħra nikkonċentraw fuq is-sitwazzjoni, is-sejħa, id-dixxerniment, u l-għażla tagħhom.

Data:           Mill-Ġimgħa 13 ta’ Frar 2009 fis-7.00 p.m. sal-Ħadd 15 ta’ Frar wara l-pranzu.
Imexxi:        Fr Pierre Grech Marguerat, S.J.
Post:           Mount St Joseph Retreat House, Mosta.

Ir-Randan: żmien ta’ konverżjoni.
Irtir fis-skiet bi tħejjija għar-Randan.

Data:          Mill-Ġimgha, 20 ta' Frar, 2009, fis-7.00 p.m., sal-Ħadd 22 ta’ Frar wara l-pranzu.
Imexxi:       Fr. Nazju Borg, STL MA, Dip. Lit., Dip. Mar., Dip. Arch., Kappillan ta’ San Lawrenz.
Post:          Dar Manresa, Victoria, Għawdex.

Marzu

The Song of Songs and select Themes from the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola
 

The Song of Songs is a collection of love songs attributed to Solomon, although in reality it is an anonymous work of the post-exilic period. It was accepted into the Jewish and Christian canon mainly on the grounds of allegorical interpretation, namely the love songs were deciphered as a symbol of the love between God and his people. In reality, the Song is a celebration of the God-given gift of human love between a man and a woman in all its aspects, from the sexual to the highly emotional, and it is debatable whether God’s name even features at all in these Hebrew poems.

In this weekend seminar, the theme of human love will be explored through an examination of the Song, and its hallmarks will be linked to select themes from the Spiritual Excercises of St Ignatius.

Professor Anthony J. Frendo, Head of the Department of Arabic and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Malta, lectures on Ancient Near Eastern Studies. His special interests lie in Biblical Hebrew, the Bible, and Near Eastern Archaeology (mainly Biblical Archaeology). He is also interested in Ignatian Spirituality.

This seminar will be conducted in English

Date:              Friday 6th March 2009 at 6.30 p.m till Sunday 8th at 5.00 p.m.
Given by:        Prof. Anthony J. Frendo
Place:            Mt St Joseph Retreat House, Targa Gap, Mosta.



Irtir għall-Professjonisti
 

Dan l-irtir, li għandu storja twila, hu miftuħ għall-professjonisti individwali. Dan l-irtir isir bil-Malti.

Data: Mill-Ġimgħa, 20 ta’ Marzu, 2009 fis-700 p.m. sal-Ħadd, 22 ta’ Marzu,
wara l-pranzu.
Imexxi:            Fr Pierre Grech Marguerat, S.J.
Post:               Dar Manresa, Victoria, Għawdex.