St. Valentine Vs Sts. Cyril and Methodius

St. Valentine became associated with lovers because his feast day fell on the day before the licentious Roman fertility feast of Lupercalia on Feb. 15. Lupercalia was a sort of Spring Break Week a month early. After an early-morning sacrifice of goats and dogs to Faunus, the god of merry-making, a band of young men, naked except for loincloths made from the skins of the sacrificed animals, ran along the boundaries of Rome, hitting those whom they met, especially wo...men, with strips of the skins. After that, there was quite a bit of drinking, dancing, and what is now called "hooking up." As it did with Saturnalia (now Christmas) and Halloween, the Church did not try to suppress the holiday completely, but Christianized it by discouraging the improprieties and linking it to the saint believed to have been martyred on its eve.

After the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church, embarrassed by the presence of saints on its calendar who might never have existed, booted the already shadowy St. Valentine from his Feb. 14 slot. Into his place, the Church moved saints Cyril and Methodius, two bishop-brothers who had brought Christianity to the Slavs of Eastern Europe during the ninth century. There was never any doubt as to saints Cyril's and Methodius's existence, or of their heroic virtue. The brothers braved years of political and religious persecution as they preached the Gospel. St. Methodius translated the Bible and other Christian works into Slavonic, which is still the liturgical language of many Eastern churches, and St. Cyril is credited with the invention of the Cyrillic alphabet used by Bulgarians, Russians, and Serbs. The priests saying Mass on Feb. 14 switched to white vestments in honor of the brothers' holiness.

KENYA: Archbishop-elect bids Farewell to Machakos Diocese

Archbishop-elect of the Catholic Archdiocese of Mombasa, Martin Kivuva Musonde on February 7 bid farewell to the diocese of Machakos where he has worked for the past 11 years.

Speaking during the annual diocesan pilgrimage at Our Lady of Komarock Shrine, 50 kilometres east of Nairobi, the prelate lauded the priests and all the religious leaders in Machakos for their hard work in developing the diocese.

“We have worked together my dear priests for the last 11 years; we may have done a lot in terms of doing but one thing remains in my heart you are a great team keep it up, from the deans to the parish priests, to the religious men and women to the Lay council amongst others,” the Archbishop-elect said.

“Any success that has been mentioned is not my success it is our success. I cannot claim to be perfect or a saint, I ask for your forgiveness if for any reason I may have offended you while executing my duties. Please forgive me for my witness and pray for me as I discharge my mandate in the next place that the Holy Father has sent me,” he added.

In attendance at the event that also marked the closing service of The Year of the Family and the launching of the Year of the Consecrated Person was Archbishop Charles Balvo, Apostolic Nuncio to Kenya and South Sudan.

The Archbishop–elect will be installed on February 21 at Tononoka grounds in the archdiocese of Mombasa.

 

MACHAKOS, FEBRUARY 13, 2015(CISA)

The Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith and Love....(Mk 7:24-30)

Besides faith, today’s gospel Jesus shows us on how to be a Christian. And to be Christians is to be loving persons. These two are synonymous. I will share with you some of the characteristics of a loving person. First is unconditional love. One of the dilemmas about human love is that it is often conditional. That is, “If you do what I want you to do  or be what I want you to be, I will love you. If not, I will withdraw my love from you.” And according to an author, conditional love is not love at all. It is a means of controlling another person. On the process we are damaging the person being controlled.
But unconditional love is the only way we can love one another. This gift says simply: “I want to share with you whatever I have that is good. Somewhere in the world there may be someone who is better for you or for me. That is not the point. The point is that I have chosen to give you my gift of love and you have chosen to love me. That is the only soil in which love can grow. We’re going to make it together!”