One man's vision for spreading the gospel in Israel may seem unusual, but God works in ways we don’t always understand.

A short-termer engages people in spiritual conversation while on tour of Israel.

An OM short-term team worships God and engages in conversations about God in the public square of a city with an Arab majority in Israel.

A public baptism ceremony at the river becomes an opportunity to teach an onlooker about the true meaning of baptism.

The Passover season leads to a young Israeli woman asking about the Passover Lamb.

An incorrect GPS coordinate leads a worship team to the end of the road, yet God has another route planned.

A Muslim man believes Jesus is the Son of God.

By utilising short-term teams and partnering with local churches, OM Israel realigns its field focus.

During a medical outreach in Guatemala, the OM team members and volunteers witnessed a special moment of forgiveness.

OM SportsLink in Latin America takes part in a training for workers in sports ministry in Honduras and an outreach in Guatemala.

As a climax to OM´s just-completed Love Guatemala outreach, six teams carry out aid distribution and evangelism in an impoverished area.

When specific medicine is not available during a medical outreach, OM Guatemala sees God miraculously provide for one mother in need.

Workers committed to bringing God’s love to Eucalipto, Guatemala, are confronted with a sad reality for many living in the community. But hope is rising.

With the desire to help those in need, OM Guatemala organises a free medical clinic in a red zone (high-crime) area in Guatemala City.

OM Guatemala visits primary and secondary schools in the country to teach children values and bring them the good news.

A team from Freedom Climb visits a project of OM Guatemala and is a huge blessing to the team and the families involved.

Puerto Barrios, Guatemala :: Logos Hope's volunteers bring an international aspect to a motivating festival for young people.

The Harvard political philosopher Michael Sandel offers his take.

Are we really going to bet that we can go back to life as normal without proper coronavirus tracking in place?

The Swedes aren’t battling the coronavirus with broad lockdowns.

OM Malawi begins construction on a ministry base they hope will impact the Malawian people for the Lord.

The spiritual life of a young student is a challenge to us all not to become stale.

Cycling to reach people in remote villages in Malawi, Yolanda Mamvura experienced a puncture which led her to pray for an epileptic.

After completing the teachers training course, a young Zambian goes to Malawi where he serves as a father figure for 15 children.

Over an eight-day period, 18 Ride2Transform cyclists travelled 690 kilometers, participating in a personal journey with the Lord and praying for the country of Malawi.

“We believe that the Gospel of Jesus can be preached without saying any words,” said OM worker Fredson. “But by doing, by showing love, by taking care of the old and by just being available to people.”

OMer MacDonald shares how a church in rural Malawi started and has started reaching out.

Prison ministry in Ntaja, Malawi is reaching out to prisoners and guards alike; planting seeds and bearing fruit.

Ride2Transform allows teams on two wheels to pedal far and wide, praying and sharing the love of Christ in least reached areas in Europe and Africa.

A group of 16 people from a church in USA sees lives changed during their short-term outreach in Kiel, Germany.

Forty-seven women from all over the world are climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Kenya this week to raise awareness of global injustices against women and children.

On 12 May, 130 people in Atlanta, Georgia, participate in a hike at to benefit trafficked and exploited women across our world.

150 gathered for the first Freedom Climb Conference in September to learn how to become advocates for oppressed women and children around the world.

In spite of difficult circumstances and a change in plans, the Freedom Climbers did what they set out to do.

The Freedom Climb becomes The Freedom Challenge to include more women in a movement to raise awareness, prayer and funds to combat slavery.

Rome Newsroom, Apr 30, 2020 / 02:01 pm (CNA).- In the central Italian countryside, at the edge of the Umbrian woods just outside Norcia, a group of Benedictine monks prays and works from well before the sun rises until it sets.

This much has not changed in the monks’ lives during Italy’s coronavirus lockdown; but what has is the visitors they receive at the monastery.

“Usually we have some guests coming from all over the world... visitors coming from Italy or the U.S., friends or retreatants,” Fr. Benedict Nivakoff, O.S.B., told CNA by phone.

“And so, the total absence of those people, of that presence, has just focused our prayer all the more and we try to do what we are called to do more seriously,” he said.

“The main thing is a greater intensity of prayer for all those who are suffering.”

Nivakoff is the prior of the monks living at the site of St. Benedict’s birth. After religious life was suppressed in the area in the 1800s, a group led by Fr. Cassian Folsom was given permission to re-establish the monastery and moved there in 2000.

The prior said when the coronavirus was at its height in Italy, the monks did a traditional procession around the property with relics of the true cross.

“And that’s a way of praying for people, invoking the saints and calling down God’s help and his mercy on the country and on the world,” he said.

St. Benedict himself “experienced plagues, famines, sickness, death, not to mention relentless attacks of the devil on him and on his monks. He saw all of those as occasions for the monks themselves and for him to renew his trust and his faith in God,” Nivakoff said.

There is a “sad and persistent temptation,” he explained, to think “the world can solve these problems, but in fact, this world is passing away and God is the only answer to the suffering that we see.”

“So St. Benedict’s message, if you will, would be that all these things that happen can work for the good, and that is for the good of … each man and woman, each monk, in drawing closer to God.”

The monks in Norcia experienced tragedy first-hand four and a half years ago when several earthquakes, including one of 6.6-magnitude, struck central Italy and Norcia in August and October 2016.

The earthquakes destroyed hundreds of homes and the monk’s own buildings, including the Basilica of St. Benedict.

They have been rebuilding, but construction has been on hold during Italy’s lockdown, Nivakoff said, noting that it may, God willing, be able to start back up in a few weeks.

“The earthquake taught us many things and maybe one of the more relevant lessons for today is to resist the temptation that everything should go back exactly as it was,” he said.

“We thought after the earthquake, ‘well the answer is [to rebuild] everything as good if not better than before.’”

“But at the root of that is a fallacy, that this is a world, and we are men touched by original sin, who will only really have happiness and completion and real restoration in heaven,” the prior said.

He noted, “we can and do and need to work to improve things and to bring order where there is chaos and disorder but not at the risk of making this world into the destination and the goal,” because “it isn’t; it’s our temporary place so that we might get to heaven.”

“The earthquake really helped us to see that in a visible form, because the ground was literally shaking beneath our feet,” he said, “and the buildings we had called home to us and to our neighbors, our families, our friends, all the people here in Italy that we know, in central Italy, as all that fell apart.”

He said this “has called for trust and faith that is hard to muster in these days when the faith is so minimal.”

According to Nivakoff, “there are so many” lessons from monastic life that could help people quarantined in their homes right now, but he emphasized “two principle challenges to solitude.”

The first is for those who are in quarantine with others. As for monks who live with other monks, charity is very important when living in the midst of many people, he said.

“This really calls for lots and lots of patience, [and] to remember that patience with others always begins with patience with ourselves,” he explained. “Accepting our sins, accepting our faults, accepting that God is patient with us, and being patient with ourselves, helps us to be more patient with others.”

He added that silence can be a really useful tool in these circumstances: “Not speaking, not responding to the irritating or difficult or perhaps provocative things … people we live with say.”

“Especially under quarantine, the people we live with are probably going to still be with us in a few hours and maybe our passions will have calmed down by then” to respond in a better way, he said.

The second principle he drew on is for those who are living alone, such as the elderly or the young.

“For them, the quarantine really means an eremitical lifestyle. And for them the hardest temptations are sadness, acedia,” Nivakoff said.

“Sadness, which can be good because it can help us to lament our sins, lament not being with God, but at the same time can be a very inward looking and very self-pitying emotion, that stems from expectations not fulfilled.”

He recommended lots of humility and accepting that you are not in charge, not placing hope in things one does not have any control over.

“We have a lot more control over whether we say our prayers at noon than whether the government stops the lockdown in one week,” he pointed out. “The ways to combat sadness are this: to make goals that depend on me, and to put our trust and hope in God.”

Nivakoff also noted that there is a lot of talk right now about the importance of regaining the liberties men and women have had and avoiding “overreach of the government.”

“And that might be true, but from a Christian perspective, it is that we men and women need to accept the limitations that this disease brings on us,” he said.

“So even this terrible virus we need to see as permitted by [God] for some good purpose and the most traditional understanding of that is for some kind of purification.”

“So, we ask for God’s mercy because we need it.”

So during the coronavirus pandemic, the monks continue their prayer and their work taking care of the animals, gardening, cooking, cleaning, and managing the nearby forest.

To support themselves the monks also brew beer, and because it is sold through the internet, the coronavirus has not negatively impacted sales.

“And thank God, that model has really been blessed at this time because with so many people not being able to leave their home, many have taken it as an occasion to sample some monastic beer,” Nivakoff said.

“We continue to export from Italy to the United States and beer is available and it seems to delight many hearts there and we are very happy.”

London, England, May 5, 2020 / 09:00 am (CNA).- A parish in London’s West End is offering the homeless adoration, access to sacraments, and the rosary -- along with food provided by a five-star restaurant. 

St. Patrick’s Church in Soho, an area known for its nightlife and red-light district, is offering a remarkable ministry to the homeless as the capital struggles to cope with the coronavirus pandemic. 

Pastor Fr. Alexander Sherbrooke said he had “a strong sense that the Holy Spirit is literally building a church on the streets” in response to the crisis. 

When the city began to shut down in mid-March, Westminster City Council turned to Sherbrooke, who has overseen daily outreach to the homeless since he arrived in the parish in 2001.

He told CNA that the council had asked St. Patrick’s to increase its provision of food to the homeless significantly while it tried to house those living on the streets. 

The parish, founded in 1792, had previously fed the homeless in its parish center. But after Catholic churches across the country were ordered to close because of the virus, St. Patrick’s was forced to improvise. It began serving the homeless food on its doorstep twice a day, Monday through Sunday.

“On most days we are providing up to 320 meals,” Sherbrooke explained. “On average, we probably see 220 people a day, some of whom come for both breakfast and dinner.”

Hot food is supplied by the Connaught Hotel, a five-star restaurant in London’s affluent Mayfair district, as well as by Wiltons Restaurant in Jermyn Street. The Pret a Manger chain provides sandwiches. 

“It’s a very sophisticated operation and we fully intend to be diligent in preserving social distancing, personal hygiene, food hygiene, etc,” the priest said. “We have a good number of volunteers. We also continue to provide a shower and lavatory facility.” 

Sherbrooke explained that the homeless in the West End live off the footfall generated by local businesses, restaurants and theaters. 

“There is none of that now,” he said. “It’s amazingly empty and can be quite intimidating, particularly at nighttime.”

”The West End has many who are alcohol and drug dependent and without their normal source of income, this can create a volatile situation. Police are very present, but the West End is very inhospitable, at times threatening and not very pleasant.”

“I’ve been in the parish for some 17 years, throughout which  much of my time has been spent in pastoral care for those who are needy. But nothing has really prepared me for where we are at the moment.”

Volunteers at St. Patrick’s are determined to relieve spiritual as well as physical deprivation. As food is distributed, they pray before the Blessed Sacrament in a nearby adoration tent, while observing social distancing. Sherbrooke is available for visitors seeking a sacramental encounter, sitting at a safe distance and behind a white sheet. There is also a tent offering lectio divina. 

“This enhanced feeding facility has come very much as a response to the request of the local authority,” Sherbrooke said. “We have a long tradition of feeding people happily and well. But in a very strange sort of way, the Church, from being a physical reality behind four walls, is now a reality in the street.”

Sherbrooke, who cites St Damien of Molokai and Mother Teresa as inspirations, continued: “It’s imparting a spiritual, pastoral care, where I have a strong sense that the Holy Spirit is literally building a church on the streets. There’s lectio divina. There’s adoration -- in other words, a prolongation of the Holy Mass -- confession, rosary, etc.”

“We are ministering to the people. We are going to them, speaking to them, giving rosaries and sharing the Gospel. So there is a real work of evangelization going on.”

Volunteers also distribute a sheet each week with reflections, Scripture readings, and advice on how to pray.

“So there’s a kind of catechesis of the poor which is going on,” Sherbrooke said.

“There is a very real sense that in this terrible virus situation that God is creating a very different kind of Church, much more evangelical, and perhaps simpler. All this has happened not through management but I believe through God's providence.”

He noted that despite the present dangers volunteers felt a strong sense of supernatural protection. 

“Personally, I would say that the way that I haven’t caught [the virus] -- given the reality of the situation here -- is that every day I pray that the Precious Blood of Jesus will come into my heart, my veins, my lungs, and protect me from the virus so that I can do this work,” he said. 

In 2011, St. Patrick’s reopened after a £4 million restoration project, which included the excavation of the basement and the creation of the parish center, located beneath the church. Food for the homeless is now prepared there every day.

“It’s almost as though God has crafted this parish for this work at this time,” Sherbrooke said.  

CNA Staff, May 5, 2020 / 10:00 am (CNA).- Poland’s bishops have intervened in a debate about whether presidential elections scheduled for May 10 should go ahead despite a nationwide lockdown.

A statement from the permanent council of the Polish bishops’ conference April 27 urged politicians to work together to ensure that the election would be regarded as legitimate by all sides. 

It said: “We appeal to the consciences of those responsible for the common good of our homeland, both those in power and the opposition, to work out a common position on the presidential elections in this extraordinary situation.” 

Poland’s ruling coalition, led by the Law and Justice (PiS) party, has rejected calls to postpone the election, due to take place this Sunday. 

The state began introducing lockdown measures March 10, which it is now starting to lift. Poland, which has a population of almost 38 million, had 14,242 documented coronavirus cases and 700 deaths as of May 5, according to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

The Polish Senate began debating legislation May 5 that would allow the election to be held by postal vote, rather than at polling stations, due to the pandemic. 

The Sejm, the lower chamber of the Polish parliament, will have the final say on the legislation. 

The bishops called on lawmakers to resolve the issue while upholding the principles of Poland’s constitution. They emphasized that they were not seeking to engage in “purely political disputes over the form or timing of election, let alone to advocate this or that solution.”

The bishops’ permanent council said: “We encourage dialogue between the parties to seek solutions that would not raise legal doubts and suspicion, not only of a violation of the current constitutional order but also of the principles of free and fair elections adopted in a democratic society.”

“We ask that, guided by the best will, they would seek in their actions the common good, which today is expressed both by the life, health and social existence of Poles, as well as broad social trust in the electoral procedures of a democratic state jointly developed over the years.”

The bishops continued: “In this difficult situation that we are experiencing, we should take care to cultivate a mature democracy, protect the nation of laws, building -- despite differences -- a culture of solidarity, also in the political sphere.”

If parliament approves the postal vote, the government could delay the vote to either May 17 or May 23 to allow more preparation time, according to Reuters. 

Opinion polls suggest the incumbent President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, would be re-elected by a significant margin if the vote were held soon. 

Bishops’ conference president Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki entrusted Poland to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and to Our Lady, Queen of Poland, at Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa May 3.

Rome, Italy, May 7, 2020 / 09:30 am (CNA).- A Eucharistic blessing of the city of Rome has been offered each day from the doorstep of Rome’s largest Marian basilica as coronavirus measures restricted the public from attending Masses.

The daily Eucharistic procession and benediction takes place in the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major immediately following a livestreamed Mass at 11 a.m. local time from the chapel containing the Marian icon Salus Populi Romani, Mary Protection of the Roman People.

“The cardinal archpriest, all the canons, priests and religious of this basilica wish to give testimony to the Real Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Doctor and Medicine for humanity tried by this pandemic,” states a caption for the video of a benediction from the loggia on March 21. 

As Rome entered phase two of coronavirus restrictions this week, more people have been able to witness the Eucharistic procession and blessing in person. In the second phase of Italy’s lockdown, which began May 4, residents are allowed to exercise and go for walks in the city with facemasks.

 

A Eucharistic procession and blessing of the city of Rome is offered daily from the doorstep of the Basilica of St. Mary Major during the coronavirus pandemic. pic.twitter.com/LSmHBloK8N

— Courtney Mares (@catholicourtney) May 7, 2020  

On the first day of the eased restrictions, a tour guide in Rome stumbled upon the Eucharistic procession in the basilica.

“I saw that confession was available and adoration was taking place. Following adoration, the priests processed the Blessed Sacrament through the church and into the piazza for a benediction over the city. They then walked to the back door and out into that piazza for another benediction,” Mountain Butorac told CNA. 

“This being one of my first experiences in church in nearly two months brought tears to my eyes and hope to my heart,” he said.

Public Masses will be able to resume in the Diocese of Rome and throughout Italy beginning on May 18, 70 days after the restrictions on Mass went into effect.

During Rome’s lockdown, Pope Francis made a brief walking pilgrimage to the Basilica of St. Mary Major to pray for the Virgin Mary’s protection from the coronavirus pandemic affecting Italy and the world.

The pope later had the basilica’s Byzantine icon of Salus Populi Romani brought to St. Peter’s Square for the extraordinary Urbi et Orbi benediction on March 27. The Marian icon remained inside the basilica throughout the Easter Triduum liturgies.

The Salus Populi Romani icon was also processed through Rome by Pope Gregory I for an end to a plague in 593.

 

The benediction takes place following a livestreamed Mass before the Salus Populi Romani, the same Marian icon processed through Rome by Pope Gregory I for an end to a plague in the 6th century. pic.twitter.com/efIbaJF6Hf

— Courtney Mares (@catholicourtney) May 7, 2020  

Among the four major papal basilicas in Rome, St. Mary Major is the only one that maintained its original structure. Mosaics dating back to the 5th century can be seen in the central nave of the basilica, which also houses the relic of the Holy Crib from the birth of Christ.

According to tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared to both a nobleman named John and to Pope Liberius (352-366) in a dream foretelling the August snow and asking for a church to be built in her honor on the site of the snowfall on Aug. 5 in the year 358. The church was rebuilt by Pope Sixtus III (432-440), after the Council of Ephesus in 431 declared Mary to be the Mother of God.

Vespers and prayers of the holy rosary are offered via livestream each day from the Marian basilica just before 5 p.m. in Rome.

A team in Hong Kong reach out to Indonesian domestic workers with Christ's love

OM Hong Kong hosts a Christmas party on 23 December 2011 for Pakistani women and children.

Fiona* never dreamt that God would one day restore her cultural identity by bringing her to OM Hong Kong to serve.

OM Hong Kong celebrates the annual Mid-Autumn Festival with South Asian friend and meets other families to learn about their needs.

OM attempts to bring Christ’s love to the darkest corners of Sham Shui Po, and to walk with those neglected by society.

OM Hong Kong has reached out to South Asian immigrants for more than a year now. One worker shares about the challenges they face.

Over 300 women work in Yat Lau Yat Fung – one woman, one-room walk-ups. OM works to bring each woman “Yat Mong” – one hope in Christ.

OM Hong Kong’s Companion Ministry helps come alongside sex workers to journey with them into freedom.

An OM team in Hong Kong listens to the story of a woman in prostitution and offer her comfort and prayers.

Moner, a third generation believer from Syria, worked as a Christian worker under the protection of a Muslim ambassador from Syria in communist Poland.