Nostra Fides
Our Faith
A Publication of SMU Fides Catholic Community
For Internal Ciruclation Only
In communion with the Catholic Church headed by the Pope and in conformity with the teachings handed down to us from the Apostles, Nostra Fides aims to cover
Catholic events on campus as well as other events that members of the community are involved in. Recent developments within the Church will also be covered.
First Friday Devotion to the Sacred Heart
Standing as we do on Calvary, we now look into the
secret depths of that Heart, “wounded by our sins” far
more than by the soldier’s lance. We see therein the
very source of all the “infinite treasures of love” that
His “mercy deigns to lavish upon us.” Then we survey
the present world, so indifferent, so utterly unresponsive
to that strong instinct in man which naturally prompts
him to return love for love. Thereupon we realize that
we have the responsibility of making up to Christ for all
the ingratitude and outrage offered Him by our thankless
race. This is why we ask God to help us “offer him de-
vout homage (and), loving service,” so that this Sacrifice
may be a “fitting reparation” and thus heal the wound in
His mystic side, which bleeds afresh with every sin to-
day. - Sister M. Cecilia, O.S.B., Companion to the Mis-
sal (1954), p. 284.
The heart stands for love. The human heart of Jesus
stands both for His human love and for the infinite love
of His divine Person. His love was not just a shimmer-
ing, dreamy softness; it was wisely strong and true to
its eternal purposes. Despite the anguish of Gethsemani,
His love yielded His human life to crucifixion. His love
had all the majesty and fullness of God, a height and a
depth that make paltry the wisdom of men. Every mys-
tery of His life, every miracle, sermon, and kindness,
was a new revelation of divine love that enlightens and
warms mankind. - Rev Charles J. Callan, O.P., Daily
Missal of the Mystical Body (1960), p. 498
Vol 4 2008
Who am I?
by Karen Chong
I am the steady hands steering my ship to where I know I
need to go, Yet, I am a million wandering souls.
Mitch Albom was one of the best sports journalists
around and working more than twelve hour shifts when
he received news that Morrie Schwartz, the dearest pro-
fessor he met in university years ago, was dying. The
verse above describe what he felt- aware of his ambi-
tions, yet unsure of his real purpose in life when he re-
ceived the news.
In his best-seller, Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch recounts
the time spent with Morrie, and how he embarks on a
journey of self-discovery. He re-discovers his role as a
student, patiently listening to Morrie’s lessons on life.
He finds the courage to re-assume the role of a brother
to an estranged sibling. He re-learns how to be a child
again, with the child-like capacity to love freely.
And yet, at the end of the book, when Morrie passes
away, we sense that Mitch has not really discovered who
he is. However, he has regained a sense of direction that
he did not possess before Morrie’s illness.
I was reminded of Mitch Albom’s story during the mid-
term retreat, especially because as an SMU student, I
find myself in similar circumstances. Like Mitch, we
work more than half our days away. Some of us know
where we want to go, and some of us are unsure of our-
selves. Or maybe we think we know what we should
do, without knowing that we are still confused. And this
happens to us all, especially when we forget God’s place
in our lives.
During the retreat, it would be a stretch to say I found
myself and God. The sessions, such as the Enneagram,
helped me learn more about myself and God. When
Jarvis, an external speaker, touched on the topic “Who is
God?”, I reflected on my relationship with God. Who do
I see Him as? What are the spiritual anchors that God has
given me to tide me through trying times? Jarvis himself
had wonderful experiences with God, which made me
search myself for the times God had been there, but I
had been too careless to notice.
As a young Catholic, my identity with the faith can get
pretty shaky, especially when I realised that I did not
have spiritual anchors like my friends. I was lost, unsure
and questioning my identity as a Christian.
This brings me back to my analogy of Mitch’s story.
Mitch found a saving grace in his life-Morrie. Morrie
was someone that Mitch relied on for help and advice.
Unlike him, I did not have a Morrie, someone who would
teach me how to live my life.
But this isn’t true, because I do have a Morrie; in fact
Morrie exists for every one of us. He is God. He can
teach us who we are, and he comes into our lives at the
right times and places. I was not a Christian once, but
now I am, because, I guess, He simply knows when to
come.
In the quiet time that I spent with Jesus during the retreat,
I can’t say that I managed to find myself. Perhaps we see
ourselves acting as different roles; a friend, a daughter,
or a student. But now I do go around with this awareness
of self-discovery, and for the search of His calling.
Pope’s Address to Young People outside No-
tre Dame, 12 Sept 2008 (Extract)
...Many of you wear a cross on a chain around your neck.
It is not a mere decoration or a piece of jewelry. It is the
precious symbol of our faith, the visible and material
sign that we belong to Christ. Saint Paul explains the
meaning of the Cross at the beginning of his First Letter
to the Corinthians. The Christian community in Corinth
was going through a turbulent period, exposed to the
corrupting influences of the surrounding culture. Those
dangers are similar to the ones we encounter today. Saint
Paul begins his Letter by writing: “The word of the Cross
is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are be-
ing saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18). Then, the
Apostle shows the clear contrast between wisdom and
folly, in God’s way of thinking and in our own. He ends
by stressing the beauty of God’s wisdom, which Christ
and, in his footsteps, the Apostles, have come to impart
to the world and to Christians. This wisdom, mysteri-
ous and hidden (cf. 1 Cor 2:7), has been revealed by
the Spirit, because “those who are unspiritual do not re-
ceive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are folly to them,
and they are unable to understand them because they are
spiritually discerned” (1 Cor 2:14).
The Spirit opens to human intelligence new horizons
which transcend it and enable to perceive that the only
true wisdom is found in the grandeur of Christ. For
Christians, the Cross signifies God’s wisdom and his in-
finite love revealed in the saving gift of Christ, crucified
and risen for the life of the world, and in particular for
the life of each and every one of you. It is not only the
symbol of your life in God and your salvation, but also
– as you will understand – the silent witness of human
suffering and the unique and priceless expression of all
our hopes. The Cross in some way seems to threaten
our human security, yet above all else, it also proclaims
God’s grace and confirms our salvation. The Holy Spirit
will enable you to understand its mysteries of love. Then
you will exclaim with Saint Paul: “May I never boast of
anything, except the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the
world” (Gal 6:14). Paul had understood the seemingly
paradoxical words of Jesus, who taught that it is only
by giving (“losing”) ones life that one finds it (cf. Mk
8:35; Jn 12:24), and Paul concluded from this that the
Cross expresses the fundamental law of love, the perfect
formula for real life.

On Human Life (Extract)
by Edward J Slattery
Bishop of Tulsa, Oklahoma
Modern science clearly proves that human life begins at
conception. At the moment when DNA from the mother
and the father combine, a new, unique human being,
who will develop continuously until death, is created.
From then on, the early zygote functions as a human
being. It has specifically human enzymes and proteins,
and, over time, it develops complex human tissues and
organs. After this genetic transfer, it can never develop
into any other kind of being. Even as it develops through
the process of pregnancy, the human nature of the zy-
gote, embryo, fetus, or baby never changes. It is this
nature that directs and causes the miraculous physical
transformation that takes place during the pregnancy.
In fact, the desire of some persons to destroy embryos
in order to harvest stem cells is dependent upon the real-
ity that they are already biologically human. Contrary
to some misconceptions, the early human embryo is not
a vague collection of tissues without specificity. In fact
the exact opposite is true. The first cells of this new hu-
man being contain all of the information that will guide
its development throughout life. The process of embry-
onic and fetal development involves “switching off” the
complete power of the early cells so that they only take
on one function, like being a heart cell.
While there are some members of our society who would
like to define this biological human being as someone
who does not share our basic human rights, such as the
right to its own existence, this is a dangerous path. We,
as a human society, have gone this way before, with dis-
astrous results. Inevitably, it ends with the act of mur-
dering those whom we objectify, as we have seen with
the lynching of African Americans from our own rac-
ism, or the Holocaust, or the countless other genocides
of the 20th century. Whenever we treat another human
being as an object, a thing, that we may do with as we
please, rather than as a human person made in the im-
age and likeness of God, we diminish, and inevitably
destroy that being, and ourselves.
It is also paradoxical to suggest that by throwing the
cloak of “privacy” over the act of abortion, that indi-
vidual choice can transform an evil act into something
that is good, or even tolerable. If, as Sen. Biden believes,
human life begins at conception, it is difficult to see how
that view can be reconciled with the position that we,
as a society, should legally allow individual persons to
decide on their own if murder is wrong.
The modern day notion of “privacy” assumes that there
is a neat division between the individual who makes a
decision, and the rest of the human community. A “pri-
vate” decision is one that is limited to the individual.
However, in the case of abortion, this decision has im-
plications not only for the mother, but also for the father,
both of their immediate families, and, in fact, for all of
our society. The mother and the father lose a child, the
family a niece or nephew, or grandchild, and the rest of
us, a companion in life. How we protect, or ignore, these
smallest members of our human community defines who
we are as human persons.
A democracy, in order to flourish, must attend to the
defense of the values that are essential to the human
community. Ignoring this hard work and simply relegat-
ing abortion to the sphere of individual choice allows
a cancer to eat at our very core, as we permit some hu-
man persons to sacrifice the lives of others for their own
personal reasons. As Catholics, we cannot accept the
premise that in the name of “privacy” all choices are
equally right.
Once an evil is truly seen for what it is, neither can an
emphasis on “privacy” excuse one’s moral responsibil-
ity to act to stop it, nor can defining murder as a “right to
choose” change what it is that is actually chosen.
The Meaning of Advent
Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J.
The word “Advent,” of course, means “coming.” So
in Advent we celebrate the various comings of Jesus,
the Word incarnate and God on earth. We commemo-
rate his coming at Bethlehem two thousand years ago,
his Second Coming at the end of the world, and his
coming to us in time in our baptism and in the recep-
tion of his sacraments, such as the Holy Eucharist. The
Church urges us to open our hearts to receive him with
faith, hope and love.
Coming results in a certain presence—a more intimate
presence, since he is already present in our hearts, or
should be, by his grace. Just as we prepare for guests
who come for dinner, so also the Church bids us pre-
pare in a special way for the coming of Christ at Christ-
mas time. By doing this, we prepare ourselves for his
final coming—first at our death and then at his Second
Coming at the end of the world.
The Old Testament prophets looked forward to the
coming of the Messiah, the Anointed of the Lord, the
Great King.
not according to groups. “Two men will be out in the
field; one will be taken and one will be left,” that is,
one will be taken into the Church and saved, and the
other will be lost. “Stay awake, therefore! You cannot
know the day your Lord is coming.”
The future coming of the Lord will slip quietly into the
present, undetected—like a thief in the night. So we
must always be ready for him. This means following
Christ and living the Christian life seriously, accord-
ing to the measure of God’s grace given to each one
of us. Everything said in the Gospel about the Second
Coming also applies to us. Any day we can meet a sud-
den death on a highway—and that is the final coming
of Jesus as far as we personally are concerned. So, be
prepared, be watchful!
Finally, Advent is a time of preparation for the coming
of the Lord. How do we prepare ourselves? By fervent
and daily prayer, by being faithful to our commitments
and state in life, by practicing acts of self-denial, by
carrying our cross daily, by kindness towards others
(especially members of our family), by avoiding all
sarcasm and unjust criticism of others.

Isaiah prophesies that the Lord will impose peace on

many peoples. There shall be no more war and pre-
paring for war: “Come, let us walk in the light of the
Lord!”; that is, we must obey the Lord, believe in him
and practice virtue. This applies first of all to the faith-
ful who have the peace of Christ in their hearts. It does
not refer to any historical time, to any earthly utopia.
Because of original sin and man’s inclination to evil,
there will always be wars and rumors of wars until the
final coming of Jesus on the last day.

The Second Coming of the Lord will be sudden and

unexpected, like the flood in the time of Noah. Many
people ignored the warnings, ridiculed Noah for build-
ing a big boat on dry land, far from the sea. How ridic-
ulous! But the flood came and destroyed them, while
Noah survived with his family and animals.

The same thing will happen to all who do not heed the
words of the Lord. But God’s judgment is individual,

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