Monday, April 29, 2013

To Live in the Holy Spirit




 “Remain steadfast in the journey of faith, with firm hope in the Lord,” His Holiness Pope Francis exhorted the 100,000 persons gathered on 28 April 2013  in Saint Peter's Square to participate in the Mass at which he conferred the Sacrament of Confirmation on 44 faithful from around the world, representing the Church around the world.

At the end of the Mass the Holy Father prayed the Regina Coeli with the faithful.  He said, “I want to entrust all those who have been confirmed and all of you to Our Lady. The Virgin Mary teaches us what it means to live in the Holy Spirit and what it means to welcome the newness of God in our lives. She conceived Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit and every Christian, each one of us, is called to welcome the Word of God, to welcome Jesus within ourselves and then to bring him to all. Mary called upon the Spirit with the Apostles in the Cenacle. We as well, each time we gather in prayer, are sustained by the spiritual presence of Jesus' Mother to receive the gift of the Spirit and to have the strength to witness to the Risen Jesus.”

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Good and Faithful Servants


His Holiness Pope Francis dedicated the catechesis of his 24 April 2013 General Audience to three Gospel texts that help us to enter into the mystery of one of the truths professed in the Creed: that Jesus “will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead”.   The three texts are: the parable of the ten virgins; the parable of the talents; and the final judgement. They all form part of Jesus' teaching on the end of time in the Gospel of St. Matthew.

Pope Francis spoke of the “'immediate time' between Jesus' first and final comings, which is precisely the time in which we are living. The parable of the ten virgins is located within this context.” They are awaiting the Bridegroom but fall asleep because he is late in arriving. Five of them, who are wise, keep oil aside and can light their lamps when the Bridegroom arrives unexpectedly. The other, foolish ones, do not have it and, while they look for it, the nuptial celebrations have already begun and the door to enter into the banquet is closed to them.

“The Bridegroom is the Lord and the time of awaiting his arrival is the time that He gives us, with mercy and patience, before his final coming. It is a time of vigilance, a time in which we must keep the lamps of faith, hope, and love lit. [It is a time] to keep our hearts open to the good, to beauty, and to truth; a time to live according to God because we do not know either the day or the hour of Christ's return. What is asked of us is to be prepared for the encounter, which means knowing how to read the signs of his presence, to keep our faith alive with prayer and the Sacraments, and to be vigilant so as not to fall asleep, not to forget God. The life of Christians who are sleeping is a sad life, not a happy life. Christians must be happy, [feeling] the joy of Jesus.”

The second parable, of the talents, “makes us reflect on the relationship between how we use the gifts we have received from God and his return when he will ask us how we have used them. … This tells us that our awaiting the Lord's return is a time of action … time to make the most of God's gifts, nor for ourselves, but for him, for the Church, for others. [It is] the time in which to always seek to make good grow in the world. Particularly in this time of crisis, today, it is important… to open ourselves, to be compassionate, to be attentive to others.”

Our Holy Father then spoke of the story of the final judgement that tells of the second coming of the Lord when He will judge all human beings, living and dead. At his right hand will be those who have acted in accordance with God's will, helping the hungry, the thirsty, the foreigner, the naked, the ill, the imprisoned….  At the Lord's left hand are those who did not assist their neighbour. “This tells us that we will be judged by God on charity, on how we have loved our brothers and sisters, especially the weakest and most needy of them. Of course, we always have to keep in mind that we are judged, we are saved by grace, by an act of God's gratuitous love that always precedes us. Alone we can do nothing. Faith is foremost a gift that we have received. But, to bear fruit, God's grace always requires our openness to him, our free and concrete response. Christ comes to bring us the mercy of the God who saves. We have been asked to entrust ourselves to him, to make our good lives—made of deeds inspired by faith and love—match the gift of his love.”

“Looking to the final judgement must never frighten us,” the pontiff concluded. “Rather, it urges us to live the present better. With mercy and patience, God offers us this time so that we might learn every day to recognize him in the poor and the small, might strive for the good, and might be vigilant in prayer and love. The Lord, at the end of our existence and of history, may then recognize us as good and faithful servants.”

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Monday, April 22, 2013

Ask Jesus What He Wants of You and Be Courageous!


His Holiness Pope Francis, before praying the Regina Caeli with the crowd gathered in Saint Peter’s Square on 21 April 2013, reflected on the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd:

“Jesus wants to establish a relationship with his friends that reflects the one he has with the Father: a relationship of mutual belonging in complete confidence, in intimate communion.” To express this it is necessary to use the image of the sheep who recognize the voice of the shepherd and follow him. “The mystery of the voice is suggestive. Already at our mother's breast we learn to recognize her voice, and that of our father. By someone's tone of voice we can perceive love or contempt, affection or coldness. Jesus' voice is unique! If we learn to distinguish it, He guides us on the path of life, a path that even overcomes the abyss of death.”

However, referring to his sheep, Jesus also says: “If I feel attracted to Jesus, if his voice warms my heart, it is thanks to God the Father who has put this desire for love, for truth, for life, for beauty within me. And Jesus is all this completely.”

Ask Jesus what He wants of you and be courageous! … Behind and before each vocation to the priesthood or the consecrated life there is always someone's strong and intense prayer: a grandmother, a grandfather, a mother, a father, a community. This is why Jesus said 'ask the master of the harvest—that is, God the Father—to send out labourers for his harvest'. Vocations are born in prayer and from prayer. Only in prayer can they persevere and bear fruit…. Let us call upon the intercession of Mary, who is the Woman of the 'Yes'. She said 'Yes' her entire life. She learned to recognize Jesus' voice from when she carried him in her womb. May Mary, our Mother, help us to always know better Jesus' voice and to follow it, to walk in the path of life.”

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Mosaic Tile Detail
Church of the Visitation, Ein Karem
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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Entering into God's Glory Demands Daily Fidelity to His Will


The meaning of the Ascension, the event culminating Jesus' earthly life, was the central theme of His Holiness Pope Francis' catechesis during the 17 April 2013 general audience celebrated in St. Peter's Square.

“In the Creed,” noted the pontiff, “we confess our faith in Christ who 'ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father'. … What does this mean for our lives? While he 'ascends' to [Jerusalem], where his 'exodus' from this life will take place, Jesus already sees the goal, Heaven, but he knows well that the path that will take him back to the Father's glory passes through the Cross, through obedience to the divine plan of love for humanity. … We also must be clear, in our Christian lives, that entering into God's glory demands daily fidelity to his will, even when it requires sacrifice, when it sometimes requires us to change our plans.”

 “The Ascension,” Francis concluded, “doesn't indicate Jesus' absence, but rather it tells us that He is living among us in a new way. He is no longer in a particular place in the world as He was before the Ascension. Now He is in the Lordship of God, present in every space and time, close to each of us. In our lives we are never alone: we have this Advocate who awaits us and defends us. We are never alone. The crucified and risen Lord guides us. With us there are many brothers and sisters who, in their family life and their work, in their problems and difficulties, in their joys and hopes, daily live the faith and bring, together with us, the Lordship of God's love to the world. In Jesus Christ, risen and ascended into Heaven, we have an Advocate.”

For more information, please visit:
http://www.news.va/en/news/audience-jesus-the-only-and-eternal-priest

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Please visit the website of the Women’s Section of the Pontifical Council for the Laity for the latest updates:

Pope Francis:  Mothers and women continue to give witness of the Risen Lord

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Just over a month ago I had the privilege to lead a group of pilgrims to the Holy Land.  Recent Gospel readings take me back to our time on and near the Sea of Galilee, a place of contemplation and prayer.  Please join me through these photographs and verses of Sacred Scripture. 


Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. (John, Chapter 21)



“Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.” So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish.
 

They realized it was the Lord.

 
“Do you love me?”

 
“Follow me.”

 
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Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Risen Christ: Our Reason for Hope


Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

His Holiness Pope Francis continued his catechesis on the Creed during the 10 April 2013 General Audience by considering the meaning of Christ’s resurrection for us and for our salvation. The Lord’s death and resurrection are the foundation of our faith; by His triumph over sin and death, Christ has opened for us the way to new life.

Our Holy Father said, “We have to be the first to have a strong hold on this hope and we have to be its visible, clear, and bright sign for all. The Risen Lord is the hope that never fails, that does not disappoint. Hope does not disappoint, the hope of the Lord! How many times in our lives do hopes fade? How many times are the expectations that we hold in our hearts unrealized? Our hope as Christians is strong, sure … in this land where God has called us to walk, and is open to eternity because it is founded in God who ... is always faithful to us. … Being a Christian cannot be reduced to following commands but means being in Christ, thinking like him, acting like him, loving like him. It means letting him take possession of our lives and change them, transform them, free them from the darkness of evil and sin.”

“To anyone who asks for a reason for our hope, let us point to the Risen Christ. Let us point Him out with the proclamation of the Word, but especially with our resurrected lives. Let us show the joy of being children of God….”  New life in Christ “needs to be nourished daily by hearing God’s word, prayer, sharing in the sacraments, especially Penance and the Eucharist, and the exercise of charity. God must be the centre of our lives! By our daily witness to the freedom, joy and hope born of Christ’s victory over sin and death, we also offer a precious service to our world, helping our brothers and sisters to lift their gaze heavenward, to the God of our salvation.”

For more information, please visit:

http://www.news.va/en/news/audience-living-like-gods-children-full-text
http://www.news.va/en/news/audience-summary-in-english

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Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Women are Compelled by Love to be Joyful Witnesses


The Resurrection, the heart of the Christian message, and the two ways it is announced—profession of faith and narration—were the themes with which His Holiness Pope Francis returned to the catechesis for the Year of Faith in the 3 April 2013 general audience.  Our Holy Father began his catechesis with the quote of the celebrated passage of St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians: “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain”.

“Unfortunately,” he said, “there have often been attempts to obscure the faith in Jesus' Resurrection and doubts have crept in even among believers themselves. Our faith is 'watered down', we might say; not strong faith. Sometimes this has been because of superficiality, sometimes because of indifference, because we are busy with thousands of other things that seem more important than our faith, or even because we have a limited view of life. But it is precisely the Resurrection that offers us the greatest hope because it opens our lives and the life of the world to God's eternal future, to complete happiness, to the certainty that evil, sin, and death can be conquered. This leads us to living our everyday lives more confidently, to facing them courageously and committedly. Christ's Resurrection shines new light on our everyday realities. Christ's Resurrection is our strength!”

Moving on to explain the two ways that the truth of the Resurrection is shared in the New Testament, Francis spoke first of professions of faith, that is, of the concise formulas expressing the core of the faith. Such examples can be found in the Letter to the Corinthians or the Letter to the Romans in which St. Paul writes: “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:9). From the Church's first steps, her faith in the Mystery of Jesus' Death and Resurrection has been steadfast and clear.”

However, the Pope preferred to emphasize the witness that takes the form of a story, recalling above all that, in these types of testimonials, women are the first witnesses. They are the ones who, at dawn, go to the tomb to anoint Jesus' body and find the first sign: the empty tomb. They then encounter the divine messenger who tells them: Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified One, is not here. He is risen.

“The women,” he attested, “are compelled by love and know how to welcome this announcement with faith. They believe and immediately they share [the announcement]. They don't keep it for themselves but convey it. They can't contain the joy of knowing that Jesus is alive, the hope that fills their hearts. This should also happen in our lives. We should feel the joy of being Christians! We believe in the Risen One who has conquered evil and death! We must have the courage to 'go out' to bring this joy and this light to all the areas of our lives. Christ's Resurrection is our greatest certainty. It is our most precious treasure! How can we not share this treasure, this certainty, with others? It is not just for us: it is to be proclaimed; to be given to others; to be shared with others. This is precisely our witness.”

Francis noted another element of the profession of faith in the New Testament: that only men are recorded as witnesses of the Resurrection, the Apostles but no women. “This is because,” he explained, “according to Jewish law of the time, women and children couldn't give reliable, credible witness. In the Gospels, however, women have a primary, fundamental role. We can see here an argument in favour of the historical actuality of the Resurrection. If it had been made up, in the context of the time, it would not have been connected to the testimonials of women. The evangelists instead simply narrate what had happened: the women were the first witnesses. This says that God's choices are not made in accordance with human criteria. The first witnesses of Jesus' birth are the shepherds, simple and humble people. The first witnesses of the Resurrection are women. This is beautiful. And this is a bit the mission of women, of mothers and women: witnessing to their children and their grandchildren that Jesus is alive. He is the Living One. He is the Risen One. Mothers and women, go forward with this witness! For God, what counts is our hearts.”

“This also leads us to reflect on how women, in the Church and in the journey of faith, have had and still today have a unique role in opening doors to the Lord, in following him and conveying his face, because seeing with faith always takes love's gaze, which is simple and profound. It is more difficult for the Apostles and disciples to believe: not for the women. Peter runs to the tomb, but stops before the empty tomb. Thomas has to touch the wounds on Jesus' body with his own hands. Even in our faith journeys it is important to know and to feel that God loves us; not to be afraid to love him: faith is professed with the mouth and with the heart, with words and with love.”

The Holy Father recalled that, after the apparitions to the women, there were others in which Jesus made himself present in a new way. “He is the Crucified One but his body is glorious. He did not return to his earthly life, but rather in a new condition. At first they don't recognize him and only through his words and his deeds are their eyes opened. Encountering the Risen One transforms them, gives new strength to their faith, an unshakeable foundation. For us too, there are many signs by which the Risen One makes himself known: Sacred Scripture, the Eucharist, the other Sacraments, charity, these gestures of love bring a ray of the Risen One. Let us be enlightened by Christ's Resurrection and transformed by its power so that, through us too, the signs of death might give way to signs of life in the world.”

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Below is the English summary of His Holiness Pope Francis’ General Audience catechesis:

Taking up the series of Catechesis on the Creed, we now turn to the passage: “He rose again on the third day, in accordance with the Scriptures”. Our belief in Christ’s Resurrection is the very heart of our faith, the basis of our hope in God’s promises and our trust in his victory over sin and death. The first witnesses of the Resurrection were women: moved by love to go to the tomb, they accept with joy the message of the Resurrection and then tell the good news to the Apostles. So it must be with us; we need to share the joy born of our faith in the Resurrection! In Church’s history, women have had a special role in opening doors to faith in Christ, for faith is always a response to love. With the eyes of faith, we too encounter the risen Lord in the many signs of his presence: the Scriptures, the Eucharist and the other sacraments, and the acts of charity, goodness, forgiveness and mercy which bring a ray of his Resurrection into our world. May our faith in the risen Christ enable us to be living signs in our world of the triumph of life and hope over evil, sin and death.

For the complete text, please visit:


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May our encounter with the Risen Lord transform us into joyful, faithful, credible witnesses of the Gospel.

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