We Will Take This Path Of Jesus

Pope Francis delivered the homily at Mass in Saint Peter's Square on Palm Sunday - the beginning of Holy Week, 2015.

“At the heart of this celebration, which seems so festive, are the words we heard in the hymn of the Letter to the Philippians: “He humbled himself” (2:8). Jesus’ humiliation.

These words show us God’s way and the way of Christians: it is humility.  A way which constantly amazes and disturbs us: we will never get used to a humble God!

This week, Holy Week, which leads us to Easter, we will take this path of Jesus’ own humiliation.  Only in this way will this week be “holy” for us too!

We will feel the contempt of the leaders of his people and their attempts to trip him up.  We will be there at the betrayal of Judas, one of the Twelve, who will sell him for thirty pieces of silver.  We will see the Lord arrested and carried off like a criminal; abandoned by his disciples, dragged before the Sanhedrin, condemned to death, beaten and insulted.  We will hear Peter, the “rock” among the disciples, deny him three times.  We will hear the shouts of the crowd, egged on by their leaders, who demand that Barabas be freed and Jesus crucified.  We will see him mocked by the soldiers, robed in purple and crowned with thorns.  And then, as he makes his sorrowful way beneath the cross, we will hear the jeering of the people and their leaders, who scoff at his being King and Son of God.

This is God’s way, the way of humility…

There is another way, however, opposed to the way of Christ.  It is worldliness, the way of the world.  The world proposes the way of vanity, pride, success…  the other way.  The Evil One proposed this way to Jesus too, during his forty days in the desert.  But Jesus immediately rejected it.  With him, we too can overcome this temptation, not only at significant moments, but in daily life as well.

In this, we are helped and comforted by the example of so many men and women who, in silence and hiddenness, sacrifice themselves daily to serve others.…

We think too of the humiliation endured by all those who, for their lives of fidelity to the Gospel, encounter discrimination and pay a personal price. 

We think too of our brothers and sisters who are persecuted because they are Christians, the martyrs of our own time.  They refuse to deny Jesus and they endure insult and injury with dignity….

Let us set about with determination along this same path, with immense love for him, our Lord and Saviour.  Love will guide us and give us strength.  For where he is, we too shall be (cf. Jn 12:26).  Amen.”

For more information, please visit:

http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-palm-sunday-homily

http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-on-palm-sunday-remember-persecuted-ch

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To See Beyond

“A greeting to all women! To all the women who work every day to build a more human and welcoming society. And a fraternal thank you to those who in a thousand ways bear witness to the Gospel and work in the Church. This is for us an opportunity to reaffirm the importance and the necessity of their presence in life. A world where women are marginalised is a barren world, because women not only bring life, but they also give us the ability to see beyond – they see beyond themselves – and they transmit to us the ability to understand the world through different eyes, to hear things with more creative, more patient, more tender hearts. A prayer and a special blessing for all women...."

Pope Francis

Angelus

8 March 2015

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O Most Blessed Mother, heart of love, heart of mercy, ever listening, caring, consoling, hear our prayer. As your children, we implore your intercession with Jesus your Son. Receive with understanding and compassion the petitions we place before you today, especially ...(special intention).

We are comforted in knowing your heart is ever open to those who ask for your prayer. We trust to your gentle care and intercession, those whom we love and who are sick or lonely or hurting. Help all of us, Holy Mother, to bear our burdens in this life until we may share eternal life and peace with God forever.

Amen.

https://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/heart/Im_novena.htm

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Immaculate Heart of Mary, help us to understand, see, and hear as with your most patient, tender heart, in union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, your Son.

Ascend with Prayer, Descend to Proclaim

Jesus took Peter, James, and John
and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them,
and his clothes became dazzling white,
such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.
Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses,
and they were conversing with Jesus.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,
“Rabbi, it is good that we are here!
Let us make three tents:
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.
Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them;
from the cloud came a voice,
“This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”

Mark 9: 2-7

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From the event of the Transfiguration I would like to take two significant elements that can be summed up in two words: ascent and descent. We all need to go apart, to ascend the mountain in a space of silence, to find ourselves and better perceive the voice of the Lord. This we do in prayer. But we cannot stay there! Encounter with God in prayer inspires us anew to “descend the mountain” and return to the plain where we meet many brothers weighed down by fatigue, sickness, injustice, ignorance, poverty both material and spiritual. To these brothers in difficulty, we are called to bear the fruit of that experience with God, by sharing the grace we have received….  The Word of Christ grows in us when we proclaim it, when we give it to others! And this is what Christian life is. It is a mission for the whole Church, for all the baptized, for us all: listen to Jesus and offer him to others.

And now let us turn to our Mother Mary, and entrust ourselves to her guidance in pursuing with faith and generosity this path of Lent, learning a little more how to “ascend” with prayer and listen to Jesus and to “descend” with brotherly love, proclaiming Jesus.

Pope Francis

Angelus, 16 March 2014

For the complete text please visit:

https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/angelus/2014/documents/papa-francesco_angelus_20140316.html

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One of my favorite places in the Holy Land is the Mount of Transfiguration, Mount Tabor.  Although, if the truth be told, the Holy Land has even more of “My Favorite Things” than are listed in the song from “The Sound of Music”!  Whether sunny or stormy weather, it is good to be on that mountain top.  It is a gift to be led apart by Jesus and to experience the transforming power of His great love at work in our life and then to share that love with others as we return to our everyday existence on the plain.

Will you pause for a few moments and join me on an imaginary journey to the mountain top with Jesus?  Can you feel the sunshine warm on your face and the blue, cloudless sky so close overhead that you can almost reach out and touch it?  

Look:  Jesus is gloriously transfigured, his simple garments have become dazzling white.  He is brighter than the sun.  He is looking at you.  He wants you to be transformed also by His love and inspired by His words and actions.

Listen:  The voice of our heavenly Father is telling us to listen to His beloved Son Jesus… to do His will.

Jesus is calling you by name.  What is He saying to you?  What is your response to Him?

Each day make time to come apart with Jesus.  Climb that mountain.  Think of one of your favorite scripture passages where the Word of the Lord speaks to you.  Meditate on the Word.  Pray with the Word.  Ask Jesus to transform your life.  Share the gift of Love you have received.

God bless you! 

  

PS:  You can sing along with me if you now have “The Sound of Music” soundtrack going through your mind!

Aerial view of the Mount of Transfiguration

  

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Joyful Announcers of the Gospel

Big cities are “fertile grounds” of evangelization that allows the Church to become a “leaven of Christian life” for citizens.  This was the reflection given by Pope Francis during a February 7, 2015 address to the participants of the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. The Pontifical Council reflected on the theme: “Encountering God in the heart of the city: scenes of the evangelization for the third millennium.”

The Pope said that the Church is called to reach out to those individuals who are usually forgotten and abandoned by others. The lay faithful in particular, he noted, are called to “break the wall of anonymity and indifference” and to show that God is never absent from man’s heart.

“By becoming joyful announcers of the Gospel to their fellow citizens, the lay faithful discovers that there are many hearts that the Holy Spirit has already prepared to receive their witness, their closeness and their attention,” he said.

Saying that big cities are a  “fertile ground of apostolate”, the Pope stressed that the laity are called to live a “humble leadership” and become a “leaven of Christian life for the whole city.”

For more information, please visit:

http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-encourages-lay-faithful-to-be-a-leaven-of-chr

http://www.laici.va/content/laici/en/eventi/assemblee-plenarie/incontrare-dio-nel-cuore-della-citta.html

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His Holiness Pope Francis always encourages us to listen to and share the “liberating message of the love of God in its strength, beauty and simplicity.”    For some of us, listening may seem easier to do than sharing the message.  But remember the encouragement of Saint Francis of Assisi that we “preach the Gospel always and, when necessary, use words.”

We can all start with a smile, a look of kindness, perhaps hold a door open for another, or any of the “common courtesies” that are unfortunately not-so-common in today’s world.  Have you noticed that if you say “thank you” or pay a compliment to someone they frequently seem surprised--even shocked-- perhaps because they have become used to being taken for granted.  Are we not drawn to someone who calls us by name, asks how we are and waits for an answer?  

We are called by Baptism and Confirmation to exercise “humble leadership” to touch the hearts of those persons God has placed in our lives.  Let’s think of ways to begin to evangelize and transform our cities and our world so they reflect God’s beauty, grace, and peace.  Please share!

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Women First and Foremost in Transmitting Faith

The primary and indispensable role of women in transmitting the faith to new generations: this was the focus of Pope Francis’ remarks to the faithful following the readings of the day at Mass on January 26, 2015 in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence in the Vatican. On the day when the Church celebrates the memory of Saints Timothy and Titus – bishops and disciples of St Paul the Apostle-- Pope Francis commented in particular on the second letter of Paul to Timothy.

Paul reminds Timothy of where his “sincere faith” comes from: his faith comes from the Holy Spirit,  “through his mother and grandmother.” Pope Francis said, “Mothers and grandmothers are the ones who [in primis] transmit the faith.” The Holy Father went on to say:

It is one thing to pass on the faith, and another to teach the matters of faith. Faith is a gift: it is not possible to study Faith. We study the things of faith, yes, to understand it better, but with study [alone] one never comes to Faith. Faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit, which surpasses all [“academic”] formation.

Faith, moreover, is a gift that passes from generation to generation, through the “beautiful work of mothers and grandmothers, the fine work of the women who play those roles,” in a family, “whether they be maids or aunts,” who transmit the faith:

It occurs to me: why is it mainly women, who to pass on the faith? Simply because the one who brought us Jesus is a woman. It is the path chosen by Jesus. He wanted to have a mother: the gift of faith comes to us through women, as Jesus came to us through Mary.

 “We need,” said Pope Francis, “in our own day to consider whether women really are aware of the duty they have to transmit the faith.” Paul invites Timothy to guard the Faith, the deposit of Faith, avoiding “empty pagan chatter, empty chatter of the world.”  He went on to say, “We have – all of us – received the gift of faith: we have to keep it, at least in order that it not become watered down, so that it remains strong, with the power of the Holy Spirit who gave it to us.” We keep the faith by cherishing and nurturing it every day:

If we do not have this care, every day, to revive this gift of God which is Faith, but rather let faith weaken, become diluted, Faith ends up being a culture: ‘Yes, but, yes, yes, I am a Christian, yes yes,’ – a mere culture – or a gnosis, [specialized kind of] knowledge: ‘Yes, I know well all the matters of Faith, I know the catechism’. But how do you live your faith? This, then, is the importance of reviving every day this gift: to bring it to life.

 “We ask the Lord’s grace,” he concluded, “that we might have a sincere Faith, a Faith that is not negotiable depending on the opportunities that come, a Faith that every day I try to revive or at least ask the Holy Spirit to revive it, and make it bear much fruit.” 

For more information, please visit:http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-women-first-and-foremost-in-transmitt

Consider Your Calling

Consider your own calling…. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.  Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God.  It is due to Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.”

I Corinthians 1:  26-31

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“I have heard it said that families with many children and high birth rates are among the causes of poverty. It seems to me a simplistic opinion. I can say that the main cause of poverty is an economic system that has removed the person from the center and replaced him with the god of money; an economic system that excludes and creates the throwaway culture in which we live. … It is necessary to protect families, which face various threats, so that they can bear witness to the beauty of the family in God's plan”.

Pope Francis

General Audience

 21 January 2015

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“But when families are strong and united, children can see God's special love in the love of their father and mother and can grow to make their country a loving and prayerful place. The child is God's best gift to the family and needs both mother and father because each one shows God's love in a special way. The family that prays together stays together, and if they stay together they will love one another as God has loved each one of them. And works of love are always works of peace.”

Mother Teresa

Message to the Fourth UN Women’s Conference

Beijing, 1997

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“Consider your own calling.”  Saint Paul’s words to the Corinthians are also directed to us.  At times it may be easy to list reasons why we can’t--or won't--do something.  But when the Lord is calling us and giving us the grace to do more than we believe may be humanly possible, we must put aside any and all excuses. 

God has chosen each of us to do something that only we can do.  Each and every day God presents us with opportunities to be signs of His love and care for all those we meet.  What is He calling you to do today?

May we witness our faith, hope and love, as spiritual mothers and fathers, especially to the weakest and most vulnerable among us.  Let us pray for each other!

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We Saw His Glory

And the Word became flesh 

and made His dwelling among us,

and we saw His glory, 

the glory as of the Father’s only Son,

full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

May our newborn Saviour grant you

the gift of Love,

the blessing of Hope,

and the fullness of His Peace.

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Blessed Christmas

Joyeux Noël

Feliz Navidad

Fröhliche Weihnachten