Tomorrow (February 28, 2017) marks the fourth anniversary of the day when Pope emeritus Benedict XVI renounced the Office of Successor of Peter. To mark the occasion, the online magazine Zenit published the following article today.
February 28, 2017 marks the fourth anniversary
of Benedict XVI's renunciation
Posted by Federico Cenci on 27 February, 2017
A sun of a precocious spring illuminated St. Peter’s Square crowded, as on great occasions, on that February 28, 2013. It was a multitude of faithful that rushed to say their goodbyes to Pope Benedict XVI. The wave of affection overwhelmed the German Pontiff, who was visibly moved.
However, the strong sentiments remained impressed also on the spirit of the faithful present in the Square. It is difficult to forget the effect of that historic flight to Castel Gandolfo of the helicopter with the resigning Pope on board, above a carpet of arms waving to greet him.
Historic moments, whose memory penetrates the heart of those who lived it. As Benedict XVI’s words penetrated the heart, which he addressed from the balcony of the Papal Apartment of Castel Gandolfo, in the afternoon of February 28, 2013, his last appearance in public as Supreme Pontiff.
I am simply a pilgrim who begins the last stage of his pilgrimage on this earth. However, with my heart, with my love, with my prayer, with my reflection, with all my interior strength I still want to work for the common good and the good of the Church and of humanity. And I feel very supported by your good wishes. Let us go forward together with the Lord for the good of the Church and of the world. Thank you, and now I impart to you with all my heart my Blessing, he said.
Benedict XVI’s legacy of prayer will be renewed this coming February 28, fourth anniversary of the conclusion of his Pontificate. Every year, on this significant date, many faithful throughout the world organize moments of prayer in communion with Pope Benedict and according to his intentions; some organize, in several churches and places, moments of communal prayer.
This fourth Day will be an important moment in the path to Benedict’s 90th birthday (April 16, 2017), which will be celebrated by the site The Lord’s Vineyard, again with prayer and meditation, as well as with the immense gratitude for the gift received through his person.
One of the earliest, if not the earliest, icons of Christ the Saviour found in the City of Rome is placed above the altar in the Lateran Sancta Sanctorum. This image, also called the Uronica, is kept in what was once the pope’s private chapel, and at various times of severe crisis in the city’s history was carried by the Pope in solemn procession around the city barefoot, such was its power.
Given that a new icon of Christ the Saviour was made as part of the 200th celebrations of the Anglican church in Rome, and that the Holy Father himself visited and blessed the icon yesterday as an important ecumenical gesture in unity with Orthodox and of course Anglican bishops, and as the parish of All Saints (Anglican, Rome) commissioned the new icon of Christ the Saviour, the Lateran icon seemed an appropriate place to begin. Its wide open eyes with its direct expression of mercy, without a trace of harshness speaks clearly in a world and at a time when the Church has just celebrated a year of mercy and the world has taken on harsh and aggressive tones especially towards those most vulnerable and needy. The face of the Merciful Saviour is what the writer of the new icon tried to express, using the ancient Byzantine traditions of liturgical art, to produce an image which graces the Liturgy as a receptor for prayer and a source of compassion.
Stylistically, the artist looked to the English traditions of manuscript illumination. Not only is All Saints a Victorian neo-Gothic structure, but the flowering of English liturgical art in the Middle Ages was a time when all English Christians worshipped as one. Since the icon sits in Rome and was to be the focus for an ecumenical moment of prayer it seemed good to reach back into a time before such gestures were necessary.
The great English master illuminist, Matthew Paris, was the main reference point in finding an English Acheiropoieta (Medieval Greek: ἀχειροποίητα, made without hand) of which the Lateran Saviour icon is a type. In referencing this time when English Christians were united, it calls the churches to reflect on the enormous damage which the desecration of sacred images caused to the religious soul of the English people. Conscious of the fact that this Icon was written at the only icon school in the Middle East, under the Patronage of his Beatitude Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregory III of Antioch in Syria, and also conscious of the desecration of sacred images across the Middle East in our own time, this image is a hope of the healing of those scars and the return of the English people to faith in Christ.
Christ looks almost directly at us, a slight sideways tilt of the head prevents it being too searing a gaze, and as in all icons of Christ he has two sides to his face, one directly observed from the front, the other slightly from the side, a side of mercy and a side of judgment. There is also a darker and a lighter side, for Christ has two natures – fully God who in essence remains always a Mystery and fully man through whom God is nevertheless revealed. He wears a red undergarment, a royal reddish purple, as a sign of his humanity and lordship, while his outer garment is a rich blue of Lapis Lazuli, the colour of the heavens and a sign again of his Divinity. The blue garment is built up of translucent layers giving the sense of seeing the whole cosmos infused with light.
Light is a key element in the image, as in all icons, as the image seeks to show the interior light of the Spirit shining forth rather than an exterior light that casts heavy shadows. Here, Christ is very humble, and the face attempts to portray the compassionate lover of mankind, who looks with a deep longing upon all peoples who labour and are heavy burdened, and who raises His hand in blessing upon the meek and the poor in spirit. His other hands holds the Book of the Gospel shut, encouraging us to not stop at the words of the Gospel, but to heed the words that I am he, to turn to Christ himself, to believe and to live, to enter into a personal encounter with Him and live.
At 3:50pm this afternoon, the Holy Father, Pope Francis paid a visit to the Anglican community at the Church of All Saints in Rome in order to celebrate the 200th anniversary of that community.
The rite, which was characterized by elements typical to the Anglican tradition of sung Vespers, began with greetings and words of welcome offered by the Right Reverend Robert Innes, Anglican Bishop for Europe ad by Reverend Jonathan Boardman, Chaplain of the Anglican Church.
Then, the Holy Father blessed an icon of Christ the Saviour with holy oil and incense, and together with the Bishops who were gathered there, lit candles in front of the icon. The celebration continued with the renewal of baptismal promises led in their respective languages by Pope Francis and by Reverend Innes. After a reading from the letter to the Corinthians, the Holy Father shared his homily. Finally, before exchanging gifts, the Holy Father held a dialogue with a few members of the Congregation.
Welcome to His Holiness Pope Francis
offered by the Right Reverend Robert Innes
It gives me enormous pleasure to welcome Your Holiness to the Church of England Parish of All Saints this afternoon. This is the first time that a Roman Pontiff has visited an Anglican parish in his own diocese of Rome and so it is an historic occasion.
Of course, Your Holiness is no stranger to Anglican-Catholic relationships. You have had three formal meetings with our Primate, Justin, and your friendship towards him is something our communion values greatly. In October last year during Vespers at San Gregorio al Cielo you presented him with a replica of the pastoral staff given by Pope Saint Gregory to Saint Augustine of Canterbury. That was a deeply significant symbolic act. Also at that service, pairs of Anglican and Catholic bishops were jointly commissioned by Your Holiness and Archbishop Justin. I was one of the Anglican bishops and the memory of that occasion will stay with me forever.
Your Holiness, I would like to express gratitude to God for your global leadership, and for the particular inspiration you have been to those of us in the Anglican Communion. You have recalled us to the importance of ministry amongst the poor. You have stood alongside the refugee and the migrant. You have initiated work on modern slavery and human trafficking. Within Europe and our diocese, you have challenged members of the European Union to rediscover their Christian heritage and values. Your published work speaks far beyond Rome in addressing difficult ethical issues that face us all.
Your holiness, we are deeply honoured by your presence with us today. We hope and pray that this will be one more small step in further strengthening the unity between our churches and in celebrating the deep bonds of Anglican Roman Catholic friendship that we already enjoy.
Address by Reverend Jonathan Boardman
Chaplain of All Saints’
Holy Father it is with special pleasure that we from this Anglican community of All Saints welcome and greet you this day as Bishop of Rome together with our own beloved bishops, and together with so many other ecumenical friends. We are immensely honoured and humbled that you wish to mark our 200th anniversary with this pastoral visit.
When the divisions began that led to the estrangement between our confessions describing your office as that of the Bishop of Rome was used by my co-religionists as an insult or an attempt to belittle it. Today for us recognizing your unique role in witnessing to the gospel and leading Christ's Church it is ironic that what we once used in a cruel attempt to put you in your place has become the key to your pastoral kindness in being alongside us and so many other Christians around the world. I myself was present at your enthronement in the cathedral church of the Lateran as this city's bishop and will never forget the impact of your preaching, grace and mercy on that Good Shepherd Sunday in 2013’s Easter season.
It has become an often repeated story that when your much beloved predecessor Pope Saint John XXIII received Archbishop Fisher in his private apartments he was with just a little difficulty able to point out our little spire amongst the many impressive domes and bell towers of Rome: he quipped, You see, Your Grace, we too live in the shadow cast by Anglicanism. Today the example you set with your generous visit reveals that there are no shadows here but only the great joy of Christ's light showing us the path which we must walk together so that God's will may be done and so that Christians should be one.
In this place the light is diffused through coloured glass depicting the saints who cheer us on as we take this path. Amongst them is Saint Bede, the Anglo Saxon polymath monk whose writings provided you with your own episcopal motto miserando atque eligendo. He is a saint from before our divisions. I wish to end my words of welcome to your holiness by invoking the genius of a particularly ANGLICAN Saint well known to us but not so well known to our fellow pilgrims from other traditions.
George Herbert was a priest and a poet who lived his short life across the last decades of the 16th and first of the 17th centuries. He is commemorated at our altars tomorrow. His writings reveal a mystical appreciation of the Christian Faith which made him in some ways the model of ANGLICAN pastoral practice and he is referred to as an example so often that many pastors - jokingly - could wish that he had never been born. He writes in his poetic sequence The Temple about the church stained glass windows and how they resemble the preacher of the gospel: I use the translation by Roberto Sanesi.
The Windows
Lord, how can man preach Thy eternal word?
He is a brittle crazie glasse:
Yet in Thy temple thou dost him afford
This glorious and transcendant place,
To be a window, through Thy grace.
But when Thou dost anneal in glasse Thy storie,
Making Thy life to shine within
The holy preachers;
then the light and glorie More rev’rend grows,
and morte doth win;
Which else shows watrish, bleak, and thin.
Doctrine and life, colours and light, in one
When they combine and minle, bring
A strong regards ans aw;
but speech alone Doth vanish like a flaring thing,
And in the eare, not conscience, ring. -George Herbert
Holy Father, as today you share the grace and mercy of God’s Word with us we know and love you well enough to be sure that it will be far from watrish, bleak and thin: We pray for you, Holy Father, and thank God for you.
The icon of Christ the Saviour, which was blessed during the papal visit, was commissioned and made for the 200th anniversary of the church of All Saints by British artist Ian Knowles, who is the Director of the Bethlehem Icon Centre. It was officially received by the congregation of All Saints during a Choral Evensong on Thursday February 23, and placed in the south aisle of the church.
Homily of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
shared during the celebration of Evensong
Dear brothers and sisters,
I wish to thank you for your gracious invitation to celebrate this parish anniversary with you. More than two hundred years have passed since the first public Anglican liturgy was held in Rome for a group of English residents in this part of the city. A great deal has changed in Rome and in the world since then. In the course of these two centuries, much has also changed between Anglicans and Catholics, who in the past viewed each other with suspicion and hostility. Today, with gratitude to God, we recognize one another as we truly are: brothers and sisters in Christ, through our common baptism. As friends and pilgrims we wish to walk the path together, to follow our Lord Jesus Christ together.
You have invited me to bless the new icon of Christ the Saviour. Christ looks at us, and his gaze upon us is one of salvation, of love and compassion. It is the same merciful gaze which pierced the hearts of the Apostles, who left the past behind and began a journey of new life, in order to follow and proclaim the Lord. In this sacred image, as Jesus looks upon us, he seems also to call out to us, to make an appeal to us: Are you ready to leave everything from your past for me? Do you want to make my love known, my mercy?
His gaze of divine mercy is the source of the whole Christian ministry. The Apostle Paul says this to us, through his words to the Corinthians which we have just heard. He writes: Having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart (2 Cor 4:1). Our ministry flows forth from the mercy of God, which sustains our ministry and prevents it losing its vigour.
Saint Paul did not always have an easy relationship with the community at Corinth, as his letters show. There was also a painful visit to this community, with heated words exchanged in writing. But this passage shows Paul overcoming past differences. By living his ministry in the light of mercy received, he does not give up in the face of divisions, but devotes himself to reconciliation. When we, the community of baptized Christians, find ourselves confronted with disagreements and turn towards the merciful face of Christ to overcome it, it is reassuring to know that we are doing as Saint Paul did in one of the very first Christian communities.
How does Saint Paul grapple with this task, where does he begin? With humility, which is not only a beautiful virtue, but a question of identity. Paul sees himself as a servant, proclaiming not himself but Christ Jesus the Lord (2 Cor 4:5). And he carries out this service, this ministry according to the mercy shown him (2 Cor 4:1): not on the basis of his ability, nor by relying on his own strength, but by trusting that God is watching over him and sustaining his weakness with mercy. Becoming humble means drawing attention away from oneself, recognizing one’s dependence on God as a beggar of mercy: this is the starting point so that God may work in us. A past president of the World Council of Churches described Christian evangelization as a beggar telling another beggar where he can find bread. I believe Saint Paul would approve. He grasped the fact that he was fed by mercy and that his priority was to share his bread with others: the joy of being loved by the Lord, and of loving him.
This is our most precious good, our treasure, and it is in this context that Paul introduces one of his most famous images, one we can all apply to ourselves: we have this treasure in earthen vessels (2 Cor 4:7). We are but earthen vessels, yet we keep within us the greatest treasure in the world. The Corinthians knew well that it was foolish to preserve something precious in earthen vessels, which were inexpensive but cracked easily. Keeping something valuable in them meant running the risk of losing it. Paul, a graced sinner, humbly recognized that he was fragile, just like an earthen vessel. But he experienced and knew that it was precisely there that human misery opens itself to God’s merciful action; the Lord performs wonders. That is how the extraordinary power of God works (2 Cor 4:7).
Trusting in this humble power, Paul serves the Gospel. Speaking of some of his adversaries in Corinth, he calls them super apostles (2 Cor 12:11), perhaps, and with a certain irony, because they had criticized him for his weaknesses even as they considered themselves observant, even perfect. Paul, on the other hand, teaches that only in realizing we are weak earthen vessels, sinners always in need of mercy, can the treasure of God be poured into us and through us upon others. Otherwise, we will merely be full of our treasures, which are corrupted and spoiled in seemingly beautiful vessels. If we recognize our weakness and ask for forgiveness, then the healing mercy of God will shine in us and will be visible to those outside; others will notice in some way, through us, the gentle beauty of Christ’s face.
At a certain point, perhaps in the most difficult moment with the community in Corinth, the Apostle Paul cancelled a visit he had planned to make there, also foregoing the offerings he would have received from them (2 Cor 1:15-24). Though tensions existed in their fellowship, these did not have the final word. The relationship was restored and Paul received the offering for the care of the Church in Jerusalem. The Christians in Corinth once again took up their work, together with the other communities which Paul visited, to sustain those in need. This is a powerful sign of renewed communion. The work that your community is carrying out together with other English-speaking communities here in Rome can be viewed in this light. True, solid communion grows and is built up when people work together for those in need. Through a united witness to charity, the merciful face of Jesus is made visible in our city.
As Catholics and Anglicans, we are humbly grateful that, after centuries of mutual mistrust, we are now able to recognize that the fruitful grace of Christ is at work also in others. We thank the Lord that among Christians the desire has grown for greater closeness, which is manifested in our praying together and in our common witness to the Gospel, above all in our various forms of service. At times, progress on our journey towards full communion may seem slow and uncertain, but today we can be encouraged by our gathering. For the first time, a Bishop of Rome is visiting your community. It is a grace and also a responsibility: the responsibility of strengthening our ties, to the praise of Christ, in service of the Gospel and of this city.
Let us encourage one another to become ever more faithful disciples of Jesus, always more liberated from our respective prejudices from the past and ever more desirous to pray for and with others. A good sign of this desire is the twinning taking place today between your parish of All Saints and All Saints Catholic parish. May the saints of every Christian confession, fully united in the Jerusalem above, open for us here below the way to all the possible paths of a fraternal and shared Christian journey. Where we are united in the name of Jesus, he is there (cf Mt 18:20), and turning his merciful gaze towards us, he calls us to devote ourselves fully in the cause of unity and love. May the face of God shine upon you, your families and this entire community!
At the conclusion of the liturgy, prior to exchanging gifts, the Holy Father held a dialogue with a number of members of the Congregation. The translation of the questions and answers follows:
Questions and responses
Question:
During our liturgy, many people enter into our church and marvel because it really looks like a Catholic church!. Many Catholics have heard of King Henry VIII, but they are unaware of Anglican traditions and of the ecumenical progress that has taken place over this past half-century. What would you like to say to them about the relationship between Catholics and Anglicans today? Pope Francis' response:
It is true, the relationship between Catholics and Anglicans today is good, we love one another as brothers! It is true that throughout history there are bad things everywhere, and to tear a piece of history and to carry it as though it were an icon of our relationships is not right. One historical fact should be read in the hermeneutic of this moment, not with another hermeneutic. I said that now, current relationships are good. They have gone beyond, from the visit of primate Michael Ramsey, and even more ... But also in the saints, we have a common tradition of saints which your parish has sought to highlight. Never, never have our two Churches, these two traditions denied the saints, the Christians who lived the Christian witness to that point. And this is important. But there have also been relationships of fraternity in brutal times, in difficult times, when there were times of mixed political, economic, religious power, where there was a process of rule cuius regio eius religio but even in those times, there were relationships.
In Argentina, I knew an old Jesuit, an old man, I was young but he was old, Father Guillermo Furlong Cardiff, born in the city of Rosario, in an English family; in his youth, he was an altar boy - he is a Catholic, from and English Catholic family - he was an altar boy in Rosario during the funeral of Queen Victoria, in the Anglican Church. Even back then, there was this this relationship. And relationships between Catholics and Anglicans are relationships - I don't know if historically we can say this, but it is a figure that helps us to think - two steps forward, half a step backward, two steps ahead, half a step backward ... That's the way it works. And we must continue this process.
There is another thing that maintains the strong connections between our religious traditions: there are monks, monasteries. And monks, whether they are Catholic or Anglican, are a great spiritual strength for our traditions.
Our relationships, I would say, have improved even more, and I am pleased, this is good. But we don't do everything the same way ... We are walking together, making our way together. For the moment, this is good. Every day has its own concerns. I don't know, these are some of my thoughts. Thank you.
Question:
Your predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, warned about the risk in ecumenical dialogue of giving priority to collaboration in social action rather than following the more difficult path of theological agreement. Apparently, you seem to prefer the opposite, that is to say walking and working together to achieve the goal of Christian unity. Is this true?
Pope Francis' response:
I do not know the context in which Pope Benedict said that, I do not know the context and for that reason it is a bit difficult for me, I am a bit embarrassed to respond ... Did he wanted to say this or no ... Perhaps it was in the context of a discussion with theologians ... But I am not sure. Both things are important. That is certain. Which of the two has priority? ... And on the other hand, there are the famous words of Patriarch Athenagoras - which is true because I posed the question to Patriarch Bartholomew and he told me: This is true -, when I said to Blessed Pope Paul VI: we should create union between us and put all the theologians on an island so they can think! It was a joke but it was historically true because I doubt that Patriarch Bartholomew would have told me that it was true. But what is at the core of all this, because I believe that what Pope Benedict said is true: we must seek theological dialogue in order to also seek out the roots ..., sui Sacramenti ..., concerning so many things about which we have still not reached agreement ... But we can't do this in a laboratory: we must journey, through life. We are on a journey and on the journey we also have these discussions. Theologians have them. But in the meanwhile, we help one another, we, each helping the other, in our time of need, in our lives, even spiritually we help one another. For example, in twinning there was the fact of studying the Scriptures together, and helping each other in the service of charity, in serving the poor, in hospitals, in wars ... This is very important, it is very important. We cannot have closed ecumenical dialogue. No. Ecumenical dialogue takes place on a journey, because ecumenical dialogue is a journey, and theological things are discussed on a journey. I believe that this does not betray the mind of Pope Benedict, nor the reality of ecumenical dialogue. This is how I understand it. If I knew the context in which that expression was used, perhaps I could say otherwise, but this is what I can say.
Question:
All Saints church began with a group of British faithful, but it is now an international congregation with people from various countries. In some regions of Africa, Asia or the Pacific, ecumenical relationships between the Churches are better and more creative than they are here in Europe. What can we learn from the example of the Churches the South?
Pope Francis' response:
Thank you. It is true. The young Churches have a different vitality, because they are young. They are looking for ways to express themselves differently. For example, one liturgy here in Rome, or I think in London or in Paris is not the same as a liturgy in your country, where the liturgical ceremony, even Catholic, is expressed with joy, with dance and with many different forms that are part of those young Churches. The young Churches have more creativity; and in the beginning, even here in Europe it was the same: we were seeking ... When you read, for example, the Didache, how the Eucharist was celebrated, meetings between Christians, there was great creativity. Then it grew, the Church grew and became established, it grew into adulthood. But the young Churches have more vitality and they also need to collaborate, and this is an important need. For example, I am studying, my collaborators are studying the possibility of a voyage to South Sudan. Why? Because Bishops came: Anglican, Presbyterian and Catholic Bishops, all three together to say to me: Please, come to South Sudan, only one day, but don't come alone, come with Justin Welby, that is to say with the Archbishop of Canterbury. From them, from young Churches, this creativity has come. And we are considering whether we can do this, if the situation is too dangerous there ... But we should do it because they, all three of them, together they want peace, and they are working together for peace ... There is a very important anecdote. When Blessed Paul VI celebrated the beatification of the martyrs of Uganda - a young Church - among the martyrs - there were catechists, all of them were young - some were Catholics ad others were Anglicans, and all of them were martyred by the same king, out of hatred for the faith and because they had not wanted to follow the dirty propositions of the king. Paul VI was embarrassed because he said: I have to beatify these ones and the others, they are all martyrs. But at that moment in the Catholic Church, it was not so possible to do that. We had only just completed the Council ... But that young Church celebrates together today; even Paul VI in his homily, in his speech, during the Mass of beatification, chose to name the Anglican catechists as martyrs of the faith at the same level as the Catholic catechists. This is what a young Church does. The young Churches have courage, because they are young; like all young people who have more courage than we do ... we who are not so young!
And then, my experience. I was a great friend of the Anglicans in Buenos Aires, because the area behind the parish of the Merced was connected with the Anglican Cathedral. I was a great friend of Bishop Gregory Venables, a great friend. But there is another experience: in the north of Argentina there are Anglican missions with the aboriginals and Catholic missions with the aboriginals, and the Anglican Bishops and the Catholic Bishops there work together, they teach. And when people cannot go on Sundays to the Catholic celebrations, they go to Anglican celebrations, and Anglicans go to Catholic celebrations, because they don't want to spend their Sundays without a celebration; and they work together. And here, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith knows this. They do charitable work together. And the two Bishops are friends and the two communities are friends.
I believe that this is a wealth that our young Churches can bring to Europe and to the Churches that have great traditions. And they give us the strength of a tradition that is very, very accurate and thought out. It is easier - it's true - ecumenism in young Churches. That's true. But I believe that - and here I return to the second question - perhaps ecumenism provides the most solid theology in a Church that is more mature, more aged in research, in the study of history, in theology, in liturgy, like the Church in Europe. And I believe that it would be good for us, for both our Churches: from here, from Europe, to send some seminarians to live pastoral experiences in the young Churches, we would learn so much. Some of them come, from the young Churches, to study in Rome, at least the Catholics, I know this. But we can send some too, to learn from the young Churches; it would be a great source of riches in the sense that you have said. Ecumenism is easier there, it is easier, which is not to say superficial, no, it does not mean superficial. They do not negotiate faith and identity. An aboriginal in northern Argentina will tell you: I am an Anglican. But there is no bishop, there is no pastor, there is no reverend ... I want to praise God on Sunday and go to the Catholic cathedral, and vice versa. These are treasures of the young Church. I don't know, this is what I can tell you.
Jesus offers advice in this weekend's readings that is meant to encourage us as we continue along the journey of faith. At times we can become distracted, but all we need to do is stop, change directions and remain faithful to the discipline of finding time to chat with him every day. What a wonderful reminder, just days before we begin the discipline of Lent.
Consider the birds
I may have told some of you about a cousin of mine who is
a Franciscan nun. For as long as I can
remember, she worked with children on the north coast of Jamaica. I had a chance to visit with her a few years ago,
not long before she retired. I was on
holiday and we decided that I should come for an overnight visit, so I arrived
in the late afternoon. As we shared a
meal with the rest of the community, I rejoiced at the fact that these women,
who lived in very simple surroundings, were so very happy. It seemed that we were not at a merely simple
meal; rather this was somehow a time of great celebration … and the celebration
did not end until the dishes were done.
After supper, we sat for a little while in the living room, sharing
stories about our family and about the adventures we’ve encountered as we serve
God’s people, until – at about 8:00pm – she suddenly got up and said: Well, I’m off to bed! Imagine my surprise! I had come all this way to visit and she was
leaving far too soon, but there was a twinkle in her eyes as she explained: the children will be arriving for school
around 6:00am, and I will need some time to talk to Jesus, so he wakes me up
around 4:00am. That’s why I need to go
to bed at 8:00.
She had her priorities straight: that’s for sure. In fact, if we all were able to take time to
chat with God at some time during our day, perhaps it wouldn’t seem sometimes
as though we were trying to serve more than one master (cf Mt 6:24). How many times I have found myself with what
seems to be an overwhelming number of tasks, all of which need to be
accomplished and for which there never seems to be enough time. Yet, when I’m intentional about making time
for prayer at the beginning of each day, all the things I need to do that day
seem to get done, and I’m usually a lot happier too.
It’s interesting that just a few days before we begin the
liturgical season of Lent, the scriptures remind us today that God is the one who
comes looking for us, even before we are aware that we need him in our
lives. It happens from time to time that
we think that the Lord has forsaken us or forgotten about us (cf Is 49:14), but
the truth is that he will never forget us (cf Is 49:15). He is always thinking about us, searching for
us, waiting for us to come to him.
When we do, when we take even a little bit of time every
day to be present to him and to listen for his guidance, he shows us all kinds
of ways in which he is already close to all his beloved creatures. Look at
the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap, nor do they gather into barns,
and yet our heavenly Father feeds them (Mt 6:26). Someone who is unfamiliar with the practice
of prayer will think these words to be rather strange indeed, but someone who
is used to spending time in the presence of God will be able to appreciate
these words as truth that is spoken from a place that is not human in its
origin.
As we prepare for the celebration of Ash Wednesday, and
the beginning of the Lenten season, let us remember the words of today’s
gospel: Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet … even Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these (Mt 6:28-29). If we make a conscious effort to make time to
be present to God at some point during our daily routine, he will always be willing
to spend time with us, to reassure us that there is no need to be worried, but
that all things will be well.
If anyone asks us to explain the reason why we insist on
spending time in prayer each day, let us simply echo the words with which Saint
Paul explained it to the community at Corinth: Think of it in this way: as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s
mysteries, it is required of us that we be found trustworthy (1 Cor 4:1),
and the way that we establish our reputation with God is through faithfulness
to encountering him, to entering into conversation with him, to learning from
him and to allowing him to instruct us in his ways.
At noon today, the Holy Father, Pope Francis appeared at the window of his study in the Vatican Apostolic Palace to recite the Angelus with the faithful and with pilgrims gathered in Saint Peter's Square.
Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
prior to the recitation of the Angelus
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
Today's gospel passage (cf Mt 6:24-34) is a strong call for us to trust God - don't forget: trust God - who takes care of all living things in creation. He provides food for all the animals, cares for the lilies and the grasses in the fields (cf Mt 6:26-28); his loving and caring gaze watches over our lives every day. He is present beneath all the worries that may rob us of serenity and equilibrium; but this anxiety is often not fruitful because it does not change the course of daily events. Jesus calls us insistently not to worry about tomorrow (cf Mt 6:25, 28, 31), reminding us that above all, we have a loving Father who never forgets his children: trusting in him will not make our problems magically go away, but it will allow us to face them with the right frame of mind, courageously, I can be courageous because I rely on my Father who takes care of everything and who loves me so much.
God is not a being that is far from us and unknown to us; he is our refuge, the font of our serenity and our peace. He is the rock of our salvation, to whom we can cling with the certainty that he will never fail us; our defence against the evil that is always lurking. God is a great friend to us, an ally, a father, but we do not always remember this. We are not always aware that we have a friend, an ally, a father who loves us; instead, we prefer to lean on concrete things that we can touch, passing things, forgetting and at times refusing the paternal love of God. Listening to our Father, in this era when so many are orphaned is very important! In this way, orphans can listen to him as a Father. We distance ourselves from the love of God when we go in obsessive pursuit of earthly goods and riches; in this way we demonstrate an exaggerated love for these realities.
Jesus tells us that this desperate search is an illusion and a cause for unhappiness. He gives his disciples a fundamental rule for their lives: Seek instead the kingdom of God above all else (Mt 6:33). It's a matter of bringing about the plan that Jesus had proclaimed in the Sermon on the mount, trusting in God who does not disappoint - many friends or many of those who we believed to be friends, have deluded us; God will never disappoint! -; he entrusts to us the task of being faithful administrators of the things which he has provided for us, including the earthly ones, but without overdoing it, as though our own salvation too depended only on our own work. This evangelical attitude requires a clear choice, which today's gospel passage points out: We cannot serve both God and wealth (Mt 6:24). Either the Lord, or the fascinating though illusory idols. This choice that we are called to make has further repercussions in many of our actions, plans and commitments. It is a choice to make our way clearly and to be continually renewed, because the temptation to reduce everything to money, pleasure and power is always pressing in on us. There are so many temptations of this kind.
While honouring these idols may lead to tangible results, even though they may be fleeting, a choice for God and for his Kingdom doesn't immediately show its results. It is a decision that takes hope and that leaves the full fruition of the plan in God's hands. Christian hope is closely tied to the future accomplishment of God's promise and does not stop when it must face some kind of difficulty, for it is founded on the faithfulness of God who never fails. He is faithful, he is a faithful father, he is a faithful friend, he is a faithful ally.
May the Virgin Mary help us to entrust ourselves to the love and the goodness of our heavenly Father, to live in Him and with Him. This is the presupposition for overcoming all torments and adversities of life, and also persecutions, as we see in the witness of many of our brothers and sisters.
After the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:
Dear brothers and sisters,
I offer a cordial greeting to all of you, pilgrims from Rome, from Italy and from various other countries.
I greet the Polish faithful from Warsaw and from other places who have completed a Marian pilgrimage; and from Spain, those who came from Real City, and the young people from Formentera.
I greet the young people from Cuneo, Zelarino, Mattarello and Malcesine, Fino Mornasco and Monteolimpino; the newly-Confirmed from Cavenago d'Adda, Almenno San Salvatore and Serravalle Scrivia; the faithful from Ferrara, Latina, Sora, Roseto degli Abruzzi, Creazzo and Rivalta sul Mincio.
I greet the group that has come to celebrate the Day of Rare Diseases - thank you, thank you for all that you are doing - and I hope that the patients and their families will be adequately supported as they face a reality that is not easy, either at the medical level or that of legislation.
I wish you all a good Sunday. Please, don't forget to pray for me. Enjoy your lunch and good bye!
This morning, Pope Francis will make a historic visit to the Church of England chaplaincy of All Saints, Rome. His Holiness is the first pontiff to set foot inside an Anglican church in his own diocese as the Bishop of Rome. During this afternoon's encounter, the Holy Father will join the congregation for a short Choral Evensong service which includes the blessing of a specially commissioned icon and the twinning of All Saints with the Catholic parish of Ognissanti, a Rome church with strong ecumenical ties.
The event comes as part of the 200th anniversary celebrations for All Saints which began with a small group of worshippers holding the first Church of England liturgy on October 27, 1816. The current church, close to the Spanish steps, was built over half a century later, designed by one of the most famous British architects of the Victorian era, George Edmund Street. The church is part of the Diocese in Europe’s Archdeaconry of Italy and Malta which was recently granted legal recognition from the Italian State. Led by its chaplain, The Reverend Canon Jonathan Boardman, and assistant chaplain, The Reverend Dana English, All Saints is the largest Anglican congregation in Italy. Diocesan Bishop Robert Innes will be welcoming Pope Francis, together with his suffragan, Bishop David Hamid. Pope Francis will deliver a homily and afterwards he will answer questions from members of the congregation.
Located on the site of a former Augustinian convent, All Saints church was built during the 1880s. During the excavation of the site, two bronze heads, a mask of the emperor Nero and a head of leading Roman noblewoman, Agrippina the Elder, were discovered and later presented to Rome’s Capitoline Museums. The foundation stone was laid on Easter Day in 1882 and the first Eucharist was celebrated five years later on Easter Sunday 1887. The neo-Gothic church is noted for its white travertine spire, its marbled columns and arches, and its fine stained glass windows depicting the lives of the saints and martyrs. One of these windows portrays the English monk Saint Bede, from whose commentaries Pope Francis chose his own Episcopal motto.
The icon of Saviour, which will be blessed during the papal visit, has been commissioned and made for the 200th anniversary by British artist Ian Knowles, director of the Bethlehem Icon Centre. It was officially received by the congregation of All Saints during a Choral Evensong on Thursday February 23, and placed in the south aisle of the church.
The Catholic parish of Ognissanti on the Via Appia Nuova is the titular church of Cardinal Walter Kasper, former president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. On March 7, 1965, Pope Paul VI celebrated the first Mass in Italian there, following the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
At 12:15pm today, in the Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience the members of the Capodarco Community and shared with them the following words:
Address of His Holiness, Pope Francis
to members of the Capodarco Community
Dear brothers and sisters,
I am pleased to meet with you and pleased by what I have heard, very pleased, and I greet you all with affection. With all my heart, I thank Father Franco Monterubbianesi, the founder of your Community, and Father Vinicio Albanesi, your current President, for their words; and I thank all of you who have shared your testimonies.
The Capadoarco Community, which exists in many local communities, celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. With you, I thank the Lord for the good that has been accomplished throughout these years of service to disabled persons, children and those who live in situations of dependency and discomfort, and their families. You have chosen to stand on the side of these less-protected persons, in order to offer them welcome, support and hope, in a dynamic of sharing. In this way, you have contributed and you continue to contribute toward creating a better society.
The quality of life within a society is measured, in good part, by its ability to include those who are weak and in need, in compliance with the dignity of each man and woman. Maturity is reached when this inclusion is not perceived as something extraordinary, but normal. Even a person with physical, psychological or moral disability and fragility should be able to participate in the life of society and be assisted so that he might implement his potential in various dimensions. Only by recognizing the rights of the weak, can a society be said to be founded on law and justice. A society that grants space only to persons who are fully functioning, fully autonomous and independent will never be a society worthy of mankind. Discrimination based on efficiency is no less deplorable than discrimination based on race, creed or religion.
In recent decades, your Community has constantly placed itself in attentive and loving listening to the lives of people, striving to respond to the needs of each one, taking into account their capacities and limits. Your approach to the weak supersedes a pietistic approach and a welfare approach, in order to favour attention paid to people with difficulties and in a community context that is not closed in upon itself but open to all of society. I encourage you to continue along this path, which includes a focus on personal and direct action by the disabled themselves. Faced with economic problems and the negative consequences of globalization, your Community seeks to help those who find themselves trying not to feel excluded or marginalized, but on the contrary, journeying on the front lines, bearing witness through their own personal experience. It's a matter of promoting dignity and respect for every individual, making even those who consider themselves to be life's losers capable of knowing the tenderness of God, the loving Father of his creation.
Once again, I wish to thank you for the witness you give to society, helping all people to discover more and more the dignity that is their due, beginning with the poor, the most disadvantaged. Institutions, associations and various agencies involved in social promotion are called to favour the effective inclusion of these people. You work for this purpose with generosity and competence, with the courageous help of families and volunteers who remember the significance and the value of every life. Welcoming all these little ones, marked by mental and physical impediments, or by wounds to their souls, you recognize in them, special witnesses of the tenderness of God, from whom we have much to learn and who also enjoy a place of privilege in the Church. In fact, their participation in the ecclesial community opens the way to simple and fraternal relationships, and their filial and spontaneous prayer invites us all to pray to our heavenly Father.
Your Association began with pilgrimages to the shrines of Lourdes and Loretto, in which Father Franco sensed the way to develop human and spiritual resources which are inherent in every person living with a disability. In your activities, which are so precious for the Church and for society, the Virgin Mother has always accompanied you and continues to do so, helping you every time to find renewed energies and to maintain in the style of the gospel the virtues of tenderness, kindness, closeness and even courage, the spirit of sacrifice, because it is not easy to work in the field of personal and social discomfort.
Dear brothers and sisters, I thank you once again for your visit. I bless you and I accompany you with my prayers, that your community may continue to walk with joy and hope. And you too, please, pray for me. Thank you!
And I invite you to pray to our Mother, she who gives her strength to mothers, to women, to you, to all of us who continue our work. Hail Mary ...
At 11:15am today, in the Clementine Hall at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience a group of participants taking part in a formation course for priests on the new matrimonial procedures, organized by the Tribunal of the Roman Rota (taking place in Rome at the Chancery Palace from 22-25 February 2017).
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the meeting with participants taking part in
a formation course for priests on new
matrimonial procedures
Dear brothers,
I am pleased to meet you at the end of the course of formation for pastors, organized by the Roman Rota, on the new matrimonial procedures. I thank the Dean and the Pro-Dean for their commitment to this course of formation. As they were discussed and proposed during the Synod of Bishops on the them of Marriage and family, they have been implemented and integrated in an organic way in the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia and translated into appropriate juridical norms contained in two specific provisions: the motu proprio Mitis Iudexand the motu proprio Misericors Jesus. It is a good thing that you pastors, through these initiatives of study, can deepen this material, for you are the ones above all who will concretely apply these norms in your daily contact with families.
In the majority of cases, you are the first to enter into conversation with young people who wish to form a new family and to be joined in the Sacrament of matrimony. And yet, you encounter for the most part, couples who, because of serious problems in their relationships, find themselves in crisis and in need of reinvigorating their faith and rediscovering the grace of the Sacrament; and in certain cases asking for assistance to begin a nullity process. No one knows this better than you who are in daily contact with the reality of the social fabric of the territory, directly experiencing its varied complexity: marriages celebrated in Christ, domestic partnerships, civil unions, families and youth who are happy and unhappy. For every person and in every case, you are called to be companions on the journey, providing your witness and your support.
First is your concern to bear witness to the grace of the Sacrament of matrimony and the primordial good of the family, a vital part of the Church and of society, through the proclamation that a marriage between a man and a woman is a sign of the spousal union between Christ and the Church. This witness is realized concretely when you prepare engaged couples for marriage, making them aware of the profound significance of the step they are about to take, and when you accompany young couples with solicitude, helping them to live in the light and in the midst of shadows, in moments of joy and in moments of trial, the divine strength and the beauty of their marriage. But I wonder how many of these young people who participate in pre-marital courses understand what marriage means, the sign of a union between Christ and the Church. Yes, yes - they say yes, but do they truly understand? Do they have faith in marriage? I am convinced that we need a true catecheumenate for the Sacrament of matrimony, and that we should not be content to provide preparation for marriage based only on two or three meetings.
Be sure to always remember that in the Sacrament of matrimony, God - so to speak - is reflected in Christian spouses, impressing upon them his image and the indelible character of his love. In fact, marriage is an icon of God, created for us by Him who is the perfect union of three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The love of God - one and triune - is the love between Christ and the Church, his bride, is the focus of matrimonial catechesis and evangelization: through personal or communal encounters, anticipated or spontaneous, never grow tired of demonstrating to others, especially spouses, this great mystery (cf Eph 5:32).
While you offer this witness, it is also your responsibility to support those who have realized that their union is not a true sacramental marriage and who wish to get out of such situations. In this delicate but necessary work that you are doing, your brothers will recognize you not as experts of bureaucratic work or of juridical norms, but as brothers who adopt an attitude of listening and understanding.
At the same time, draw close to you, with their own gospel style, through encounter with and the welcome of those young people who prefer to live together without being married. On the spiritual and moral levels, they are among the poorest and the smallest, toward whom the Church, following the footsteps of her Master and Lord, wishes to be a mother who does not abandon but is always close to them and caring for them. These people too are loved by the heart of Christ. Strive to always maintain a look of tenderness and compassion toward them. This care for the forgotten ones, precisely because it emanates from the gospel, is an essential part of your work of promoting and defending the Sacrament of matrimony. In fact, the parish is the place par excellence of the salus animarum. This is what Blessed Paul VI taught: The parish ... is the presence of Christ in the fullness of his saving work ... the house of the gospel, the house of truth, the school of Our Lord (Speech in the parish of the Great Mother of God in rome, 8 March 1964).
Dear brothers, speaking recently to the Roman Rota, I recommended that they implement a true catechumenate of future married couples, including all the steps of the sacramental journey: the time of preparing for marriage, its celebration and the years that immediately follow the celebration of a wedding. To you pastors, indispensable collaborators with your Bishop, is confided the principal task of the catechumenate. I encourage you to establish it no matter what difficulties you may encounter. And I believe that the greatest difficulty will be to think of or to live marriage as a social fact - we must make this a social fact - and not like a true sacrament, that requires long, long preparation.
I thank you for your commitment to proclaiming the gospel of the family. May the Holy Spirit help you to be ministers of peace and of consolation among the holy and faithful people of God, especially the most fragile of persons, those most in need of your pastoral attention. While I ask you to pray for me, with all my heart I bless each one of you and your parish communities. Thank you.
At 10:55am this morning, in the Sala dei Papi at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience the members of the Catholic Delegation for Cooperation, a French voluntary service agency that is part of the French Conference of Bishops who are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the foundation of their organization.
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the meeting with members of the
Catholic Delegation for Cooperation
Dear friends,
With joy I welcome you during the pilgrimage which you are currently living in Rome during the 50th anniversary of the Délégation Catholique pour la Coopération. Through you, I send my cordial greetings to all the volunteers currently in mission in more than fifty countries, as well as to all the people who, today as they did yesterday, benefit from your presence and your competences.
As Blessed Paul VI wrote in his Encyclical Populorum progressio: development cannot be reduced to simple economic growth. In order for it to be authentic development, it must be integral, which means that it must be aimed at the promotion of every man and of all men ... World-wide solidarity, in order to be evermore efficient, should allow all people to become themselves, artisans of their own destinies (PP, 14 and 65). These convictions have led the Church in France to create, fifty years ago, the Délégation Catholique pour la Coopération, in fidelity to the great missionary efforts to which it has offered its generous contribution in the course of the past decades. Along with you, I give thanks to the Lord for the work of his Spirit which has been evident in the human and spiritual journey of volunteers and the work of accompanying various projects of development which your Organization has made possible. In this way, you serve genuine cooperation between local Churches and among peoples, by opposing poverty and working toward a more just and fraternal world.
The word 'solidarity' was a bit worn out and sometimes badly understood, but it indicates much more than a simply sporadic act of generosity. It requires the creation of a new mentality that thinks in terms of the community, the priority of the lives of all people as opposed to the appropriation of goods by a few persons (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium, 188). It is in this dynamic that the Délégation Catholique pour la Coopération wanted to inscribe their own action, bringing about a true partnership with the Church and with local authorities from the countries in which their volunteers are sent, and working in cooperation with civic authorities and all people of good will. You also contribute to an authentic ecological conversion that recognizes the eminent dignity of every person, the value of which is seen in your creativity and your ability to seek and to promote to common good (cf Encyclical Laudato si', 216-221).
Therefore, I encourage all members of Délégation Catholique pour la Coopération to grow a culture of mercy, based on the rediscovery of an encounter with the other: a culture in which no one looks to the other with indifference or turns his attention away when we sees the suffering of his brothers (Apostolic Letter Misericordia et misera, 20). Do not be afraid to walk the streets of fraternity and to build bridges between persons and peoples, in a world where it is still possible to build many walls through fear of others. Through your initiatives, your projects and your actions, you give evidence to a poor Church with and for the poor, a Church that goes out, making herself close to people who are suffering, insecure, marginalized and excluded. I encourage you to be at the service of a Church that allows everyone to discover the amazing closeness of God, his tenderness and his love, and to welcome the strength that he gives us in Jesus Christ, his living Word, so that we use our talents for the good of all and the preservation of our common home.
I ask the Lord to help you to serve the culture of encounter within the one human family, and I impart my Apostolic blessing upon you and all the members of Délégation Catholique pour la Coopération. Thank you.
A seminar on the theme: The human right to water, which has been taking place at the Casina Pio IV, within the Vatican, concluded today. This seminar was sponsored by the Pontifical Academy for Science and organized as an inter-disciplinary study on the central role of public policies in the management of water and environmental studies.
This afternoon, at 3:30pm local time, the Holy Father, Pope Francis paid a visit to the session which was nearing its end and shared the following speech.
Address of His Holiness, Pope Francis
for the Vatican-sponsored conference
on the human right to water
Dear brothers and sisters, good afternoon!
I greet all of you and I thank you for taking part in this meeting concerned with the human right to water and the need for suitable public policies in this regard. It is significant that you have gathered to pool your knowledge and resources in order to respond to this urgent need of today’s men and women.
The Book of Genesis tells us that water was there in the beginning (cf Gen 1:2); in the words of Saint Francis of Assisi, it is useful, chaste and humble (cf Canticle of the Creatures). The questions that you are discussing are not marginal, but basic and pressing. Basic, because where there is water there is life, making it possible for societies to arise and advance. Pressing, because our common home needs to be protected. Yet it must also be realized that not all water is life-giving, but only water that is safe and of good quality.
All people have a right to safe drinking water. This is a basic human right and a central issue in today’s world (cf Laudato Si’, 30; Caritas in Veritate, 27). This is a problem that affects everyone and is a source of great suffering in our common home. It also cries out for practical solutions capable of surmounting the selfish concerns that prevent everyone from exercising this fundamental right. Water needs to be given the central place it deserves in the framework of public policy. Our right to water is also a duty to water. Our right to water gives rise to an inseparable duty. We are obliged to proclaim this essential human right and to defend it – as we have done – but we also need to work concretely to bring about political and juridical commitments in this regard. Every state is called to implement, also through juridical instruments, the Resolutions approved by the United Nations General Assembly since 2010 concerning the human right to a secure supply of drinking water. Similarly, non-state actors are required to assume their own responsibilities with respect to this right.
The right to water is essential for the survival of persons (cf Laudato Si’, 30) and decisive for the future of humanity. High priority needs to be given to educating future generations about the gravity of the situation. Forming consciences is a demanding task, one requiring conviction and dedication.
The statistics provided by the United Nations are troubling, nor can they leave us indifferent. Each day a thousand children die from water-related illnesses and millions of persons consume polluted water. These facts are serious; we have to halt and reverse this situation. It is not too late, but it is urgent to realize the need and essential value of water for the good of mankind.
Respect for water is a condition for the exercise of the other human rights (cf Laudato Si', 30). If we consider this right fundamental, we will be laying the foundations for the protection of other rights. But if we neglect this basic right, how will we be able to protect and defend other rights? Our commitment to give water its proper place calls for developing a culture of care (cf. Laudato Si', 231) and encounter, joining in common cause all the necessary efforts made by scientists and business people, government leaders and politicians. We need to unite our voices in a single cause; then it will no longer be a case of hearing individual or isolated voices, but rather the plea of our brothers and sisters echoed in our own, and the cry of the earth for respect and responsible sharing in a treasure belonging to all. In this culture of encounter, it is essential that each state act as a guarantor of universal access to safe and clean water.
God the Creator does not abandon us in our efforts to provide access to clean drinking water to each and to all. It is my hope that this Conference will help strengthen your convictions and that you will leave in the certainty that your work is necessary and of paramount importance so that others can live. With the “little” we have, we will be helping to make our common home a more livable and fraternal place, where none are rejected or excluded, but all enjoy the goods needed to live and to grow in dignity.
This morning, we celebrated a funeral for a woman who has been part of our parish for many decades. Here is the text of the homily I prepared for the occasion.
Funeral homily for
Sheila Munro
Yesterday, the Church celebrated the liturgical Memorial
of Saint Polycarp, a Bishop who lived in the second century after Christ. In the early years of the Church, it was not
easy to be a Christian, and yet because people like Saint Polycarp had to truly
stand up for their faith, we have the treasury of their lives and their
examples as role models to help us to live our faith today.
Sheila Monro may not have considered herself to be a
saint – certainly not to the stature of Saint Polycarp and the many other holy
men and women who are part of our spiritual heritage, yet we have come to this
place today to entrust her eternal soul into the loving care of our Father because
she spent a great deal of her life living alongside us, sharing with us both
her struggles and her triumphs, but most of all her faith and her love.
Every Christian is called to be a saint – to live in the
presence of Jesus in heaven. Jesus
himself told us what we need to do while we are still here on earth in order to
get to heaven. In the gospel that was proclaimed
this morning, he says that we should practice poverty in spirit (Mt 5:3); that we should be close to those who
mourn the loss of those they have loved in this life (cf Mt 5:4); that we
should be meek about our own talents and gifts (cf Mt 5:5); and that we should
hunger and thirst for that which is right (cf Mt 5:6). Those of us who hope to be saints should
begin by practicing mercy toward those who share the journey with us (cf Mt
5:7). We should thirst for righteousness
(cf Mt 5:6) and not be afraid to speak up for those who cannot speak for
themselves, especially when they are being wronged. As often as possible, we should strive to be
artisans of peace (Mt 5:9) even if to do so might mean that we are at risk of
being persecuted by others (cf Mt 5:10).
This is the blueprint that each of us must follow. This is the advice that Jesus offered again
and again to our sister Sheila as she faced obstacles as well as successes in
her life. From her struggles, she leaned
to find the source of hope in her faith and that faith was an extraordinary
source of strength for her. She was
still very young when she found herself a widow with many mouths to feed, yet
she carried on, relying on the friendships she had forged among those who call
Saint Peter’s their spiritual home, and returning again and again to the words
of Jesus’ first disciples.
At moments when she may have had doubts, perhaps the
words of the apostle John that we heard today were heard, if only as a whisper,
but a whisper full of hope and promise: Beloved,
we are God’s children …; what we will be has not yet been revealed, but what we
do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him
as he is (1 Jn 3:2). All the hope
that is contained in these words has now come true for Sheila. All the promise that they speak of has now
been fulfilled. At last, she is standing
at the gates of heaven. Reunited with
her beloved husband and her cherished daughter, she is being rewarded for her
many years of faithfulness.
During the years of the second World War, Sheila worked
as a nurse in the step-down units where she would care for patients who had
been wounded and operated on in the MASH units.
Perhaps it was there that she first encountered death, but only after
having completed her own journey in faith is she now fully able to understand
the full truth of what she was witnessing then.
The writer of the letter to the Romans tells us: all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into
his death (Rom 6:3). In the simple
act of having water poured over our heads, we
have all been buried with Christ … so that just as Christ was raised from the
dead by the glory of the Father, so too, we will walk in the newness of life (Rom
6:4).
She who once opened her door to many of us and welcomed us
into her home now stands ready to welcome us at the door of heaven. She who
always had room at her table to welcome us now sits at the banquet table in
heaven. She may never have considered
herself to be a saint, but we who have known her, we who have shared a part of
her journey in faith can be assured that she has been granted the reward of all
the saints: a place in the Father’s house, with Saint Polycarp and all the other saints.
One day, we will see her again; until then, we must continue our own
journey of faith, sharing the talents and gifts that have been entrusted to us
so that others who share our journey will have a glimpse or two of the glory of
heaven that awaits us.
At 11:45am this morning, in the Clementine Hall at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience Rabbi Abraham Skorka who came to present a special edition of the Torah. Rabbi Skorka was accompanied by the editorial team who worked on this edition of the Torah.
Greetings of His Holiness, Pope Francis
addressed to Rabbi Abraham Skorka
and the editorial team
Dear friends,
I offer a warm welcome to all of you, who have come to present me with a new and precious edition of the Torah. I thank Rabbi Abraham Skorka, brother and friend, for his kind words, and I am very grateful to all of you for this thoughtful gesture, which brings us together today around the Torah as the Lord’s gift, his revelation, his word.
The Torah, which Saint John Paul II called the living teaching of the living God (Address for the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Declaration Nostra Aetate, 6 December 1990, 3), manifests the paternal and visceral love of God, a love shown in words and concrete gestures, a love that becomes covenant. The very word covenant is resonant with associations that bring us together. God is the greatest and most faithful covenantal partner. He called Abraham in order to form from him a people who would become a blessing for all peoples of the earth. God desires a world in which men and women are bound to him and as a result live in harmony among themselves and with creation. In the midst of so many human words that lead to tragic division and rivalry, these divine words of covenant open before all of us paths of goodness to walk together. This publication is itself the fruit of a covenant between persons of different nationalities, ages and religious confessions, who joined in this common effort.
The fraternal and institutional dialogue between Jews and Christians is now well-established and effective, made so by encounters that are ongoing and collaborative. The gift that you are making to me today is fully a part of this dialogue, which finds expression not only in words but also in gestures. The extensive introduction to the text and the editor’s note emphasize this dialogical approach and communicate a cultural vision of openness, mutual respect and peace that accords with the spiritual message of the Torah. The important religious figures who have worked on this new edition have paid special attention both to the literary aspect of the text and to the full-colour illustrations that add further value to the publication.
Every edition of sacred Scripture, however, possesses a spiritual value that infinitely surpasses its material value. I ask God to bless all those who contributed to this work and, in a particular way, to bless all of you, to whom I renew my personal gratitude. Thank you.
At 9:50am today, in the Clementine Hall at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience the members of the Villareal CF football (soccer) team who have come to Rome to play a game as part of the Europa League 2017.
Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
addressed to members of the
Villareal CF football team
Dear friends, good day to you,
I happily greet all of you, football players, trainers and coaches of the Villareal team, and I thank you for your visit on the occasion of the game that you will play this afternoon.
Football, like other sports, is an image of life and of society. On the field, you need one another. Each player puts his professionalism and ability to the benefit of a common ideal, which is to play well and to win. To achieve this affinity, you need much training; but it is also important to invest time and energy into strengthening the spirit of the team, in order to create a connection between these movements: a simple look, a small gesture, an expression can communicate many things on the field. This is possible if you act in a spirit of fellowship, leaving aside individualism or personal aspirations. If you play for the good of the group, then it is easier to win. On the other hand, when you think of yourself and not about others, we in Argentina say that you are one who likes to eat the ball for himself.
On the other hand, when you play football, you are also teaching and passing on values. Many people, especially young people, admire you and are watching you. They want to be like you. Through your professionalism, you pass on a way of living to those who are watching you, especially new generations. And this is a responsibility and a privilege to motivate them to give the best of themselves to exercise the values that are evident in football: companionship, personal effort, the beauty of the game, playing as a team. One of the characteristics of a good athlete is gratitude. If we consider our own lives, we can remember many people who have helped us, without whom we would not be here. We can remember the ones we played with as boys, our first team friends, coaches, assistants, and even the fans who through their presence encouraged us in every game. This memory does us good, not so that we can feel superior but so that we can be aware that we are part of a great team that has been formed over a long period of time. Feeling this way helps us to grow as people, because our game is not only our own; it is also other people's game - those who in many ways are part of our lives. And this also strengthens the spirit of amateur games; you should never lose this sense, you should strive to remember it every day so that you can maintain freshness and greatness of soul.
I encourage you to continue playing, giving the most beautiful and best part of yourselves so that others can also enjoy these moments of joy, which make the journey different. I join with you, I pray for you, I implore the blessings of the Virgin of Grace and the intercession of Saint Pascal Bailón, Patron of the city of Villarreal, to support you in your lives and so that you can be instruments to support all those who follow you and encourage you with the joy and the peace of God so that you can share these gifts with your friends.
It helps me a lot to think about football because I like it, and it helps me. However, the position I think of most often is the goalkeeper. Why? Because he has to catch the ball from where ever it is kicked; he never knows where it will come from. And life is like that. We have to take things when they come and from where they come. And when I find myself facing situations that I did not expect, things that need to be resolved that have come from there when I expected them to come from here, I think of the goal keeper, so he is always close to me. Thank you.
This morning's General Audience began at 9:30am in Saint Peter's Square where the Holy Father, Pope Francis met with groups of pilgrims and the faithful from Italy and from every corner of the world.
During his speech, the Pope continued his cycle of catecheses on the theme of Christian hope, adding his meditation on the theme: In hope, we find that we are all saved (cf Rm 8:19-27).
After having summarized his catechesis in various languages, the Holy Father addressed particular greetings to each group of the faithful in attendance. He then issued a call for prayer concerning the serious situation in South Sudan.
The General Audience concluded with the chanting of the Pater Noster and the Apostolic blessing.
Catechesis of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the General Audience
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
At times, we are tempted to think that creation is our property, a possession that we can use as we please and for which we need not account to anyone. In the passage from the Letter to the Romans (Rm 8:19-27) which we have just heard, the Apostle Paul recalls however that creation is a marvellous gift which God has placed in our hands, so that we can enter into relationship with Him and so that we can recognize there the imprint of his loving plan; day after day, we are called to work toward the implementation of this plan.
However, when we allow ourselves to be driven by egoism, human beings end up ruining even the most beautiful things that have been entrusted to us. The same is true for creation. Let us think for instance about water. Water is a beautiful thing and it is so very important; water gives us life, it helps us in many ways but in order to exploit minerals, we contaminate water, we spoil creation and even destroy it. This is only one example. There are many others. With the tragic experience of sin, our communion with God has been broken, we have wounded the original communion we enjoyed with everything around us and we ended up corrupting creation, making it a slave, submissive to our frailty. Unfortunately, the consequence of all this is dramatically appearing before our eyes, day after day. When we break communion with God, man loses his own original beauty and ends up disfiguring everything else around him; where once everything belonged to our Father, the Creator and was given out of his infinite love, it now bears the sad and desolate marks of pride and human greed. Human pride, which takes advantage of creation, ends up destroying it.
But the Lord does not leave us alone and even when the outlook is bleak, he gives us a new perspective of freedom, universal salvation. That's what Paul joyfully points out inviting us to listen to the cries of all creation. If we pay attention, in fact, everything around us is groaning: creation itself is groaning, we human beings are groaning and the Spirit within us is groaning, within our hearts. Now, these groans are not a sterile lament, inconsolable, but - as the Apostle points out - they are the groans as of a woman in labour; they are the groans of someone who is suffering, but one who is ready to come into the light of a new life. And in our case, it is truly this way. We are still struggling with the consequences of our sins and everything around us still bears the marks of our efforts and our shortcomings, our closures within ourselves. At the same time, however, we know that we have been saved by the Lord and already, we have been given to contemplate and to anticipate within ourselves and in the world around us, signs of a new creation, signs of the Resurrection, signs of Easter.
This is the content of our hope. Christians do not live outside of the world; we are able to recognize signs of evil, of egoism and of sin in our lives and in our surroundings. We stand in solidarity with those who suffer, with those who weep, with those who are marginalized, with those who feel desperate ... However, at the same time, Christians have learned to read everything with the ears of Easter, with the ears of the Risen Christ. This is how we know that we are living in a time of waiting, a time of longing that reaches beyond the present, a time of fulfillment. In hope, we know that with his mercy, the Lord wants to permanently heal wounded and humiliated hearts and all that man has disfigured as a result of his impiety, and that in this way, He recreates a new world and a new humanity, reconciled at last in his love.
How often are we Christians tempted by disappointment, pessimism ... At times, we indulge in useless lamenting, or we remain speechless and do not even know what to ask, what to expect ... Once again however, we find solace in the Holy Spirit, the breath of our hope, which keeps the groaning and the expectations of our hearts alive. The Spirit sees beyond the negative appearances of the present and reveals to us even now, the new heavens and the new earth that the Lord is preparing for all humanity.
The Holy Father's catechesis was then summarized in various languages, and He offered greetings to each group of pilgrims in attendance. To English-speaking pilgrims, he said:
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly those from England, Ireland, Norway, India and the United States of America. Upon all of you, I invoke the gifts of mercy and peace, and I pray to the Lord that they may help you to care for creation and one another. May God bless you!
Following the greetings offered to groups of pilgrims in attendance, at the conclusion of the General Audience, the Holy Father made the following appeal:
Of particular concern is the painful news that continues to emerge from the martyred South Sudan, where a fratricidal conflict has now been united with a grave food crisis in the region of the Horn of Africa, condemning millions of people to death by starvation, among which are many children. In this moment, it is more necessary than ever before that we all commit ourselves to not be content with making declarations, but rather that we render concrete food assistance and allow such assistance to reach the people who are suffering. May the Lord support these brothers of ours, as well as all those who are working to help them.
