Vatican City, 4 November 2014 (VIS) – Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Holy See Permanent Observer at the United Nations in New York, spoke at the 69th Session of the General Assembly held on 23 October, regarding the “Eradication of Poverty”. Speaking in English, the nuncio expressed the Holy See delegation’s belief that “countries should develop evidence-based policies and strategies to combat extreme poverty, rather than relying on pre-conceived one-size-fits-all solutions. Analyses and suggested solutions need to be based on on-the-ground expertise and lived experience, rather than on imposed ready-made solutions from the outside, which are not always devoid of ideological colourings”. He also remarked that sustainable development “requires the participation of all in the life of families, communities, organisations and societies. Participation is the antidote to exclusion, be it social, political, economic or cultural”. Another barrier to sustainable development, he noted, is “the exclusion of women from equal and active participation in the development of their communities. Excluding women and girls from education and subjecting them to violence and discrimination violates their inherent dignity and fundamental human rights”. “My delegation wishes to highlight that poverty is not mere exclusion from economic development; it is as multifaceted and multidimensional as the human person. … Other than its more obvious economic expression, poverty also manifests itself in the educational, social, political, cultural and spiritual dimensions of life. … Development is more than the sum total of resources invested into development projects and their measurable material results. … In our efforts to eradicate poverty, we must always return to the foundational principle of our efforts, namely to promote the authentic development of the whole person and of all peoples. Each of us needs to contribute. Each of us can benefit. This is solidarity”….
(Vatican Radio) At Mass in Casa Santa Marta on Tuesday morning Pope Francis noted that deep down people are afraid of God’s gratuity, we find excuses not to go to Him and end up thinking the world revolves around us.
The Pope based his homily on the parable recounted in the Gospel of the Day of the man who gave a great banquet to which he invited many. The Pope said that this parable makes us think, because “we all like being invited to dinners”. But there was something about this dinner that three guests did not like, and these guests are an example of many of us.
One says that he has to go and examine his field, he needs to see it in order to feel “powerful, vanity, pride and he prefers this to sitting at table among others”. Another guest had just bought five oxen and thus is taken up with his business and doesn’t want to waste time with other people. The last guest excuses himself saying that he is married and doesn’t want to bring his bride to the dinner. He wanted to keep her affection all to himself: selfishness”.
Pope Francis noted: “In the end prefer their own interests rather than sharing dinner together: They do not know what it means to celebrate”. This form of self-interest is what Jesus described as “repayment”.
“If the invitation had been for example: ‘Come, I have two or three business friends from a foreign country, we can do something together’, no one would have excused themselves. But what shocked them was the gratuity. Being one among the others, there…this form of egoism of being at the centre of everything..It is so difficult to listen to the voice of Jesus, the voice of God, when you believe that that the whole world revolves around you: there is no horizon, because you become your own horizon. And there is more behind all of this, something far deeper: fear of gratuity. We are afraid of God’s gratuity. He is so great that we fear Him”.
This, he said, “is because quite often our life experiences have made us suffer”, like the disciples of Emmaus who turn away from Jerusalem or Thomas who wants to touch to believe. The Pope then used a popular proverb: When “the offer is so great even the Saint is suspicious”, because “the gratuity is too much”. And when God gives us a feast like this,” he said, we think it is “better not to get involved”.
” We feel safer in our sins, in our limitations, but feel at home; leaving our home to answer God’s invitation, go to God’s house, with others? No. I’m afraid. And all of us Christians have this fear hidden deep inside … but not too hidden. Catholics, but not too Catholic. Trusting in the Lord, but not too much. This ‘but not too’, marks our lives, it belittles us “.
Pope Francis continued “One thing that makes me think is that when the servant reported this to his master, the master is angry because he had been despised. He sends his servant to call the poor, the crippled, he sends him to the squares and the streets of the city. The Lord asks the servant to compel people to come to the dinner. “So often the Lord has to do with us the same: with trials, so many trials”:
” Compel them, for here is the celebration. Gratuity. Compel that heart, that soul to believe in God’s gratuity, that God’s gift is free, that salvation cannot be bought: it is a great gift, the love of God … is the greatest gift! This is gratuity. But we are a little afraid and this is why we think that we can obtain holiness with our own things and we become a little Pelagian eh! Holiness, salvation is gratuity”.
Pope Francis concluded: Jesus “paid for the banquet, with His humiliation unto death, death on a cross. And this is the great gratuity. When we look at the crucifix, we should think of it as an invitation to the banquet. Yes, Lord, I am a sinner, I have many things, but I look at you and go to the banquet of the Father. I trust. I will not be disappointed, because you have paid for everything. Today, the Church asks us not to be afraid of the gratuitousness of God”. “Instead we must open our hearts, do our part as much as we can, because He will prepare the banquet”.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) At Mass in Casa Santa Marta on Tuesday morning Pope Francis noted that deep down people are afraid of God’s gratuity, we find excuses not to go to Him and end up thinking the world revolves around us. The Pope based his homily on the parable recounted in the Gospel of the Day…
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(Vatican Radio) At Mass in Casa Santa Marta on Tuesday morning Pope Francis noted that deep down people are afraid of God’s gratuity, we find excuses not to go to Him and end up thinking the world revolves around us. The Pope based his homily on the parable recounted in the Gospel of the Day…
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(Vatican Radio) A new report entitled “Religious Freedom in the World report 2014” will have its British launch later Tuesday in the House of Lords in London and will include a video message by the Prince of Wales.
The document which looks at 196 countries around the world and is an assessment of the state of religious freedom for all people of faith, was released on Monday in Paris by the French arm of the Catholic Charity Aid to the Church in Need.
It covers the period from autumn 2012 to summer 2014.
Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s interview with John Pontifex of Aid to the Church in Need
The findings reveal that top of the list of the worst offending countries is North Korea, but countries with a high level of persecution included Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, and Pakistan.
But according to the Head of Press at Aid to the Church in Need John Pontifex there is room for optimism.
“The report highlights individual countries where there has indeed been change for the better and notably we’ve got countries such as Iran and Zimbabwe and Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Cuba where we would say that the situation has improved over the lifetime of the report…”
(from Vatican Radio)…