(Vatican Radio) Choose God, choose good, not to be a total failure, maybe hailed by the masses, but ultimately nothing more than a worshiper of “trivial, pithy things that pass”.
This was Pope Francis reflection Thursday morning during Mass at Casa Santa Marta. The Pope centered his homily on the Bible passage in which God says to Moses, “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. Obey the commandments of the Lord, Your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him and walking in his ways”.
Followers of meaningless gods
Pope Francis said the choice of Moses is one Christians are faced with every day. And it is a difficult choice. The Pope noted that it is easier to let oneself be carried along by inertia, by situations, habits. It is often easier to become servants of “other gods”.
“The choice is between God and other gods who do not have the power to give us anything other than trivial, pithy little things that pass. It is not easy to choose, we always have this habit of following the herd, like everyone else. Like everyone else. Everyone and no one. Today the Church tells us: ‘But, stop! Stop and choose ‘. This is good advice. It would do us all good to stop and think a little during the day: What is my lifestyle like? Which path am I on? “.
A monument to the failed
Pope Francis added that together with this question, we should dig deeper and ponder our relationship with God, with Jesus, our relationship with our parents, siblings, wife or husband, our relationship with our children.
He then went on to consider the Gospel of the day, when Jesus says to his disciples that a man “who gains the whole world but loses or forfeits himself” reaps no “benefit”.
“The search for personal success, for possessions, without a thought for the Lord, for one’s family is always the wrong path to choose. There are two questions we must ponder: How is my relationship with God how is my relationship with my family. A person can earn everything, but in the end become a failure. He failed. That life is a failure. ‘But no, they built him a monument, they painted his portrait … “. But you failed: you did not choose well between life and death”.
We do not choose on our own
Pope Francis then posed a third question: “What pace do I live my life at? Do I reflect on the things I do”. He said we should ask God for the grace to have that “little bit of courage” we need to choose Him every time.
The Holy Father concluded that the ‘beautiful advice’ of the Psalm 1, can help us in this. “‘Blessed are they who hope in the Lord’. When the Lord gives us this advice – ‘Stop! Choose today, choose ‘- He doesn’t abandon us. He is with us and wants to help us. But we have to trust Him; we have to have faith in Him. ‘Blessed are they who hope in the Lord’. Today, when we stop to think about these things and make decisions, choose something, we know that the Lord is with us, beside us, helping us. He never abandons us to ourselves, never. He is always with us. Even in the moment of choosing, He is with us”.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Choose God, choose good, not to be a total failure, maybe hailed by the masses, but ultimately nothing more than a worshiper of “trivial, pithy things that pass”. This was Pope Francis reflection Thursday morning during Mass at Casa Santa Marta. The Pope centered his homily on the Bible passage in which God says to Moses, “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. Obey the commandments of the Lord, Your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him and…
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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a Message to the faithful of Brazil, to mark their annual Lenten Campaign for Fraternity. Please find the Vatican Information Service’s report, below.
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52nd Campaign for Fraternity in Brazil: dialogue and collaboration between the Church and society
Vatican City, 18 February 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has sent a message to the faithful of Brazil on the occasion of the 52nd Campaign for Fraternity in Brazil, organised annually by the Episcopal Conference during Lent. The theme of this year’s Campaign is “Fraternity: Church and Society”.
“We are nearing Lent, the time of preparation for Easter: a time of penance, prayer and charity, a time to renew our lives, to identify with Jesus through generous donation to our brothers, especially those most in need”, writes the Pope. “Indeed, the Church, the community in which ‘God gathered together as one all those who in faith look upon Jesus as the author of salvation and the source of unity and peace’, cannot be indifferent to the needs of those she encounters, as ‘the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted … are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ’”.
Francis mentions in his message that during these forty days, the Campaign for Fraternity wishes to help deepen, in the light of the Gospel, dialogue and collaboration between Church and society, to serve the construction of the Kingdom of God in the heart and life of the Brazilian people. He underlines, however, that this is not the exclusive task of institutions: all people must contribute, starting in their own home, their own workplace, and in relations with others. “Let us recall that each individual Christian and every community is called to be an instrument of God for the liberation and promotion of the poor, and for enabling them to be fully a part of society. This demands that we be docile and attentive to the cry of the poor and come to their aid”.
The Holy Father encourages an “examination of conscience” on the “concrete and effective commitment of each one of us in the construction of a more just, fraternal and peaceful society”. He concludes, “I hope that this year’s Lenten journey, in the light of the proposals of the Campaign for Fraternity, may predispose hearts to the new life offered to us by Christ, and that the transformative power that flows from the Resurrection reaches everyone in its pastoral, family, social and cultural dimension, and strengthens sentiments of fraternity and lively collaboration in every heart”.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a Message to the faithful of Brazil, to mark their annual Lenten Campaign for Fraternity. Please find the Vatican Information Service’s report, below. ********************** 52nd Campaign for Fraternity in Brazil: dialogue and collaboration between the Church and society Vatican City, 18 February 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has…
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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis delivered the homily at Mass in the Basilica of St. Sabina on the Aventine Hilll in Rome on Wednesday afternoon – Ash Wednesday – the beginning of the great penitential season of Lent. Below, please find Vatican Radio’s translation of the text the Holy Father prepared for the occasion.
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As God’s people today we begin the journey of Lent, a time in which we try to unite ourselves more closely to the Lord Jesus Christ, to share the mystery of His passion and resurrection.
The Ash Wednesday liturgy offers us, first of all, the passage from the prophet Joel, sent by God to call the people to repentance and conversion, due to a calamity (an invasion of locusts) that devastates Judea. Only the Lord can save from the scourge, and so there is need of supplication, with prayer and fasting, each confessing his sin.
The prophet insists on inner conversion: “Return to me with all your heart” (2:12). To return to the Lord “with all [one’s] heart,” means taking the path of a conversion that is neither superficial nor transient, but is a spiritual journey that reaches the deepest place of our self. The heart, in fact, is the seat of our sentiments, the center in which our decisions and our attitudes mature.
That, “Return to me with all your heart,” does not involve only individuals, but extends to the community, is a summons addressed to all: “Gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. (2:16)”
The prophet dwells particularly on the prayers of priests, noting that their prayer should be accompanied by tears. We will do well to ask, at the beginning of this Lent, for the gift of tears , so as to make our prayer and our journey of conversion ever more authentic and without hypocrisy.
This is precisely the message of today’s Gospel. In the passage from Matthew, Jesus rereads the three works of mercy prescribed by the Mosaic law: almsgiving, prayer and fasting. Over time, these prescriptions had been scored by the rust of external formalism, or even mutated into a sign of social superiority. Jesus highlights a common temptation in these three works, which can be described summarily as hypocrisy (He names it as such three times): “Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them … Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do … And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men … And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites. (Mt 6:1, 2, 5, 16)”
When you do something good, almost instinctively born in us is the desire to be respected and admired for this good deed, to obtain a satisfaction. Jesus invites us to do these works without any ostentation, and to trust only in the reward of the Father “who sees in secret” (Mt 6,4.6.18).
Dear brothers and sisters, the Lord never ceases to have mercy on us, and desires to offer us His forgiveness yet again, inviting us to return to Him with a new heart, purified from evil, to take part in His joy. How to accept this invitation? St. Paul makes a suggestion to us in the second reading today: “We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Cor 5:20)” This work of conversion is not just a human endeavor. Reconciliation between us and God is possible thanks to the mercy of the Father who, out of love for us, did not hesitate to sacrifice his only Son. In fact, the Christ, who was righteous and without sin was made sin for us (v. 21) when on the cross He was burdened with our sins, and so redeemed us and justified before God. In Him we can become righteous, in him we can change, if we accept the grace of God and do not let the “acceptable time (6:2)” pass in vain.
With this awareness, trusting and joyful, let us begin our Lenten journey. May Mary Immaculate sustain our spiritual battle against sin, accompany us in this acceptable time, so that we might come together to sing the exultation of victory in Easter.
Soon we will make the gesture of the imposition of ashes on the head. The celebrant says these words: “You are dust and to dust you shall return, (cf. Gen 3:19)” or repeats Jesus’ exhortation: “Repent and believe the gospel. (Mk 1:15)” Both formulae are a reminder of the truth of human existence: we are limited creatures, sinners ever in need of repentance and conversion. How important is it to listen and to welcome this reminder in our time! The call to conversion is then a push to return, as did the son of the parable, to the arms of God, tender and merciful Father, to trust Him and to entrust ourselves to Him.
(from Vatican Radio)…