(Vatican Radio) God acts in humility and in silence; “spectacle” is not His style. That was Pope Francis’ message at Mass on Monday in the Casa Santa Marta.
Listen to Christopher Wells’ report:
Jesus rebukes people of Nazareth for their lack of faith
In the Gospel of the day, Jesus rebukes the inhabitants of Nazareth for their lack of faith: at first, the Pope said, they listened with admiration, but later they exploded “with anger, with outrage”:
“In that moment, this people, who had heard with pleasure what Jesus had said, but did not like what He had said to one, two, or three of them; and perhaps some gossip had stood up and said, ‘But who is this who’s come to talk to us? Where has he studied in order to say these things to us? Let’s see his degree! This is the son of the carpenter, we know him.’ Fury erupted, and even violence. ‘And they drove Him out of the town, and led Him to the brow of the hill’… they wanted to throw Him down!”
Humility is God’s style
The first Reading speaks about Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army, who was a leper. The prophet Elisha tells him to wash himself seven times in the Jordan to be healed, and yet Naaman was indignant because he expected a grand gesture. But then he listened to the advice of the servants, and did what the prophet said, and he was cleansed of leprosy. The inhabitants of Nazareth were like Naaman, the Pope said. “They wanted a spectacle,” but “the style of the good God is not to produce a spectacle: God acts in humility, in silence, in the little things.” This begins with Creation, the Pope said, where the Lord does not use a “magic wand,” but creates man “with mud.” It is a style that runs through “the whole of salvation history”:
“When He desired to free His people, He freed them through the faith and confidence of a man, Moses. When He desired to cause the fall of the powerful city of Jericho, He did so through a prostitute. And for the conversion of the Samaritans He required the work of another sinner. When He invited David to fight against Goliath, it seemed crazy: the little David standing before that giant, who had a sword, who had so many things, while David had only a sling and the stones. When He told the Magi that a King was born to them, the Great King, what did they find? A little child, a manger. The simple things, the humility of God… this is the divine style, never the spectacle.”
God works in humility, not spectacles
The Pope noted that “one of the three temptations of Jesus in the desert” was to create a spectacle. Satan invites Him to cast Himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple so that, seeing the miracle, the people might believe in Him. “The Lord, instead, is revealed in simplicity, in humility,” he said. “It would do us good this Lent,” the Pope said, “to consider how the Lord has helped us in our lives, and how the Lord has led us onward. We will find that the Lord has always done this with simple things.”
He concluded, “This is how the Lord acts: He does things simply. He speaks silently to you, to the heart. Let us remember in our lives the many time we have felt these things: the humility of God is His style; the simplicity of God is His style. And even in the liturgical celebration, in the sacraments, what is beautiful is that which manifests the humility of God, and not the worldly spectacle. It would do us good to journey through our life and to consider the many times the Lord has visited us with His grace, and always with this humble style, the style He calls us, too, to have: humility.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) God acts in humility and in silence; “spectacle” is not His style. That was Pope Francis’ message at Mass on Monday in the Casa Santa Marta. Listen to Christopher Wells’ report: Jesus rebukes people of Nazareth for their lack of faith In the Gospel of the day, Jesus rebukes the inhabitants of Nazareth…
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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday met with His Majesty Philippe, King of the Belgians, and Queen Mathilde, who subsequently met with His Eminence Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, accompanied by Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for Relations with States.
A statement by the Holy See Press Office said the talks were “cordial”, and the good bilateral relations between Belgium and the Holy See were confirmed.
The parties also discussed other matters of mutual interest, such as social cohesion, the education of the young, the phenomenon of migration, and the importance of intercultural and interreligious dialogue.
Mention was then made of various problems of an international nature, with special reference to the future prospects of the European continent.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday met with His Majesty Philippe, King of the Belgians, and Queen Mathilde, who subsequently met with His Eminence Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, accompanied by Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for Relations with States. A statement by the Holy See Press Office said the talks were “cordial”, and…
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(Vatican Radio) His Excellency Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva on Monday gave a speech at the 28th Session of the Human Rights Council on Item 3, “Human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment”
Below please find the text of Archbishop Tomasi’s address.
Geneva, 9 March 2015
Mr. President,
As the Holy See stated during the UN Climate Summit, the enjoyment of a sustainable environment is an issue of justice, respect and equity. Environmental degradation can and does adversely affect the “enjoyment of a broad range of human rights.”[1] The Human Rights Council itself has stated, “environmental damage can have negative implications, both direct and indirect, for the effective enjoyment of human rights.”[2] These situations must be approached from the perspective of the principle common and distributive justice. Contributive justice in the sense that all shall contribute according to their financial and technological possibilities; distributive justice, in order to provide to each country the know-how as well as the possibility to develop, to produce goods and to deliver services. Reparative justice implies that those who have benefited more from the use of natural resources, and having thus damaged the environment more, have a special duty to work for its restoration and care.
Human rights obligations and commitments have the potential to inform and strengthen international, regional and national policymaking in the area of environmental protection and urges States “to take human rights into consideration when developing their environmental policies” (resolution 16/11). This Council, as well as the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, has stated that States should, in all climate change-related actions, fully respect human rights[3].
The human rights obligations relating to the environment also include substantive obligations to adopt legal and institutional frameworks that protect against environmental damage that would interfere with the enjoyment of human rights, including harm caused by private actors. As my Delegation has already stated in the intervention on Transnational Corporations, we reiterate our call to protect human rights from environmental harm. States have to strike a balance between environmental protection and other legitimate societal interests. But the balance should be reasonable and not result in unjustified and foreseeable infringements of human rights.
In this regard, the Holy See would like to express its appreciation for the good practice of preparing “sustainability reports”, which describe the economic, environmental and social impacts caused by companies’ everyday activities. The comprehensive guidelines prepared by the Global Reporting Initiative provide a framework for measuring and reporting sustainability-related impact and performance, inclusive of indicators relating to the protection of human rights and the environment[4].
It is a matter of justice to help poor and vulnerable people who suffer from causes largely not of their making and beyond their control. One concrete step would be to make available to them the best in adaptation and mitigation technology. Now, all eyes are focussed on the Twenty-first Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC and the Eleventh Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, which will take place in Paris in December 2015. There, the poor and the rich will be winners if we could reach an agreement on a post-2020 international regime, in which all the nations of the world, including the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, bind themselves to a universal agreement on climate.
In conclusion, Mr. President,
As pope Francis stated in different circumstances: “Even if ‘nature is at our disposition’, all too often we do not ‘respect it or consider it a gracious gift which we must care for and set at the service of our brothers and sisters, including future generations’. Here too what is crucial is responsibility on the part of all in pursuing, in a spirit of fraternity, policies respectful of this earth which is our common home.” The responsibility to protect the environment, whether as a developed or a developing country, rests on the shoulders of us all. Taking into consideration the good practices highlighted by the Special Rapporteur, we should not avoid the urgent work that remains to be done for ensuring that future generations might find a world that will allow them to lead prosperous lives.
[1]Cf. doc. A/HRC/22/43, para. 34.
[2] Cf. Resolution 16/11.
[3] Resolution 18/22; and FCCC/CP/2010/7/Add.1, decision 1/CP.16
[4] Report of the Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, document A/HRC/28/61, para 81.
(from Vatican Radio)…