Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning! Today I would like to focus our
attention on the connection between the
family and the Christian community . This bond is natural, so to speak,
because the Church is a spiritual family and the family is the domestic Church
(cf. Lumen Gentium , 9). The
Christian community is the home of those who believe in Jesus as the font of
brotherhood among all human beings. The Church journeys among her people, in
the history of men and women, of fathers and mothers, of sons and daughters:
this is the history that matters to the Lord. The great events of worldly
powers are written in history books, and there they will remain. But the
history of human feelings is written directly in the heart of God; and that is
the history that will endure for eternity. This is where life and faith are
located. The family is the place of our irreplaceable and indelible initiation
into this history… into this history of life in its fullness, which will
culminate in heaven with the
contemplation of God for all eternity, but which begins in the family! And that
is why the family is so important. The Son of God learned the human story in this way, and he walked in
it to the very end (cf. Heb 2:18; 5:8). It is beautiful to contemplate Jesus
and the signs of this bond! He was born into a family and there “he learned
about the world”: one shop, four homes, a tiny village. Yet, living for 30
years there, Jesus absorbed the human condition, welcoming it in his communion
with the Father and in his apostolic mission. Then, when he left Nazareth and
began his public ministry, Jesus formed around him a community, an “ assembly ”, that is, a con-vocation of
people. This is the meaning of the word
“church”. In
the Gospels, the assembly of Jesus takes
the form of a family and of a hospitable
family , not an exclusive, closed sect: there we find Peter and John, but
also the hungry and the thirsty, the stranger and the persecuted, the sinner
and tax collector, the pharisee and the
multitude. And Jesus never stops accepting and speaking to everyone, even those who no longer expect to encounter God
in this life. That is an important lesson for the Church! The disciples were
chosen to care for this assembly, for this family of God’s guests. In
order to maintain this reality of the assembly of Jesus in today’s situation,
it is indispensable to renew the covenant between the family and the Christian
community. We could say that the family
and the parish are the two places where the communion of love, which finds
it’s ultimate source in God, takes place. A Church truly according to the
Gospel cannot but take the form of a
hospitable home , with its doors open, always. Churches, parishes, institutions,
with closed doors must never be called churches, they should be called museums! And
today, this covenant is crucial.
“Against the ideological, financial and political ‘centres of power’, we place
our hopes in these centres of evangelizing love, rich in human warmth, based on
solidarity and participation” (Pont.
Cons. per la Famiglia, Gli insegnamenti di J.M. Bergoglio – Papa Francesco sulla famiglia e
sulla vita 1999-2014 , LEV 2014, 189),
and also on
forgiveness between us. To strengthen the bond between the
family and the Christian community
today is indispensable and urgent. Certainly, there
is need for generous faith to rediscover
the understanding and courage to renew this covenant. Families at times draw
back, saying that they cannot live up to this: “Father, we are a poor family
and even a little worse for the wear”, “We aren’t able”, “We already have so
many problems at home”, “We don’t have the strength”. This is true. But no one
is worthy, no one is able to live up to it, no one has the strength! Without
the grace of God, we can do nothing. Everything is given to us, given freely!
And the Lord never comes into a new family without working some miracle. Let us
remember what he did at the wedding of Cana! Yes, the Lord, if we place
ourselves in his hands, will work miracles for us – but they are miracles of
every day life! – when the Lord is
there, present in the family. Naturally, the Christian community
must also do its part. For example, overcoming attitudes that give too much
advice or are too managerial, in order to foster interpersonal dialogue and
awareness and mutual esteem. May families
take initiative and feel the responsibility for bringing their precious
gifts to the community. We must all be aware that the Christian faith is played
on an open field of life shared with
all. The family and the parish must work the miracle of a more communal life
for the whole of society. At Cana, there was the Mother of
Jesus, the “mother of good counsel”. Let us listen to her words: “Do whatever
he tells you” (cf. Jn 2:5). Dear families, dear parish communities, let us
allow ourselves to be inspired by this
Mother, let us do whatever Jesus tells us and we will find the source of all
miracles, of every day miracles! Thank you!…
Select Catholic institutions in Kenya are preparing to host an international conference on Consecrated Life, which will be graced by the Vatican-based Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, João Cardinal Bráz de Aviz.
The planning of the five-day event, set to run from 22 September 26 September 2015, is being spearheaded by the Commission for the Clergy and Religious of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB), Tangaza University College, the Association of Sisterhoods of Kenya (AOSK), and the Religious Superiors’ Conference of Kenya (RSCK).
On 22 September Cardinal Bráz de Aviz will preside over the Holy Eucharist and interact with the cloistered nuns of Kenya at the Subiaco Center for Spirituality in Karen, before meeting the Bishops and Major Superiors in Kenya later in the day at Dimesse Spirituality Centre in Karen, Nairobi.
The following three days (23 – 25 September) will have facilitated inputs from selected speakers and discussions around the theme “Consecrated Life in Africa Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow,” to be hosted at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA).
The sessions about consecrated life in Africa will begin with a convocation address by Cardinal Bráz de Aviz, who will be introduced to the participants by the Apostolic Nuncio in Kenya, Archbishop Charles Daniel Balvo.
Among the topics lined up for presentation, to be followed by forums for discussion, include Living the Evangelical Counsels in East Africa; Charismatic Maturity: A Persistent Challenge for Consecrated Life in Africa; Juridical Considerations in the Dismissal of Religious in the African Context; Doing Formation in East Africa: Contexts, Struggles, Possibilities; Mutuae Relationes: On the Relationship between Bishops and Religious; Religious Life in the Vernacular: Challenge, Revelation; and The Prophetic Character of the Consecrated Life.
A couple of expositions are being organized around the following themes: The State of Consecrated Life in Africa: Survey Analysis and Report on the State of the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults in Kenya.
The last day of the conference will take place at Tangaza University College Grounds, beginning with a prayer service in commemorations of persons considered “saints” and “martyrs” among the consecrated in the Church of Kenya, followed by the concluding Eucharistic celebration, to be presided over by Cardinal Bráz de Aviz.
(By Fr. Don Bosco Onyalla, CANAA, Nairobi)
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday continued his catechesis on the family, focusing his attention on the relation between the family and the Christian community.
Below, please find the English language summary of the Pope’s remarks at Wednesday’s General Audience:
Dear Brothers and Sisters: In our continuing catechesis on the family, we reflect today on the connection between the family and the Christian community. The Church is the home of those who believe in Jesus Christ as the source of the unity of the entire human family. Christ chose to enter our history, to become part of a human family, and to form a community which welcomes all who wish to hear his good news of the Father’s love. There is a close bond, then, between the family and the Church. Families and parishes are the two places where we encounter, in every age, that communion of love which has its ultimate source in God. Just as our families are domestic churches, our parishes are called to be welcoming families. This “covenant” has to be renewed, with the courage and vision born of faith, so that these centres of love, evangelization, and solidarity can, with the help of God’s grace and despite all our limitations, work true miracles for the shaping of a more fraternal and humane world.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis issued two Apostolic Letters motu proprio on Tuesday, by which he introduced reforms to the legal structures of the Church, which deal with questions of marital nullity. At a news conference presenting the reforms to journalists at the Press Office of the Holy See on Tuesday, the President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio – who was also a member of the Special Commission appointed to study the issue and make the recommendations on which the reform is based – explained that the reforms do not touch the nature and purpose either of marriage, or of the Church’s marriage law: marriage is a sacrament and is by its nature indissoluble; when a marriage is accused of nullity, the Church merely investigates to see whether the parties presumed to be married ever actually executed a valid marriage contract in the eyes of the Church.
“We are not strictly talking then, about a legal process that leads to the ‘annulment’ of a marriage,” as though the act of the Church court were one of nullification. “Nullity,” Cardinal Coccopalmerio explained, “is different from annulment – declaring the nullity of a marriage is absolutely different from decreeing the annulment of a marriage.”
The President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts went on to explain that the concern of the Holy Father is in the first place for the good of all the faithful, especially those of the faithful whose situations have been a cause of difficulty in living the Christian life as fully as possible. “The problem,” he said, “is rather of an exquisitely pastoral nature, and consists in rendering marriage nullity trials more swift and speedy, so as the more solicitously to serve the faithful who find themselves in such situations.”
Three specific changes most directly address the question of speed in the process: the removal of the need for a twofold conforming sentence from both the court of first instance and then from the appellate court, which automatically reviewed the acts of the first instance trial – meaning that a single trial in the first instance will be considered sufficient for persons, whose presumed marriage has been declared null, to enter into new marriages under Church law; the introduction of the possibility for a single judge to try and issue rulings on individual cases; the creation of an expedited trial process for certain cases, in which the evidence of nullity is abundant, and both parties accuse the marriage of nullity.
“The power of the keys of Peter remains ever unchanged,” explained the Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Luis Ladaria, SJ, who was also a member of the reform commission and present at the press conference on Tuesday. “In this [nullity] process as well, the appeal to the Apostolic See is open to all, in order that the bond between the See of Peter and the particular Churches be confirmed.” Archbishop Ladaria concluded his remarks saying, “We all hope that this reform of the Code of Canon Law will bring with it the fruit the Holy Father desires, and that many Pastors and faithful desire with him as well.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
“A propitious occasion” to “renew responsibility by seeking ways to
prevent all threats of armed conflict, through the promotion of greater social
justice, freedom and solidarity”. Pope Francis expressed this hope in a message
signed by Archbishop Angelo Becciu, Substitute of the Secretariat of State, for
the occasion of the Second Unveiling of the Panels
War and Peace at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The two large frescoes painted by Brazilian artist Candido Portinari
(1903-1962) have returned to their previous splendour after a meticulous,
five-year restoration. Beginning on 8 September 2015, it is possible to once
again admire them at the UN General Assembly Hall, the site of the unveiling
ceremony. The panels, measuring 14 metres high by 10 metres wide, have also
been displayed in Brazil and France, thanks to the “Portinari Project” directed
by the artist’s son, José Candido Portinari, at the Catholic University of Rio
de Janeiro. The murals illustrate the ruin and desolation of humanity on one
side, and portray a healthy and harmonious world on the other. In the message addressed to Cardinal Orani João Tempesta, Archbishop of
São Sebastiao do Rio de Janeiro, the Pontiff’s words are directed to all people
in this world who, as the Evangelii Gaudium decries, are “being torn apart by wars and violence, and wounded by a
widespread individualism which divides human beings, setting them against one
another as they pursue their own well-being” (n.
99). The message concludes: “In faithfulness to the commitment
subscribed in this building of the United Nations here in New York, we
anxiously await the time in which nations “shall beat their swords into
plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword
against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isaiah 2:4)….