(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has urged migrants and refugees not to allow difficulties deprive them of hope and of the joy of life.
The Pope was speaking to crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Angelus prayer on the World Day for Migrants and Refugees.
During his address Pope Francis also prayed for the victims of attacks by extremists in Burkina Faso and Indonesia and for support for the efforts of the international community toward peace-building.
Thousands of migrants and refugees of different nationalities were amongst the faithful in St. Peter’s Square to celebrate their Jubilee, cross the Holy Door and attend Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.
To them Pope Francis addressed a special message of closeness saying: “Dear migrants and refugees, each of you carries a story, a culture, precious values; and unfortunately often experiences of poverty, oppression and fear.”
“Your presence in this square – he continued – is a sign of hope in God.”
And he urged them not to allow difficulties “to deprive them of this hope and of the joy of life that derive from experiencing divine mercy, thanks also to those who welcome you and help you”.
He then pronounced words of special thanks to the inmates of a detention center in Milan who made the hosts for the Mass celebrated on Sunday in St. Peter’s Basilica dedicated to migrants and refugees.
Before concluding his address, Pope Francis prayed for the victims of the deadly attacks this week in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and in Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso.
“May the Lord welcome them into His house, and support the commitment of the international community to build peace” he said.
During his catechesis before the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis reflected on the Sunday Gospel that tells of the miracle worked by Jesus at the wedding at Cana.
In that miracle at Cana – he said – Jesus imparts an act of kindness toward the groom, a divine blessing upon marriage.
“Love between man and woman is a good way in which to live the Gospel and with which to undertake with joy the path towards holiness” he said.
However, Pope Francis said: “the miracle of Cana is not just about the bride and groom. Each human person is called to meet the Lord in his or her life.”
And he pointed out that faith undergoes times of joy and of sorrow, of light and of darkness, exactly as any other authentic experience of love.
The Pope reminded the faithful that Jesus does not present himself as a judge, ready to condemn our faults, nor as a commander who demands we blindly follow his orders.
“He manifests himself as the Savior of mankind, as an elder brother, as the Son of the Father who responds to the expectations and promises of joy that dwell in the heart of each of us” he said.
He invited the faithful to ask themselves whether they really know the Lord in this way, and called on them to acknowledge the fact that Jesus is asking us to make space for Him in our hearts.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis is set to release a new children’s book in February, entitled “ Love before the World ”.
The book – published by Loyola Press (orig. Italian title “ L’amore prima del mondo ”) – contains the Holy Father’s responses to letters written by children from around the world.
What did God do before creating the world? “God loved.”
Why do my parents fight sometimes? “They are human.”
These are some of the questions put to Pope Francis by children between the ages of 6-13 from 26 countries, including Albania, China, Nigeria, and the Philippines.
Fr. Antonio Spadaro, SJ, director of ‘ La Civiltà Cattolica ’, met with the pope at the Casa Santa Marta several times during the last months, giving the Holy Father a chance to respond to the children’s letters spontaneously.
“These are hard questions,” Pope Francis said, smiling.
The drawings and questions of 31 children were chosen for the book, which will be presented to the Holy Father by several of the children who wrote the letters on 22 February.
Love before the World hits shelves in Italy on 25 February 2016, and on 1 March in the rest of the world.
It comes just after the release of the Holy Father’s book The Name of God is Mercy .
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received the participants in a gathering of Italy’s Christian Workers Movement on Saturday, together with representatives from other Christian labor organizations from Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.
Italy’s Movimento Cristiano Lavoratori was created in 1972, with the union of two major workers’ organizations committed to building a “capitalism with a human face” as the Movement explains, “in the profound conviction that market freedom, solidarity and subsidiarity are complementary components to any sane liberalism.”
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In his prepared remarks to the participants, Pope Francis focused on three key words: education, sharing, witness.
“To educate ,” said Pope Francis, “means ‘to draw out’: it is the capacity to extract the best from one’s heart – it is not only instruction in this or that technique, nor is it imparting a particular set of notions, but rather it means making ourselves and the reality that surrounds us both more human.” The Holy Father went on to say, “this is particularly valid as far as the world of work is concerned: it is necessary to form people for ‘a new humanism of work’ in which man, and not profit, is at the center; in which the economy serves man, and does not simply make use of him.”
Nor is education therefore merely theoretical. It also helps people to resist the falsehood according to which work, daily effort, giving of self and serious study have no intrinsic value. “Today,” said Pope Francis, “it is urgently necessary to teach people how to take the way – luminous as it is challenging – of honesty – avoiding the shortcuts of favoritism and “old boys’ networks (It. raccomandazioni ).” The Holy Father also condemned corruption and lawlessness in the world of work as being like a giant, tentacled sea creature that ensnares and poisons its victims and drags them into the unseen depths from which it strikes.
About sharing , Pope Francis praised the civil service projects initiative of the movement particularly, and encouraged the members of the Movement to continue to recognize the hours of the working day as an opportunity to foster unity among colleagues and co-workers.
Under the rubric of witness , Pope Francis recalled the plight of the great many people – especially young people – who desire to work and have good training, but cannot find appropriate employment. “Human justice requires that everyone have access to work,” he said. “High-sounding words will not avail,” he added, “what is needed is rather to communicate hope, to comfort with presence, to sustain with concrete help,” those who would work and can find none.
“I encourage you to bear witness starting with your personal lifestyle and in that of your association – witness of the free gift of self, of a spirit of service,” Pope Francis said. “The disciple of Christ, when he is transparent in his heart and sensible in life, brings the light of Christ into the places where he lives and works.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) In a surprise move on Friday afternoon Pope Francis continued with his program of putting mercy into practice during this Jubilee Year by visiting two homes for elderly and disabled people on the outskirts of Rome.
A statement from the press office said there was great surprise and joy among the 33 residents of the Bruno Buozzi home for the elderly as the Pope spent talking to each one of them. He was accompanied by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, head of the Vatican’s Council for New Evangelisation and one of the principle organisers of activities during this Jubilee Year of Mercy.
Pope Francis has repeatedly emphasized the great value of the elderly and particularly the important role of grandparents in the Church and in society.
Before returning to the Vatican, Pope Francis also visited the nearby Casa Iride where six severely disabled patients in a vegetative state are cared for by their families and by a team of medical staff.
Today’s visits were part of the Pope’s decision to make some practical gestures of charity on one Friday of each month throughout this Year of Mercy.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) “How is my faith in Jesus Christ?” This was the question Pope Francis addressed in his remarks to the faithful following the readings of the day at Mass on Friday morning in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta. The Holy Father focused particularly on the Gospel reading, stressing that, in order really to understand Jesus, we should not have a “closed heart”, but ought to follow the path of forgiveness and humiliation. “Faith,” he said, “is something that no one can one can buy,” it is “a gift” that changes our life.
The Gospel reading on Friday was drawn from the Gospel according to St. Mark, and recounts the miraculous healing of a paralytic in Capernaum.
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The people of Capernaum were ready to do anything to get closer to Jesus – they did not heed even risks that may be incurred in order to be able to listen or simply get close enough to brush Him. So many were the people in and around the house where Jesus was, that they had to open the roof and lower the paralyzed man in search of healing into the house. “They had faith,” the Pope said, “the same faith as that lady who, also in a crowd, arranged to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, Jesus’ robe, when He going to the house of Jairus, that she too might be healed.” It was the same faith of the centurion, who desired the healing of his servant. “Strong faith, courageous, forward – looking,” said Pope Francis – hearts to faith.”
If we have closed hearts, we cannot understand Jesus
In the story of the paralytic, he noted, “Jesus goes a step further.” In Nazareth, the beginning of His ministry, “He went into the Synagogue and said he had been sent to free the oppressed, prisoners, to give sight to the blind … to inaugurate a year of grace,” a year “of pardon, of growing closer to the Lord – to inaugurate a way to God.” Here, however, He goes a step further: not only healing the sick but forgiving their sins:
“There were those there who had their hearts closed, but accepted – up to a point – that Jesus was a healer – but forgiving sins is strong! This man is over the top! He has no right to say this, because only God can forgive sins. Only Jesus knew what they were thinking and said: ‘I am God’? – No, He did not say that. [He said,] ?Why are you thinking these things? Because you know that the Son of Man has the power – this is what makes him special [It. è il passo avanti ] – to forgive sins: ‘Arise, take up your mat and be healed.’ He begins to speak the language that at some point will discourage people, some of disciples who followed him – for, hard is this language, when he speaks of eating his body as a way of salvation.”
Let us ask ourselves if faith in Jesus really changes our lives
When Jesus shows up with a power greater than that of a man, “To give that forgiveness, to give life, to recreate humanity, even His disciples doubt, and [some of them] go away.” Jesus asked a small group, ‘Do you also want to go away?’”:
“Faith in Jesus Christ: how is my faith in Jesus Christ? Do I believe that Jesus Christ is God, the Son of God? And has this faith been life-changing? Does my faith make this year of grace begin in my heart, this year of pardon, this year of growing in nearness to the Lord? Faith is a gift. No one ‘deserves’ faith. No one can buy it. It is a gift. Does ‘my’ faith in Jesus Christ, bring me to humiliation? I do not say humility: humiliation, repentance, prayer asking: ‘Forgive me, Lord. You are God. You ‘can’ forgive my sins.”
The test of our faith is the ability to praise God
Let the Lord “make us grow in faith,” was the prayer of Pope Francis. The people, he noted, “sought Jesus in order that they might hear Him, because he spoke “with authority, not as the scribes speak.” Also, he added, they followed Him because He healed people, because he performed miracles – but in the end, “these people, after seeing this, went away and they were all amazed, and glorified God”:
“Praise: the proof that I believe that Jesus Christ is God in my life, that He was sent to me to ‘forgive me’, is praise; if I have the ability to praise God. Praise the Lord. This is free – praise is gratis . It is a sentiment that the Holy Spirit gives and that brings you to say: ‘You are the only God.’ May the Lord make us grow in faith in Jesus Christ, God, who forgives us, who gives us a year of grace – and this faith leads us to praise.”
(from Vatican Radio)…