(Vatican Radio) In his Angelus address on Sunday, Pope Francis looked to the day’s Gospel, which recounts how Jesus preached in the synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth. The Lord read a passage from the Prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.” Jesus Himself fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “Today,” He said, “this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
This, said Pope Francis, is the mission of Jesus, and also the mission of the Church: to preach the Good News to the poor. Although the Gospel is addressed to everyone, he explained, Jesus nonetheless privileges those “who are farthest away, the suffering, the sick, those who are discarded by society.” The poor, he concluded, “are at the centre of the Gospel.”
Below, please find Vatican Radio’s translation of Pope Francis’ remarks at the Sunday Angelus:
Dear brothers and sisters, good day!
In the Gospel of today, Luke the evangelist, before presenting the programmatic discourse of Jesus at Nazareth, briefly summarizes the work of evangelization. It is a work that He accomplishes with the power of the Holy Spirit: His word is original, because it reveals the sense of the Scripture; it is an authoritative word, because He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey (cf. Mk 1:27). Jesus is different from the teachers of His time. For example, Jesus didn’t open a school for the study of the Law, but went about everywhere to preach and teach: in the synagogues, in the streets, in the houses. Jesus also differs from John the Baptist, who proclaims the imminent judgement of God, while Jesus proclaims the forgiveness of God.
And now we enter, we imagine, into the synagogue of Nazareth, the village where Jesus lived until He was about thirty years old. What happened there is an important event, which delineates the mission of Jesus. He stood up to read the Holy Scripture. He opens the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and takes the passage where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.” Then, after a moment of silence full of expectation on the part of everyone, He says, to general amazement: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
To evangelize the poor: This is the mission of Jesus, according to what He Himself says; this is also the mission of the Church, and of every person baptized in the Church. To be Christian and to be a missionary is the same thing. To proclaim the Gospel, with words, and, even before that, with one’s life, is the principle end of the Christian community and of each of its members.
It is known that Jesus addresses the Good News to everyone, without excluding anyone; and yet, He privileges those who are furthest away, the suffering, the sick, those discarded by society.
But let us ask ourselves a question. What does it mean to evangelize the poor? It means above all being close to them, having the joy of serving them, freeing them from oppression, and all this in the name of and with the Spirit of Christ, because He is the Gospel of God, He is the Mercy of God, He is the liberation of God. It is He Who was made poor in order to enrich us with His poverty. The text of Isaiah, reinforced by some small adaptations introduced by Jesus, indicates that the messianic proclamation of the Kingdom of God that has come amongst us is addressed in a preferential way to the marginalized, to prisoners, to the oppressed.
Probably in the time of Jesus these people were not at the centre of the community of faith. And we can ask ourselves: today, in our parish communities, in the associations, in the movements, are we faithful to the program of Christ? Is the evangelization of the poor, bringing to them the good news, the priority? Be attentive: this isn’t about giving social assistance, much less about political activity. It has to do with the strength of the Gospel of God, Who converts hearts, heals the wounded, transforms human and social relationships according to the logic of love. The poor, in fact, are at the heart of centre of the Gospel.
May the Virgin Mary, Mother of evangelizers, help us to feel strongly the hunger and thirst for the Gospel that exists in the world, especially in the heart and the flesh of the poor – and obtain for each and every one of us, the whole Christian community, to bear concrete witness to the mercy that Christ has given to us.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has invited Filipino Bishops to find new ways to proclaim the “miracle” of God’s mercy. He made the call in a letter to the Bishops who are currently holding their Plenary Assembly in the city of Cebu, which is due to host the 51st International Eucharistic Congress.
The Pope said that the Church needed to spread God’s “enduring love” for everyone.
By doing this, the Pope prayed that this Jubilee Year of Mercy would truly be a time “to gaze even more attentively on mercy so that we may become more effective sign of Father’s action in our lives.”
The opening Mass of the Assembly was celebrated on Friday 22 January at Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral. A number of issues are on the agenda for the Bishops including May 9th General Elections.
The plenary meeting runs through to Sunday January 24th.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The Philippines is making final preparations for the 51 st International Eucharistic Congres s (IEC) which opens January 24 th in the city of Cebu. Thousands of delegates from the Philippines and from over 70 countries around the world are expected to attend the event. The theme for the Congress is “Christ in you, our hope of glory,” which is taken from the letter of Saint Paul to the Colossians. During the gathering there will be a Theological Symposium and there will also be speakers over the course of the week including, Cardinal Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila, and Cardinal Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York. The Congress will open on Sunday with a Eucharistic celebration held at the Plaza Independencia in Cebu City. The choice of the Asian nation was announced by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI during a video message at the conclusion of the previous Eucharistic Congress held in Dublin in June 2012. The organizer of that event was the Bishop of Elphin in the northwest of Ireland, Kevin Doran. He is also leading a pilgrimage group to Cebu. The Bishop shared his memories of the 50th Congress in Dublin and spoke of his hopes for this year’s event. Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s interview with Bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin.
“The theme of the congress in Cebu, “Christ in you are hope of glory” is a way of reminding us that each one of us because of Christ in us carries hope, not just for ourselves but for others…”, he said. So what advice did he have for the organizers of the Philippines event? “Trust in God that the congress is going to be good, they’ve done the work and that they should now enjoy, obviously, they still have to keep their eye on the ball, but they should enjoy celebrating the presence of so many people both Filipinos and people of other nationalities, with them in the city of Cebu and make it a celebration of thanksgiving for them, for God’s blessings over the last hundreds of years in the Philippines.” The 51st International Eucharistic Congress in Cebu runs from January 24th to 31st. (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday received the President of the Commonwealth of Dominica, Charles Angelo Savarin, who subsequently met with the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who was accompanied by Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Secretary for Relations with States.
Dominica is a Caribbean island nation, with a population a little over 72,000, of whom about 80% of its population of
A communique issued by the Holy See Press Office called the talks “cordial.”
The parties spoke about the good bilateral relations between the Holy See and Dominica, and noted the opportunity for a fruitful and mutual cooperation between the State and the Catholic Church, an institution which offers a significant contribution to the promotion of the dignity of the human person, as well as in fields such as the education of young people and offering assistance to those most in need.
In addition, they spoke about regional and global issues, in particular the protection of the environment and the issue of climate change and natural disasters, which have caused severe damage and several casualties among the population of the island.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday said the Church’s teaching on marriage is not an “ideal for the few,” but “a reality that, in the grace of Christ, can be experienced by all the baptized.”
He Holy Father was speaking the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, the Vatican court which mainly deals with marriage annulment cases.
In his address inaugurating the judicial year, Pope Francis said the court’s role as Tribunal of the Family , and its role as Tribunal of the Truth of the Sacred Bond are complementary.
“The Church… can show the unfailing merciful love of God to families – especially those wounded by sin and the trials of life – and, at the same time, proclaim the essential truth of marriage according to God’s design,” Pope Francis said.
“When the Church, through your service, sets about to declare the truth about marriage in a concrete case, for the good of the faithful, at the same time you must always remember that those who, by choice or unhappy circumstances of life, are living in an objective state of error, continue to be the object of the merciful love of Christ and thus the Church herself,” he continued.
The Holy Father pointed out the recent two-year Synod process on the family said to the world that “there can be no confusion” between the family as willed by God, and every other type of union.
Reaffirming the doctrine of the Church, the Holy Father said the “quality of faith” is not an essential condition of marital consent, and pointed out the faith infused at baptism continues to have influence on the soul even “when it has not been developed and even seems to be psychologically absent.”
He added it is not uncommon for couples to discover “the fullness of God’s plan” for marriage after their wedding, when they have begun to experience family life.
“Therefore, the Church, with a renewed sense of responsibility, continues to propose marriage in its essentials – offspring, good of the couple, unity, indissolubility, sacramentality – not as ideal only for a few – notwithstanding modern models centered on the ephemeral and the transient – but as a reality that, in the grace of Christ, can be experienced by all the baptized faithful,” said Pope Francis.
(from Vatican Radio)…