(Vatican Radio) The priest leading the spiritual exercises for Pope Francis and the Roman Curia says the Church must not shine the spotlight on herself but instead on Christ. Father Ermes Ronchi’s reflections came during his meditations on Tuesday morning that were delivered at the ‘Divin Maestro’ centre in the town of Ariccia, south of Rome, where the Pope and the Roman Curia are spending their Lenten retreat.
The inspiration for Tuesday morning’s reflections by Father Ronchi came from the gospel account of where Peter professes his faith in Christ as the Son of God. Noting that this was preceded by Jesus asking the disciples who they thought He was, Father Ronchi said in this way Christ is not giving lessons or suggesting replies based on what other people say about him but instead is urging his apostles to look inside their own hearts. Jesus wants to know if his disciples have opened their hearts to God who is living inside them. Our hearts, explained Father Ronchi, “can be the cradle or the tomb of God.”
He went on to say that Jesus also warned his apostles that following him means an appointment with a man on the Cross. Christ spills his own blood not that of anybody else and he doesn’t sacrifice other people, just himself.
Turning to the Church’s role, Father Ronchi said we are “the mediators between God and humanity.” Like John the Baptist, we must prepare the path and then step to one side. He said “think of the beauty of a church that does not shine the spotlight on herself” but instead on Christ, and warned that we still have some progress to make on this point.
(from Vatican Radio)…
Pope Francis will hold an ordinary public consistory of cardinals in the Vatican March 15, during which he will sign the decree for the canonization of Blessed Mother Teresa of Kolkata and four others. The dates and venue of their sainthood ceremony are expected to be declared at the consistory. Pope Francis had officially cleared Blessed Mother Teresa for sainthood on Dec. 17, 2015, recognizing the miraculous healing through her intercession of a Brazilian man with multiple brain abscesses. Mother Teresa was conferred the title Blessed in Rome, Italy, on October 19, 2003, after Pope St. John Paul II recognized the miraculous healing of an Indian woman with a tumour in her abdomen.
Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu of Albanian parents on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, in what is Macedonia today, Mother Teresa died in Kolkata, formerly Calcutta, on September 5, 1997. Affectionately known as the “saint of the gutter” for her unconditional love for the poor, abandoned and the marginalized, she earned several international honours, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis and other members of the Roman Curia began their annual spiritual retreat on Sunday 6th February, the fourth Sunday of Lent.
On Sunday evening, after having prayed the Angelus together with the faithful in St. Peter’s Square at noon, Pope Francis boarded a small bus that took him to the “Casa Divin Maestro” Centre in the town of Ariccia in the Alban Hills just outside Rome.
This is where Fr. Ermes Ronchi, of the Servants of Mary, is leading the group in spiritual exercises based on 10 questions from the Gospels.
These are the questions contemplated:
1. “What are you looking for?” (John 1:38)
2. “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:40)
3. “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again?” (Matthew 5:13)
4. “But who do you say that I am?” (Luke 9:20)
5. “Then, turning to the woman, he told Simon, ‘Do you see this woman?’” (Luke 7:44)
6. “How many loaves do you have?” (Mark 6:38, Matthew 15:34)
7. “Straightening up, Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?’” (John 8:10)
8. “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” (John 20:15)
9. “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” (John 21:16)
10. “Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be?’” (Luke 1:34).
The Pope’s retreat lasts until Friday 10 March.
During the retreat Pope Francis will have no public meetings or audiences, including no Wednesday general audience.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis and members of the Vatican Curia arrived on Sunday evening at the “Casa del Divin Maestro,” a retreat centre in Ariccia, located about 25 miles from Rome. They are taking part in the week-long Curial Spiritual Exercises.
Usually conducted during the first week of Lent, the exercises were postponed this year due to the Papal Voyage to Mexico.
Each day will include moments of prayer, meditation, and Eucharistic adoration. The spiritual exercises will be led by noted Italian author, Father Ermes Ronchi.
The participants will return to the Vatican on Friday.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has written a letter of thanks and gratitude to His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevhchuk, Major Archbishop of Kiev and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
The Archbishop, together with other members of the Permanent Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church have been meeting in Rome and released a statement in which they affirmed communion with the Catholic Church. They were received in audience by the Pope on Saturday.
In his letter to Archbishop Shevhchuk, Pope Francis recalls that some seventy years ago, a particular ideological and political context, as well as the existence of “ideas that were contrary to the very existence of your Church, led to the organization of a pseudo-synod in Lviv, and caused decades of suffering for the pastors and the faithful”.
“In sad memory of these events, he writes, we bow our heads in deep gratitude before those, who at the cost of suffering and even martyrdom, continued to witness the faith in the course of time and to show dedication to the Church in union with the Successor of Peter”.
At the same time, Pope Francis continues, “with eyes lit by the same faith, we look to the Lord Jesus Christ, to place in him, and not in human justice, all of our hope”.
“He is the true source of our trust in the present and in the future, as we are called to announce the Gospel also in the midst of suffering or difficulties” he says.
And the Pope goes on to express deep gratitude for the loyalty of Ukrainian Greek-Catholics and encourages them to be “tireless witnesses of that hope which makes our existence and the existence of all of our brothers and sisters more luminous”.
Pope Francis also renewed his feelings of solidarity with the pastors and faithful for all they do in these difficult times “marked by the hardships of war, to alleviate the suffering of the population and to seek the ways of peace for the beloved Ukrainian land”.
“In the Lord, he concludes, is our courage and our joy. It is to Him that I speak, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the martyrs of your Church, so that the divine consolation may illuminate your communities in Ukraine and other parts of the world”.
(from Vatican Radio)…