(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’ prayer intention for December is for the End to Child-Soldiers: That the scandal of child-soldiers may be eliminated the world over.
The Apostleship of Prayer has produced the Pope’s Video on this prayer intention.
The full text of the Pope’s Video is below:
In this world, which has developed the most sophisticated technologies, weapons are sold that end up in the hands of child soldiers.
We must do everything possible so that the dignity of children may be respected, and end this form of slavery.
Whoever you are, if you are moved as I am, I ask you to join in this prayer intention: That the scandal of child-soldiers may be eliminated the world over.
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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday encouraged the faithful to ask the Lord for help whenever they feel they may be resisting his grace.
The Pope was speaking during his homily at morning Mass in Casa Santa Marta .
Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni :
Finding inspiration in the opening prayer of the day “May Your grace conquer the obstacles caused by our sins”, Pope Francis said each of us have obstacles in our hearts which resist God’s grace.
He warned in particular against various types of obstacles [it. resistenze]:
The ones he called ‘open obstacles’ that are born of good faith – like in Saul’s case when he resisted grace but was ‘convinced he was doing God’s will’ before he was converted by Jesus.
“Open obstacles are healthy” – the Pope said – “in the sense that they are open to the grace of conversion”.
The most ‘dangerous’ obstacles according to Francis are the hidden ones because they do not show themselves. Each of us, he said, have our own way of resisting grace but we must recognize it and allow the Lord to purify us. It’s the type of obstacle that Stephen accused the Doctors of Law of concealing whilst they wanted to appear as though they were in search of the glory of God. An accusation – the Pope said – that cost Stephen his life:
“We all have hidden obstacles; we must ask ourselves what is their nature. They always surface to stop a process of conversion. Always!”
But, the Pope said, in these cases we must passively and silently allow the process of change to take place.
“Think of when there is a process of change in an institution or in a family. I hear you say: ‘But, there are obstacles… (…) Those kinds of obstacles are put there by the devil, to stop the Lord from going ahead.”
Francis then spoke of three types of hidden obstacles:
The obstacle of ‘empty words’ which he illustrated with the example provided by the Gospel reading of the day which reads “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven;” and by the Parable of the two sons sent by their father to work in the vineyard: the first says ‘no’ and then goes ahead and does the work, while the other says ‘yes’ and then doesn’t go:
“Saying yes, yes, diplomatically; but then it is ‘no, no, no’. So many words” he said.
Saying yes – the Pope continued – so as not change anything is the ‘resistance of empty words.’
And then, he said, there is the “obstacle of words that justify”: that’s when a person constantly justifies himself – he always finds a reason to oppose.
Too many excuses the Pope said do not exude the good “aroma of God”, but the “bad stink of the devil”.
He said a Christian has no need to justify himself: “He is justified by the Word of God”. This kind of resistance he explained is a resistance of words which I use “to attempt to justify my position when I do not follow what the Lord is indicating”.
And then, he said, there’s the obstacle of “accusatory words”: when we accuse others so as not to look to ourselves. In this case too we are ‘resisting’ conversion and grace as illustrated by the Parable of the Pharisee and the publican.
So, Pope Francis concluded, there are not only the great historical actions of resistance as for example the Maginot Line or other such events, but those that “are inside our hearts every day.”
He said the resistance to grace is a good sign “because it shows that the Lord is working in us” and he invited us to make the obstacles fall in order to allow grace in.
Wherever the Lord is there is a cross, the Pope said, be it a small one or a large one, and it is resistance to the Cross, to the Lord, that ultimately brings redemption. So, when there are obstacles we must not be afraid but ask for the Lord’s help and acknowledge that we are all sinners.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday greeted a delegation of faithful from the Apostolic Administration of the Caucuses who were in Rome to thank the Holy Father for his recent Apostolic Visit to Georgia.
Pope Francis told the delegation their visit brought him many memories of his trip.
“I never thought I would find in Georgia what I saw: The culture, spirituality, a people that praises Jesus Christ as the Savior, because it is a Christian population,” – the Pope said – “It was for me a great joy.”
He said he was also personally impressed by the person of Ilia II of Georgia, saying “I perceived there a man of God.”
While acknowledging the problems faced by the small Catholic community, Pope Francis said he thought they would find a way “without forcing the issue, to slowly walk together.”
The Pope concluded by remarking on the different faithful he met, calling the responsibility of the laypeople “a great thing,” and thanking the priests and religious for their work.
“Go forward!” – Pope Francis said – “This work is like yeast, to make the thing grow. Thank you very much! And do not forget to pray for me.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis invited international students on Thursday to overcome the “globalization of indifference” with “the freshness, actuality, and daring of the Gospel.”
He was speaking to participants of the IV World Congress on the Pastoral Care of International Students, organized by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People.
Listen to Devin Watkins’ report:
The theme of the World Congress takes Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium as its focus, examining its contribution to moral challenges in the intellectual world.
The Holy Father invited the students to approach their studies as a springboard to contributing to a healthier society.
He reminded them of the words of St. Paul to Timothy: “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.”
The Pope went on to contrast the search for intellectual self-realization with a model for the good of all.
“To the modern concept of the intellectual,” he said, “working for the realization of self and in search of personal recognition, often without care for their neighbor, it is necessary to counter with a model built on solidarity, which works for the common good and for peace.”
The Holy Father said the experience of studying abroad “increases self-confidence” by expanding a person’s ability to relate with others, allowing one to “open up without fear to the other”.
Turning to teachers and pastoral workers, the Pope invited them to “instill in young people love for the Gospel, the desire to live it concretely and announce it to others”.
He said, “In this way, young people are formed who thirst for truth and not power, ready to defend their values and live mercy and charity, which are the fundamental pillars for a healthier society.”
The Holy Father went on to say the phenomenon of international students, though promoting an encounter between cultures, can bring to the fore some negative aspects, “like the emergence of certain closures, defense mechanisms before diversity, internal walls which do not allow a person to look their brother or sister in the eye and realize their real needs”.
He said a sad reality is the rise of a “globalization of indifference” which makes a person “incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor” ( cf. Apos. Exhort. Evangelii Gaudium, 54 ).
In conclusion, Pope Francis said the experience of being an international student has the potential to “produce positive outcomes” on globalization, “with the freshness of the actuality and daring of the Gospel, in order to form new evangelizers ready to infect the world with the joy of Christ, even unto the ends of the earth.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday met the Oscar-winning movie director Martin Scorsese whose latest film “Silence” recounts the persecution of a group of Jesuit missionaries in 17th century Japan. In an interview with Vatican media, Scorsese spoke about his latest movie project, his past films, his life growing up in the noisy slums of New York and why he now values silence so much. Scorsese spoke to Vatican Radio’s Sean Patrick Lovett.
Listen to the interview with the movie director Martin Scorsese:
Scorsese said the making of his latest film “Silence” was a long-term project plagued by obstacles and interruptions due to ill health and other issues. He described how the actual shooting of the film with many of the outdoor scenes filmed in remote mountainous terrain, often ankle-deep in mud, was physically very gruelling for him and all the others involved but he never wanted to abandon the project.
Asked about the film’s title and what silence meant for him, Scorsese explained that it had taken him a long time over the course of his life to learn to seek out and appreciate the value of silence. He described how he grew up in the tenement slums of New York amidst a “cacophony” of sound from the streets and surrounding houses and the only silent place he could find then was in the old St. Patrick’s Cathedral of New York City, saying “I spent a lot of my time there.” Scorsese revealed that as part of his recent quest for more peace and quiet in his life, one of the rooms in his house has been specially sound-proofed.
The Oscar-winning director spoke about some of his earlier films which he said were full of noise and often very “frenetic” but pointed out that in this latest movie there is no music on the soundtrack and instead there are the background sounds of the landscape and the birds. He described it as a way of “finding out what silence sounds like.”
(from Vatican Radio)…