(Vatican Radio) On Saturday, Pope Francis marked the Jubilee of Volunteer Workers by presiding over celebrations in St Peter’s Square, the latest event in the Holy Year of Mercy.
During his catechesis to the volunteers, the Pope stressed how the Church is called to be close in need. He encouraged volunteers in their solidarity towards others, especially in a world tempted by indifference.
The Holy Father concluded by citing the example of mercy shown by Blessed Mother Teresa, who he will canonize on Sunday at the Vatican.
See below Pope Francis’ prepared remarks for the Jubilee of Volunteer Workers:
Address of His Holiness Pope Francis
On the occasion of the Jubilee of Volunteer Workers
Saint Peter’s Square, 3 September 2016
Dear Brother and Sisters,
Good morning! We have just heard the hymn to love which the Apostle Paul wrote for the Community in Corinth, and which constitutes one of the most beautiful and demanding texts for our witness of faith (cf. 1 Cor 13:1-13). How often Saint Paul spoke of love and faith in his letters; and here too we are given something exceedingly grand and original. He states that, unlike faith and hope, love “never ends” (v. 8). This teaching must be for us an unshakable certainty; the love of God will never diminish in our lives or in human history. It is a love which remains forever youthful , active , dynamic and which has an attraction beyond all telling. It is a faithful love that does not betray, despite our fickleness. It is a fruitful love which generates and surpasses our laziness. We are witnesses to this love. The love of God, truly, comes towards us; it is like a swelling river that engulfs us without overwhelming us. Quite the contrary is true: “[If I] have not love, I am nothing”, says Saint Paul (v. 2). The more we allow ourselves to be taken up by this love, the more our life will be renewed. We should say with all our being: I am loved, therefore I exist!
The love of which the Apostle speaks is not something abstract or vague; rather, it is a love that is seen , touched , and experienced first hand. The greatest and most expressive form of this love is Jesus. His entire person and his life are nothing other than the concrete revelation of the Father’s love, reaching its highest expression on the Cross: “God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” ( Rom 5:8). From Calvary, where the suffering of God’s Son reaches its culmination, the source of love flows, a love that wipes away all sin and transforms everything into new life. We always have indelibly within us, this certainty of faith: Christ “loved me and gave himself for me” ( Gal 2:20). Nothing and no one can ever separate us from the love of God (cf. Rom 8:35-39). Love, therefore, is the highest expression of life; it allows us to exist!
Before this essential truth of our faith, the Church can never allow herself to act as that priest and Levite who ignored the man half dead at the side of the road (cf. Lk 10:25-36). She cannot look away and turn her back on the many forms of poverty that cry out for mercy. It is not worthy of the Church nor of any Christian to “pass by on the other side”, and to pretend to have a clean conscience simply because we have said our prayers! Calvary is always real; it has not disappeared at all, nor does it remain with us merely as a nice painting in our churches. That culmination of compassion, from which the love of God flows to our human misery, still speaks to us today and spurs us on to offer ever new signs of mercy. I will never tire of saying that the mercy of God is not some beautiful idea, but rather a concrete action; and even human mercy is not authentic until it has attained tangible expression in the actions of our daily life. The warning of the Apostle John has perennial value: “Little children, let us not love in word and speech but in deed and truth” ( 1 Jn 3:18). The truth of mercy, is expressed in our daily gestures that make God’s action visible in our midst.
Brothers and sisters, you represent the large and varied world of voluntary workers. You are among the most precious things the Church has, you who every day, often silently and unassumingly, give shape and visibility to mercy. You express one of the most noble desires of the human heart, making a suffering person feel loved. In the different contexts of need of so many people, your presence is the hand of Christ held out to all, and reaching all. The credibility of the Church is also conveyed in a convincing way through your service to abandoned children, to the sick, the poor who lack food or work, to the elderly, the homeless, prisoners, refugees and immigrants, to all struck by natural disasters… Indeed, wherever there is a cry for help, there your active and selfless witness is found. In bearing one another’s burdens, you make Christ’s law visible (cf. Gal 6:2; Jn 13:34). Be always ready to offer solidarity, to be steadfast in your closeness to others, determined in awakening joy and genuine in giving comfort. The world stands in need of concrete signs of solidarity, especially as it is faced with the temptation to indifference. It requires persons who, by their lives, defy such individualism, which is the tendency to think only of oneself and to ignore the brother or sister in need. Be always happy and full of joy in the service you give, but never presume to think that you are superior to others. Instead, let your work of mercy be a humble and eloquent continuation of Jesus’ presence who continues to bend down to our level to take care of the ones who suffer. For love “builds up” ( 1 Cor 8:1), day after day helping our communities to be signs of fraternal communion.
Tomorrow we will have the joy of seeing Mother Teresa proclaimed a saint. This witness to mercy in our time will join the vast array of men and women who, by their holiness of life, have made the love of Christ visible. Let us also imitate their example, as we ask to be humble instruments in God’s hands in order to alleviate the world’s sufferings, and to share the joy and hope of the resurrection.
(from Vatican Radio)…
Bulletin for 09/04/2016
(Vatican Radio) The Director of the Holy See’s Press office, Greg Burke said it would be impossible to predict how many people will attend Sunday’s Canonization Mass for Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Speaking at a Vatican press conference giving details about the highly-anticipated event, Burke said all 100,000 tickets had been distributed for the Mass but that the crowd would likely be far greater, spilling into the streets around St. Peter’s Square.
Listen to this report by Susy Hodges:
Some 600 journalists from all over the world have flocked to Rome to cover Mother Teresa’s Canonization Mass which is being seen by many as the highlight of this Jubilee Year of Mercy. More than a dozen heads of state or government will be among the many dignitaries attending the Mass.
Among those speaking at the packed press conference on Friday morning was Sister Mary Prema Pierick, the Superior General of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity Order, Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, the postulator for her sainthood cause and the Brazilian man, Marcilio Haddad Andrino, who was declared miraculously healed through Mother Teresa’s intercession.
Andrino described how he was suffering from a viral brain infection and the doctors had lost all hope of saving his life when his wife Fernanda prayed to Mother Teresa and immediately afterwards he found himself miraculously healed from the illness. He expressed gratitude for his recovery but said he is just one example of God’s ample mercy and love and stressed he “did not feel special.” Within a year, his wife became pregnant and they were able to have two children even though Andrino had been told that the powerful drugs he had taken had made him infertile. He called his two children “the extension of that miracle.”
Turning to the technical side of the Canonization Mass, Burke told journalists that the event will be filmed using 4K Ultra High Definition and using nine television cameras. He said the Canonization can also be seen on the Vatican’s YouTube platform, on the Vatican player of Vatican Radio and on the website of the Vatican Television Service (CTV).
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received the players and staff of the AS Roma soccer club, along with the players and staff of his own favorite Argentine San Lorenzo de Almagro club on Friday.
Click below to hear our report
AS Roma is to face San Lorenzo in a friendly contest on Saturday afternoon.
All proceeds from the friendly, are to be donated to the ongoing earthquake relief effort in central Italy, which was struck on August 24 th by a temblor that killed nearly 300 people and caused massive devastation.
“Thanks for your visit,” Pope Francis told the clubs, “and thanks for your generosity in giving to the earthquake victtims.”
The audience took place a day ahead of the Festival of the Family organized by Roma as part of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.
A note in English on the AS Roma website announcing the special audience notes that the Family Festival – which will be held at Rome’s Olympic Stadium – comes at a time in which the victims of the recent earthquake in central Italy are very much on the minds and in the hearts of the club and of all involved.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis sent a telegram to AsiaNews director and Pontifical Missionary priest, Fr. Bernardo Cervellera, on Friday, in acknowledgment of the work his organization has done in preparing and presenting a symposium on the life and legacy of Bl. Teresa of Calcutta, who is to be canonized a saint this Sunday, Sept. 4 th .
Below, please find the full text of the telegram, in English translation provided by AsiaNews
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Rev. Father Bernardo Cervellera
Editor of AsiaNews – PIME
On the occasion of the International Symposium dedicated to the Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, as an icon of Mercy for Asia and the world, organized by the AsiaNews agency, in the context of the special Jubilee of Mercy and the imminence of the canonization of religious, the Holy Father Pope Francis sends his cordial and good wishes, praying that the example of life of Blessed, as a privileged witness of charity and generous attention to the poor and to the least, help bring Christ increasingly to the center of life and to live of his Gospel freely in the continuous exercise of works of mercy, to be builders of a better future, illuminated by the splendor of the Truth.
His Holiness invokes the heavenly intercession of the Virgin Mary, Mother of all comfort to devotees of Mother Teresa, so that imitating her apostolic zeal, they can implement the Revolution of Tenderness begun by Jesus Christ with his special love to the little ones.
And while asking for your prayers in support of his Petrine ministry, he cordially imparts to you, the organizers, the speakers and to all present the implored Apostolic Blessing.
From the Vatican, September 2, 2016
Card. Pietro Parolin
Secretary of State of His Holiness
(from Vatican Radio)…