(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis held his special Jubilee Audience for the month of June in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday, reflecting on Jesus’ call to conversion which was expressed not in judgment but in closeness to sinners and mercy to those in need Listen to Devin Watkins’ report:
Reflecting on the Gospel passage in which the Risen Jesus encounters his disciples on the road to Emmaus, Pope Francis said Jesus’ call to conversion is an experience of unmerited love which leads to openness to others, especially to the poor. He said the theme of conversion is present throughout the Bible, especially in the message of the prophets who continually invited people to ‘return to the Lord’. “Conversion for the prophets means changing direction and turning anew to the Lord, trusting that He loves us and that His love is always faithful.” He said Jesus focused more than the prophets on the interior dimension of conversion, making repentance the first word of his preaching ministry, as seen in the Gospel of Mark: “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1,15). The Holy Father went on to say that Jesus’ call to conversion was expressed not in judgment but in closeness to sinners and mercy to those in need. “When Jesus calls to conversion, he does not set himself up as judge of persons, but he calls from a position of nearness, because he shares in the human condition, and calls from the street, from the home, from the table… Mercy towards those who needed to change their lives took place through his lovable presence so as to involve each person in his salvation history. With this way of being, Jesus touched the depth of people’s hearts and they felt attracted by the love of God and invited to change their life.” Pope Francis concluded that the experience of God’s unmerited love in Jesus opens us to true conversion, which always entails openness to others, especially the poor. “True conversion happens when we accept the gift of grace, and a clear sign of its authenticity is when we become aware of the needs of our brothers and are ready to draw near to them. […] Let us follow, therefore, this invitation of the Lord and let us not put up resistance, because only if we open ourselves to mercy will we find true life and true joy.” Below, please find a Vatican Radio English translation of the Pope’s Audience address: Dear brothers and sisters, good morning! After his resurrection, Jesus appeared several times to the disciples before ascending to the glory of the Father. The Gospel passage which we just heard (Luke 24,45-48) tells of one of these apparitions, in which the Lord points out the fundamental content of the message which the apostles will offer to the world. We can synthesize it with two words: “conversion” and “forgiveness of sins”. These are two qualifying aspects of the mercy of God, which takes care of us in love. Today we shall consider conversion. This theme is present through the Bible and, in a special way, in the preaching of the prophets, who continually invite the people to “return to the Lord” asking them to forgive and change their style of life. Conversion, according to the prophets, means changing direction and turning anew to the Lord, trusting that He loves us and that His love is always faithful. Jesus made conversion the first word of his preaching: “Convert, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1,15). It is with this proclamation that He presents Himself to the people, asking them to accept his word as the final and definitive word of the Father for humanity (cf. Mark 12,1-11). Compared to the preaching of the prophets, Jesus insists even more on the interior dimension of conversion. Indeed, the entire person is involved in it, heart and mind, in order to become a new creature. When Jesus calls to conversion, he does not set himself up as judge of persons, but he calls from a position of nearness, because he shares in the human condition, and calls from the street, from the home, from the table… Mercy towards those who needed to change their lives took place through his lovable presence so as to involve each person in his salvation history. With this way of being, Jesus touched the depth of people’s hearts and they felt attracted by the love of God and invited to change their life. For example, the conversion of Matthew (cf. Matthew 9,9-13) and of Zacchaeus (cf. Luke 19,1-10) happened in exactly this manner, because they felt loved by Jesus and, through Him, by the Father. True conversion happens when we accept the gift of grace, and a clear sign of its authenticity is when we become aware of the needs of our brothers and are ready to draw near to them. Dear brothers and sisters, how many times have we also felt the need to effect a change which would involve our entire person! How many times do we say to ourselves: “I need to change, I can’t continue this way. My life on this path will not give fruit; it will be a useless life and I won’t be happy.” How often these thoughts come! And Jesus, who is near us, extends his hand and says, “Come, come to me. I’ll do the work: I’ll change your heart, I’ll change your life, I will make you happy.” But do we believe this, yes or no? What do you think: do you believe this or not? Less applause and more voice! Do you believe or not? ‘Yes!’ So it is. Jesus who is with us invites us to change our life. It is He, with the Holy Spirit, who seeds in us the this restlessness to change life and be a little better.Let us follow, therefore, this invitation of the Lord and let us not put up resistance, because only if we open ourselves to mercy will we find true life and true joy. (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) During his special Jubilee audience in St Peter’s Square on Saturday, Pope Francis said Jesus’ call to conversion is an experience of unmerited love which leads to openness to others, especially to the poor. He said Jesus’ call to conversion was expressed in closeness to sinners and mercy to those in need, rather than in judgment, allowing sinners to feel God’s loving mercy and to open their hearts to his gift of forgiveness. Below, please find the official English-language summary of Pope Francis’ catechesis, which was delivered in Italian. ****************************************** Dear Brothers and Sisters: Appearing to the disciples in Emmaus, the Risen Jesus tells them that repentance and the forgiveness of sins are to be preached to all nations in his name (Lk 24:47). Repentance and the forgiveness of sins are at the heart of the Gospel message of God’s merciful love. The Old Testament prophets repeatedly call the people to “return to the Lord” in fidelity to his covenant of love. Jesus began his public ministry by preaching repentance, interior conversion and belief in the Gospel (cf. Mk 1:15). His call to conversion was expressed not in judgment but in closeness to sinners and mercy to those in need. As we see in the conversion accounts of Matthew and Zacchaeus, Jesus enabled sinners to feel God’s loving mercy and to open their hearts to his gift of forgiveness. As an experience of unmerited love, true conversion always entails openness to others, especially the poor. In this Holy Year of Mercy, may we recognize our own need of forgiveness and conversion, and open our hearts ever more fully to the power of the Lord’s grace to transform and renew our lives. ******************************************** I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly those from England, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and the United States of America. With prayerful good wishes that the present Jubilee of Mercy will be a moment of grace and spiritual renewal for you and your families, I invoke upon all of you joy and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ. (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis wants to see the laity more and more involved in the Church’s mission to evangelize in light of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council. The Pope made that affirmation in an address Friday to participants of the last Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for the Laity ahead of the reform process that will bundle the department together with the Council for the Family and the Academy for Life. As one phase comes to a close, a new horizon opens for the mission of the laity in the Church, Francis told participants at Friday’s audience. In this, the last plenary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, the Pope began by thanking those who have worked in this institution of the Curia for their commitment. The Council was set up after the Second Vatican Council with the blessings of Pope Paul VI. No to lay people acting on “proxy” of the hierarchy The Pope recalled the many fruits born over the last 50 years in the context of the laity: World Youth Day, “providential gesture of St. John Paul II”, the appearance of new lay associations and the growing role of women in the Church: “We can say, therefore, that the mandate you have received from the Council was precisely to ‘push’ the lay faithful to get more and more involved and, better at it, in the evangelizing mission of the Church, not as ‘delegates’ of the hierarchy, but because [the lay] apostolate [means] ‘participation in the salvific mission of the Church, to which all are disciples of the Lord through Baptism and Confirmation’. It is Baptism that makes every lay faithful a missionary disciple of the Lord, salt of the earth, light of the world, yeast that transforms reality from within. New challenges require reform, sign of renewed confidence in laity In light of the progress made thus far, the Pope then said “it is time to look again to the future with hope.” The reality, he noted, brings new challenges and the idea to amalgamate the dicastery for the Laity with the Pontifical Council for the Family and with the Academy for Life came about in response to the need to reform the Holy See’s Curial offices. “I invite you to welcome this reform, which will see you involved, as a sign of appreciation and esteem for the work you do, and as a sign of renewed confidence in the vocation and mission of the laity in the Church today,” the Pope said. As it navigates new waters, the new department, he noted, will have as its ‘helm’ the 1988 Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles laici , Evangelii gaudium and Amoris laetitia, all papal documents which have focused on the family and the defense of life. Reach out to the remote and needy In the context of the Jubilee of Mercy, he continued, the Church is called to be “permanently going out” and to be an “evangelizing community” which “knows how to take the initiative without fear, to meet, seek out those who are distant and to come out to the crossroads to welcome the excluded.” The Church and the laity, Pope Francis said, need to be outward–looking – seeking out “the many families in trouble and in need of mercy, the many fields of apostolate still unexplored, the many good-hearted and generous lay people who would willingly put at the service of the Gospel their energy, their time, their skills if they were [encouraged to get] involved, and valued and accompanied with affection and dedication on the part of pastors and church institutions. ” We need lay people who look to the future and are willing to get their hands dirty “We need well-trained lay people animated by a sincere and limpid faith,” the Pope said. Those whose “life has been touched from the personal and merciful love of Jesus Christ”: “We need lay people who take risks, who dirty their hands, who are not afraid to make mistakes,” he continued. “We need lay people with vision of the future, not [preoccupied] with the little things of life. And I said to the young people: we need lay people with the flavor of life’s experiences, who are animated by dreams. ” “Today,” the Pope concluded, “is the time when young people need the dreams of the elderly” so that they can have “the ability to dream,” and so that they can give us “the power of the new apostolic visions”. (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) A group of nine Syrian refugees, including two Christians, arrived in Rome on Thursday from the Kara Tepe refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, following the visit of Pope Francis to the island on April 16, when he accompanied three families of refugees back to Rome.
The Vatican Gendarmeria, with the help of Interior Ministry of Greece, the Greek Asylum Service, and the Community of Sant’Egidio, accompanied the refugees from Athens to Rome on Thursday. The Community of Sant’Egidio will provide for their housing, according to a statement from the Holy See Press Office.
The refugees, six adults and three children, are all Syrian citizens who were in the Kara Tepe refugee camp. They had arrived in Lesbos from Turkey.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) A video message by Pope Francis was released on Friday to highlight an awareness and fund-raising initiative by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). The charity’s “Be God’s Mercy” initiative marking the Jubilee Year of Mercy was formally launched at a press conference in the offices of Vatican Radio.
In his video message the Pope urged people to “carry out works of mercy together with ACN in every corner of the world, in order to meet the many, many needs of today.”
Please find below a full English translation of the Pope’s video message on behalf of the charity, ACN:
“I want to appeal to all men and women of good will all around the world for a work of mercy to be done in each town, in each diocese, in each association. We, men and women, need God’s mercy, but we also need each other’s mercy. We need to take each other’s hand, caress each other, take care of each other and not make so many wars. I am looking here at the dossier prepared by Kirche in Not, a papal foundation, to carry out works of mercy in the whole world. I trust Kirche in Not with this work… I also entrust them to carry on the spirit they have inherited from Father Werenfried van Straaten who had the vision at the right time to carry out in the world these gestures of closeness, of proximity, of goodness, of love and of mercy. So I invite all of you, together with Kirche in Not, to do, everywhere in the world, a work of mercy but one that stays, a permanent work of mercy; a structure for so many needs that there are today in the world. I thank you for everything you do. And do not be afraid of mercy: mercy is God’s caress.”
ACN projects supported during the four-month “Be God’s Mercy” campaign in 2016 include prison ministry, drug rehabilitation centres and support groups for women who have suffered violence.
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