(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis at his Wednesday General Audience continued his catechesis on the family, focusing on family life.
Listen to Christopher Wells’ report:
“Today’s catechesis is like the gateway to a series of reflections on the life of the family, its real life, with its different times and events.” On this gateway, he said, “are written three words, which I’ve already used many times: ‘May I?’, ‘Thank you,’ and ‘Pardon me.’” These three words, Pope Francis said, “open the path” to a happy family life. “They are simple words,” he said, “but not so simple to put into practice.” These three words, when they are based not simply on good manners, but on deep love and respect for others, have great power to strengthen family life.
Three Words
The first word is “May I?” “When we concern ourselves with gently requesting even those things we might think we have a right too, we place a real defence for the spirit of harmony in the marriage and the family.” Even Jesus asks permission to enter our lives, the Pope said, recalling the verse from Revelation: “I stand at the door and knock.”
The second word, “Thank you,” is an integral part of the life of a Christian. Too often in modern society, Pope Francis said, evil words and behaviours are touted as expressions of freedom, while kindness and courtesy are seen as signs of weakness, or even viewed with suspicion. These attitudes must be rejected in family life. “Gratitude, for a believer, is at the heart of the faith: a Christian who does not know how to give thanks is one who has forgotten the language of God.” A spirit of gratitude within the family is at the foundation of respect for the dignity of the human person and of social justice.
Finally, “Pardon me,” “forgive me,” is a difficult word to say, but absolutely necessary. Pope Francis links the ability to ask for forgiveness with the ability to forgive others. “If we are not able to apologize, it means we are unable to forgive.” Pope Francis offered a word of advice to families: “Never finish the day without making peace.”
Pope Francis recognized that his “three words” might seem simplistic. “The three key-words for the family are simple words, and perhaps at first they may cause us to smile,” the Holy Father said. “But when we forget them, there’s nothing to laugh about, is there?” Too often, perhaps, they may be obscured. “May the Lord help us to put them back in their proper place, in our hearts, in our homes, and even in our civil society.”
Our Lady of Fatima
At the conclusion of the Audience, Pope Francis had special greetings especially for young people, the sick, and new spouses. He recalled that May 13 is the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. “Dear young people, learn and cultivate devotion to the Mother of God, with the daily recitation of the Rosary; dear [brothers and sisters] who are ill, feel the presence of Mary in the hour of the Cross; and you dear newly-married husbands and wives, pray to her that love and mutual respect will never be lacking in your homes.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis at his Wednesday General Audience continued his catechesis on the family, focusing on family life. Listen to Christopher Wells’ report: “Today’s catechesis is like the gateway to a series of reflections on the life of the family, its real life, with its different times and events.” On this gateway, he said,…
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(Vatican Radio) The Vatican will hold a concert for the poor on May 14 at the Paul VI Audience Hall in memory of Cardinal Van Thuan.
On Wednesday, Pope Francis greeted the organizers of the event with words of encouragement and thanks.
Listen to the report by Devin Watkins:
‘Music has the capacity to unite souls and to unite us to the Lord. It is horizontal but also vertical, soaring high, and it liberates us from anxiety,’ he said.
The front seats of the concert will be reserved for Rome’s poor and marginalized, so that all may learn to see Jesus in them.
Tickets are free, but each seat will have an envelope in which a voluntary contribution may be left for the papal charity.
Based on Dante Alighieri’s “The Divine Comedy”, the opera was composed by Msgr. Marco Frisina, director of the choir of the diocese of Rome, and features symphonic music, Gregorian chant, and hard rock.
The Holy Father continued, saying ‘a little spirit will do much good to all in the ever-present materiality which brings us down and destroys our joy.
‘It will be a concert to seed joy, not a passing happiness, no: the seed will remain there in the souls of all and will do much good for all.’
The concert is sponsored by the Office of the Apostolic Almoner, the Pontifical Council for Culture, the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, and the Saint Matthew Foundation in memory of Cardinal Van Thuan.
Please find below the translation of the full text of the Pope’s address:
POPE FRANCIS’ BRIEF GREETING TO THE ORGANIZERS AND SPONSORS OF THE ‘CONCERT FOR THE POOR’
14/05/2015
Good morning to all and thank you for this visit. I thank you for all that you have done, are doing, and will do for this concert which unites us. Music has the capacity to unite souls and to unite us to the Lord… It is horizontal but also vertical, soaring high, and it liberates us from anxiety. Even sad music – we think of those slow laments – even these help us in difficult moments.
I thank you very much, because a little spirit will do much good to all in the ever-present materiality which brings us down and destroys our joy. As believers, we have the joy of a Father who loves us all and the joy to be able to be brothers to all. However, you will re-seed this joy with this concert. It will be a concert to seed joy, not a passing happiness, no: the seed will remain there in the souls of all and will do much good for all. I thank you again for all the good that you do; thank you from the heart.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) In 1917 while the rest of the world was at war in a tiny hamlet of the Portuguese countryside three young children had a vision of Our Lady. That apparition on the 13th May sparked off the devotion to Our Lady of Fatima, an inspiration for millions to work and pray for peace. Since that time not only have millions prayed the Rosary and done penance but have made the pilgrimage to Fatima.
Among them Saint John Paul II who as we know believed it was through her intercession that his life was spared when he was shot at in Saint Peter’s Square.The last time he went to Fatima on pilgrimage was on the 13th May 2000 during the Jubilee Year when he entrusted the third millennium to her Immaculate heart.
Listen to this programme presented and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick :
Veronica Scarisbrick witnessed this event which was attended by the last of the shepherd children Lucia, who has since passed away. In this programme you can listen to a recording of her little voice as well as to one of a rather frail voice of John Paul II as he beatifies the other two children Jacinta and Francisco Marto.
On this occasion the Polish Pontiff asked his Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano to reveal the so called third secret of Fatima…
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The Vatican will hold a concert for the poor on May 14 at the Paul VI Audience Hall in memory of Cardinal Van Thuan. On Wednesday, Pope Francis greeted the organizers of the event with words of encouragement and thanks. Listen to the report by Devin Watkins: ‘Music has the capacity to unite…
Read more